Ethan (biblical figure)
Ethan the Ezrahite, is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. It may be that Ethan was a cymbal-player in King David's court. He authored : this Psalm is entitled "a maschil or contemplation of Ethan the Ezrahite". Baptist preacher Charles Spurgeon theorised that this was the same person as Jeduthun. Theologian John Gill refers to a Jewish tradition which identifies Ethan with Abraham, Heman with Moses, and Chalcol with Joseph.
Ethan means strong and optimistic, solid and enduring; permanent. The name Ethan appears eight times in the Hebrew Bible.
He was a standard of wisdom to whom King Solomon is compared favorably. Called there "Ethan the Ezrahite", to whom the title of Psalm 89 ascribes the authorship of that poem.
A "son of Kishi" or "Kishaiah", of the Merarite branch of Levites, and also, with Heman and Asaph, placed by King David over the service of song.
An ancestor of Asaph of the Gershomite branch of the Levites.
