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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comFausset Bible Dictionary: Heman
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1. ; . Probably the same as 2; though a Levite by birth he was reckoned in the family of Zerah, of Judah, as dwelling among them.
2. Grandson of Samuel; a Kohathite (-38; ). Colleague of Asaph and Ethan or Jeduthun ("the praise man") in arranging the vocal and instrumental music of the temple service, under David "after that the ark had rest" (-22; -3). (See ASAPH; ETHAN.) Lord A. Hervey makes Heman 14th in descent from Levi. Called "the king's seer in the matters (words) of God, to lift up the horn," inheriting by God's gift the spirit of prophecy of his grandfather. Heman had 14 sons and three daughters.
The sons were each the head of one of the 25 wards of Levites, "instructed in the songs of the Lord." Heman the Kohathite probably, or his father, married an heiress of the house of Zerah (See ZERAH, 1), and so, though by birth son of Joel, he is legally called the Ezrahite or son of Zerah in the title of Psalm 88, as Ethan is named the author in the title of Psalm 89, and other psalms have Asaph in the title. Not that Psalm 89, was actually by Heman; it was by "sons of Korah" who attributed the authorship to Heman by way of honour (Hengstenberg).