Asaph
A'saph (Heb. Asaph', אָסָŠ, assembler; Sept. Α᾿σάφ), the names of three persons. SEE EBIASAPH.
1. A Levite of the family of Gershom (see below), son of Barachiah (1Ch 6:39; 1Ch 15:17), eminent as a musician, and appointed by David to preside over the sacred choral services which he organized (1Ch 16:5), B.C. 1014. The "sons of Asaph" are afterward mentioned as choristers. of the Temple (1Ch 25:1-2; 2Ch 20:14; 2Ch 29:13; Ezr 2:41; Ezr 3:10; Ne 7:44; Ne 11:22); and this office appears to have been made hereditary in his family (1Ch 25:1-2). Asaph was celebrated in after times as a prophet (הֹזֶה, seer) and poet (2Ch 29:30; Ne 12:46), and the titles of twelve of the Psalms (50, 73, to 83) bear his name, in some of which he evidently stands (as a patronymic, Ne 11:17) for the Levites generally (see Huetii Demonstr. ev. p. 332; Bertholdt, v, 1956; Herder, Ebr. Poesie, ii, 331; comp. Niemeyer, Charakterist. 4:356 sq.; Carpzov, Introd. 103 sq.; Eichhorn, Einl. v, 17 sq.); or he may have been the founder of a school of poets and musical composers, who were called after him " the sons of Asaph" (comp. the Homeridae). SEE PSALMS. The following is his ancestry (see Reinhard, De Asapho, Vien. 1742).
Name 1Ch 6; 1Ch 6 Born, cir.
B.C. Levi 1 16 1917 Gershom 20 43 1860? Libni 20 17 1805? Jahath 20 43 1750? Shimei 42 1695? Zimmah 20 42 1640? Joah 21
or Ethan 42 1585? Adaiah 41
or Iddo 21 1530? Zerah 21 41 1475? Ethni 41
or Jeaterai 21 1420? Malchiah 40 1365? Baaseiah 40 1310? Michael 40 1255? Shimea 39 1200? Berachiah 39 1145? Asaph 39 1090?
⇒See also the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia.
2. The "father" of Joah, which latter was "recorder" in the time of Hezekiah (2Ki 18:18,37; Isa 36:3,22). B.C. ante 726. Perhaps i. q. No. 1.
3. A "keeper of the king's forests" (prob. in Lebanon), to whom Nehemiah requested of Artaxerxes Longimanus an order for timber to rebuild the Temple at Jerusalem (Ne 2:8). B.C. 446.
