Psalm 88 · a question people ask
The title names "Heman, the Ezrahite" (88:1). Who is he?
The title doesn't say. It reads, "A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Suffering of Affliction.” A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite." (88:1). It names the sons of Korah, as ten other titles do (the chapter on Psalm 42 lists them), and Heman, whom no other psalm title names. 1 Kings says Solomon was "wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol" (1 Kings 4:31). 1 Chronicles names "Heman the singer" (1 Chronicles 6:33), and traces his line back through "the son of Korah" (1 Chronicles 6:37). The chapter on 1 Chronicles 6 sets 1 Kings 4:31 and 1 Chronicles 6:33 beside the other verses that name a Heman or an Ethan, in its honest question on Heman and Ethan. None of them says whether its Heman is the Heman of this title, or how the title's two names go together, and these notes don't say it either.
The verses
“A Song. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. For the Chief Musician. To the tune of “The Suffering of Affliction.” A contemplation by Heman, the Ezrahite. LORD, the God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before you.”
“For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.”
“For he was wiser than all men—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol; and his fame was in all the nations all around.”
“These are those who served, and their sons. Of the sons of the Kohathites: Heman the singer, the son of Joel, the son of Samuel,”