Nehemiah 11:17

_AND MATTANIAH THE SON OF MICHA, THE SON OF ZABDI, THE SON OF ASAPH, WAS THE PRINCIPAL TO BEGIN THE THANKSGIVING IN PRAYER: AND BAKBUKIAH THE SECOND AMONG HIS BRETHREN, AND ABDA THE SON OF SHAMMUA, THE SON OF GALAL, THE SON OF JEDUTHUN._ The principal to begin the thanksgiving in prayer - i:e., the leader of the choir which chanted the public praise at the time of the morning and evening sacrifice. That service was always accompanied by some appropriate psalm, the sacred music being selected and guided by the person named....

Verse 17. _THE PRINCIPAL TO BEGIN THE THANKSGIVING_] The _precentor, pitcher of the tune_, or _master-singer_....

See the margin reference notes. Both accounts appear to be extracts from a public official register which Nehemiah caused to be made of his census. The census itself seems to have been confined to the dwellers at Jerusalem. The subjoined table exhibits the differences between the accounts of the entire population of Jerusalem as given in Nehemiah and in Chronicles: 1 CHRON Nehemiah

PART III. ENLARGEMENT OF THE POPULATION OF JERUSALEM, WITH THE NUMBER OF THE ADULT MALES, AND THE NAMES OF THE CHIEFS. VARIOUS LISTS OF PRIESTS AND LEVITES AT DIFFERENT PERIODS (Nehemiah 11:1; Nehemiah 12:1). EXPOSITION THE _nexus_ of...

III. THE PEOPLE ESTABLISHED, THE DEDICATION OF THE WALL, AND NEHEMIAH'S FINAL ACTS CHAPTER 11 _ 1. The willing offerers (Nehemiah 11:1)_ 2. The heads of the residents of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:3) 3. The inhabitants outside of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:25) Nehemiah 11:1. A splendid example of self-sacrifice is given in these two verses. Certain men willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem, and the people blest them for the willing sacrifice. It must be explained that Jerusalem was not then a very desirable place for residence. The enemies of the city seeking to destroy the fortif

PART V (Nehemiah 11-13). THE POPULATION OF JERUSALEM AND JUDAH. THE DEDICATION OF THE WALLS INTERNAL ORGANISATION. Nehemiah 11:1. The Population of Jerusalem and Judah. This section consists of lists of the dwellers in Jerusalem and in the provincial towns of Judah. Nehemiah 11:1 f. The need of increasing the population of Jerusalem was obvious from what is said in Nehemiah 7:4, for the bulk of the people lived in the provincial towns and in the country villages (cf. Nehemiah 7:73). Nehemiah 11:3. The lists

THE PRINCIPAL TO BEGIN THE THANKSGIVING. Or, [was] head: "the starting point [was], he was to praise at the time of prayer. " ABDA THE SON OF SHAMMUA. Probably. Obadiah the son of Shemaiah, as in 1 Chronicles 9:16....

Nehemiah 11:1 TO NEHEMIAH 12:26. Extracts from Registers and Public Lists 1, 2. Measures taken to increase the number of dwellers in Jerusalem. This passage seems to take up the thread which had been dropped at Nehemiah 7:4. Nehemiah had been rendered anxious by the fewness of the inhabitants in proportion to the size of the area of the city. The census which he undertook reminded him of the old register which had come to his notice (Nehemiah 7:6-73); the memoirs of Nehemiah were then interrupted by a description of the celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Solemn Covenant (8 10). The Compiler retu

WAS THE PRINCIPAL TO BEGIN THE THANKSGIVING IN PRAYER— _Presided over the hymns and praises in prayer._ Houbigant....

4. Levites. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 11:15-19 15 Now from the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; 16 and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the leaders of the Levites, who were in charge of the outside work of the house of God; 17 and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the leader in beginning the thanksgiving at prayer, and Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun. 18 All the Levites in the holy city were 284. 19 Also the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren, who kept watch at the gates, were 172. COMMENT These verses likewise are paralleled in...