King David, Asaph and some of their fellow Israelites
And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, And said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the LORD our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order. So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD God of Israel. And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD. And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their brethren to be the singers with instruments of musick, psalteries and harps and cymbals, sounding, by lifting up the voice with joy. So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; And with them their brethren of the second degree, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, the porters. So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass; And Zechariah, and Aziel,and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, and Eliab, and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries on Alamoth; And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith to excel.-1 Chronicles 15:11-21***Laban the Syrian (Aramean) and Rebekah were born to Bethuel the Syrian (Aramean). Bethuel was born to Nahor (Nachor) and his wife Milcah. Nahor, Abraham (Abram the Hebrew) and Sarah (Sarai) were siblings and Milcah was their niece. Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and his 90-year-old wife Sarah. When Isaac was 40 years old, he became Rebekah's husband. Fraternal twin sons Esau (Edom) and Jacob (Israel) were born to 60-year-old Isaac and Rebekah. In Padan Aram, Haran, Jacob was married to Laban's daughters Leah and Rachel. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Joseph was the 1st son born to Jacob and Rachel. During Jacob's 20th year in Haran, he began journeying home to Canaan with his family, servants, animals, and possessions. Near Bethlehem, Benjamin was born to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel died. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers sold him to merchants traveling to Egypt and led Jacob to believe that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, and Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, proclaimed him second-in-command. Jacob was 130 years old when he moved with his family from Canaan to Egypt. In Egypt, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons, and the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim. Sometime after 147-year-old Jacob died in Egypt, and Jacob's family buried his body in Canaan, and 110-year-old Joseph and his siblings were dead, their descendants the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brothers Aaron and Moses were born into the tribe of Levi. When Moses was 80 years old and Aaron was 83, the Lord God sent them to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to get the Israelites and their animals and go worship the Lord God. Moreover, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to bless him. Before Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, away from Egypt, across the divinely parted Red Sea, and into the desert wilderness of Shur, the Israelites asked for and were given an abundance of valuable goods, fulfilling the words that the Lord God spoke to Abraham. In the desert wilderness of Sinai, in the region of Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the voice of the Lord God proclaim the Ten Commandments to them, and the Lord God began giving Moses judgments, statutes and laws for the Israelites, and the Lord God made a covenant with the Israelites, and the Israelites said they would obey the words of the Lord God. When Moses was upon Mount Sinai 40 days and nights with the Lord God, the Lord God gave Moses commands about the offering willing Israelites were to bring, and the Lord God described to Moses and showed Moses the likeness of the tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the other sacred items the Israelites were commanded to make, and the Lord God told Moses that only Aaron, and Aaron's sons and the sons born to their descendants were to serve the Lord God as priests. Meanwhile, the Israelites thought they were abandoned and told Aaron to make gods to lead them. Aaron told the Israelites to bring him their gold earrings, and Aaron made a golden calf that the Israelites worshiped and Moses burned and ground. Before the Israelites left the Sinai region, the Lord God spoke to Moses about the Levites, the Israelites in the tribe of Levi, and the duties for each Levitical clan, the Kohathites, the Gershonites, and the Merarites, from the sons Kohath, Gershon and Merari born to Levi. Among their duties, the Kohathites were to carry the covered ark of the covenant, by its poles, upon their shoulders, to the next location. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. When Moses went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. In Canaan, the Israelites placed the tabernacle in Shiloh. After 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, the Israelites were led by elders, judges and their own minds. When the Israelites were being beaten by the Philistines, the Israelite elders told the other Israelites to bring the ark of the covenant out of the tabernacle in Shiloh to the battlefield. The Philistines were frightened as the earth shook from the loud shouting of the Israelites watching the ark being brought into the camp. However, the Philistines were victorious when they refocused, and the Philistines took the ark of the covenant of the Lord to Ashdod, a principal Philistine city. After the Lord God caused damage in Ashdod, the Philistines sent the ark of the covenant of the Lord to Gath, and Ekron before seeking advice and sending the ark of the covenant of the Lord to the Israelites. Men in Beth-shemesh who looked inside the ark of the covenant were struck down by the Lord God, and the inhabitants of Beth-shemesh told the Israelites in Kirjath-jearim to come get the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The Israelites in Kirjath-jearim (Kirjath-baal/Baalah) brought the ark from Beth-shemesh to the home of Abinadab. When Samuel the priest, prophet and judge from the tribe of Levi was elderly, and his sons Joel (Vashni) and Abiah (Abijah) were not obeying the commands of the Lord God, and King Nahash and his Ammonite army were preparing to attack, the Israelite elders demanded that Samuel appoint a king to lead them, and Samuel anointed Saul, from the tribe of Benjamin, to reign, according to the command of the Lord God. At Gibeah of God (the hill of God), the Spirit of God came upon Saul. At least twice, Saul did not obey the commands of the Lord God. Samuel told Saul that the Lord God rejected Saul from being king and had torn the kingdom from Saul. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that the Lord God sent Samuel to Bethlehem to anoint David, a man after God's own heart, to reign as king, and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David, and the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul. After Saul heard about David's skills, strength, appearance, and favor with the Lord God, Saul commanded that David's father Jesse send David to him, and David began serving as a musician and an armor-bearer for Saul. Amid the Valley of Elah, David killed and beheaded Goliath the gigantic Philistine from Gath. David and Jonathan, Saul's son, made a covenant. The Israelite women sang of David higher than they sang of Saul, and Saul was angry. Saul wanted to kill David, and became afraid of David, and sent David on missions to get killed, and commanded others, including Jonathan, to kill David. Saul's daughter Michal was married to David and helped David escape from their home. After the Philistines killed Jonathan and his brothers Malchishua and Abindab (Ishui?), and Saul's self-inflicted death on the same battlefield, men from the tribe of Judah anointed 30-year-old David, and David began to reign only over the tribe of Judah. Saul's son Ishbosheth (Eshbaal) ruled over the other Israelite tribes. Sometime after Ishbosheth was murdered, the Israelite elders went to David, and David made a covenant with them. The elders anointed 37-year-old David, and David began to rule over all of the Israelite tribes. David spoke to the Israelites and proposed bringing the ark of the covenant of the Lord to the City of David. The Israelites agreed, and at least 30,000 Israelites went with David to Abinadab's house. While the ark of the covenant was upon a cart being led by Uzza (Uzzah) and Ahio, Abinadab's sons or grandsons, the oxen pulling the cart stumbled, and Uzza touched the ark, and the Lord God struck Uzza dead, and David became afraid and took the ark to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite, a Levite probably from Gath-rimmon. Three months thereafter, David, Asaph and their fellow Israelites brought the ark of the covenant to the City of David, and the ark was placed in a specific tent. Asaph was a prophet, psalmist and musician from the tribe of Levi and is widely recognized as the divinely inspired writer of Psalm 50, Psalm 73, Psalm 74, Psalm 75, Psalm 76, Psalm 77, Psalm 78, Psalm 79, Psalm 80, Psalm 81, Psalm 82, and Psalm 83 in the Holy Bible. Before 70-year-old David died, Solomon, a son born to David and Bathsheba, became the 3rd king to rule over all of the Israelites. During the 4th year of his 40-year reign, Solomon began building the temple of the Lord. In the 11th year, Solomon's workers finished building the temple in Jerusalem, and the ark of the covenant, and the other sacred items were properly placed, and Asaph, his sons and the other Israelite singers and musicians served the Lord God at the temple. Rehoboam, the son born to Solomon and Naamah, was the 4th king to rule over all of the Israelites. After Rehoboam gave a specific answer, the Israelites split into 2 kingdoms, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of Solomon. Judah was the nation in the south, Jerusalem was the royal city and Rehoboam was the 1st king to reign. Israel was the northern nation, Samaria was the final royal city and Jeroboam, the son born to Nebat and Zeruah, was the 1st king to reign. King Pekah was the 18th king to rule over all of the Israelites in the northern nation of Israel. During Pekah's 20-year reign, the Assyrians invaded the kingdom and King Tiglath-pileser, ruler of Assyria, began taking Israelites captive. During the 9th year of the reign of King Hoshea, the 19th king to rule the northern nation, the Assyrians conquered Samaria, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Less than 125 years after Samaria was conquered, Rehoboam's great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson Jehoiakim (Eliakim) became the 17th king to rule Judah. During Jehoiakim's 11-year reign, the Babylonians (Chaldeans) invaded Judah and Jerusalem and King Nebuchadnezzar, ruler of Babylon, began looting the temple of the Lord. Jehoiachin (Jeconiah/Coniah), the son born to Jehoiakim and Nehustha, was the 18th king. During Jehoiachin's 3-month reign, the Babylonians took more prominent Israelites, including Jehoiachin, his wives and mother, to Babylon. During the 11th year of the reign of Jehoiakim's brother Zedekiah (Mattaniah), the 19th king, the Babylonians conquered Jerusalem, according to the will of the Lord God, due to the idolatry and other wickedness of the Israelites. Less than 70 years after Jerusalem was conquered, Israelites began returning to Judah and Jerusalem and began building a new foundation for a new temple, and Asaph's descendants, and the descendants of the musicians who served alongside Asaph, were positioned with their instruments and served the Lord. Over 500 years after the new temple was built, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, was born. Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin, and Jesus was born in Bethlehem, into the tribe of Judah, the tribe of Judah's kings, to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin.-Genesis 11:26-50:26, Exodus, Numbers, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26
Reference Information
staves = bammotowt = mowtah/mowt = pole, bar
Reference Scriptures
And these are they whom David set over the service of song in the house of the LORD, after that the ark had rest. And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, unto Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order.-1 Chronicles 6:31-32...And his brother Asaph, who stood on his right hand, even Asaph the son of Berachiah, the son of Shimea,-1 Chronicles 6:39
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals: and the number of the workmen according to their service was: Of the sons of Asaph; Zaccur, and Joseph, and Nethaniah, and Asarelah, the sons of Asaph under the hands of Asaph, which prophesied according to the order of the king.-1 Chronicles 25:1-2...All these were under the hands of their father for song in the house of the LORD, with cymbals, psalteries, and harps, for the service of the house of God, according to the king's order to Asaph, Jeduthun, and Heman.-1 Chronicles 25:6
Moreover Hezekiah the king and the princes commanded the Levites to sing praise unto the LORD with the words of David, and of Asaph the seer. And they sang praises with gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.-2 Chronicles 29:30
For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.-Nehemiah 12:46
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