Ethan () the Ezrahite, is mentioned in the

Hebrew Bible The Hebrew Bible or Tanakh (;"Tanach"
. '' Psalm The Book of Psalms ( , ; ; ; ; , in Islam also called Zabur, ), also known as the Psalter, is the first book of the third section of the Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) called ('Writings'), and a book of the Old Testament. The book is an anthology of H ...

is entitled "a '' maschil'' or contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite". Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon theorised that this was the same person as Jeduthun. Theologian John Gill refers to a Jewish tradition which identifies Ethan with

Abraham Abraham (originally Abram) is the common Hebrews, Hebrew Patriarchs (Bible), patriarch of the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. In Judaism, he is the founding father who began the Covenant (biblical), covenanta ...

, Heman with

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

, and Chalcol with Joseph. Ethan means "strong and optimistic, solid and enduring, permanent". The name Ethan appears eight times in the Hebrew Bible ( 1 Kings 4:31, Psalm. 89 title, 1 Chronicles. 2:6 and 2:8, 1 Chronicles. 6:42 and 6:44, and 1 Chronicles. 15:17 and 15:19). He was a standard of wisdom to whom King

Solomon Solomon (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

is compared favorably. Called there "Ethan the Ezrahite," to whom the title of Psalm 89 ascribes the authorship of that poem. A "son of Kishi" or "Kishaiah," of the Merarite branch of Levites, and also, with Heman and Asaph, placed by King David over the service of song (1 Chronicles 6:44; 1 Chronicles 15:17, 19). An ancestor of Asaph of the Gershonite branch of the Levites (1 Chronicles 6:42).

In literature

Ethan is the protagonist and narrator of

Stefan Heym Helmut Flieg (10 April 1913 – 16 December 2001) was a German writer, known by his pseudonym Stefan Heym (). He lived in the United States and trained at Camp Ritchie in 1943, making him one of the Ritchie Boys of World War II. In 1952, he r ...

's 1973 historical novel ''The King David Report''. As depicted by Heym, Ethan is commissioned by the newly enthroned King Solomon to write an official history of his father, King David. Ethan meets and interviews many persons who were associated with David at various periods of the late King's life. However, much of the material gathered by Ethan gets censored out for political reasons by Solomon and his ministers; the royally-approved surviving portions of Ethan's report eventually get into the Bible, forming the later chapters of the

Books of Samuel The Book of Samuel () is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Samuel) in the Old Testament. The book is part of the Deuteronomistic history, a series of books (Book of Joshua, Joshua, Book of Judges, Judges, Samuel, and Books of ...

and the early ones of the

Books of Kings The Book of Kings (, ''Sefer (Hebrew), Sēfer Malik, Məlāḵīm'') is a book in the Hebrew Bible, found as two books (1–2 Kings) in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. It concludes the Deuteronomistic history, a history of ancient Is ...

. Heym clearly used the biblical setting as a metaphor for his own situation as a writer in

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

's Communist regime.

References

External links

''International Standard Bible Encyclopedia'': Ethan
10th-century BCE Hebrew people Psalms people {{Tanakh-stub

In literature

See also

References

External links