Heman the Ezrahite ( he, ''Hēmān hā’Ezrāḥī'') is the author of
Psalm 88
Psalm 88 is the 88th psalm from the Book of Psalms. According to the title, it is a "psalm of the sons of Korah" as well as a " maskil of Heman the Ezrahite". In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bibl ...
in the
Hebrew Bible
The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;["Tanach"](_blank)
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. Hebrew: ''Tān ...
, according to the Psalm's colophon.
B. Bava Batra connects the name Heman to the semitic root
אמנ meaning "trusted," while
CYDA speculates it is from
נתן and means "given." It is found sixteen times in the
New International Version of the Bible. The ethnonym is sometimes understood to mean "of
Zerah
Zerah or Zérach ( / "sunrise" Standard Hebrew ''Zéraḥ'' / ''Záraḥ'', Tiberian Hebrew ''Zéraḥ'' / ''Zāraḥ'') refers to several different people in the Hebrew Bible.For the etymology see
An Edomite
Zerah was the name of an Edomite ch ...
," with the
aleph
Aleph (or alef or alif, transliterated ʾ) is the first letter of the Semitic abjads, including Phoenician , Hebrew , Aramaic , Syriac , Arabic ʾ and North Arabian 𐪑. It also appears as South Arabian 𐩱 and Ge'ez .
These letter ...
prosthetic, to mean "of Ezrah," or, alternatively, to mean "the native" who founded a tradition of bards.
Heman the Ezrahite may be one of the three
Levites
Levites (or Levi) (, he, ''Lǝvīyyīm'') are Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from the Tribe of Levi. The Tribe of Levi descended from Levi, the third son of Jacob and Leah. The surname ''Halevi'', which consists of the Hebrew de ...
assigned by King
David
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
to be ministers of music. This Heman was a grandson of
Samuel the prophet who went on to become King David's seer and to have fourteen sons and three daughters.
Works
Psalm 88 seems to have been written in a state of despair. According to Martin Marty, a professor of church history at the University of Chicago, Psalm 88 is “a wintry landscape of unrelieved bleakness.”
Nevertheless, the appeal to God in Psalm 88 begins with the following expression of faith: "O Yahweh, God of my salvation!" Three times (vss. 1, 9, and 13) the psalmist calls on the name of Yahweh. The psalmist accompanies each invocation with a reference to his perseverance in prayer. For example, in verse nine he declares, "I call on you, O Yahweh, every day."
See also
*
Ethan (biblical figure)
Ethan () the Ezrahite, is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. Ethan was a singer at King David's court well known for his wisdom. He authored : this Psalm is entitled "a ''maschil'' or contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite". Baptist preacher Charles Spu ...
In literature
Madeleine L'Engle has a poem called "Herman the Ezragite: Psalm 88:18" in her collection ''A Cry Like a Bell.''
In it, she imagines the feelings of Heman (Herman) that led him to write Psalm 88.
References
Hebrew Bible people
Psalms
Samuel
Tribe of Levi
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