Levite singers and musicians

According to Chronicles, David organized Levites as temple musicians: 4,000 of them were to praise “with the instruments I have made” (1 Chronicles 23:5). Three families led them — those of Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun (also called Ethan), one from each of the three Levite clans. With their relatives, 288 men “trained and skillful in the songs of the LORD”, were divided by lot into 24 groups of twelve, “young and old alike, teacher as well as pupil” (1 Chronicles 25:7–8). The musicians were exempt from other duties, “because they were on duty day and night” (1 Chronicles 9:33). Heman had fourteen sons and three daughters.

The family names lived on. Asaph’s stands in the titles of Psalms 50 and 73–83, and Jeduthun’s in Psalms 39, 62 and 77. Among those who came back from Babylon were 128 singers, descendants of Asaph (Ezra 2:41), and the singers built villages for themselves around Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12:29). Their skill was valued abroad too: an inscription of Sennacherib lists male and female musicians among the tribute Hezekiah sent to Nineveh. By later rabbinic tradition, no fewer than twelve Levites sang at each temple service.