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Bible Dictionaries
Jeduthun
Fausset's Bible Dictionary
or JEDITTHUN; ("who gives praises".) 1 Chronicles 16:38; Psalm 39, 62, 77, titles, implying that these psalms were to be sung by Jeduthun's choir; Nehemiah 11:17. Jeduthun presided over a choir under David. "The sons of Jeduthun" had the office to "prophesy with the harp, to give thanks, and to praise the Lord" (1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Chronicles 25:3). He wasa Merarite Levite, along with the Kohathite Heman and the Gershonite Asaph directing the music of the sanctuary; 4,000 in all, divided into courses, "praising the Lord with the instruments which I made, said David, to praise therewith" (1 Chronicles 23:5-6). Identical with Ethan the Merarite (1 Chronicles 6:44; 1 Chronicles 15:17; 1 Chronicles 15:19); for as there was one Kohathite and one Gershonite, head of musicians, so there would be only one Merarite head. (See ETHAN.)
That Jeduthun was a Merarite appears from Hosah his son (1 Chronicles 16:38; 1 Chronicles 16:42) being a Merarite (1 Chronicles 26:10). Compare also 1 Chronicles 15:17; 1 Chronicles 15:19 with 1 Chronicles 16:41-42; 1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Chronicles 25:3; 1 Chronicles 25:6; 2 Chronicles 35:15, where he is called the "king's seer," i.e. being under the Spirit's influence. He sounded the cymbals of brass, marking time, while those under him played the harp (Psalms 150:5). The trumpets were peculiar to the priests. Asaph and his brethren ministered before the ark at Jerusalem, Jeduthun and Heman "before the tabernacle of Jehovah in the high place at Gibeon." His sons were six of them prophesiers with the harp, and two of them, Obed Edom and Hosah, gatekeepers.
Jeduthun's singers with Asaph's and Heman's (namely, their sons and brethren), arrayed in white linen, officiated at the E. end of the altar, having cymbals, psalteries, and harps, at the dedication of Solomon's temple; and it was "when the trumpeters and singers were as one, to make one sound to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord," with trumpets, cymbals, and instruments accompanying the voices praising the Lord "for He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever," that the house of the Lord was filled with the cloud of glory (2 Chronicles 5:13-14; compare 2 Chronicles 20:21-22). Praise is a most effective way of obtaining God's help. In Hezekiah's reign (2 Chronicles 29:13-14), again in Josiah's (2 Chronicles 35:15), lastly under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:17), Jeduthun's choir or descendants officiated in the sanctuary music.
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Fausset, Andrew R. Entry for 'Jeduthun'. Fausset's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/fbd/j/jeduthun.html. 1949.
