Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASAPH

(Heb. ʾāsāp)

1. The father of Joah, state recorder or “herald” for King Hezekiah (2 Kgs. 18:18, 37 = Isa. 36:3, 22) and one of three officials who met with the Assyrians during the siege of Jerusalem.

2. Son of Berechiah the Levite; eponymous ancestor of one of the prominent guilds of singers and musicians. Asaph, together with Heman and Jeduthun, was put in charge of “the service of the song” by David (1 Chr. 6:39[MT 24]; cf. 25:1; 2 Chr. 5:12). He was appointed by David as “the chief” minister before the ark of the Lord in Jerusalem (1 Chr. 16:4-5; cf. 25:5, where Heman is preeminent), and is referred to once as “the seer” (Heb. ḥōzeh; 2 Chr. 29:30). The “sons of Asaph” are said to have “prophesied under the direction of the king” during David’s reign (1 Chr. 25:1-2), and later descendants took prominence as a guild of temple singers in postexilic times (Ezra 2:41 [= Neh. 7:44; 1 Esdr. 5:27]; Neh. 11:22). The superscriptions of 12 psalms are annotated “of Asaph” (Pss. 50, 73-83), which likely indicates that they were composed in the style or tradition of Asaph. Suggestions that the psalms are of northern Israelite origins or belong to the “Ephraimite tradition” are appealing but speculative.

Bibliography. M. J. Buss, “The Psalms of Asaph and Korah,” JBL 82 (1963): 382-92; H. P. Nasuti, Tradition History and the Psalms of Asaph. SBLDS 88 (Atlanta, 1988).

3. “The sons of Asaph,” one of the divisions of gatekeepers in the second temple (1 Chr. 26:1). Heb. ʾeḇyāsāp should be read as Abiasaph.

4. The keeper of King Artaxerxes’ forest or park (Neh. 2:8). He was asked by the king to send timber for the rebuilding of the temple and city walls.

Tyler F. Williams

Prayer Tents Bible References - Prayer Tents

ASAPH

Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible (2000)