ASAPH THE SINGER, CALLED “THE SEER” (2 CHRONICLES 29:30) · UNITED KINGDOM

Asaph. Chief of the singers before the ark; twelve psalms bear his name.

SCRIPTURE CALLS

Prophesied with harps

ERA

United kingdom c. 1050–930 BC

IN THE DAYS OF

David · Solomon

BOOK

None bears the name

HOW THE WORD CAME

He led with cymbals: “Asaph made a sound with cymbals”.

THE CALL

How the word came

  • He led with cymbals: “Asaph made a sound with cymbals”. 1 Chronicles 15:19 1 Chronicles 16:5
  • His sons were “under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king”. 1 Chronicles 25:2
  • Chronicles calls him “Asaph the seer”, and Hezekiah's Levites sang “the words of David, and of Asaph”. 2 Chronicles 29:30
  • From the textTwelve psalms carry his name in their titles: Psalm 50 and Psalms 73 to 83 (for example “A Psalm of Asaph”). The titles do not say when the psalms were written. Psalms 50:1 Psalms 73:1 Psalms 74:1 Psalms 75:1 Psalms 76:1 Psalms 77:1 +6 more

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before two kings

KING OF JUDAH, THEN OF ALL ISRAEL

David

“Then on that day David delivered first this psalm to thank the LORD into the hand of Asaph and his brethren.”

1 Chronicles 16:7 (KJV) →

KING OF ALL ISRAEL

Solomon

THE SONGS

What he sang

Thanks before the ark

“Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.”

1 Chronicles 16:8 (KJV) →

Songs remembered after the exile

“For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.”

Nehemiah 12:46 (KJV) →

PLACES

Where his story happened

  • Jerusalem · Before the ark in the tent David pitched for it

SIGNS

Signs and wonders

WONDER

The cloud at the temple's dedication

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Heman

Jeduthun

Berachiah, his father

Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah, his sons

Jahaziel, “of the sons of Asaph”

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textScripture does not tell of Asaph's death. His line went on: Jahaziel, “a Levite of the sons of Asaph”, prophesied before Jehoshaphat; Hezekiah's Levites sang “the words of David, and of Asaph the seer”; at Josiah's passover “the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place”; and “the children of Asaph” are named among the singers who came back from the exile. 2 Chronicles 20:14 2 Chronicles 29:30 2 Chronicles 35:15 Ezra 2:41 Nehemiah 7:44

TRADITION SAYS

No tradition is recorded here.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Asaph, David's singer

The titles as they stand; the Pulpit Commentary (1880–1897) on Psalm 73

Hezekiah's Levites sang “the words of David, and of Asaph the seer”. The Pulpit Commentary notes that “the triumph of Absalom” has been suggested as the occasion of Psalm 73. 2 Chronicles 29:30 Psalms 73:1 [101]

Later singers of Asaph's line or guild, for some of them

R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown (1871); A. F. Kirkpatrick (1895); M. Jastrow Jr. and others, Jewish Encyclopedia (1902)

Psalm 74 laments a sanctuary burned and cast down. If that is the Babylonian conquest, JFB says the author was “probably a descendant and namesake” of Asaph; Kirkpatrick weighs Shishak's raid, the Babylonian conquest and the Maccabean age, and says that apart from the title “all other considerations are against” Shishak. The Jewish Encyclopedia calls Asaph the “Eponym of a musical gild”. Psalms 74:1 Psalms 74:7 [56][70][42]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 22

1 Chronicles 6 1 Chronicles 15 1 Chronicles 16 1 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 5 2 Chronicles 29 2 Chronicles 35 Ezra 2 Ezra 3 Nehemiah 12 Psalms 50 Psalms 73 Psalms 74 Psalms 75 Psalms 76 Psalms 77 Psalms 78 Psalms 79 Psalms 80 Psalms 81 Psalms 82 Psalms 83

PASSAGES · 23

1 Chronicles 6:39–43 1 Chronicles 15:16–19 1 Chronicles 16:4–7 1 Chronicles 16:37 1 Chronicles 25:1–9 2 Chronicles 5:12–13 2 Chronicles 29:30 2 Chronicles 35:15 Ezra 2:41 Ezra 3:10 Nehemiah 12:46 Psalms 50:1 Psalms 73:1 Psalms 74:1 Psalms 75:1 Psalms 76:1 Psalms 77:1 Psalms 78:1 Psalms 79:1 Psalms 80:1 Psalms 81:1 Psalms 82:1 Psalms 83:1

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • 1 Chronicles 16:7 says David delivered the psalm into Asaph's hand; it does not say Asaph wrote it.
  • Scripture does not say when the psalms of Asaph were written.
  • Other men named Asaph are different people: the father of Joah the recorder (2 Kings 18:18) and the keeper of the king's forest (Nehemiah 2:8).

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

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  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on 2 Chr 15:8 (read on Bible Hub).
  • Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818), note on 2 Chr 26:5 (read on Bible Hub).
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