The Histories · Old Testament

Nehemiah 12

Nehemiah 12: priestly lists, the high-priestly line, and the dedication of the wall

General context

The chapter lists the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, traces the high-priestly line from Jeshua through Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada and Jonathan to Jaddua, and names the chief of the fathers of each priestly house in the days of Joiakim. It notes that Levites and priests were recorded down to the days of Jaddua and the reign of Darius the Persian. Chief Levites praise ward over against ward according to David's commandment, and porters keep the gates, in the days of Joiakim, Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest. For the dedication of the wall the Levites are sought from their places and the singers gathered from villages around Jerusalem. Priests and Levites purify themselves, the people, the gates and the wall. Nehemiah brings the princes onto the wall and appoints two great companies of thanksgivers: one goes right toward the dung gate with half the princes, priests' sons with trumpets and Ezra the scribe before them, up the stairs of the city of David to the water gate; the other goes the opposite way with Nehemiah behind it, past the tower of the furnaces, the broad wall and the northern gates and towers to the sheep gate. Both companies stand in the house of God with trumpets and loud singing. Great sacrifices are offered, wives and children rejoice, and the joy of Jerusalem is heard afar off. Men are appointed over the chambers for treasures and tithes, and all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah gives daily portions to singers and porters.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 12:1, Nehemiah 12:7, Nehemiah 12:8, Nehemiah 12:10, Nehemiah 12:11, Nehemiah 12:12, Nehemiah 12:22, Nehemiah 12:23, Nehemiah 12:24, Nehemiah 12:26, Nehemiah 12:27, Nehemiah 12:29, Nehemiah 12:30, Nehemiah 12:31, Nehemiah 12:36, Nehemiah 12:37, Nehemiah 12:38, Nehemiah 12:39, Nehemiah 12:40, Nehemiah 12:42, Nehemiah 12:43, Nehemiah 12:44, Nehemiah 12:45, Nehemiah 12:47

Nehemiah 12 (KJV)

¹Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

²Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

³Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

⁴Iddo, Ginnetho, Abijah,

⁵Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

⁶Shemaiah, and Joiarib, Jedaiah,

⁷Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chief of the priests and of their brethren in the days of Jeshua.

⁸Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, which was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.

⁹Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, were over against them in the watches.

¹⁰And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada,

¹¹And Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.

¹²And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;

¹³Of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;

¹⁴Of Melicu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;

¹⁵Of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;

¹⁶Of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;

¹⁷Of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;

¹⁸Of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;

¹⁹And of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;

²⁰Of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;

²¹Of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.

²²The Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian.

²³The 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.

²⁴And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.

²⁵Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates.

²⁶These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.

²⁷And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.

²⁸And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of Netophathi;

²⁹Also from the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.

³⁰And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, and the gates, and the wall.

³¹Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate:

³²And after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah,

³³And Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam,

³⁴Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,

³⁵And certain of the priests’ sons with trumpets; namely, Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph:

³⁶And his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe before them.

³⁷And at the fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.

³⁸And the other company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;

³⁹And from above the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.

⁴⁰So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me:

⁴¹And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;

⁴²And Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer.

⁴³Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.

⁴⁴And at that time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited.

⁴⁵And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son.

⁴⁶For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.

⁴⁷And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion: and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; and the Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.

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Historical context

The high-priestly line names Joiada's son as Jonathan in verse 11 and speaks of Johanan the son of Eliashib in verses 22 and 23; the text gives both forms without comment. An Ezra appears near the head of the list of priests who went up with Zerubbabel, but the text does not identify him with Ezra the scribe, who came later under Artaxerxes; Ezra as a house name also appears in verse 13. The reference to the reign of Darius the Persian is the only royal marker in the chapter, and the text does not say which Darius. The lists reach to Jaddua, several generations past Jeshua, while the dedication scene is narrated in Nehemiah's own voice, so the chapter contains material from more than one time. The dedication of the wall is not dated, and it is placed after the resettlement of chapter 11 rather than directly after the wall's completion in chapter 6. The two processions pass the same gates and towers listed in chapter 3. The narrator names priests' sons with trumpets and instruments in the first company, priests with trumpets in the house of God, and the singers' overseer Jezrahiah, but gives no words of any song. The closing verses describe support for singers, porters and Levites as a practice of the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, which sets up the neglect reported in chapter 13.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 12:11, Nehemiah 12:23, Nehemiah 12:1, Nehemiah 12:13, Ezra 7:1, Nehemiah 12:22, Nehemiah 12:31, Nehemiah 6:15, Nehemiah 12:39, Nehemiah 3:3, Nehemiah 12:41, Nehemiah 12:47, Nehemiah 13:10

Literary context

The chapter's first half is archival, with lists framed by the days of Jeshua, the days of Joiakim and the days of Eliashib and his successors, so that the temple's staff is shown continuing across generations. The second half returns to Nehemiah's I and stages the dedication as a walking ceremony. Two companies set out in opposite directions, retrace the wall that chapter 3 described stretch by stretch, and meet in the house of God, so the wall is celebrated by being circled and the ceremony ends at the temple rather than on the ramparts. Ezra walks before one company and Nehemiah behind the other, one of only two scenes in the book with both men present and the only one that gives each a position. The phrase heard even afar off repeats the sound of the foundation-laying in Ezra 3, but here the sound is joy alone, without the mingled weeping. The closing verses shift from a single day to standing arrangements, appointments over chambers and daily portions, which the following chapter shows breaking down.

Cited passages: Nehemiah 12:7, Nehemiah 12:12, Nehemiah 12:22, Nehemiah 12:31, Nehemiah 12:40, Nehemiah 12:36, Nehemiah 12:38, Nehemiah 12:43, Ezra 3:13, Nehemiah 12:44, Nehemiah 13:11

Key moments

Priests who came with Zerubbabel (Nehemiah 12:1). The chapter opens with the priestly and Levite houses of the first return.
The high-priestly line (Nehemiah 12:10). Jeshua's descendants are traced through Joiakim and Eliashib to Jaddua.
Levites gathered for dedication (Nehemiah 12:27). Levites and singers are brought from their villages to Jerusalem.
Purifying people, gates and wall (Nehemiah 12:30). Priests and Levites purify themselves and everything to be dedicated.
Two companies on the wall (Nehemiah 12:31). Nehemiah sends two thanksgiving processions in opposite directions.
Joy heard afar off (Nehemiah 12:43). Great sacrifices and the rejoicing of wives and children carry far beyond the city.
Portions for singers and porters (Nehemiah 12:47). All Israel gives daily portions in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah.

For reflection

The wall is dedicated by two companies walking its length in opposite directions and meeting at the house of God. What might it mean that a celebration of the city's defences ends inside the temple rather than on the wall itself?

People in this chapter

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