Nehemiah 10:4

_SERAIAH, AZARIAH, JEREMIAH,_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-31 Conversion is separating from the course and custom of this world, devoting ourselves to the conduct directed by the word of God. When we bind ourselves to do the commandments of God, it is to do all his commandments, and to look to him as the Lord, and our Lord....

The names are not personal, but designate families. The seal of the high-priestly house of Seraiah was probably appended either by Ezra or Eliashib, both of whom belonged to it....

EXPOSITION THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO SEALED, AND THE TERMS OF THE COVENANT (Nehemiah 10:1.). The covenant which the Levites had recommended, probably at the suggestion of Nehemiah and Ezra, whose hand may perhaps be traced in the long address of the preceding chapter (verses 6-38), was at once accepted by the heads of the nation in Church and State, and was "sealed to" by Nehemiah, by his secretary, by the heads of the priestly and Levitical families, each sealing for his house, by the heads of various lay families or communities, and by a certain number of individual laymen, sealing (as it would seem) for themselves only. The rest of the people, those who did not actually s

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. Those who sealed the covenant (Nehemiah 10:1)_ 2. The obligations of the covenant (Nehemiah 10:28) Nehemiah 10:1. The last verse of the preceding chapter mentions a covenant. “And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal unto it.” In this chapter we find the names of the heads of the different houses who sealed the covenant, which means they put their signature to it. According to talmudical tradition these signers constituted “the Great Synagogue.” Originally it consisted of 120 members, but later only 70 belonged to it. Its covenants were as follows: _ (1) Not to marry heathen women;_...

NEHEMIAH 9:38 TO NEHEMIAH 10:39. THE COVENANT. This section is probably originally from Ezra's memoirs, though it has been considerably worked over, presumably not by the Chronicler, since he writes in the third person. It is, in the main, written in the first person plural, and may in its present form have come from some loyal follower of Ezra or Nehemiah who writes as representing one of the people. The special points of the covenant are the undertaking not to marry foreigners, to observe the Sabbath more strictly, to remit debts in the seventh year, to pay a third of a shekel to the Temple, to supply wood for burning the sacrifices, to offer all the first-fruits, and to give tithes; with all this _cf._ ch. 13....

Priests: 9 13, Levites: 14 28, Chiefs of the people The 21 names here given are those of the priestly houses. The list of Nehemiah 12:1-3 agrees with it in 16 names. The number 21 is peculiar; in chap. 12 the number is larger by one. In Ezra 2; Nehemiah 7, only four priestly houses are recorded, viz. Jedaiah, Immer, Pashur and Harim, as having returned with Zerubbabel. Pashur is mentioned in Nehemiah 10:3; Harim in Nehemiah 10:5. The other priestly families had either developed themselves out of these first four, or had arrived from time to time from Babylon. Th

_THOSE WHO SIGNED THE COVENANT -- NEHEMIAH 10:1-27:_ The names of several leaders were signed, sealed and subscribed to the covenant that they made with God. These names were listed in the first verses of Nehemiah 10. This is the covenant that was referred to in Nehemiah 9:38. "And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it." The covenant was signed by Nehemiah, then the priest, the Levities and then by family leaders. Their actions were like that of signing a contract today. They signed their names to a written covenant and later they were expected to keep it. This chapter allows us to see some of the details of that covenant. One of the things that they committed themselves to was that they wanted to "keep God's commandmen

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT C. The people make vows of faithfulness. 1. A list is given of the signatures on the document. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 10:1-27 1 Now on the sealed document were the names of: Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hacaliah, and Zedekiah, 2 Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, 3 Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah, 4 Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, 5 Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, 6 Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, 7 Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, 8 Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah. These were the priests. 9 And the Levites: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; 10 also their brothers Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, 11 Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah, 12 Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, 13 Hodiah, Bani,

LIST OF THOSE WHO PARTICIPATED IN THE COVENANT 1. Now those that sealed _were_] The names that follow ZidMjah's are those of families whose living representatives sealed on behalf of their houses. Several of these family names occur in the list of those who accompanied Zerubbabel to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12). ZIDKIJAH] The fact that his name is coupled with Nehemiah's suggests that he was a person of importance, but nothing is known of him....