Heman the Ezrahite

Who is Heman the Ezrahite?

Heman the Ezrahite is the author of Psalm 88 in the Hebrew Bible, according to the Psalm's title. 'Heman' is a Jewish name, meaning 'Faithful'. It is found sixteen times in the New International Version of the Bible. Heman the Ezrahite may be one of the three Levites assigned by King David to be ministers of music. This Heman was a grandson of Samuel the prophet who went on to become King David's seer, and to have fourteen sons and three daughters.

Psalm 88 seems to have been written in a state of despair. According to Martin Marty, a professor of church history at the University of Chicago, Psalm 88 is “a wintry landscape of unrelieved bleakness.”