List Of The Leading Priests And Levites Who Went Up With Zerubbabel From Exile (Nehemiah 12:1-9).
The list is divided into two parts, the names of chiefs of the priests, and the names of the (leading) Levites. These were the priests and Levites whose genealogies had been demonstrated (Nehemiah 7:64; Ezra 8:15-20).
‘Now these are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua:'
Note how it is emphasised that among the returnees were a substantial number of priests and Levites. Thus the worship of the new Israel is seen to have been established on a sound foundation, being in the hands of those authorised by God. As happens so often Zerubbabel, and Joshua the High Priest, are named together (compare Haggai 1:12; Haggai 2:2; Haggai 2:4; Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8; Ezra 4:3; Ezra 5:2), and there may be the underlying thought that the foundation of the new Israel was to be seen as established on the houses of David (Zerubbabel was a ‘son of David') and Aaron (Joshua/Jeshua was a ‘son of Aaron').
The Chiefs of The Priests Who Went Up With Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:1-7).
Here we are given the names of the chiefs of the priests and their brothers who returned from exile with Zerubbabel ‘in the days of Jesuha (the High Priest)'. It is being made clear that the priests of the new Israel are firmly vouched for as being of genuine descent (compare Nehemiah 7:64). It will be noted that these names are largely paralleled in Nehemiah 12:12-21 where they are (as we would expect) the ‘fathers' of the chiefs of priests in the time Joiakim the High Priest, i.e. the next generation. Apart from understandable variations (Hebrew names were flexible) the names are the same except that Hattush is not mentioned in Nehemiah 12:12-21, for reasons we can only surmise. Possibly he was childless. A Hattush is included in Nehemiah 10:2-8 as a priestly signatory to the covenant, which may exclude the idea that the family had died out, but we must remember that Hattush was a fairly common name. That Hattush spoken of there may have been a relative signing in the name of the family. See also, for example, Nehemiah 3:10 where a Hattush was supervising repairs on one part of the wall. See also 1 Chronicles 3:22, of a descendant of David; and Ezra 8:2 of a prominent returnee with Ezra.
The names of ‘the chiefs of the priests and their brothers' are now given:
‘Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,'
Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
Iddo, Ginnethoi (or in some MSS Ginnethon), Abijah,
Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah.
Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah.
Some of the twenty two names parallel those in Nehemiah 10:2-8 where they were names of signatories to the covenant of Nehemiah (a generation or so later). This could partly have arisen from the fact that the signatories signed, not in their own names, but in the name of the clan. It may also partly have arisen because of the popularity at that time of the custom of giving the names of grandfathers to their grandsons. But both lists include names which are not in the other. Thus seven name mentioned here (Iddo and the last six names) are not found in the list of signatories in Nehemiah 10:2-8, whilst the latter includes six other names, viz Passhur, Malchijah, Obadiah, Daniel, Baruch, Meshullam, which are not included here.
‘These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.'
It is stated specifically that those named here lived in the days of Jeshua the High Priest, although whether they had changed their names, taking the clan name, is something of which we cannot be sure. It is difficult from our viewpoint to see why the phrase ‘these were the chiefs of the priests' has had added on ‘and of their brothers'. It may suggest that not all those mentioned were seen as chiefs of priests (compare the similar use of Levites in Nehemiah 12:8-9). Possibly ‘of their brothers' refers to the last six names distinguishing them in some from the remainder (note the ‘and' which occurs before the names of the last six, which distinguishes them from the remainder). These six are not mentioned as signatories of the covenant. They might not thus have been officially recognised ‘chiefs of the priests'. They may have been included here because attempts were being made to increase the number of priestly courses until they reached twenty four, as they did towards the end of the Persian period, and as they were in the days of David. Eventually towards the end of the Persian period the number of courses of priests would again be twenty four, as they would be in the time of Jesus. The names Joiarib and Jedaiah may have been taken by those named in order deliberately to connect them with the Davidic courses of priests. They are the first two names in that list (1 Chronicles 24:7-18). But the fact that there are only twenty two names here confirms the early nature of this list. It is significant that it is not specifically conformed to the Davidic pattern. Rather it arose through necessity.
When we remember that at the return only four priestly clans were mentioned (apart from those who could not prove their ancestry), viz. Jedaiah, Immer, Passhur and Harim (Nehemiah 7:39-42), it is clear that the number of priestly houses was increasing, probably with a view to the requirements of Temple worship and service. Jedaiah and Harim (if identified also as Rehum, with a transposition having taken place of the first two consonants. Hebrew names are fluid. Compare Nehemiah 12:3 with Nehemiah 12:15. But this is by no means certain) are names mentioned above. But there is no mention of the names of Immer and Passhur, which may be explained by the division into sub-clans. Immer is also unmentioned in Nehemiah 10:1-8. The whole situation is undoubtedly complex, and many suggestions have been made by commentators, too numerous to deal with simply.
The Levites Who Went Up With Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:8-9).
We are now given the names of the Levites who went up with Zerubbabel. These are all recognised Levite names, clearly passed on from one generation to another, which means that we have to be careful in the Book of Nehemiah about identifying who is who. But the important point here is that there were genuine Levites of true descent, available to carry on the work of God in the new nation in accordance with God's ordinance. Not for this new Israel the error of appointing ‘strange priests and Levites' as northern Israel had done long before (1 Kings 12:31).
‘Moreover the Levites:'
‘Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, (and) Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, he and his brothers.'
These chief Levites returned with Zerubbabel. They have names which occur over and over again in Ezra/Nehemiah. Thus this Jeshua had no direct connection with the High Priest of that name, but was rather a chief Levite. He was connected with the building of the new Temple and the commencement of its activities in Ezra 3:9. The Jeshua mentioned in Nehemiah 7:43; Ezra 2:40 was either his clan ancestor, or himself. It was a descendant of his who signed the covenant, either in his own name or, as clan-leader, taking the name of the clan (Nehemiah 10:9), and was presumably the Jeshua who helped the people to understand the covenant (Nehemiah 8:7), and who, with others, interceded on behalf of the new Israel (Nehemiah 9:4-5). This Jeshua is described as ‘the son of Azaniah'. A Jeshua is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:24, but he was ‘the son of Kadmiel' (although see on that verse).
Binnui was another popular Levite name. His descendant, who also bore the same name, also signed the covenant (Nehemiah 10:9), and assisted in the building of the wall (Nehemiah 3:24) and if the same as Bani (a good possibility in context, the difference in the Hebrew names being slight), helped the people to understand the covenant (Nehemiah 8:7), and interceded on behalf of Israel (Nehemiah 9:4-5). Descendants of both Jeshua and Binnui helped to receive from Ezra the gold and silver vessels for the house of God (Ezra 8:33). Men with, or connected with, the names Bani and Binnui had to rid themselves of idolatrous foreign wives (Ezra 10:29-30; Ezra 10:34; Ezra 10:38) but there is no reason for connecting them with this Binnui, and Bani was a very common name used by people of all tribes (2Sa 23:36; 1 Chronicles 9:4; Ezra 2:10).
This Kadmiel likewise passed on his name to his descendants. The Kadmiel mentioned in Nehemiah 7:43; Ezra 2:40 was either this Kadmiel or his ancestor, and it was this Kadmiel who, along with Jeshua, was connected with the building of the new Temple and the commencement of its activities in Ezra 3:9. One of his descendants (either having been given the name or having taken the name) signed the covenant (Nehemiah 10:9), helped the people to understand the covenant (Nehemiah 8:7), and interceded on behalf of the new Israel (Nehemiah 9:4-5). A Kadmiel was the father of the Jeshua mentioned in Nehemiah 12:24, which see. It is noteworthy that Jeshua, Binnui and Kadmiel, in that order, are constantly the first names spoken of when the Levites are described, the exception being Nehemiah 12:24 for a reason we consider easily explicable.
Sherebiah was another common Levite name. Here it referred to a chief Levite who arrived with Zerubbabel, of whom nothing further is known. One of his descendants signed the covenant of Nehemiah, either in his own name, having himself been given the family name, or in the family name (Nehemiah 10:12). This descendant also caused the people to understand the Law (Nehemiah 8:7), and made intercession for the new Israel (Nehemiah 9:4-5). There can be no certainty as to whether he is linked with the Sherebiah of Nehemiah 12:24. In Ezra 8:24 one of the chiefs of the priests was named Sherebiah, but that demonstrates nothing more than the popularity of the name, especially in the tribe of Levi.
Judah is nowhere else spoken of as a chief Levite or family head of the Levites, but the name was common among the Jews (compare Nehemiah 12:34), and we should note a Levite named Judah who had to put away his idolatrous foreign wife (Ezra 10:24). Furthermore mention is made in Ezra 3:9 MT of ‘the sons of Judah', this Judah also being a Levite. We can also compare Judah the son of Hassenuah who was a Benjamite (Nehemiah 11:9). Some seek to relate the name Judah to the very similar Hodiah who is often referred to as one of the leading Levites in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 8:7; Nehemiah 9:5; Nehemiah 10:10; Nehemiah 10:13), but there are no solid grounds for doing so. It may, however, relate to the Hodaviah of Ezra 2:40. In view of the lack of mention elsewhere of these leading Levites in the time of Zerubbabel (apart from sparse mention in Ezra 3:9), there are no good grounds for seeking to see their names in terms of later times. They were probably rather obtained from contemporary records. It would indeed be this fact that gave the argument of the chapter solidity (the argument that worship in the new ‘holy city' was being carried on by those who were of genuinely valid ancestry).
Mattaniah, who was over the thanksgiving, may relate in some distant way to the Mattaniah who was an ancestor at least four removed of Uzzi the Levite, who was an overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:22). He may indeed have been the grandfather of ‘Hanan the son of Zaccur the son of Mattaniah' (Nehemiah 13:13) who was connected with the Temple treasury distributions, but it is not certain. His connection with the Mattaniah who was the chief to begin the thanksgiving in prayer in the time of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 11:17), was probably ancestral. This latter would serve to confirm that ‘over the thanksgiving' indicate a central role in worship The Mattaniah in Nehemiah 12:25, who was a gate-keeper, was therefore a distinct person, despite his being in parallel with a Bakbukiah (compare Nehemiah 12:8-9). The ‘he' of ‘he and his brothers' probably refers to Mattaniah, ‘his brothers' thereby bringing in the wider Levite family.
So in all cases the later repetition of these names simply emphasises the custom of passing on the family name from grandfather to grandson, and a possible tendency for the beginners of the new Israel to take the names of their leading ancestors in recognition of that new beginning. What is underlined is that these were genuine, true-born Levites, which is the purpose of the whole passage.
‘Also Bakbukiah and Unno, their brothers, were over against them according to their offices.'
Additional to the six leading Levites mentioned were Bakbukiah and Unno, described as ‘their brothers', that is, fellow Levites. These two were important, but not as important as the six. They stood out more because of the positions they held than directly because of ancestry. The Bakbukiah of Nehemiah 11:17 was probably the direct descendant of the Bakbukiah mentioned here. But Bakbukiah is probably not the Bakbukiah of Nehemiah 12:25, who was a gate-keeper and ‘kept watch at the storehouses of the gates'. The name Unno (Unni) is unknown elsewhere except as applied to Levite musicians from the time of David (1 Chronicles 15:18; 1 Chronicles 15:20).
The suggestion that Nehemiah 12:8-9 were based on Nehemiah 12:24-25 has little to commend it except for the coincidence of popular names. Those in Nehemiah 12:8-9 were Levites at the time of the return. Those in Nehemiah 12:24-25 were Levites at a later date. Both lists would be obtained from contemporary records. The differences are as striking as the coincidences at a time when repetition of names were popular. Thus the first list includes Binnui, Judah and Unno, not mentioned in the second list, whereas the second list has Hashabiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub, not mentioned in the first list. Furthermore the Kadmiel of the first list, named alongside Jeshua, does not equate with the Kadmiel of the second list who was the father of Jeshua. The coincidences may simply reflect the popularity in certain Levite circles of the names in question over this period, partly based on the past, and the custom of naming a grandson after his grandfather. It is noteworthy that Bukkiah (now Bakbukiah) and Mattaniah were also linked in David's day (1 Chronicles 25:4).