Psalms of Asaph

Twelve psalms have a heading that names Asaph: Psalm 50 and Psalms 73 to 83. Together they run to 262 verses, from 8 verses in Psalm 82 to 72 verses in Psalm 78. They sit in two places. Psalm 50 stands alone in Book 2, and Psalms 73 to 83 open Book 3, where they make up 11 of its 17 psalms. The heading is an old note attached to each psalm. It links the psalm to Asaph, but it is not proof that Asaph wrote every word.

The table lists all twelve with their verse counts and type. The sections below explain who Asaph was, using only what Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah say about him, and then what the Asaph psalms tend to talk about.

Outside the Psalms, Asaph appears as a Levite musician. 1 Chronicles 6:39 to 43 traces his family line back to Levi through Gershom, and 6:31 says these men were set over the service of song in the LORD's house. 1 Chronicles 15:17 and 15:19 name him with Heman and Ethan as singers who sounded bronze cymbals. In 16:5 he is called the chief, and 16:7 says David first ordained giving thanks to the LORD by the hand of Asaph and his brothers. The song that follows in 16:8 opens with almost the same words as Psalm 105:1. 2 Chronicles 29:30 calls him Asaph the seer and has the Levites, at King Hezekiah's command, sing praises with the words of David and of Asaph.

Twelve psalm headings name Asaph, so the careful answer is that twelve psalms are attributed to him. The headings read "A Psalm by Asaph", "A contemplation by Asaph" or, for Psalm 81, simply "By Asaph". A heading records an old link between a psalm and a name. It does not settle who held the pen. The Bible also speaks of "the sons of Asaph", a family of singers. 1 Chronicles 25:1 and 25:2 set some of them apart to prophesy with harps, stringed instruments and cymbals. Ezra 2:41 and Nehemiah 7:44 list the children of Asaph among the singers, so the name stayed attached to a whole family of singers.

Many of the twelve deal with God as judge and with the troubles of the nation. Psalm 50 and Psalm 82 are courtroom scenes, with God speaking against his own people and then against unjust rulers. Psalms 74, 79, 80 and 83 are community laments over a ruined sanctuary, a defiled temple, Jerusalem laid in heaps and hostile neighbours. Psalm 80 repeats one prayer, "Turn us again, God", at verses 3, 7 and 19. Psalms 77, 78 and 81 look back to the exodus from Egypt. Psalm 73 is more personal. The writer envied the prosperity of the wicked, until he entered God's sanctuary and considered their end.

Two Asaph psalms are quoted in the Gospels. Matthew 13:35 applies Psalm 78:2, "I will open my mouth in a parable", to the way Jesus taught in parables. In John 10:34 Jesus quotes Psalm 82:6, "You are gods". Other lines in the group stand on their own. Psalm 50:10 says every animal of the forest belongs to God, "the cattle upon a thousand hills" in the KJV. Psalm 73 ends with "God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever" (verse 26) and "it is good for me to come close to God" (verse 28).