Nehemia 12:24 Kommentar

In this chapter are preserved upon record, I. The names of the chief of the priests and the Levites that came up with Zerubbabel (Neh 12:1-9). II. The succession of the high priests (Neh 12:10, Neh 12:11). III. The names of the next generation of the other chief priests (Neh 12:12-21). IV. The eminent Levites that were in Nehemiah's time (Neh 12:22-26). V. The solemnity of dedicating the wall of Jerusalem (v. 27-43). VI. The settling of the offices of the priests and Levites in the temple (Neh 12:44-47).

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 12 This chapter gives an account of the chief of the priests and Levites in the days of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, and Nehemiah, Neh 12:1, of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, and of the joy expressed on that occasion, Neh 12:27, and of the appointment of some persons over the treasuries for the priests, Levites, singers, and porters, Neh 12:44.

Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters,.... At the gates of the temple, see Ch1 9:15, keeping the ward, at the thresholds of the gates; of the temple, where they stood and watched; or "at the collection of the gates", meaning either where the people were gathered together, or where money gathered was laid up; and so some render it, "the treasuries of the gates": unless a place called Asuppim should be meant, Ch1 26:15.

Account of the priests and Levites that come up with Zerubbabel, Neh 12:1-7. Of the Levites, Neh 12:8-21. The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Neh 12:22-26. Of the dedication of the wall, and its ceremonies, vv. 27-43. Different officers appointed, Neh 12:44-47.

PRIESTS AND LEVITES WHO CAME UP WITH ZERUBBABEL. (Neh 12:1-9) these are the priests--according to Neh 12:7, "the chief of the priests," the heads of the twenty-four courses into which the priesthood was divided (1Ch. 24:1-20). Only four of the courses returned from the captivity (Neh 7:39-42; Ezr 2:36-39). But these were divided by Zerubbabel, or Jeshua, into the original number of twenty-four. Twenty-two only are enumerated here, and no more than twenty in Neh 12:12-21. The discrepancy is due to the extremely probable circumstance that two of the twenty-four courses had become extinct in Babylon; for none belonging to them are reported as having returned (Neh 12:2-5). Hattush and Maadiah may be omitted in the account of those persons' families (Neh 12:12), for these had no sons. Shealtiel--or Salathiel. Ezra--This was most likely a different person from the pious and patriotic leader. If he were the same person, he would now have reached a very patriarchal age--and this longevity would doubtless be due to his eminent piety and temperance, which are greatly conducive to the prolongation of life, but, above all, to the special blessing of God, who had preserved and strengthened him for the accomplishment of the important work he was called upon to undertake in that critical period of the Church's history.

Lists of Priests and Levites. Dedication of the Wall of Jerusalem - Nehemiah 12:1-43 The list of the inhabitants of the province, Neh 11, is followed by lists of the priests and Levites (Neh 12:1-26). These different lists are, in point of fact, all connected with the genealogical register of the Israelite population of the whole province, taken by Nehemiah (Neh 7:5) for the purpose of enlarging the population of Jerusalem, though the lists of the orders of priests and Levites in the present chapter were made partly at an earlier, and partly at a subsequent period. It is because of this actual connection that they are inserted in the history of the building of the wall of Jerusalem, which terminates with the narrative of the solemn dedication of the completed wall in vv. 27-43. Lists of the orders of priests and Levites. - Neh 12:1-9 contain a list of the heads of the priests and Levites who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel and Joshua. The high priests during five generations are next mentioned by name, Neh 12:10, Neh 12:11. Then follow the names of the heads of the priestly houses in the days of Joiakim the high priest; and finally, Neh 12:22-26, the names of the heads of the Levites at the same period, with titles and subscriptions.

The names Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, frequently occur as those of heads of Levitical orders: the two first in Neh 10:12., Ezr 8:18.; the two last in Neh 12:8, Neh 10:10, and Ezr 2:40; and the comparison of these passages obliges us to regard and expunge as a gloss the בּן before Kadmiel. Opposite to these four are placed their brethren, whose office it was "to praise (and) to give thanks according to the commandment of David," etc.: comp. Ch1 16:4; Ch1 23:30; Ch2 5:13; and בּמצות ד, Ch2 29:25. משׁמר לעמּת משׁמר, ward opposite ward, elsewhere used of the gatekeepers, Ch1 26:16, is here applied to the position of the companies of singers in divine worship. The names of the brethren, i.e., of the Levitical singers, follow, Neh 12:25, where the first three names must be separated from those which follow, and combined with Neh 12:24. This is obvious from the consideration, that Mattaniah and Bakbukiah are mentioned in Neh 11:17 as presidents of two companies of singers, and with them Abda the Jeduthunite, whence we are constrained to suppose that עבדיה is only another form for עבדּא of Neh 11:17. According, then, to what has been said, the division into verses must be changed, and Neh 12:25 should begin with the name משׁלּם. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub are chiefs of the doorkeepers; the two last names occur as such both in Neh 11:19 and Ezr 2:42, and even so early as Ch1 9:17, whence we perceive that these were ancient names of races of Levitical doorkeepers. In Ezr 2:42 and Ch1 9:17, שׁלוּם, answering to משׁלּם of the present verse, is also named with them. The combination משׁמר שׁוערים שׁמרים is striking: we should at least have expected משׁמר שׁמרים שׁוערים, because, while שׁוערים cannot be combined with משׁמר, שׁמרים may well be so; hence we must either transpose the words as above, or read according to Neh 11:19, בּשּׁערים שׁמרים. In the latter case, בּשּׁערים is more closely defined by the apposition השּׁערים בּאספּי: at the doors, viz., at the treasure-chambers of the doors. On 'acupiym, see rem. on Ch1 26:15, Ch1 26:17.