Nehemiah 12:12

And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers,.... This was the son and successor of Jeshua, or Joshua, the first high priest of the second temple; the principal men of the priesthood in his time were as follow, and who were the sons, or however the descendants of the priests in the time of his father before mentioned: these were Meraiah, Hananiah, Meshullam, Jehohanan, Jonathan, Joseph, Adna, Helkai, Zechariah, (the prophet of that name,) Meshullam, Zichri, Piltai, Shammua, Jehonathan, Mattenai, Uzzi, Kallai, Eber, Hashabiah, Nethaneel; in all twenty, whereas there are twenty two named, as in his father's days, there being no sons or descendants from two of them, namely, Hattush and Miamin.

And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers,.... This was the son and successor of Jeshua, or Joshua, the first high priest of the second temple; the principal men of the priesthood in his time were as follow, and who were the sons, or however the descendants of the priests in the time of his father before mentioned: these were Meraiah, Hananiah, Meshullam, Jehohanan, Jonathan, Joseph, Adna, Helkai, Zechariah, (the prophet of that name,) Meshullam, Zichri, Piltai, Shammua, Jehonathan, Mattenai, Uzzi, Kallai, Eber, Hashabiah, Nethaneel; in all twenty, whereas there are twenty two named, as in his father's days, there being no sons or descendants from two of them, namely, Hattush and Miamin.

Nehemiah 12:22

neh 12:22

neh 12:22

neh 12:22The Levites, in the days of Eliashib,.... The third priest of the second temple:

Joiada; he was the son of Eliashib, and the fourth high priest:

and Johanan; the same with Jonathan, Neh 12:11 and whom Josephus (o) also calls Joannes:

and Jaddua; the same as in Neh 12:10 in the days of each of these were

recorded chief of the fathers; the principal men among the Levites:

also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persian; thought to be Darius Codomannus, the last king of the Persian monarchy, whom Alexander conquered; and if so, this verse must be inserted after the death of Nehemiah, and as the next verse also seems to be; for these two verses interrupt the natural order of the relation: an account is given of the priests in the times of Joiakim, Neh 12:12, these verses being inserted, the account goes on, Neh 12:24, &c. of the chief of the Levites in the times of Joiakim only.

(o) Antiqu. l. 11. c. 7. sect. 1.

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

Neh 12:12. In the days of Joiakim were priests — As the writer had mentioned those who were the chief of the priests in the days of Jeshua, so now he mentions the sons of every one of them who officiated in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, either as assistants to their fathers, or succeeding them when they were dead. He begins with the three named in this verse, and so proceeds in order to give an account of the rest, which reaches to Neh 12:22.

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

LIST OF THE HEADS OF THE PRIESTLY COURSES IN THE TIME OF THE HIGH PRIEST JOIAKIM. (Neh_12:12-21) Joiakim must have been contemporary with Xerxes, and consequently have been high priest at the time when the very existence of the Jewish people was threatened by Haman. It is curious that we have no record of his high priesthood, nor of the condition of the Palestinian Jews at the time, beyond the slight hints furnished by this chapter. These hints seem to imply that under him special attention was paid to the formation of lists, especially of the chief priests and Levites, and that the temple service was celebrated with great exactness and regularity (vers. 24-26). The present list is particularly valuable, as enabling us to check that with which the chapter opens, and as establishing the family character of the names whereof that list is made up.

Of Seraiah, Meraiah. It will be observed that the family names of the priestly, courses follow the order of the same names in vers. 1-7, and exactly accord with them, excepting in minute differences of spelling, and in one omission that of the name of "Hattush." It might be supposed that the family of Hattush had died out; but this is contradicted by its reappearance among the signatures to the covenant; (Neh_10:4) the omission here would therefore appear to be accidental.

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

Neh 12:12-21 contains the list of the priestly houses and their heads, which has been already explained in conjunction with that in Neh 12:1-7. Neh 12:22-26. The list of the heads of the Levites, Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:24, is, according to Neh 12:26, that of the days of Joiakim, and of the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. Whence it follows, that it does not apply only to the time of Joiakim; for though Ezra might indeed have come to Jerusalem in the latter days of Joiakim's high-priesthood, yet Nehemiah's arrival found his successor Eliashib already in office, and the statements of Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:23 must be understood accordingly.

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.)

12:12-21 This list was probably compiled when Joiakim was high priest (12:12) to verify the legitimacy of the priests and Levites who were in office. Except for the omission of Hattush (see 12:2), this list contains the same names as 12:1-7.

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

That is, next to Seraiah, or rather of the order, which was called after the name of Seraiah.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers--As there had been priests in the days of Jeshua, so in the time of Joiakim, the son and successor of Jeshua, the sons of those persons filled the priestly office in the place of their fathers, some of whom were still alive, though many were dead.

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

(12-26) List of representatives of Zerubbabel’s priests in the days of Joiakim; to which is added an account of the Levites in his day. Between these there is an interpolation (Neh_12:22-23).

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

12. And in the days of Joiakim] See note on Neh_12:10.

the chief of the fathers] R.V. heads of fathers’ houses.

On the list contained in these verses, see note on Neh_12:1.

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.

Saraia had given his name to one of the principal families, at the head of which was Maraia, at this time. The Latin manuscripts, Septuagint, and Syriac style him Amaria.

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).

As their fathers were priests in the days of Joshua, so in the days of Joiakim, the son of Joshua, the sons of those persons executed the priesthood in their fathers’ steads, some of their fathers probably being yet living, and many of them now dead.

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

Priests - As their fathers were priests in the days of Joshua, so in the days of Joiakim the son of Joshua, the sons of those persons executed the priesthood in their father's steads, some of their fathers probably being yet living, and many of them dead.

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

Joiakim ... Meraiah ... Hananiah ... Meshullam ... Jehohanan ... Jonathan ... Joseph

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

Seraiah ... Jeremiah ... Ezra ... Amariah ... Malluk ... Shebaniah

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

translationWords

priest

Ezra

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

And in the days of Joiakim who was the high priest. These priests were the leaders of the fathers’ houses of their watches.

of Seraiah was Meraiah Of the watch of Seraiah, the head of the father’s house was Meraiah, and of the watch of Jeremiah, the head of the father’s house was Hananiah, and so it is with them all, and the reason Scripture did not list all twenty-four watches is that it is not exacting in enumerating them all.

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.