Nehemiah 12:1-9

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT

Having given an honor roll of those who accepted the discomforts of living in Jerusalem in order to assure a strong and healthy state, the book next gives an honor roll of the religious leaders who contributed equally to the survival and well-being of the state. The text itself will indicate the varying periods in which this data was assembled.
The fact that in many cases the names are of families and not individuals does not lesson the honor; the oriental would find it even more gratifying to bring honor to the family name than to his own.

B. The genealogies of priests and Levites are given, and the wall is dedicated.
1. A list is given of the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua.

TEXT, Nehemiah 12:1-9

1

Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

2

Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

3

Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

4

Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

5

Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

6

Shemaiah and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

7

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the heads of the priests and their kinsmen in the days of Jeshua.

8

And the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving, he and his brothers.

9

Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brothers, stood opposite them in their service divisions.

COMMENT

Nehemiah 7:39-42 has already told us there were over 4,000 priests who returned to Jerusalem at the one time. Here in Nehemiah 12:1-7 a longer list of heads of families is given (the clans are evidently broken down into smaller units), but it is still from Jeshua's and Zerubbabel's time. Eight, perhaps eleven, of the twenty-two names are also affixed to the document in chapter 10.

Nehemiah 12:8-9 add the names of Levites from Zerubbabel's day. Of the eight, four names are on the document in chapter 10. Of course, in neither this nor the case above can we assume that the others were opposed: see Nehemiah 10:28 f. The reference in Nehemiah 12:8 to being in charge of song, and in Nehemiah 12:9 to standing opposite them, appears to refer to antiphonal arrangement of choirs: see Nehemiah 11:17. The occasion being referred to could be that in Ezra 3:10.

WORD STUDIES

PURIFY (Nehemiah 12:27): the basic idea of the Hebrew word is brightness or splendor; i.e. it causes something to shine or be bright. It signifies to be or become clean or pure: to cleanse or purify. It can be done for three reasons. (1) Of physical purity: Ezekiel 39:12 describes the cleansing of the land from corpses. Numbers 8:6-7 speaks of washing and completely shaving the Levites to prepare them for God's service. (2) Of ceremonial purity: Ezekiel 43:26 speaks of cleansing the altar for the new Temple of which Ezekiel had a vision, A leper who had been healed would be purified in a ceremony administered by a priest: Leviticus 14:11. (3) Of moral purity: Malachi 3:3 uses the figure of purifying metal from dross as a parallel of a person's moral cleansing. Jeremiah 33:8 speaks of cleansing through God's forgiveness.

DEDICATION (Nehemiah 12:30: Hanukkah): Sometimes a study of word derivations leads one down some strange and unexpected paths. There are three words formed from the same base, all of which have one common meaning: to choke. Apparently from this come the ideas of being narrow or of closing. A collar is placed around the neck of an animal and it is strangled down so that it can be initiated into man's service and trained for usefulness: thus it becomes dedicated, or consecrated to certain purposes. Each of the italicized words is a translation of one of the forms of this word. Our English word, neck, is derived from this same base (note the N and K, also in Hanukkah). So a wall was collared for man's service.