Nehemiah 11:1-36 - Exposition

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 11:1-36 ; Nehemiah 12:1-26 ).

Having been led, in speaking of this matter, to give a sort of catalogue of the chief dwellers at Jerusalem (verses 4-19), and another of the country towns and villages occupied at this time by those Israelites who had returned from the captivity (verses 25-35), Nehemiah is induced to insert, at this point, certain other lists or catalogues which he regards as worthy of being put on record. These lists are four in number, and occupy Nehemiah 12:1-47 . as far as Nehemiah 12:26 . They comprise—

1. A list of the priestly and Levitical houses which returned with Zerubbabel ( Nehemiah 12:1-9 );

2. A list of the high priests from Jeshua to Jaddua;

3. A list of the heads of the priestly courses in the time of the high priest Joiakim; and,

4. A list of the chief Levitical houses at the same period and afterwards.

Such lists possess at the present day but a very slight and secondary interest. Their formation, however, and safe preservation were, at the time, essential for the continuity of the nation's history, and the maintenance of the priestly order in purity, and without admixture of laic elements. On the genealogy of the high priests more will be said in the special comment on the passage.