We know nothing about this Asaph beyond what is written in this verse. (Other men bore the name Asaph
in the Bible, including the leader of David’s choir, 1 Chronicles 6:39, and a recorder in Hezekiah’s day, 2 Kings 18:18, 2 Kings 18:37.) The name Asaph
is Hebrew, a fact that suggests the possibility that this king’s forest
was somewhere in Judah. Further, it is interesting to note that Nehemiah knows the keeper’s name. We have no idea how he came to that knowledge.
8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.