Asaph

Twelve Psalms (50, 73–83) refer to Asaph in their titles. They are widely regarded by scholars as a coherent group of Psalms written in reaction to the exile of 586 BCE, though Psalm 50 seems out of place. According to Chronicles, Asaph had responsibilities for the Ark (1 Chr 15:17, 19; 16:37) and for the music used in the Temple (1 Chr 6:39; 16.5, 7; 25:6, 9; 2 Chr 5:12; 35:15; Neh 12:46) in the reign of David. He is also twice spoken of in prophetic terms (1 Chr 25:2 ‘Asaph who prophesied’; 2 Chr 29:30 ‘the words of Asaph the seer [ḥazon]’). There are no references to him elsewhere, and the predominance of references in Chronicles and Nehemiah (composed after 400 BCE), with no parallels in the earlier books of Kings, suggests evidence of the reading back into earlier history of a functionary who was in reality of some standing in the post-exilic service of the restored Temple.

Additional references to the family of Asaph cover similar ground. They appear in the service of the Temple (1 Chr 9:15; 26:1; 2 Chr 29:13) and its music (1 Chr 25:1, 2; 2 Chr 35:15; Ezra 2:41; 3:10; Neh 7:44; 11:22; 12:35; specifically leading ‘thanksgiving in prayer’ in Neh 11:17). One descendant is presented as prophesying under the spirit of God (2 Chr 20:14-17).

Two other, presumably unrelated, individuals of the same name are cited: Asaph the scribe in 2 Kgs 18:18, 37 = Isa 36:3, 22, and Asaph the ‘keeper of the king’s forest’ in Neh 2:8.

The Hebrew root ’sp is associated with ‘binding’, ‘gathering’ or ‘harvesting’, which might suggest the English name Gatherer for Asaph.

Firth, D. G. “Asaph and Sons of Korah.” Pages 24-27 in Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry & Writings. Edited by Tremper Longman III & Peter Enns. A Compendium of Contemporary Biblical Scholarship. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press; Nottingham, England: InterVarsity Press, 2008.