Hi Mark,
Let me see if this intertwines with your thoughts here;
Isaiah 5 (Amplified Bible)
12They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the Lord, neither do they consider the operation of His hands [in mercy and in judgment].
13Therefore My people go into captivity [to their enemies] without knowing it and because they have no knowledge [of God]. And their honorable men [their glory] are famished, and their common people are parched with thirst.
14Therefore Sheol (the unseen state, the realm of the dead) has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth without measure; and [Jerusalem's] nobility and her multitude and her pomp and tumult and [the drunken reveler] who exults in her descend into it.
15And the common man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are humbled.
16But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and God, the Holy One, shows Himself holy in righteousness and through righteous judgments.
In the King James verse 12 reads "pipe" which is interchangable with flute, perhaps the sound directly preceeds the judgement, grace or chastisement in this life or the destructive path of idol (self) worship. Is this sound the call to His purifying Fire some hear the flute of mercy while others hear the flute leading them to destruction (kind of like the pied piper), who has ears to hear?
Interesting topic.
His Peace and Wisdom to you,
Joe