Nehemiah 12:22

_OF EZRA, MESHULLAM; OF AMARIAH, JEHOHANAN;_ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-26 It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be....

Verse 22. _JADDUA_] This was probably the high priest who went in his pontifical robes, accompanied by his brethren, to meet Alexander the Great, when he was advancing towards Jerusalem, with the purpose to destroy it, after having conquered Tyre and Gaza. Alexander was so struck with the appearance of the priest, that he forbore all hostilities against Jerusalem, prostrated himself before Jaddua, worshipped the Lord at the temple, and granted many privileges to the Jews. See _Josephus_, ANT. lib. xi., c. 3, and Prideaux's Connections, lib. 7, p. 695. _TO THE REIGN OF DARIUS THE PERSIAN._] _Calmet_ maintains that this must have been _Darius Codomanus_, who was defeated by Alexander the Great: but Archbishop _Usher_ understands it of _Darius Nothus_, in whose reign he thinks Jaddua was born, who was high priest under _Darius Codomanus_....

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 le

EXPOSITION LIST OF THE LEVITICAL AND PRIESTLY FAMILIES WHICH RETURNED FROM BABYLON WITH ZERUBBABEL (Nehemiah 12:1). This list receives elucidation and, to some extent, correction from two others:— 1. That of the priestly families whose seals were set to the covenant (Nehemiah 10:2); and, 2. That of the heads of the priestly courses under the high priest Joiakim (Nehemiah 12:12). The number of the names in each of the three lists i

CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Priests and Levites at the time of the return under Zerubbabel and Joshua (Nehemiah 12:1)_ 2. The descendants of Joshua, the high priest (Nehemiah 12:10) 3. The heads of the priestly houses in the time of Joiakim (Nehemiah 12:12) 4. Heads of Levitical houses (Nehemiah 12:22) 5. The dedication of the walls (Nehemiah 12:27) 6. Provisions for the priests and Levites, and other temple officials ...

PRIESTS AND LEVITES WHO RETURNED WITH JESHUA AND ZERUBBABEL, AND EXTRACTS FROM OTHER LISTS. The details here given were, in all probability, taken largely from the Temple archives. Nehemiah 12:1. _Cf._ Ezra 2:36; Nehemiah 7:39. Nehemiah 12:10 f. A fragment from a genealogical list. Nehemiah 12:12. Further lists of priests and Levites....

DARIUS. Darius Hystaspis. See App-57 and App-58....

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

ALSO THE PRIESTS, TO THE REIGN OF DARIUS THE PERSIAN— This verse, wherein mention is made of Darius Codomanus, and the high-priest Jaddua, affords us a proof, says Mr. Le Clerc, that Nehemiah did not put the finishing hand to this book. For Nehemiah, to be able to speak of Darius, must have lived, according to Huet, at least one hundred and thirty-one years, and at that age have written or enlarged his book; which is not probable. We may therefore conclude, that the book of Nehemiah could not have been published such as it is, till the reign of Darius Codomanus at least; and since one chapter of the book of Nehemiah has been put into that of Ezra, we may very probably suppose, that it did not appear in its present form till about the same time. So that these two books have been collected from the memoirs of three different authors; to which have been added several things for the illustra...