Asaph

(collector of the people).

• A Levite, son of Berechiah, one of the leaders of David’s choir. (1 Chronicles 6:39) Psalms 50 and 73-83 are attributed to him; and he was in after times celebrated as a seer as well as a musical composer. (2 Chronicles 29:30; Nehemiah 12:46) (B.C. 1050.)
• The father or ancestor of Joah, the chronicler to the kingdom of Judah in the reign of Hezekiah, (2 Kings 18:18,37; Isaiah 36:3,22) probably the same as the preceding.
• The keeper of the royal forest or “paradise” of Artaxerxes, (Nehemiah 2:8) a Jew, in high office at the court of Persia. (B.C. 536.)
• Ancestor of Mattaniah, the conductor of the temple-choir after the return from Babylon. (1 Chronicles 9:16; Nehemiah 11:17) Most probably the same as 1 and 2.