Nehemiah 12:1

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. 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, 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.