Nehemiah 12:10

SUCCESSION OF THE HIGH PRIESTS. (Neh. 12:10-47)

Jeshua begat Joiakim, &c.--This enumeration was of great importance, not only as establishing their individual purity of descent, but because the chronology of the Jews was henceforth to be reckoned, not as formerly by the reigns of their kings, but by the successions of their high priests.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Neh 12:10 And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat Joiada,

Ver. 10. Joiakim begat Eliashib] Who proved a very wicked priest, Neh 13:4-5, and his son Joiada was little better, being allied to Sanballat, Neh 13:28.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh 12:10-11. And Jeshua begat Joiakim — In these two verses is an account of the succession of the high-priests, from the return of the captivity till the time when they began to bear the greatest sway in the Jewish nation. For the Jaddua mentioned at the end of Neh 12:11, is commonly thought to be that Jaddus, the high-priest, who went to meet Alexander the Great in his pontifical habit, as he came from the conquest of Tyre and Gaza, and procured great privileges for the Jewish nation. This catalogue of their high-priests was the more necessary, because their times were now to be measured, not by the years of their kings, as formerly, but by their high-priests.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

LIST OF THE HIGH PRIESTS FROM JESHUA TO JADDUA. (Neh_12:10, Neh_12:11) That this is the line of descent in the high priestly family of the time sufficiently appears both from the names themselves, and from the position assigned to those who bore them in vers. 22, 23, 26. Whether all of them actually exercised the high priest"s office is left uncertain in Scripture, but satisfactorily established by Josephus. The six names cover a space of at least 205 years from the conquest of Babylon by Cyrus, B.C. 538, to the submission of Jerusalem to Alexander the Great, B.C. 333, which gives very long generations, but still such as are historically possible. Jeshua was certainly high priest from B.C. 538 to B.C. 516. He may have been succeeded by his son, Joiakim, about B.C. 490. Joiakim had certainly been succeeded by his son, Eliashib, before B.C. 444; (Neh_3:1) and Eliashib was probably succeeded by Joiada about B.C. 420. Joiada"s high priesthood may be assigned to the period between B.C. 420 and 380; Jonathan"s to that between B.C. 380 and 350. Jaddua might then hold the dignity from B.C. 350 to 330, or later, and so be brought into contact with Alexander the Great. It is questioned whether in that case Nehemiah can have written the present passage, and certain that he cannot have done so unless he lived to be at least 131 years of age. As this is exceedingly improbable, it is best to suppose, either that the whole list was placed here by Malachi, or at any rate that that prophet added the clause, "and Jonathan begat Jaddua.

Jeshua. The "Jeshua" of ver. 1, not of ver. 8 the high priest of Zerub-babel"s time. (Ezr_3:2, 8 4:3 5:2, etc.) Begat Joiakim. The high priesthood of Joiakim falls into the interval between the first part (chs. 1-7) and the second part (chs. 7-10) of Ezra. He is only mentioned in this chapter (vers. 12, 26). Eliashib is first mentioned in Ezr_10:6, but he does not appear as high priest until after Nehemiah reaches Jerusalem. (Neh_3:1) On his close connection with Tobiah see Neh_13:4, Neh_13:5, Neh_13:28. Joiada is called Judas by Josephus. ("Ant. Jud:," 11:7, His term of office lasted, according to Syncellus and the Paschal Chronicle, thirty-six years.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

12:10-11 Joiakim probably served in the early years of Ezra’s service. • Eliashib and Joiada served during Nehemiah’s time (3:1; 13:4, 28). • Johanan: An Aramaic papyrus document from a Jewish colony that settled in Elephantine, Egypt (about 410 BC) and Josephus (Antiquities 11.5.4, AD 93) both mention Johanan serving after Nehemiah’s time.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

(10, 11) Pedigree of certain high priests, with supplement from a later hand. The six generations stretch over 200 years—from B.C. 536 to B.C. 332.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10, 11. The lists of the high-priests in 1Ch_6:3-15 concluded with Jehozadak, who ‘went into captivity when the Lord carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.’ Jehozadak’s son was Jeshua (see Ezr_3:1), who returned from the captivity with Zerubbabel. The present list of the high-priesthood follows directly upon that given in 1 Chronicles 6.

Joiakim] From the special mention of this high-priest in Neh_12:12; Neh_12:26, we may conjecture that during his tenure of office the houses of the priests and Levites were registered or reconstituted.

Eliashib] The high-priest in Nehemiah’s period of governorship (Neh_3:1; Neh_13:4; Neh_13:7; Neh_13:28). His son Joiada, who is called Juda by Josephus (Ant. xi. 7. 1), is mentioned again in Neh_13:28. A slight difficulty is presented by the name Jonathan. In Neh_12:22, we find ‘Johanan’ stands between ‘Joiada’ and ‘Jaddua;’ and in Neh_12:23, this Johanan is called the son of Eliashib. We must either suppose that Jonathan is here a mistake for Johanan, or that ‘Jonathan’ was high-priest for a short period, and was succeeded by his better known brother Johanan.

Jaddua] There is no reason to doubt that this is the same Jaddua, who was high-priest at the time that Alexander passed along the borders of Palestine on his march into Egypt. The probably legendary account of Alexander’s visit to Jerusalem, and his meeting with the high-priest Jaddua, attended by the priests in their most splendid robes, is narrated by Josephus (Ant. xi. 8. 5).

The occurrence of Jaddua’s name shows that the compilation of these books must be later than 340–333 b.c.

Between Eliashib (Neh_13:28) who was high-priest in 432 b.c. and Jaddua who was high-priest in 333 b.c. there are thus only two names, or at the most three, recorded in this list, i.e. Joiada, Johanan or (? and) Jonathan.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begot Joiada, and Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua. This is an account of the high priests in succession in the second temple, the first six of them; and if Jaddua, the last mentioned, is the same with Jaddus, as Josephus (n) supposes, who went forth in his pontifical robes to meet Alexander the great returning from his conquests of Tyre and Gaza, from whom he obtained many favours, and whom he had into the temple, and showed him the prophecy of Daniel concerning himself; this paragraph must be written by another hand, and not Nehemiah, since it can hardly be thought he should live so long; and as to his times, this account of him, or the history of his own times, seems not to have gone through the priesthood of Eliashib, the third of those high priests, see Neh 13:28, and to reach no further than to the thirty second of Darius Hystaspis, Neh 13:6 this fragment therefore might be inserted by some godly man under a divine direction in later times, as we have several insertions in the books of Moses and Joshua of the like kind; and particularly in Ch1 3:19 where the genealogy of Zerubbabel is carried down beyond the times of the Maccabees, and so could not be placed there by Ezra.

(n) Antiqu. l. 11. c. 8. sect. 5.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

The six generations of high priests covered a little more than two centuries (538-333 B.C.), or a little under thirty-five years to a generation. Jaddua was the high priest who (according to Josephus) had an interview with Alexander shortly after the battle of Issus.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Joacim. These are some of the successors of Josue, (Menochius) who were high priests till the time of Jeddoa, or Jaddus. (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Here follows a catalogue of the Jewish high priests; which was the more necessary, because their times were now to be measured, not by the years of their kings, as formerly, but by their high priests.

Eliashib; of whom see Neh 3:1; 13:4,5.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Jeshua - Here follows a catalogue of the Jewish high-priests; which was the more necessary, because their times were now to be measured, not by the years of their kings as formerly, but by their high-priests.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

A note on the genealogy of the high-priestly line from Jeshua to Jaddua is inserted, so to speak, as a connecting link between the lists of Levites, to explain the statements concerning the dates of their composition, - dates defined by the name of the respective high priests. The lists given Neh 12:1 were of the time of Jeshua; those from Neh 12:12 and onwards, of the days of Joiakim and his successors. The name יונתן, as is obvious from Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:23, is a clerical error for יוחנן, Johanan, Greek Ἰωάννης, of whom we are told, Joseph. Ant. xi. 7. 1, that he murdered his brother Jesus, and thus gave Bagoses, the general of Artaxerxes Mnemon, an opportunity for taking severe measures against the Jews.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

Jeshua ... Joiakim ... Eliashib ... Joiada ... Jonathan ... Jaddua

These are names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)

Jeshua was the father of Joiakim

This was the same Jeshua named in Nehemiah 12:1. The original readers would have understood that Jeshua was the high priest. AT: "Jeshua the high priest was the father of Joiakim" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

ancestor

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

Now Jeshua begot Joiakim, etc. All those [listed] in this verse were high priests.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.