Not every worship leader in the Bible gets a story. Ethan appears in Chronicles only in lists, as one of the Levites who served by making music. “So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass” (1 Chronicles 15:19). The earlier list places him among the Merari family, standing “on the left hand” of the others, with Heman and Asaph on the other side. The lists give his father and grandfather, and that is nearly all they say.
4 verses
The son of Ethan, the son of Zimmah, the son of Shimei,
And their brethren the sons of Merari stood on the left hand: Ethan the son of Kishi, the son of Abdi, the son of Malluch,
So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel; and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah;
So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass;
Matthew George Easton, 1897
Firm. (1.) “The Ezrahite,” distinguished for his wisdom (1 Kings 4:31). He is named as the author of the 89th Psalm. He was of the tribe of Levi.
(2.) A Levite of the family of Merari, one of the leaders of the temple music (1 Chr. 6:44; 15:17, 19). He was probably the same as Jeduthun. He is supposed by some to be the same also as (1).
William Smith, 1884
(enduring).
(1.) Ethan the Ezrahite, one of the four sons of Mahol, whose wisdom was excelled by Solomon. (1 Kings 4:31; 1 Chronicles 2:6) His name is in the title of (Psalms 89:1)
(2.) Son of Kishi or Kushaiah; a Merarite Levite, head of that family in the time of King David, (1 Chronicles 6:44) and spoken of as a "singer." With Heman and Asaph, the heads of the other two families of Levites, Ethan was appointed to sound with cymbals. (1 Chronicles 15:17,19)
(3.) A Gershonite Levite, one of the ancestors of Asaph the singer. (1 Chronicles 6:42) Hebr 27. (B.C. 1420.)