Nehemiah 12:22

Neh 12:22 The 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.

Ver. 22. To the reign of Darius the Persian] viz. Darius Codomannus, the last Persian king.

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 12:22. Also the priests, to the reign of Darius the Persians — “This verse,” observes Dr. Dodd, after Le Clerc, “wherein mention is made of Darius Codomanus, and the high-priest Jaddua, affords us proof that Nehemiah did not put the finishing hand to this book. For Nehemiah, to be able to speak of Darius, must have lived, according to Huet, at least one hundred and thirty-one years, and at that age have written or enlarged his book, which is not probable. We may therefore conclude, that the book of Nehemiah could not have been published, such as it is, till the reign of Darius Codomanus at least; and since one chapter of the book of Nehemiah has been put into that of Ezra, we may very probably suppose that it did not appear in its present form till about the same time. So that these two books have been collected from the memoirs of three different authors, to which have been added several things for the illustration of the history.” Le Clerc, and Houbigant’s note on the place.

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

22. The Levites… to the reign of Darius the Persian — The grammatical connexion of the parts of this verse it is difficult to determine. The whole verse seems to be the heading or superscription of a list of names, and, indeed, the whole passage (Neh_12:22-26) has a fragmentary aspect, like disconnected parts of some more extensive document. It is evident from this verse that a register of the chief fathers of the priests and Levites was kept until the reign of Darius. But who was this Darius the Persian? According to Josephus, (Ant., Neh_11:8; Neh_11:4-5,) Jaddua was the name of the high-priest who was contemporary with Alexander the Great, the conqueror of Darius Codomannus. This Darius was the last king of Persia, and must have reigned so long after the time of Nehemiah, that if the Jaddua of this verse was his contemporary, this passage must have been written later than the age of the supposed author of this book.

There are three methods of obviating these difficulties: 1.) This verse may have been inserted by a later hand. Into a passage so aphoristic as this, such an interpolation might have easily crept. This supposition is favoured by the insertion of “and” before the name of Johanan, as if that name had originally ended the list; and also by the mention, in the next verse, of Chronicles that were continued to “the days of Johanan.” 2.) The Jaddua of this verse may have been a different person from the one mentioned by Josephus as contemporary with Alexander. 3.) Most interpreters identify this Darius the Persian with Darius Nothus, who, after a few months of anarchy in the royal family, succeeded his father, Artaxerxes Longimanus, and reigned nineteen years. Nehemiah might easily have been living in his day, and the Jaddua of Josephus might have been then a young man. For, according to Neh_13:28, Joiada had in Nehemiah’s time a son who was married, and, therefore, the oldest son. Johanan might have begotten Jaddua some years before this. Accordingly in bringing down these registers to his own time, Nehemiah recorded the name of Jaddua as then living and prospectively high priest, though not yet in office.

If these representatives of four successive generations in the high priest’s family were all living at one time, we may see a reason for thus recording their names even though one or more of them had not yet entered upon his office. One of the sons of the high priest had married Sanballat’s daughter, and erected a false worship on Mount Gerizim; and such a pollution in the priesthood may have shaken the faith of many a pious Jew. But it would restore confidence to note the remarkable providence of God in preserving at such a time four generations of high priests to look each other in the face at once.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

PARENTHETIC STATEMENT OF THE TIME DOWN TO WHICH EXACT LISTS OF THE LEADING PRIESTS AND LEVITES WERE KEPT. (Neh_12:22, Neh_12:23) These verses appear to constitute a late insertion. They interrupt the list of high church officers in the time of Joiakim, which is commenced in ver. 12 and not concluded till ver. 26. By their mention of Jaddua as high priest, and of "Darius the Persian" as contemporary king, they betray a writer who lived at least as late as B.C. 336, or nearly a century after the time of Nehemiah"s religious reforms. The facts put on record by this writer are not of very much importance. They seem to be simply these:

1. That the practice of accurately recording the heads of the priestly and Levitical courses, which Nehemiah has noted as belonging to the days of Joiakim, was continued under his successors, Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, down (at any rate) to the accession of Darius Codomannus; and,

2. That in the case of the Levites the lists were inserted into the book of the chronicles not our "Book," but that larger one, of which ours is in the main an abbreviation down to the time of Johanan, the son (or, rather, grandson) of Eliashib. It has been supposed that the writer originally accompanied these statements with lists that have been lost, but this does not appear to be probable.

In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua. See comment on vers. 10, 11. In the reign of Darius. Rather, "to the reign." The "Darius" intended is beyond all doubt Codomannus, the adversary of Alexander the Great, who was contemporary with Jaddua. The lists went on under the four high priests down to the time when Darius Codomannus was king of Persia. It is not said that they then ceased. The Persian. Some suppose an antithesis here between this Darius and "Darius the Mede" of Daniel. (Dan_5:31 Dan_11:1) But this is unlikely, since there was nothing to recall that unimportant personage to the thoughts of the writer. Others, with better reason, suggest a tacit allusion to the transfer of empire from Persia to Macedon, and think the date of the passage must be subsequent to B.C. 331, when the kingdom passed away from Persia.

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

"With respect to the Levites in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua were recorded the heads of the houses, and also (those) of the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian." To judge from the הלויּם with which it commences, this verse seems to be the title of the list of Levites following, while the rest of its contents rather seems adapted for the subscription of the preceding list of priests (Neh 12:12-21). מלכוּת על, under the reign. The use of על with reference to time is to be explained by the circumstance that the time, and here therefore the reign of Darius, is regarded as the ground and soil of that which is done in it, as e.g., ἐπὶ νυκτί, upon night = at night-time. Darius is Darius Nothus, the second Persian monarch of that name; where also the meaning of this verse has been already discussed. In Neh 12:23, the original document in which the list of Levites was originally included, is alluded to as the book of the daily occurrences or events of the time, i.e., the public chronicle, a continuation of the former annals of the kingdom. ימי ועד, and also to the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib. So far did the official records of the chronicle extend. That Nehemiah may have been still living in the days of Johanan, i.e., in the time of his high-priesthood, has been already shown, p. 95. The statements in Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:23 are aphoristic, and of the nature of supplementary and occasional remarks.

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.)

Verse 22. Jaddua] This was probably the high priest who went in his pontifical robes, accompanied by his brethren, to meet Alexander the Great, when he was advancing towards Jerusalem, with the purpose to destroy it, after having conquered Tyre and Gaza. Alexander was so struck with the appearance of the priest, that he forbore all hostilities against Jerusalem, prostrated himself before Jaddua, worshipped the Lord at the temple, and granted many privileges to the Jews. See Josephus, ANT. lib. xi., c. 3, and Prideaux's Connections, lib. 7, p. 695.

To the reign of Darius the Persian.] Calmet maintains that this must have been Darius Codomanus, who was defeated by Alexander the Great: but Archbishop Usher understands it of Darius Nothus, in whose reign he thinks Jaddua was born, who was high priest under Darius Codomanus.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(22, 23) The Levites.—Here is an evident interpolation. The writer says that the records of the heads of courses was continued down to Jaddua and Darius Codomannus.

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

22. were recorded chief of the fathers] R.V. were recorded heads of fathers’ houses. The language is obscure on account of the abruptness with which the statement is introduced. The meaning seems to be that during the four high-priesthoods mentioned, a full register of the heads of fathers’ houses among the Levites was kept.

to the reign of Darius the Persian] R.V. in (marg. Or, to) the reign. The preposition (literally ‘upon’) concerning which the doubt is expressed in the alternative rendering of the R.V. is rendered in the LXX. ἐν βασιλείᾳ and the Vulg. ‘in regno.’ It may be considered very questionable whether the rendering ‘to’ is admissible; ‘in’ is certainly preferable.

Darius the Persian] That this Darius is Darius III. Codomannus (336–331) is the most obvious explanation. And if the Jaddua mentioned in this verse be, as there is really no reason to doubt, the high-priest of Alexander’s time, the mention of Darius III. Codomannus, the contemporary Persian king, presents no difficulty. On the title ‘the Persian,’ see the Introduction.

The alternative preferred by some commentators, viz. that Darius Nothus (424–404 b.c.), the successor of Artaxerxes, is intended, is improbable after the mention of Jaddua’s enrolment, unless it be maintained that this Jaddua is not the high-priest of Alexander’s time. But it must also be evident that the reference to Jaddua is to his tenure of the high-priesthood. The attempt to reconcile the mention of Jaddua with the allusion to Darius Nothus, by the suggestion that Darius Nothus was king when Jaddua was born, only arises from the presupposition that none but Nehemiah could have written this chapter.

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.

The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles,.... Some think this refers to Ch1 9:14, &c.

until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib; from whence Dr. Lightfoot (p) concludes, that the Chronicles were written by Ezra in the times of this Johanan.

(p) Works, vol. 1. p. 146.

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

These verses interrupt the account of the church officers in the time of Joiakim, resumed in Neh 12:24. They appear to be an addition to the original text, made about the time of Alexander the Great, when the Books of Chronicles, Ezra, and Nehemiah would seem to have first taken their existing shape. The same writer who introduced these verses, probably also added Neh 12:11 to the original text.

Darius the Persian - Probably Darius Codomannus (336-331 B.C.), the antagonist of Alexander the Great. See the introduction of the Book of Nehemiah.

This passage shows that the practice of keeping a record of public events in state archives was continued after the return from the captivity, at least to the time of Johanan, the son, i. e., “the grandson,” of Eliasbib.

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

Persian. Surnamed Codomannus, (Haydock) Condomanus, (Grotius; Calmet) or Natus, under whom Jaddus was born, though he was pontiff under the former. (Usher, the year of the world 3553.)

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).

Either Darius Codomanus, and then what was said concerning Jaddua, Neh 12:11, must be in part repeated and applied here: or Darius Nothus; and so this Jaddua might be father to him who was in the days of Darius Codomanus, and of Alexander the Great.

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

Darius - Darius Noehus; and so this Jaddua might be father to him who was in the days of Darius Codomanus, and of Alexander the Great.

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

Eliashib ... Joiada, Johanan ... Jaddua

names of men (See: How to Translate Names)

during the reign of Darius

Another possible meaning is "until the reign of Darius"

recorded in the book of the annals

This may refer to the Book of Chronicles. The scribes wrote the words in the verses above in a book that recorded the events of each day.

up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib

The records in the temple recorded only up until Johanan.

translationWords

Levi

family

priest

reign

Darius

Persia

descend

son

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

The Levites in the days of Eliashib These Levites were the heads of the fathers’ houses in the watches of the Levites in the days of Eliashib the High Priest, and the priests enumerated immediately above were the heads of the fathers’ houses in their watches, also in the days of Eliashib.

in the reign of This matter came about in the days of Darius.

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.