ASAPH (Hebrew «gatherer»). - Head of one of the three groups of Temple singers and a sacred poet in the time of David.
According to the genealogical tree of I Chron. 6:39-43, he was a Levite of the line of Gershon (v.). He appears first placed after the "brother" (kinsman) Heman the singer (I Chron. 6:39; 15:19, order of the names: Heman, A., Ethan). Later A. was the head and preceded Heman and Jeduthun (ibid. 6:5; 25:1). He was the first of the musicians, who, divided into three categories, depended directly on David (ibid. 25:5-6). The particular instrument assigned to A. and his group was the cymbal (mēṣiltajjīm, ibid. 15:19; 16:5; cf. 25:1). The descendants of A. are remembered as the continuers of their father's work (II Chron. 20:14; 29:13; 35:15; Ezra 2:45 among those returning from exile; 3:10; Neh. 7:45; 11:17, 22).
Besides being the musical performer of David's psalms (I Chron. 16:7), A. was also an inspired composer: under Hezekiah the Levites praised the Lord "with the words of David and of the seer A." (II Chron. 29:30). His name appears in the title of twelve psalms (v.) of a didactic and meditative character (Ps. 49 [50], then the homogeneous collection 72 [73] - 82 [83]). But the subject matter of certain "psalms of A." betrays a later origin: 73 (74) and 78 (79) refer to the destruction of Jerusalem (587); 75 (76) fits the deliverance from Sennacherib's siege (Is. 37:36 ff.); 79 (80) reveals a great national tribulation; 82 (83) seems to allude to the coalition of Moab and Ammon against Jehoshaphat king of Judah (II Chron. 20:1). Perhaps such compositions belong to some descendant of A., who inherited along with the profession the poetic genius (cf. Neh. 11:17, 22).
Three other A.s occur in the Old Testament: the father of Joab the annalist of Hezekiah's court (II Kings 18:18, 37; Is. 36:3, 22), a Levite who was head of the singers under Nehemiah (Neh. 11:17), the chief keeper of the royal forests of Artaxerxes (ibid. 2:8).