Jeduthun

Jeduthun belongs to the company of Levitical musicians David sets apart for worship at the house of Yahweh. He surfaces in two settings: the chronicler's lists of temple singers, and the superscriptions of three psalms that mark a tune or guild associated with his name.

A Musician of the Temple

Jeduthun stands beside Heman and Asaph as one of the three chief musicians appointed when the ark is brought up and worship is reorganized under David. He is named among those set apart "to give thanks to Yahweh, because his loving-kindness [endures] forever" (1Ch 16:41).

The reorganization in 1 Chronicles 25 places Jeduthun and his sons within a larger guild whose work is musical prophecy: "Moreover David and the captains of the host set apart for the service certain of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals" (1Ch 25:1). His sons serve "under the hands of their father for song in the house of Yahweh, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God; Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman being under the order of the king" (1Ch 25:6).

Cross-Reference with Ethan

Jeduthun is sometimes paired with Ethan, a Merarite Levite. The two cross-referenced verses name Ethan, not Jeduthun: among the sons of Merari stands "Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch" (1Ch 6:44), and among David's appointed singers "of the sons of Merari their brothers, Ethan the son of Kushaiah" (1Ch 15:17). In both passages Ethan occupies the third musician's slot beside Heman and Asaph — the same slot Jeduthun holds in 1 Chronicles 16 and 25. The chronicler does not state the equation in either verse; the connection rests on the parallel placement.

Titles of the Psalms

Three psalms carry Jeduthun's name in their superscription, marking either the dedicatee or the manner of performance.

Psalm 39 opens, "For the Chief Musician, for Jeduthun. A Psalm of David," and turns at once to the discipline of speech: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, / That I don't sin with my tongue: / I will keep my mouth with a bridle, / While the wicked is before me" (Ps 39:1).

Psalm 62 is set "after the manner of Jeduthun. A Psalm of David," and answers with the discipline of waiting: "My soul waits in silence for God only: / From him [comes] my salvation" (Ps 62:1).

Psalm 77, also "after the manner of Jeduthun" but "A Psalm of Asaph," opens with the cry that the guild's tune carries forward into a different psalmist's hand: "I will cry to God with my voice, / Even to God with my voice; and he will give ear to me" (Ps 77:1).