Nehemiah 12:28

_AND THE SONS OF THE SINGERS GATHERED THEMSELVES TOGETHER, BOTH OUT OF THE PLAIN COUNTRY ROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM, AND FROM THE VILLAGES OF NETOPHATHI;_ NO JFB COMMENTARY ON THESE VERSES....

27-43 All our cities, all our houses, must have holiness to the Lord written upon them. The believer should undertake nothing which he does not dedicate to the Lord. We are concerned to cleanse our hands, and purify our hearts, when any work for God is to pass through them. Those that would be employed to sanctify others, must sanctify themselves, and set themselves apart for God. To those who are sanctified, all their creature-comforts and enjoyments are made holy. The people greatly rejoiced. All that share in public mercies, ought to join in public thanksgivings....

THE PLAIN COUNTRY ROUND ABOUT JERUSALEM - Perhaps the valleys of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat, which enclose Jerusalem on three sides, are intended. THE VILLAGES OF NETOPHATHI - Rather, as in 1 Chronicles 9:16. Netophah lay near Bethlehem 1 Chronicles 2:54, and is perhaps represented by the modern Antubeh....

PART IV. DEDICATION OF THE WALL OF JERUSALEM UNDER NEHEMIAH AND EZRA, WITH NEHEMIAH'S ARRANGEMENT OF THE TEMPLE OFFICERS, AND HIS EFFORTS FOR THE REFORM OF RELIGION (Nehemiah 12:27-16, AND Nehemiah 13:1.). EXPOSITION DEDICATION OF THE WALL

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 ...

DEDICATION OF THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM. We should naturally expect this section to come after Nehemiah 6:15, where the completion of the walls is recorded; like so many others, this section has become misplaced from its original position. It is, in the main, taken from the memoirs of Nehemiah (see Nehemiah 12:31; Nehemiah 12:38; Nehemiah 12:40), though probably the compiler has left his marks upon it. Nehemiah 12:27. they sought the Levites. : the Levites at this time were not living in Jerusalem, but in the country villages r

THE SINGERS. Mentioned in Nehemiah 12:24. PLAIN COUNTRY. surrounding country....

The Dedication of the Walls In the description of this solemn event, there is a return to the use of the 1st Pers. Sing. (Nehemiah 12:31_; Nehemiah 12:38; Nehemiah 12:40_). The compiler returns to the Memoirs of Nehemiah, from which he makes extracts, while he no doubt exercises a full liberty of abridgement and revision....

5. The Levites were assembled for the dedication of the wall. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 12:27-30 27 Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompany ment of cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 So the sons of the singers were assembled from the district around Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites, 29 from Beth-gilgal, and from their fields in Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built themselves villages around Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates, and the wall. COMMENT The rest of the chapter, clearly from Nehemiah's hand ...

THE DEDICATION OF THE WALL OF JERUSALEM 1. The priests] The names in Nehemiah 12:1 likewise appear with some variations in Nehemiah 10:3 see also Ezra 2:36....