Psalm 39

Psalm 39

“I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me, While I was musing the fire burned: Then spake I with my tongue, Lord, Make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; That I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; And mine age is as nothing before thee: Verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: Surely they are disquieted in vain: He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Deliver me from all my transgressions: Make me not the reproach of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; Because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand: When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, Thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: Surely every man is vanity. Selah. Hear my prayer, O Lord, And give ear unto my cry; Hold not thy peace at my tears: For I am a stranger with thee, And a sojourner, as all my fathers were. O spare me, that I may recover strength, Before I go hence, and be no more.”

Who is the chief musician?

Jeduthun- †יְדוּתוּן S3038 TWOT847c GK3349, יְדֻתוּן n.pr.m. usually יְדוּתוּן; יְדֻתוּן 2 Ch 5:12; 35:15; יְדיּ֯תוּן ψ 39:1; 77:1; Ne 11:17; 1 Ch 16:38; chief of one of the three choirs of the temple (only Chr & ψ-titles) 1 Ch 9:16; 16:38, 41, 42; 25:3(×3), 6 2 Ch 5:12; the king’s seer 35:15; his descendants formed one of the perpetual temple choirs בְּנֵי יְדוּתוּן 1 Ch 16:42; 25:1, 3 2 Ch 29:14; בֶּן־יְדיּ֯תוּן Ne 11:17. In ψ-titles על ידותון ψ 62:1, 77:1 (Qr); לִידיּתוּן 39:1 (לְ error for על־), all = after the manner of (the choir of) Yeduthun (musical term according to RSOTJC 442, 2nd ed. 143).—v. also LagOr ii. 16ff. and n.pr. אָסָף, הֵימָן (sub אמן), אֵיתָן (sub יתן).

LORD Himself

choir leaders, such as Herman or Asaph- 1 Chr. 6:33; 16:4-7; 25:6-

Different Songs, Different Leaders:

Spurgeon: “David left this somewhat sorrowful ode in Jeduthun's hands because he thought him most fit to set it to music, or because he would distribute the sacred honor of song among all the musicians who in their turn presided in the choir.”

Asaph

Heman

Jeduthun- Ps 39, 62, 77

a seer- 2 Chr. 35:15; leaders in worship as prophets with musical accompaniment

2 Chronicles 35:15 KJV 1900

And the singers the sons of Asaph were in their place, according to the commandment of David, and Asaph, and Heman, and Jeduthun the king’s seer; and the porters waited at every gate; they might not depart from their service; for their brethren the Levites prepared for them.

list of leaders include Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun or Asaph, Heman, and Ethan- was either a different person or the same person; Ethan was his name; Jeduthun was a “by-name” or an occupational name he wore (see 1 Chr 25:1 3, 6; 2 Chr. 5:12; 29:14; 35:15)

Obed-Edom was his son

scripture indicates that Jeduthun’s family arranged music and sang after the exile: In the first of these the title is simply ‘to (le) Jeduthun’, but in the other two it is ‘al Jeduthun’, which may mean ‘according to’ or ‘over’; if the latter, Jeduthun there means the family or guild of singers called after him. The family continued to officiate after the Exile (Ne. 11:17).

MacLeod, M. A. 1996. “Jeduthun.” In New Bible Dictionary, edited by D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman, 3rd ed., 545. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press.