What is amichtamin the Bible?

Answer

No one is precisely sure what a michtam (or miktam ) was, and that’s why the Hebrew word remains as a transliteration in our English Bibles. Translators didn’t know how to translate michtam , so they spelled it phonetically and called it good enough.

Psalm 16 is titled “A miktam of David.” The other psalms that are called “ michtams ” are Psalms 56–60. All six of these are psalms of David. In Isaiah 38:9, King Hezekiah’s song is introduced with these words: “A writing of Hezekiah king of Judah after his illness and recovery.” The Hebrew word for “writing” here is miktab , which many scholars believe is related to michtam.

A possibly related word to michtam is the Hebrew katham , which means “an engraving.” If the underlying meaning of michtam is “engraving,” then the songs labeled as “ michtams ” could have been considered of enough value to be stamped or engraved upon tablets for long-term preservation. Some scholars see the word michtam as meaning “golden,” a definition that would similarly assign great value to a song so labeled. A michtam could be “a psalm as precious as stamped gold”; if so, today’s top-selling songs that are “certified gold” could be considered “ michtams ” of a sort.

The link between a michtam and golden worth is speculative, however. Other scholars think the word michtam is simply a technical term to guide the singer or to denote the tune to be played. In the end, we don’t know. Like the words maskil , selah , and shigionoth , michtam remains somewhat of a mystery in the Hebrew song book.