Asaph
Easton's Dictionary
Convener, or collector. (1.) A Levite; one of the leaders of David’s choir (1 Chr. 6:39). Psalms 50 and 73-83 inclusive are attributed to him. He is mentioned along with David as skilled in music, and a “seer” (2 Chr. 29:30). The “sons of Asaph,” mentioned in 1 Chr. 25:1, 2 Chr. 20:14, and Ezra 2:41, were his descendants, or more probably a class of poets or singers who recognized him as their master.
(2.) The “recorder” in the time of Hezekiah (2 Kings 18:18, 37).
(3.) The “keeper of the king’s forest,” to whom Nehemiah requested from Artaxerxes a “letter” that he might give him timber for the temple at Jerusalem (Neh. 2:8).
Smith's Dictionary
(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.