Bible Commentaries

This chapter is made up of two portions:

(a) lists of the leading priests and Levites at different periods Nehemiah 12:1-26:

(b) the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem Nehemiah 12:27-47.

This latter passage is certainly from the pen of Nehemiah, and was written probably about 433 B.C. The lists included in (a) are four:

(1) the chief priestly and Levitical families which returned to Jerusalem Nehemiah 12:1-9;

(2) the succession of the high priests from Jeshua to Jaddua Nehemiah 12:10-11;

(3) the actual heads of the priestly families in the time of the high priest Joiakim Nehemiah 12:12-21;

(4) the chief Levitical families at the same period Nehemiah 12:24-26.

Of these lists, List 1, List 3, and List 4, may have been drawn up in the time of Nehemiah, but List 2, in its present form, must be much later. See the introduction of the Book of Nehemiah.

The priests - The number of the names here given, which is 22, is probably to be connected with that of the Davidic "courses," which was 24 1 Chronicles 24:7-18. Eight names are identical with those of the heads in David's time. On comparing the present list with that of the families who sealed to Nehemiah's covenant Nehemiah 10:2-8, we shall find that the first sixteen recur in that document nearly in the same order; but that the last six are absent from it. It would seem that as these six declined to seal to Nehemiah's covenant, they were placed below the rest here in a sort of supplementary list. Note especially the "and" which connects the second part of the lists with the earlier part, both in Nehemiah 12:6 and in Nehemiah 12:19.

Of the Levitical houses here mentioned, three only returned at first, those of Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Judah or Hodevah Nehemiah 7:43. The others must have returned subsequently.

The six generations of high priests covered a little more than two centuries (538-333 B.C.), or a little under thirty-five years to a generation. Jaddua was the high priest who (according to Josephus) had an interview with Alexander shortly after the battle of Issus.

These verses interrupt the account of the church officers in the time of Joiakim, resumed in Nehemiah 12:24. They appear to be an addition to the original text, made about the time of Alexander the Great, when the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah would seem to have first taken their existing shape. The same writer who introduced these verses, probably also added Nehemiah 12:11 to the original text.

Darius the Persian - Probably Darius Codomannus (336-331 B.C.), the antagonist of Alexander the Great. See the introduction of the Book of Nehemiah.

This passage shows that the practice of keeping a record of public events in state archives was continued after the return from the captivity, at least to the time of Johanan, the son, i. e., "the grandson," of Eliasbib.

Jeshua the son of Kadmiel - If the reading be sound, this Jeshua must have been the head of the Levitical family of Kadmiel in the time of Joiakim; but (compare Nehemiah 8:7; Nehemiah 9:4), some read "Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel," etc.

Ward over against ward - i. e., "alternately," one part of the choir corresponding the other.

In 1 Chronicles 9:17, 1 Chronicles 9:24, 1 Chronicles 9:26, four families of porters only are mentioned; six are implied here, in Nehemiah 7:45, and in Ezra 2:42. From 1 Chronicles 26:14-19 it appears that the temple had four chief gates, fronting the cardinal points, and two minor ones, "toward Asuppim," and "at Parbar."

The dedication of the wall - The ceremony had been deferred for the space of nearly 12 years Nehemiah 13:6. Perhaps Nehemiah required an express permission from the Persian king before he could venture on a solemnity which might have been liable to misrepresentation.

Out of all their places - i. e., out of the various cities of Judah and Benjamin in which they dwelt Nehemiah 11:36.