HEMAN THE SINGER, “THE KING’S SEER IN THE WORDS OF GOD” (1 CHRONICLES 25:5) · UNITED KINGDOM

Heman. One of David's three heads of song, whose sons “prophesied” with instruments.

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

Chronicles calls the singers' work prophecy: they “should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals”.

THE CALL

How the word came

  • Chronicles calls the singers' work prophecy: they “should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals”. 1 Chronicles 25:1
  • Heman is called “the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn”. 1 Chronicles 25:5
  • With Jeduthun he served before the tabernacle at Gibeon “with trumpets and cymbals for those that should make a sound, and with musical instruments of God”. 1 Chronicles 16:39–42

BEFORE THE KINGS

Before two kings

KING OF JUDAH, THEN OF ALL ISRAEL

David

“All these were the sons of Heman the king’s seer in the words of God, to lift up the horn.”

1 Chronicles 25:5 (KJV) →

KING OF ALL ISRAEL

Solomon

THE SONGS

What he sang

Thanks to the LORD

PLACES

Where his story happened

  • Gibeon · Before the tabernacle in the high place
  • Jerusalem · The temple's dedication

SIGNS

Signs and wonders

WONDER

The cloud at the temple's dedication

COMPANIONS AND OPPONENTS

Who stood with him, and against him

Asaph

Jeduthun (Ethan)

Samuel

His sons and daughters

HOW THE STORY ENDS

Scripture says, tradition says

SCRIPTURE SAYS

  • From the textScripture does not tell of Heman's death. His family went on: sons of Heman served under Hezekiah, and Josiah's singers kept the order of David, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun. 2 Chronicles 29:14 2 Chronicles 35:15

TRADITION SAYS

No tradition is recorded here.

OPEN QUESTIONS

Where readers have differed

Yes, the singer

R. Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and D. Brown (1871)

They take Heman and Ethan of Psalms 88 and 89 to be David's singers, “probably adopted into the tribe of Judah” if they are also the wise men of 1 Kings 4:31. Psalms 88:1 [57]

Perhaps the wise man, son of Zerah

E. G. Hirsch and M. Seligsohn, Jewish Encyclopedia (1904), giving both sides

The psalm's “for the sons of Korah” and the psalms of Asaph and Jeduthun point to the singer; but “Ezrahite” and the next psalm's “Ethan the Ezrahite” point to the sons of Zerah renowned for wisdom (1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 2:6), in which case the title “would be composed of two contradictory parts”. Psalms 88:1 1 Kings 4:31 1 Chronicles 2:6 [46]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 8

1 Chronicles 6 1 Chronicles 15 1 Chronicles 16 1 Chronicles 25 2 Chronicles 5 2 Chronicles 29 2 Chronicles 35 Psalms 88

PASSAGES · 8

1 Chronicles 6:31–38 1 Chronicles 15:16–19 1 Chronicles 16:39–42 1 Chronicles 25:1–7 2 Chronicles 5:12–13 2 Chronicles 29:14 2 Chronicles 35:15 Psalms 88:1

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • No words of Heman are quoted in Scripture, and Chronicles does not say what the singers' “prophesying” with instruments sounded like.
  • Scripture does not say that Heman wrote Psalm 88; its title names “Heman the Ezrahite” (see the question above).
  • 1 Kings 4:31 names a Heman among the wise men Solomon surpassed; whether he is this Heman is not said.

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

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