The Psalms of Asaph Lesson 1. Introduction

Transcription

1 The Psalms of Lesson 1 Introduction There is a prophet who wrote more of the Bible than thirteen of its well known authors yet is virtually unknown to the Church. He wrote about one of the most crucial periods in the history of Israel, the period which stretched from the last part of David s reign, through the reign of Solomon, and into the reign of Rehoboam. Unfortunately, few commentators will even acknowledge that wrote the Psalms the Bible says he wrote or that they are written about events that occurred during his life. One of his Psalms was quoted by Jesus Christ himself in the New Testament. However because the context of the Psalm is not acknowledged, Jesus meaning is not understood. I am not talking about liberal theologians here, but conservative commentators who claim to believe that what the Bible says is true. The first time I really made an intensive study of the twelve Psalms of (Psalms 50 & 73-83) I looked in all the Bible notes and reference books that were available to me to find out more about them, and their author. I learned from those sources that even though each of these Psalms was described as A Psalm of, they really weren t written by! You can imagine my surprise. I knew that the superscriptions of all the Psalms were overwhelmingly considered to be part of the original text and thus inspired by the Holy Spirit. So to assert that the superscriptions were wrong was tantamount to suggesting that the inspired word of God was in error. The sources I was looking at speculated that these Psalms were not written by as the superscription flatly stated, but were probably written by the descendants of over a period of at least 400 years. They seemed to believe that the superscription should have said Sons of like some of the Psalms say Sons of Korah. It always troubles me when the Bible says one thing, and experts contradict it. This is particularly so when those experts say they are believers in the inerrancy of scripture. Why should such modern scholars say these things, particularly when the experts of Hezekiah s time (circa 720 BC), a time much closer to the actual writing, seemed to regard the Psalms of as being written by one man, the seer. This was the record of 2 Chronicles: 2 Chronicles 29:30 King Hezekiah and his officials ordered the Levites to praise the LORD with the words of David and of the seer. 1 / 18

2 Every one of these Psalms has the clear inscription indicating that these were of. So, in denying his authorship, the commentators are ignoring the clear statement of scripture. would have been a likely candidate to have written the Psalms since he was the Director of Music at the tent where the Ark of the Covenant was kept in David s day and later Director of Music at the Temple in Solomon s day. However, as far as I could tell, the reason the commentators took this view was that the s Psalms 74 and 79 spoke of a destruction of the Temple. At least as early as the time of Calvin, commentators assumed that this destruction of the Temple was the one the Babylonians brought about in 585 BC. [a] If that assumption was true then Psalms 74 and 79 must necessarily have been written after 585 BC almost 410 years after the first mention of the historical in scripture, and the who wrote those Psalms could not have been the one who lived in David s time. If their assumption is true, I would have to concede the point that the who wrote Psalms 74 and 79 was not the of David s time. If I conceded that, I also would have to concede that his authorship of the rest of the Psalms of could be called into question. Unhappily, this left me with the unanswered question: How could the Scripture be wrong? None of the commentators I read ever addressed that point. Fortunately, that is not the end of the story. In later years my studies led me to do a lot of reading about the significance of the Temple. As I studied about all the desecrations the Temple underwent I began to see clearly that, as I show below, it was not the Babylonian destruction of the Temple which was in view in the Psalms 74 and 79. When did the events of Psalms 74 and 79 take place? At least as far back as Calvin most commentators have been insisting that Psalm 74 and 79 speak about the Babylonian destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem which took place in 585 BC. They seem to overlook the fact that Shishak s invasion accomplished the things that are described in those Psalms. As a result of thinking that these Psalms are speaking of the Babylonian destruction, they have asserted that the Psalms ascribed to must not have been written by him, but perhaps by some distant relative. Consequently, they are reluctant to ascribe any of the Psalms to the historical. I believe that to be the reason there is such a paucity of work on the connection of the person of to s Psalms. However, we should look carefully at the Biblical description of the invasion of Shishak. 1 Kings 14:25-26 In the fifth year of King Rehoboam (926 BC), Shishak king of Egypt 2 / 18

3 attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. 2 Chronicles 12:9-10 When Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem, he carried off the treasures of the temple of the LORD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Consider also the description of the Holy of Holies as made of carved wood overlaid with pure gold. 1 Kings 6:14-20 So Solomon built the temple and completed it. He lined its interior walls with cedar boards, paneling them from the floor of the temple to the ceiling, and covered the floor of the temple with planks of pine. He partitioned off twenty cubits at the rear of the temple with cedar boards from floor to ceiling to form within the temple an inner sanctuary, the Most Holy Place. The main hall in front of this room was forty cubits long. The inside of the temple was cedar, carved with gourds and open flowers. Everything was cedar; no stone was to be seen. He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the LORD there. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. We can conclude that when the Egyptians carried off all the treasures of the Temple they chopped the inner sanctuary to pieces and burned it to separate the gold from the wood just as was described by in our problem Psalm 74: Psalms 74:3-7 Turn your steps toward these everlasting ruins, all this destruction the enemy has brought on the sanctuary. Your foes roared in the place where you met with us; they set up their standards as signs. They behaved like men wielding axes to cut through a thicket of trees. They smashed all the carved paneling with their axes and hatchets. They burned your sanctuary to the ground; they defiled the dwelling place of your Name. 3 / 18

4 It is unlikely that the Egyptians would have left the Gold in the Holy of Holies undisturbed. The Jews evidently hid the Ark of the Covenant from the Egyptians and most of the portable Temple furniture, but the gold overlaid paneling of the sanctuary could not be hidden, nor much of the treasure. Psalm 79 the other one of our problem Psalms also describes the desecration of the Temple: Psalms 79:1 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple (invasion of Shishak), they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble ruin. [b] 2 Chronicles and Josephus give us some more information about the event: 2 Chronicles 12:1-8 After Rehoboam s position as king was established and he had become strong, he and all Israel with him abandoned the law of the LORD. Because they had been unfaithful to the LORD, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem in the fifth year of King Rehoboam. With twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen and the innumerable troops of Libyans, Sukkites and Cushites that came with him from Egypt, he captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. Then the prophet Shemaiah came to Rehoboam and to the leaders of Judah who had assembled in Jerusalem for fear of Shishak, and he said to them, This is what the LORD says, You have abandoned me; therefore, I now abandon you to Shishak. The leaders of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, The LORD is just. When the LORD saw that they humbled themselves, this word of the LORD came to Shemaiah: Since they have humbled themselves, I will not destroy them but will soon give them deliverance. My wrath will not be poured out on Jerusalem through Shishak. They will, however, become subject to him, so that they may learn the difference between serving me and serving the kings of other lands. Antiquities of the Jews, by Flavius Josephus, BOOK VIII, CHAPTER 10, and Verses 2b-3a. But God sent Shishak, king of Egypt, to punish them for their unjust behavior towards him, concerning whom Herodotus was mistaken, and applied his actions to Sesostris; for this Shishak, in the fifth year of the reign of Rehoboam, made an expedition [into Judea] with many ten thousand men; for he had one thousand two hundred chariots in number that followed him, and threescore thousand horsemen, and four hundred thousand footmen. These he brought with him, and they were the greatest part of them Libyans and Ethiopians. Now therefore when he fell upon the country of the Hebrews, he took the strongest cities of Rehoboam s kingdom without fighting; and when he had put garrisons in them, he came last of all to Jerusalem. Now when Rehoboam, and the multitude with him, were shut up in Jerusalem by the means of the army of Shishak, and when they besought God to give them victory and deliverance, they could not persuade God to be on their side. But 4 / 18

5 Shemaiah the prophet told them, that God threatened to forsake them, as they had themselves forsaken his worship. When they heard this, they were immediately in a consternation of mind; and seeing no way of deliverance, they all earnestly set themselves to confess that God might justly overlook them, since they had been guilty of impiety towards him, and had let his laws lie in confusion. So when God saw them in that disposition, and that they acknowledge their sins, he told the prophet that he would not destroy them, but that he would, however, make them servants to the Egyptians, that they may learn whether they will suffer less by serving men or God. So when Shishak had taken the city without fighting, because Rehoboam was afraid, and received him into it, yet did not Shishak stand to the covenants he had made, but he spoiled the temple, and emptied the treasures of God, and those of the king, and carried off innumerable ten thousands of gold and silver, and left nothing at all behind him. He also took away the bucklers of gold, and the shields, which Solomon the king had made; nay, he did not leave the golden quivers which David had taken from the king of Zobah, and had dedicated to God; and when he had thus done, he returned to his own kingdom. Now Herodotus of Halicarnassus mentions this expedition, having only mistaken the king's name; and [in saying that] he made war upon many other nations also, and brought Syria of Palestine into subjection, and took the men that were therein prisoners without fighting. Now it is manifest that he intended to declare that our nation was subdued by him; for he saith that he left behind him pillars in the land of those that delivered themselves up to him without fighting, and engraved upon them the secret parts of women. The last lines of this narrative give us a little insight into the line Psalms 79: Psalms 79:4 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. It is not unreasonable to suppose that after the Egyptians broke their promises and stormed the Temple that the Temple guards and Priests fought to save it and the Sacred objects at the cost of their lives. As a result the following lines: Psalms 79:10 Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants. What these Psalms were talking about was the desecration of the Temple by the Egyptians under Shishak. This destruction was not as complete as the Babylonian one, but it left only the outer walls standing, and stripped it of all of its treasures. This destruction took place when 5 / 18

6 was about 100 years old. Therefore, the doubt about s authorship of his Psalms is removed. He did write every one of his Psalms! They all spoke of things he had witnessed! The Bible is accurate. These simple facts revolutionize the understanding of the Psalms of. We can read them as the thoughts of the historical, speaking through the Holy Spirit, reflecting on his experiences, and his time. The Psalms of include Psalm 50 and Psalms 73 through 83. Even divorced from their author and their era, the Psalms of contain great truths. However, we lose so much of the meaning and relevance of their message when we don t read them in their proper context. I think you will find it makes a tremendous difference in understanding these Psalms. This has reinforced me in my belief that it is important to take the Bible at its word. If the Bible says Psalm of that s what it means! If it means to say that it was written by the descendants of a person, like Korah, it says Psalm of the Sons of Korah! (Ten Psalms are so designated) Who was? Have you ever been disillusioned with people? Have you ever had life just not work out the way you expected it to? Have you ever wondered why it seems the faithful suffer while the wicked prosper? Have you ever questioned God when it seemed like He wasn t keeping His promises? If so, you will want to learn about one of the great men of faith in the Bible who faced all of those tests and asked all those questions in his Psalms. His name was. Most Christians do not even recognize his name. Even those who recognize it do not seem to understand his importance. They probably just know he had something to do with the Psalms. It is recognized that was David s music director, and probably wrote much of the original music for David s Psalms (now lost), but much more importantly, he wrote twelve Psalms. He wrote more of the Bible than Peter, James, Jude, Jonah, Amos, Micah, Joel, Malachi, Zephaniah, Habakkuk, Nahum, Haggai, or Obadiah. Interestingly enough, if we take the time to dig it out, the Bible also tells us more about s life than it tells us about any other author of scripture except Moses, David, Samuel, and perhaps Isaiah, Hosea, and 6 / 18

7 Jeremiah. We know the times lived in (circa BC), from David s reign, through Solomon s to Rehoboam s. We know he lived in Jerusalem. We know that he worked as the director of music at David s Tent of Meeting and at Solomon s Temple. We also know a great deal about his personal and family life. We also know the great historical and spiritual events which were the context of s life. It is important to reconstruct s life because, without understanding his life and times, it is impossible to fully comprehend the faith amidst adversity that s Psalms reflect! Who was? I have included the scriptural support for much of this in the Appendix that I have attached at the end of this lesson. Here, however, I will include only a summary of the conclusions drawn from those passages. was a young Levite from the clan of Gershon, when David brought the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem in about 1000 to 995 BC. His father, Berekiah was appointed Doorkeeper of the Ark, and was so talented that David put him in charge of the music before the Ark of the Covenant. He was assisted there by his brother Zechariah. He was probably in his twenties at the time. [c] At that time the main tabernacle and the most senior priests and Levites were at Gibeon, but was in charge of the music in Jerusalem where the Ark and the King were. [d] We know that kept that position at least until the dedication of the Temple in Jerusalem almost forty years later. At that time the worship services of the Tent of Meeting and the Tabernacle were consolidated in the Temple, and the Ark of the Covenant was reinstalled in its rightful place in the Holy of Holies next to the Holy Place. served in Jerusalem for all of David s reign and undoubtedly set to music many of the Psalms that God gave David. He was in Jerusalem when God gave David the great promise that David would have a son who would be the Messiah, and reign forever. He had to have been very close to David. He was probably afflicted by a little hero worship of David. Who wouldn t have been? He also heard David tell the people and elders of Israel that his son Solomon was the answer to God s promise of a son who would build God s temple and establish a kingdom that would last forever. He saw the death of David, the accession of Solomon, and the building of the Temple. At that time he must have thought he was standing on the verge of Israel s Millenium. He was on the mountaintop! After Solomon s dedication of the Temple, saw Israel s Golden Age turn into something quite apart from what he expected. After a promising beginning, Solomon turned his back on God and pursued power, wealth, luxury, and human wisdom, [e] as well as worship of other gods. [f] To finance these pursuits the people were oppressed with slavery [g] and taxes. 7 / 18

8 [h] saw Solomon become a wicked man who entrusted the administration of his Kingdom to other wicked men. There is good reason to believe that during Solomon s reign, s brother Zechariah [i] was assassinated in the Temple by Solomon s agents. Neither nor Zechariah would keep silent about Solomon s wickedness. Zechariah paid the ultimate price. After Solomon s death,, now a very old man saw David s kingdom torn in two by God s decree. The northern part, restless under Solomon s punishing taxes and resentful at his wasteful luxury, rebelled and took Jeroboam as King, and the southern part, mostly the tribe of Judah, went with Rehoboam, Solomon s son. The northern kingdom rejected the Levites and the temple. After that, the Egyptians invaded, along with Israel s neighbors, took Jerusalem, burned and stripped the Temple, killed many of the priests, and left, mocking Israel, and Israel s God. Since many of s relatives served in the temple as either musicians or doorkeepers, many of them must have perished in this attack. In the winter of his years surveyed the wreckage of his hopes and the Golden Age. The Kingdom was destroyed, the Temple was in ruins, many of his own family had been killed, and Solomon as the Messiah had been exposed as a fraud! If there was ever a man who had an excuse for being disillusioned, was that man. David, his hero, had been used mightily by God in his earlier years. However in his last years, David deceived himself and the people about what God had told him about the promised forever-reigning Messiah. David had flatly told both Solomon and the people that Solomon was to be that man! Then Solomon, to whom God had spoken personally twice, and whom He had greatly blessed, turned from the wisdom and grace of God to the worship of idols and a philosophy more suited to Neitsche than the son of David. Pick almost any verse in Ecclesiastes for confirmation! Particularly memorable in Ecclesiastes the 27 times Solomon said something like: Ecclesiastes 1:2 Meaningless! Meaningless! says the Teacher. Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. Also Ecclesiastes 1:14, 2:1, 2:11, 2:15, 2:17, 2:19, 2:21, 2:23, 2:26, 3:19, 4:4, 4:7-8, 4:16, 5:7, 5:10, 6:2, 6:9, 6:12, 7:6, 7:15, 8:10, 8:14, 9:9, 11:8, 11:10, and 12:8. However, while they watched with dismay the apostasy of Solomon, and his family remained faithful to the truth. For recompense they became victims of violence and murder at the hands of the Solomon and the Egyptians. 8 / 18

9 Yet, through it all, found God s faithfulness a strong tower of hope. God revealed to the ultimate truth of what He had promised. It was not what man s ignorance and David s impatience sought, but what God s wisdom provided. And it was better! Oh, so much better! It was not Solomon! It was not Solomon s destroyed kingdom and burned Temple! It was not Solomon s worldly despairing wisdom! Life is not meaningless at all! It was not Solomon s corrupting and corruptible riches! It was Jesus Christ the Solomon (Prince of Peace) who was to come! It was His eternal Kingdom, His perfect wisdom, His true riches, and the Temple of His body! As you read the Psalms of you will see how much his Psalms speak to the events of his life and times. Psalm 73 reflects s bitterness at the murder of his brother. It also gives us a much needed commentary on what was happening in Israel in the years between the dedication of the Temple and the end of Solomon s reign. In the narration in Kings and Chronicles this period is almost a blank! Psalm 82 and 75 reflects s disillusionment with Solomon and his realization that Solomon was not the Prince of Peace that would come. Psalms 76 and 80 reflect s pain during the division of Solomon s kingdom when Rehoboam took Judah and Jeroboam took Ephraim and nine other tribes. Psalms 74 and 79 reflect s distress at the invasion of Shishak the king of Egypt. was an old man of at least a hundred years old when he wrote many of his Psalms. I have grouped the Psalms of into six categories. With that introduction, we will start the actual Psalms of in lesson 2. Appendix This Appendix documents what we know about. 1 Chronicles 6:31-47 shows that the Gershonite served as one of the three men in charge of the music at the tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting. It also shows that s father was Berekiah. The other two men in charge of the music were Heman the Kohathite (the grandson of Samuel) who was the chief and Ethan the Merarite (who was also called Jeduthun). [j] Each of these three men represented one of the three sons of Levi. 9 / 18

10 [k] 1 Chronicles 6:31-47 These are the men David put in charge of the music in the house of the LORD after the ark came to rest there. They ministered with music before the tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, until Solomon built the temple of the LORD in Jerusalem. They performed their duties according to the regulations laid down for them. Here are the men who served, together with their sons: From the Kohathites: Heman, the musician, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel, the son of Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Eliel, the son of Toah, the son of Zuph, the son of Elkanah, the son of Mahath, the son of Amasai, the son of Elkanah, the son of Joel, the son of Azariah, the son of Zephaniah, the son of Tahath, the son of Assir, the son of Ebiasaph, the son of Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel; and Heman s associate, who served at his right hand: son of Berekiah, the son of Shimea, the son of Michael, the son of Baaseiah, the son of Malkijah, the son of Ethni, the son of Zerah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei, the son of Jahath, the son of Gershon, the son of Levi; and from their associates, the Merarites, at his left hand: Ethan son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Amaziah, the son of Hilkiah, the son of Amzi, the son of Bani, the son of Shemer, the son of Mahli, the son of Mushi, the son of Merari, the son of Levi. s first function had been to provide the music for the procession which David organized to bring the Ark up to Jerusalem. This was shown in 1 Chronicles 15:1-28 (below). It also tells us that Zechariah was his next in rank. From this passage we know that Zechariah was it least his close relative, probably his brother. Their father Berekiah was the doorkeeper at the Ark. Finally, we learn that was stationed at Jerusalem with the Ark, while Heman and Jeduthun were stationed at Gibeon with the Tabernacle. The pertinent passage is below: 1 Chronicles 15:1-28 After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before him forever. David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the LORD to the place he had prepared for it. He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites: From the descendants of Kohath, Uriel the leader and 120 relatives; from the 10 / 18

11 descendants of Merari, Asaiah the leader and 220 relatives; from the descendants of Gershon, Joel the leader and 130 relatives ; from the descendants of Elizaphan, Shemaiah the leader and 200 relatives; from the descendants of Hebron, Eliel the leader and 80 relatives; from the descendants of Uzziel, Amminadab the leader and 112 relatives. Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way. So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD. David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their brothers as singers to sing joyful songs, accompanied by musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman son of Joel; from his brothers, son of Berekiah; and from their brothers the Merarites, Ethan son of Kushaiah; and with them their brothers next in rank: Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel, the gatekeepers. The musicians Heman, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals; Zechariah, Aziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah and Benaiah were to play the lyres according to alamoth, and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to sheminith. Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. Berekiah and Elkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah and Eliezer the priests were to blow trumpets before the ark of God. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also to be doorkeepers for the ark. So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the LORD, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the singers, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouts, 11 / 18

12 with the sounding of rams horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps. As the ark of the covenant of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart. They brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before God. After David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each Israelite man and woman. He appointed some of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, to make petition, to give thanks, and to praise the LORD, the God of Israel: was the chief, Zechariah second, then Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-Edom and Jeiel. They were to play the lyres and harps; was to sound the cymbals, and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow the trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. That day David first committed to and his associates this psalm of thanks to the LORD: a Give thanks to the LORD, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done. Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts. Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice. Look to the LORD and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he pronounced, [l] O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac. He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: To you I will give the land of Canaan as the portion you will inherit. When they were but few in number, few indeed, and strangers in it, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. He allowed no man to oppress them; for their sake he rebuked kings: Do not touch my anointed ones; do my prophets no harm. Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the LORD made the heavens. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy in his dwelling place. Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness. Tremble before him, all the earth! The world is firmly established; it cannot be moved. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The LORD reigns! Let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them! Then the trees of the forest will sing, they will sing for joy before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Cry out, Save us, O God our Savior; gather us and deliver us from the nations that we may give thanks to your holy name that we may glory in your praise. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, 12 / 18

13 from everlasting to everlasting. Then all the people said Amen and Praise the LORD. David left and his associates before the ark of the covenant of the LORD to minister there regularly, according to each day s requirements. He also left Obed-Edom and his sixty-eight associates to minister with them. Obed-Edom son of Jeduthun, and also Hosah, were gatekeepers. David left Zadok the priest and his fellow priests before the tabernacle of the LORD at the high place in Gibeon to present burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering regularly, morning and evening, in accordance with everything written in the Law of the LORD, which he had given Israel. With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and designated by name to give thanks to the LORD, for his love endures forever. Heman and Jeduthun were responsible for the sounding of the trumpets and cymbals and for the playing of the other instruments for sacred song. The sons of Jeduthun were stationed at the gate. Then all the people left, each for his own home, and David returned home to bless his family. 1 Chronicles 25:1-7 shows how some years later the mature sons of were set apart for the ministry of prophesying or teaching under the supervision of their father who also taught under the supervision of David. 1 Chronicles 25:1-7 David, together with the commanders of the army, set apart some of the sons of, Heman and Jeduthun for the ministry of prophesying, accompanied by harps, lyres and cymbals. Here is the list of the men who performed this service: From the sons of : Zaccur, Joseph, Nethaniah and Asarelah. The sons of were under the supervision of, who prophesied under the king s supervision. As for Jeduthun, from his sons: Gedaliah, Zeri, Jeshaiah, Shimei, Hashabiah and Mattithiah, six in all, under the supervision of their father Jeduthun, who prophesied, using the harp in thanking and praising the LORD. As for Heman, from his sons: Bukkiah, Mattaniah, Uzziel, Shubael and Jerimoth; Hananiah, Hanani, Eliathah, Giddalti and Romamti-Ezer; Joshbekashah, Mallothi, Hothir and Mahazioth. All these were sons of 13 / 18

14 Heman the king s seer. They were given him through the promises of God to exalt him. God gave Heman fourteen sons and three daughters. All these men were under the supervision of their fathers for the music of the temple of the LORD, with cymbals, lyres and harps, for the ministry at the house of God., Jeduthun and Heman were under the supervision of the king. Along with their relatives --all of them trained and skilled in music for the LORD--they numbered 288. We know that at the beginning of the Temple worship in 963 BC was in the same position: 2 Chronicles 5:1-14 When all the work Solomon had done for the temple of the LORD was finished, he brought in the things his father David had dedicated--the silver and gold and all the furnishings--and he placed them in the treasuries of God s temple. Then Solomon summoned to Jerusalem the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes and the chiefs of the Israelite families, to bring up the ark of the LORD s covenant from Zion, the City of David. And all the men of Israel came together to the king at the time of the festival in the seventh month. When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the Levites took up the ark, and they brought up the ark and the Tent of Meeting and all the sacred furnishings in it. The priests, who were Levites, carried them up; and King Solomon and the entire assembly of Israel that had gathered about him were before the ark, sacrificing so many sheep and cattle that they could not be recorded or counted. The priests then brought the ark of the LORD s covenant to its place in the inner 14 / 18

15 sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place, and put it beneath the wings of the cherubim. The cherubim spread their wings over the place of the ark and covered the ark and its carrying poles. These poles were so long that their ends, extending from the ark, could be seen from in front of the inner sanctuary, but not from outside the Holy Place; and they are still there today. There was nothing in the ark except the two tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt. The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians--, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives --stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: He is good; his love endures forever. Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God. We know from the contents of the Psalms of that survived at least until after the breakup of the Kingdom and the invasion of Shishak with the attendant devastation of the Temple. 15 / 18

16 [a] You will note that 2 Chronicles 29:30, quoted above, expressly states that s Psalms were written well before the Babylonian destruction of the Temple. [b] It hardly need be stated that if the Egyptians looted the Temple, that they also looted the entire city with all of its palaces. [c] Though in the beginning under Moses the age of Levites who served was 30 to 50 years, under David it was 20. Numbers 4:1-3 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: Take a census of the Kohathite branch of the Levites by their clans and families. Count all the men from thirty to fifty years of age who come to serve in the work in the Tent of Meeting. 1 Chronicles 23:24 These were the descendants of Levi by their families--the heads of families as they were registered under their names and counted individually, that is, the workers twenty years old or more who served in the temple of the LORD. If s father was young enough to serve as doorkeeper (under 50), it is likely that that was under 30, but at least 20. [d] For the first thirty years, was technically under Heman, but Heman ministered at the tabernacle in Gibeon, while ministered at the tent of meeting where the Ark of the Covenant was located on Mount Zion next door to David s palace in Jerusalem. [e] Ecclesiastes 1:17-18 Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned that this, too, is a chasing after the wind. For with much wisdom comes much sorrow; the more knowledge, the more grief. 16 / 18

17 Ecclesiastes 2:1-3 I thought in my heart, Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good. But that also proved to be meaningless. Laughter, I said, is foolish. And what does pleasure accomplish? I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly--my mind still guiding me with wisdom. Ecclesiastes 2:4 I undertook great projects. Ecclesiastes 2:7a I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. Ecclesiastes 2:7b I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me. Ecclesiastes 2:8a I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. Ecclesiastes 2:8b I acquired men and women singers, and a harem as well--the delights of the heart of man. [f] 1 Kings 11:5-10 He followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and offered sacrifices to their gods. The LORD became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD s command. [g] 1 Kings 9: / 18

18 [h] 1 Kings 5:13,12:4 [i] He was the man Jesus referred to in Matthew 23:32-35 and Luke 11: He certainly fits the profile of the anonymous author who wrote Psalms 94. [j] Two Psalms were written by Ethan the Ezrahite (Psalm 89) and Heman the Ezrahite (Psalm 88). They were not the men who were associates of. (See Appendix 5) They were contemporaries of Solomon who were both Ezrahites and sons of Mahol. (1 Kings 4:31) [k] Geneis 46:11 a This first part of this Psalm as carried in 1 Chronicles 16:8-22 is identical with Psalm 105:1-15. In Psalm 105 it is the author ship is not ascribed. [l] returns to this theme repeatedly. Psalms 77:11, Psalms 78: / 18