Nehemiah 12:23

_THE SONS OF LEVI, THE CHIEF OF THE FATHERS, WERE WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES, EVEN UNTIL THE DAYS OF JOHANAN THE SON OF ELIASHIB._ The sons of Levi ... were written in the book of the Chronicles - i:e, the public registers in which the genealogies were kept with great regularity and exactness....

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 23. _THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES_] This is not the book of _Chronicles_ which we have now, no such list being found in it; but some other book or register, which is lost....

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....

THE BOOK OF THE CHRONICLES: i.e. the public records or registers....

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

4. Levites are listed from the time of Joiakim. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 12:22-26 22 As for the Levites, the heads of fathers-' households were registered in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua; so were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. 23 The sons of Levi, the heads of fathers-' households, were registered in the Book of the Chronicles up to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. 24 And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers opposite them, to praise and give thanks, as prescribed by David the man of God, division corresponding to division. 25 Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping watch at the storehouses of the gates. 26 These served in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, t