Dulcimer

Dulcimer (Aramaic sumpônyāh, from Greek symphōnia, meaning sounding together) appears in Daniel 3:5, 10, 15 as one of the instruments in Nebuchadnezzar's royal orchestra, playing at the signal to bow before his golden image on the plain of Dura. The exact instrument is disputed: the ISBE and many modern commentators translate it as bagpipe—two pipes played simultaneously that produce a consonant sound—consistent with the Greek etymology of "sounding together." Smith treats it as a stringed instrument, and older English translations adopted the dulcimer convention from Renaissance usage.

Whatever the specific instrument, the sumpônyāh formed part of a full royal ensemble that included horn, pipe, lyre, trigon, harp, and all kinds of music—the complete sensory apparatus of royal ceremony. The orchestra's sound was the signal for mass prostration before the image; Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego's refusal to bow, even knowing the penalty of the furnace, made the moment of music a test of ultimate loyalty between the kingdom of Babylon and the kingdom of God.