The Enrolling Of The Priests (Nehemiah 7:39-42).
The priests are here divided up into four courses, in contrast with the twenty four courses pertaining under David (1 Chronicles 24:1-19). But these four courses would eventually in the future be divided up into twenty four under the names of the old courses. The number of priestly families returning amount as a whole to four thousand, two hundred and eighty nine, roughly a tenth of the total of forty two thousand, three hundred and sixty who returned, and an even larger percentage of the named families. This was to be expected as they had a greater incentive for returning to Jerusalem. There would be a further addition to priestly numbers when some returned along with Ezra (Ezra 8:2 ff).
‘The Priests:'
The Priests are separately designated as a group. These were able to demonstrate their ancestry, and therefore their legitimacy to act in the forthcoming Temple.
‘The sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy three.'
Jedaiah (‘Yah knows') was the head of the second order of priests in the time of David (1 Chronicles 24:7). On the other hand ‘of the house of Jeshua' possibly indicates that a different Jedaiah was in mind, one who was descended from Jeshua, the head of the ninth order of priests (1 Chronicles 24:11). Jedaiah was a very popular name among the priests. For example, two Jedaiahs are named as priests who came with Zerubbabel from Babylon (Nehemiah 12:1; Nehemiah 12:6-7), who were chiefs of priests in the days of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, the High Priest under Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:1; Nehemiah 12:7; Ezra 3:2; Ezra 3:8). Furthermore two Jedaiahs as family names are found in the list of priests who were ‘heads of fathers' houses' in the days of Joiakim who succeeded Jeshua as High Priest (Nehemiah 12:12; Nehemiah 12:19; Nehemiah 12:21). In this regard we should note that there was a tendency for names to be passed on to grandsons. A Jedaiah is also named as one of the priests who later took up dwelling in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:10; 1 Chronicles 9:10). A Jedaiah (presumably one of those mentioned in Nehemiah 12:6-7) was involved in the symbolic crowning of Jeshua the High Priest as ‘the Branch' in Zechariah 6:10; Zechariah 6:14.
‘Of the house of Jeshua.' This would usually indicate that he was a descendant of Jeshua (compare Exodus 2:1; 1Sa 25:3; 1 Chronicles 2:55; 2 Chronicles 31:10). Jeshua (‘Yah saves') was such a popular name that certain identification of this one is impossible to us, although it probably in this context looks back to the Jeshua who headed the ninth order of priests in 1 Chronicles 24:11.
Jeshua was a very popular name. Jeshua was the name of a Levite who lived in Hezekiah's time (2 Chronicles 31:15). Jeshua the son of Jozadak was the name of the High Priest alongside Zerubbabel (e.g. Ezra 3:2; Zechariah 3; etc), and in this very same list a Jeshua is the son of Pahath-Moab (Nehemiah 7:11), whilst another is a head of a Levite family (Nehemiah 7:43). Another Jeshua had, along with others, oversight of workmen restoring the Temple in the early days of the return (Ezra 3:9), whilst still another, a Levite, was among those who helped the people to understand the Law in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 8:7). It was this latter who, along with others, led worship, and called on the people to worship (Nehemiah 9:4-5), and may have been the father of ‘Jozabad, the son of Jeshua', whom, along with others, received the silver, gold and vessels for use in the Temple (Ezra 8:33). Jeshua, the son of Azaniah, was one of those who sealed the sure covenant of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:9). Nehemiah 12:10 refers to a Jeshua who came up with Zerubbabel (see Ezra 2:40 above), while a further Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, is referred to in Nehemiah 12:24 as present at the dedication of the walls in the time of Nehemiah. The famous Jeshua the son of Nun is mentioned in Nehemiah 8:17.
‘The sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty two.'
Immer was the name of the sixteenth order of priests in David's time (1 Chronicles 24:14). Two ‘sons of Immer', Hanani and Zebediah married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezra 10:20). Zadok, the ‘son of Immer', (probably a relatively contemporary one) who lived in Jerusalem, helped in the building of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Nehemiah 3:29). Also living in Jerusalem was Amashsai, the son of Azazel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, a line (which probably only included prominent ancestors) that evidences the fact that Immer was long dead (Nehemiah 11:13; compare 1 Chronicles 9:12). Jeremiah 20:1 speaks of a ‘Pashhur, the son of Immer' living before the Babylonian Exile. In Nehemiah 7:61 we learn of a place in Babylonia which was called Immer, the returnees from which could not prove their genealogy.
‘The sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty seven.'
Pashhur, which means ‘one who splits, one who cleaves', was a common Jewish name. This is the only name among the four which does not directly tie up with the courses of priests in David's time. Six ‘sons of Pashhur' married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezra 10:22). A Pashhur, or someone who signed in the clan name, also sealed the sure covenant of Nehemiah in Nehemiah 10:3.
We have already seen that a Pashhur who was ‘the son of Immer' lived before the Babylonian Exile, and treated Jeremiah the prophet very badly (Jeremiah 20:1-3). There was also at that time a Pashhur, the son of Malchijah (Jeremiah 21:1; Jeremiah 38:1; Nehemiah 11:12), and a Gedaliah the son of a different Pashhur (Jeremiah 38:1) who were also antagonistic towards Jeremiah. However, none of these indicate the Pashhur who was the source of the clan name. All that they demonstrate is that Pashhur was a common Jewish name likely to have been borne by a clan chief.
‘The sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.'
Harim was the name of the third order of priests in the days of David (1 Chronicles 24:8), and this probably indicates their descent from him. In Ezra 10:21 the ‘sons of Harim' covenanted to put away idolatrous foreign wives, and in Nehemiah 12:15 they are listed among the priests who ‘went up with Zerubbabel'. A priestly Harim seals the covenant of Nehemiah, or someone does it in the family name (Nehemiah 10:27).
We have already had ‘sons of Harim' referred to in Nehemiah 7:35, but they were of a non-priestly family, and there Harim was possibly a town. Some of ‘the sons of' this Harim also married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezra 10:31), whilst one sealed the covenant of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:27).
Malchijah, the son of Harim, was one of the wall-builders in Nehemiah, but we do not know to which of these two families that designation refers.