The word nagan signifies a player on a stringed instrument, a harpist, though used of players of any musical instrument. Elisha once when solicited to give advice asked for a minstrel to be brought, and “when the minstrel played, the hand of the Lord came upon him” (2 Kings 3:15). The minstrels mentioned in Matthew 9:23 were pipers or flute-players hired to assist in mourning.