เนหะมีย์ 12:44 วิจารณ์

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).

We have here an account of the remaining good effects of the universal joy that was at the dedication of the wall. When the solemnities of a thanksgiving day leave such impressions on ministers and people as that both are more careful and cheerful in doing their duty afterwards, then they are indeed acceptable to God and turn to a good account. So it was here. 1. The ministers were more careful than they had been of their work; the respect the people paid them upon this occasion encouraged them to diligence and watchfulness, Neh 12:45. The singers kept the ward of their God, attending in due time to the duty of their office; the porters, too, kept the ward of the purification, that is, they took care to preserve the purity of the temple by denying admission to those that were ceremonially unclean. When the joy of the Lord thus engages us to our duty, and enlarges us in it, it is then an earnest of that joy which, in concurrence with the perfection of holiness, will be our everlasting bliss. 2. The people were more careful than they had been of the maintenance of their ministers. The people, at the dedication of the wall, among other things which they made matter of their joy, rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited, Neh 12:44. They had a great deal of comfort in their ministers, and were glad of them. When they observed how diligently they waited, and what pains they took in their work, they rejoiced in them. Note, The surest way for ministers to recommend themselves to their people, and gain an interest in their affections, is to wait on their ministry (Rom 12:7), to be humble and industrious, and to mind their business. When these did so the people thought nothing too much to do for them, to encourage them. The law had provided then their portions (Neh 12:44), but what the better were they for that provision if what the law appointed them either was not duly collected or not justly paid to them? Now, (1.) Care is here taken for the collecting of their dues. They were modest, and would rather lose their right than call for it themselves. The people were many of them careless and would not bring their dues unless they were called upon; and therefore some were appointed whose office it should be to gather into the treasuries, out of the fields of the cities, the portions of the law for the priests and Levites (Neh 12:44), that their portion might not be lost for want of being demanded. This is a piece of good service both to ministers and people, that the one may not come short of their maintenance nor the other of their duty. (2.) Care is taken that, being gathered in, they might be duly paid out, Neh 12:47. They gave the singers and porters their daily portion, over and above what was due to them as Levites; for we may suppose that when David and Solomon appointed them their work (Neh 12:45, Neh 12:46), above what was required from them as Levites, they settled a fund for their further encouragement. Let those that labour more abundantly in the word and doctrine be counted worthy of this double honour. As for the other Levites, the tithes, here called the holy things, were duly set apart for them, out of which they paid the priests their tithe according to the law. Both are said to be sanctified; when what is contributed, either voluntarily or by law, for the support of religion and the maintenance of the ministry, is given with an eye to God and his honour, it is sanctified, and shall be accepted of him accordingly, and it will cause the blessing to rest on the house and all that is in it, Eze 44:30.

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.

And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters every day his portion,.... While these two men governed they did their duty, and punctually paid the Levites their dues at the proper season: and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; set them apart for their use, and brought them to them, their offerings, firstfruits, and tithes: and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron; the Levites set apart the tenth part of the tithes, and delivered them to the priests, and so each had what belonged to them. Next: Nehemiah Chapter 13

They also appointed men over the storerooms of the treasury on that day, etc. While all rejoiced in the building and dedication of the city, every effort was made to ensure that the worship of religion, which was established through ceremonies, especially the teaching and duties of priests, Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, was maintained and grew. Therefore, diligent men were appointed to carefully gather and guard the money contributed by the people in the temple treasury, for the use of those same ministers of the temple and altar; to also carefully preserve the first fruits of the crops, tithes, wine, and libations brought to the temple; so that, with an abundance of things either to be offered to the Lord or from which the ministers of the Lord themselves could live, the multitude of those same ministers would more willingly agree to make their dwelling in Jerusalem, from whom the gathered crowd of people should be taught and at the same time sanctified.

Because Judah rejoiced in the priests and Levites who stood by, etc. This was the reason why the people chose to have the priests and Levites, and the other ministers of the saints to dwell in Jerusalem; because they rejoiced in their good works, through whose devoted diligence to God, the people themselves were corrected from their errors, and the city was constructed and dedicated with great praise and joy. We have an allegorical exposition of this chapter prepared for us; because the Lord decided that those who proclaim the Gospel should live from the Gospel (1 Cor. 9). But woe to those priests and ministers of the saints, who indeed delight in joyfully receiving the rightful stipends from the people, but do not strive to labor for the salvation of the same people, neither to provide them with any guidance in holy living, nor to sing to them anything sweet about the sweetness of the heavenly kingdom, nor to open for them the gate of the heavenly city by having citizenship in heaven, but rather by acting perversely they are found to close it. In whose works the people cannot in any way trust, nor praise the Lord, but rather are much more compelled to be afflicted. Note well indeed that Judah, who previously spoke as one despairing in the construction of the city: "The strength of those bearing the burdens is weakened, and there is much dirt, and we are unable to build the wall" (Neh 4), and the rest of that place; now had regained strength of mind and body to carry away the dirt which hindered the building of the wall that had fallen, to overcome the lurking enemies who were threatening. Therefore, with good reason, he rejoices in the priests and Levites, singers and gatekeepers, whose labor and exhortation enabled him to escape such a great danger of affliction, and found such great glory of regained prosperity. And you, therefore, if your heart is weighed down by the dirt of vices, so that you are unable to build in it a city worthy of divine habitation, if you see the evil enemy intending to draw you back from purging the rubble of vices, from building the walls of virtues, listen to the consolation and advice of the priests; be constant in listening to and keeping the divine readings; and thus you will stand, so that the habitation of your praetorium, with the snares of demons driven out, will have God as the victor enter, about to sanctify it as his city, and to make his dwelling with you.

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.

portions of the law--that is, "prescribed by the law." for Judah rejoiced for the priests and . . . Levites that waited--The cause of this general satisfaction was either the full restoration of the temple service and the reorganized provision for the permanent support of the ministry, or it was the pious character and eminent gifts of the guardians of religion.

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 joint efforts of Nehemiah and Ezra succeeded both in restoring the enactments of the law for the performance and maintenance of the public worship, and in carrying out the separation of the community from strangers, especially by the dissolution of unlawful marriages (Neh 12:44-13:3). When Nehemiah, however, returned to the king at Babylon, in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, and remained there some time, the abuses which had been abolished were again allowed by the people. During Nehemiah's absence, Eliashib the priest prepared a chamber in the fore-court of the temple, as a dwelling for his son-in-law Tobiah the Ammonite. The delivery of their dues to the Levites (the first-fruits and tenths) was omitted, and the Sabbath desecrated by field-work and by buying and selling in Jerusalem; Jews married Ashdodite, Ammonitish, and Moabitish wives; even a son of the high priest Joiada allying himself by marriage with Sanballat the Horonite. All these illegal acts were energetically opposed by Nehemiah at his return to Jerusalem, when he strove both to purify the congregation from foreigners, and to restore the appointments of the law with respect to divine worship (13:4-31). The narration of these events and of the proceedings of Nehemiah in the last section of this book, is introduced by a brief summary (in Neh 12:44-13:3) of what was done for the ordering of divine worship, and for the separation of Israel from strangers; and this introduction is so annexed to what precedes, not only by the formula ההוּא בּיּום (Neh 12:33 and Neh 13:1), but also by its contents, that it might be regarded as a summary of what Nehemiah had effected during his first stay at Jerusalem. It is not till the connective מזּה ולפני, "and before this" (Neh 13:4), with which the recital of what occurred during Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem, in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, beings, that we perceive that this description of the restored legal appointments relates not only to the time before the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, but applies also to that of Nehemiah's second stay at Jerusalem, and bears only the appearance of an introduction, being in fact a brief summary of all that Nehemiah effected both before and after the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes. This is a form of statement which, is to be explained by the circumstance that Nehemiah did not compile this narrative of his operations till the evening of his days. Neh 12:44 The reformations in worship and in social life effected by Nehemiah. - Neh 12:44-47. Appointments concerning divine worship. Neh 12:44. And at that time were certain appointed over the chambers of store-places for the heave-offerings, the first-fruits, and the tenths, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites. Though the definition of time ההוּא בּיּום corresponds with the ההוּא בּיּום of Neh 12:43, it is nevertheless used in a more general sense, and does not refer, as in Neh 12:43, to the day of the dedication of the wall, but only declares that what follows belongs chiefly to the time hitherto spoken of. יום means, not merely a day of twelve or twenty-four hours, but very frequently stands for the time generally speaking at which anything occurs, or certum quoddam temporis spatium; and it is only from the context that we can perceive whether יום is used in its narrower or more extended meaning. Hence ההוּא בּיּום is often used in the historical and prophetical books, de die, or de tempore modo memorato, in contradistinction to הזּה היּום, the time present to the narrator; comp. Sa1 27:6; Sa1 30:25, and the discussion in Gesen. Thes. p. 369. That the expression refers in the present verse not to any particular day, but to the time in question generally, is obvious from the whole statement, Neh 12:44-47. לאוצרות נשׁכות are not chambers for the treasures, i.e., treasure-chambers; but both here and Neh 13:12, אוצרות signify places where stores are kept, magazines; hence: these are chambers for store-places for the heave-offerings, etc.; comp. Neh 10:38-39. With respect to נשׁכות, see rem. on Neh 3:30. הערים לשׂדי, according to the fields of the cities, according to the delivery of the tenth of the crop from the fields of the different cities. These contributions necessitated the appointment of individuals to have the care of the store-chambers; "for Judah rejoiced in the priests and the Levites who were ministering," and therefore contributed willingly and abundantly "the portions of the law," i.e., the portions prescribed in the law. The form מנאות is exchanged for מניות, Neh 12:47 and Neh 13:10. האמדים is a shorter expression for יהוה לפני האמדים, Deu 10:8 : standing before the Lord, i.e., ministering.