Nehemiahchapter 12
47 verses · KJVNehemiah book hub →
Key verse
And 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.
It stands in scene D of the chapter, verses 44 to 47.
The chapter
Chapter summary
First the rosters: the priests and Levites who came up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, and the generations after them; then the dedication of the wall. Levites are sought out of all their places to keep it with gladness, thanksgivings, singing, cymbals, psalteries, and harps. Two great companies of them that gave thanks go in procession upon the wall itself in opposite directions, Ezra before the one and Nehemiah after the other, until they meet in the house of God. 'They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy… so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.'
Context
History · Nehemiah · Nehemiah overview
Where the chapter sits
Nehemiah 12 falls in Organizing the restored community; second reform (chapters 11–13). Resettlement of Jerusalem; the Levites organized; the dedication of the walls; Nehemiah's second term finds compromises returning, sabbath violation, mixed marriages, temple-chamber misuse, and he intervenes again.
Before it: Covenant renewal under Ezra's teaching, chapters 8–10.
The whole shape of Nehemiah→The world behind this chapter
Nehemiah 12The history
The chapter opens with lists of priests and Levites by generation, from the first return down to Nehemiah's own day, the institutional memory of the temple staff, including the ones who led the thanksgiving.
The dedication itself is one of the most cinematic scenes in the Old Testament. Levites are brought in from the surrounding villages with cymbals, psalteries and harps. The leaders are divided into two great companies that give thanks, and they go up on the wall and process in opposite directions, one right-hand toward the Dung Gate, one left toward the Water Gate, until they meet at the house of God.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The musical instruments are named as "the musical instruments of David the man of God," and Asaph's line is credited as the founders of the singers. This was a deliberate reconnection with the temple music of four hundred years earlier.
What it meant to them
Walking the wall was the proof. Every foot of stone under their feet had been rubble a year before, built by men who slept in their clothes with weapons beside them.
The verse that ends the scene says the joy was heard afar off, including, presumably, by the neighbours who had said a fox could knock it down. The chapter closes with the practical follow-through: men appointed over the storerooms for the offerings, so that the covenant of chapter 10 had somewhere to be delivered.
Sources cited
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (public domain)
- Alfred Edersheim, Bible History: Old Testament (public domain)
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
A. Priests and Levites from Zerubbabel's day down to Nehemiah's
1. (vv. 1-9)
a.went up with Zerubbabel: The register opens with the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the return generation named by father's house the same way Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 name the laity. Twenty-two priestly names stand against the twenty-four courses David ordered in 1 Chronicles 24, a gap the commentators trace to two courses that had died out in Babylon and never returned. Mattaniah is named over the thanksgiving and Bakbukiah and Unni keep the watches opposite their brethren, the singing and guarding already running in the alternating courses David set.
Nehemiah 12:1, 2 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Nehemiah 12:1
“The priests - The number of the names here given, which is 22, is probably to be connected with that of the Davidic “courses,” which was 24 1Ch 24:7-18. Eight names are identical with those of the heads in David’s time. On comparing the present list with that of the families who sealed to Nehemiah’s covenant Neh 10:2-8, we shall find that the first sixteen recur in that document nearly in the same order; but that the last six are absent from it.”
Nehemiah 12:1
“But these were divided by Zerubbabel, or Jeshua, into the original number of twenty-four. Twenty-two only are enumerated here, and no more than twenty in Ne 12:12-21. The discrepancy is due to the extremely probable circumstance that two of the twenty-four courses had become extinct in Babylon; for none belonging to them are reported as having returned (Ne 12:2-5).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Nehemiah 12:2, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:2
“Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,.... Whose names are among the sealers of the covenant, Neh 10:3. Malluch is afterwards called Melicu, Neh 12:14, Shechaniah, called Shebaniah, Neh 12:14 and so in Neh 10:4 Rehum, who, by transposition of letters, is Harim, Neh 12:15, and so in Neh 10:5. Meremoth, called Meraioth, Neh 12:15, Iddo, Ginnetho, read Ginnethon, Neh 12:16 so in Neh 10:6. Abijah; there was a course of a priest of this name, of which Zechariah the father of John the Baptist was, Luk 1:5. Miamin, Maadiah, Bilgah; the first two are called Miniamin and Moadiah, Neh 12:”
Nehemiah 12:7, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:7
“The chief of the priests - They were twenty-four orders or courses in number, all subordinate to each other; as established by David, 1Ch 24:18. And these orders or courses were continued till the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. See Calmet.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 12:8, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:8
“Moreover the Levites,.... Who lived in the same times: were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah; most of these are made mention of in Neh 8:7, the last of them is said to be over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren; he was the precentor, or had the directing and conducting of the songs of the temple, particularly the thanksgiving song at the daily sacrifices; Jarchi takes the word here used to be the name of a musical instrument.”
Nehemiah 12:8
“Of the Levitical houses here mentioned, three only returned at first, those of Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Judah or Hodevah Neh 7:43. The others must have returned subsequently.”
Nehemiah 12:9, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:9
“Also Bakbukiah and Unni,.... Two other Levites; the first is mentioned in Neh 11:17, their brethren, were over against them in the watches; the Levites were divided into twenty four wards, and these were placed one against another, 1Ch 23:6.”
2. (vv. 10-11)
a.Jeshua begat Joiakim, Joiakim also: A single priestly line runs six generations from Jeshua, who came up with Zerubbabel, to Jaddua: Joiakim, Eliashib, Joiada, Jonathan, then Jaddua. From this point the book measures its years not by the reigns of Judah's kings, since Judah had none, but by the succession of these high priests. Josephus records that Jaddua was the priest who met Alexander the Great after the fall of Tyre and Gaza, so the register's final name reaches past Nehemiah's own generation into the record's later keeping.
Nehemiah 12:10, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:10
“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.”
Nehemiah 12:10
“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)reformed
3. (vv. 12-21)
a.of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah: A second list of course heads follows, one name set against each of the courses named in verses one through seven, now serving in the days of Joiakim the second generation after the return. Several of these names recur among the sealers of Nehemiah's covenant in chapter ten, the same men and their descendants signing the document their fathers' courses had first carried home. The priesthood renews itself by father's house across a generation exactly as Ezra's registers required at the return, name matched to name and course matched to course.
4. (vv. 22-23)
a.to the reign of Darius the Persian: The record closes with a dating notice: the priests and Levites stand recorded down to the reign of Darius the Persian, a king later than Nehemiah's own governorship, showing the register kept itself current well past the events this chapter narrates. The book of the chronicles named here is a separate official register of the priesthood, since the biblical book of Chronicles preserves no matching list. That the roll runs to the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib shows a public archive maintained by the temple across at least two more generations.
Nehemiah 12:22, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:22
“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. 6”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 12:23, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:23
“The sons of Levi, the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the chronicles,.... Some think this refers to 1Ch 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.”
Nehemiah 12:23
“The book of the chronicles - This is not the book of Chronicles which we have now, no such list being found in it; but some other book or register, which is lost.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
5. (vv. 24-26)
a.Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son: The chief Levites, Hashabiah, Sherebiah and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, lead the praise and thanksgiving in courses set ward over against ward, the alternating order David commanded in 1 Chronicles 23. Six named porters keep the thresholds of the gates, the same guarding office the Levites shared with the singers throughout this record. Verse twenty-six anchors the whole roster to one moment by naming three men together, Joiakim the high priest, Nehemiah the governor, and Ezra the priest the scribe, the book's two reformers dated side by side with the man who held the office between their two callings.
Nehemiah 12:24, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:24
“Jeshua the son of Kadmiel - If the reading be sound, this Jeshua must have been the head of the Levitical family of Kadmiel in the time of Joiakim; but (compare Neh 8:7; Neh 9:4), some read “Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel,” etc. Ward over against ward - i. e., “alternately,” one part of the choir corresponding the other.”
Nehemiah 12:25, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:25
“Mattaniah, and Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters,.... At the gates of the temple, see 1Ch 9:15, keeping the ward, at the thresholds of the gates; of the temple, where they stood and watched; or "at the collection of the gates", meaning either where the people were gathered together, or where money gathered was laid up; and so some render it, "the treasuries of the gates": unless a place called Asuppim should be meant, 1Ch 26:15.”
Nehemiah 12:25
In 1Ch 9:17, 1Ch 9:24, 1Ch 9:26, four families of porters only are mentioned; six are implied here, in Neh 7:45, and in Ezr 2:42. From 1Ch 26:14-19 it appears that the temple had four chief gates, fronting the cardinal points, and two minor ones, “toward Asuppim,” and “at Parbar.”
Nehemiah 12:26, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:26
“These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak,.... Who was high priest in Babylon, and whose grandson was now high priest in the time referred to: and in the days of Nehemiah the governor; the writer of this book: and of Ezra the priest, the scribe; who was contemporary with him.”
B. Cymbals, psalteries, and harps sought out for the dedication
1. (vv. 27-30)
a.at the dedication of the wall: After twenty-six verses of roster the narrative returns to the dedication of the wall: the Levites are sought out of all their places and the singers gathered from villages built up around Jerusalem, at Netophathi, Beth-Gilgal, Geba and Azmaveth, proof the temple singers had grown into settled towns of their own since the return. The priests and Levites purify themselves before anything else, and only then purify the people, the gates and the wall, cleansing moving outward from the leaders to what they lead. Worship was prepared this way once before, at the altar raised ahead of the temple's foundation in Ezra 3, and the wall now receives the same order.
Nehemiah 12:27, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:27
“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, etc. The city had already been built for some time, but it was not fitting to dedicate it until inhabitants were gathered, appropriate ministers for the temple were assigned, and guards were appointed for the gates and …”
Bede· written before 735· Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiahpatristic
Nehemiah 12:27
“The dedication of the wall - The ceremony had been deferred for the space of nearly 12 years Neh 13:6. Perhaps Nehemiah required an express permission from the Persian king before he could venture on a solemnity which might have been liable to misrepresentation. Out of all their places - i. e., out of the various cities of Judah and Benjamin in which they dwelt Neh 11:36.”
Nehemiah 12:28, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:28
“And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together,.... Such of the Levites that were singers, and their sons that were trained up as such: both out of the plain country round about Jerusalem the plain of Jordan by Jericho, and the plain of Saron and Lydda: and from the villages of Netophathi: see 1Ch 9:16, here they dwelt, when not in their courses, to minister in the temple; but on this public occasion were summoned together.”
Nehemiah 12:28
“The plain country round about Jerusalem - Perhaps the valleys of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat, which enclose Jerusalem on three sides, are intended. The villages of Netophathi - Rather, as in 1Ch 9:16. Netophah lay near Bethlehem 1Ch 2:54, and is perhaps represented by the modern Antubeh.”
Nehemiah 12:29, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:29
“From the house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth - Or, from Beth-Gilgal; a village erected in the place where the Israelites encamped after they had, under the direction of Joshua, passed over Jordan.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 12:30, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:30
“And the priests and the Levites purified themselves,.... By washing their bodies and their clothes, perhaps by sprinkling the water of purification on them, see Num 8:6.”
Nehemiah 12:30
“The priests and the Levites purified themselves - This consisted in washings, abstinence from wine, and other matters, which, on all other occasions, were lawful. And as to the purifying of the gates and the walls, nothing was requisite but to remove all filth from the former, and all rubbish that might have been laid against the latter.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
C. Two great companies on the wall, and joy heard far away
1. (vv. 31-37)
a.appointed two great companies of them: Nehemiah brings the princes of Judah up onto the broad top of the wall and sets two great companies of them that give thanks, the first turning right toward the dung gate. A prince also named Ezra walks in this company, a different man from Ezra the priest and scribe, who is named later at the company's head. Trumpeters trace their line back six generations to Asaph, David's own choirmaster, and the company climbs the stairs of the city of David past the old palace to the water gate, the same gate where Ezra had once read the law aloud, with Ezra the scribe walking before them.
Nehemiah 12:31, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:31
“I brought up - Note the resumption of the first person, which has been laid aside since Neh 7:5, and which is confirmed now to the end of the book. It is generally allowed that we have here once more a memoir by Nehemiah himself.”
Nehemiah 12:31
“Princes - And half of the people with them. The wall - For the wall was broad and strong, and so ordered that men might conveniently walk upon it. Right hand - Towards the south and east.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Nehemiah 12:33, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:33
“And Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam. Not Ezra the priest and the scribe, for he has another place assigned him in this procession, Neh 12:36, but this seems to be one of the princes.”
Nehemiah 12:34, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:34
“Judah and Benjamin,.... Not the tribes, but the names of the two princes, as Jarchi: and Shemaiah and Jeremiah; who were two others.”
Nehemiah 12:35, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:35
“And certain of the priests' sons with trumpets,.... To blow with on this occasion; for these the priests sounded: 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; not the Levite, but a priest of this name.”
Nehemiah 12:36, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:36
“And his brethren,.... The brethren of Zechariah, the priest's son, and such are those that follow: Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; which were invented by him, and ordered by him to be used in religious service, under the divine direction: and Ezra the scribe before them; for he being a priest also, and a man of great eminence, was placed at the head of them in this procession.”
Nehemiah 12:37, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:37
“Above the house of David - This choir or procession went above (or beyond) the old palace of David, following the line described in Neh 3:16-26, on their way to the eastern wall.”
2. (vv. 38-40)
a.the other company of them: The other company turns the opposite way, and Nehemiah himself walks after it with half the people, retracing gates chapter 3 had already named as building sites, the tower of the furnaces, the broad wall, the gate of Ephraim, the old gate, the fish gate, the towers of Hananeel and Meah, to the sheep gate where the whole wall began, and on to the prison gate. Both companies converge in the house of God, Nehemiah with the second company and Ezra with the first, the wall's entire circuit now walked in thanksgiving where it was once walked in construction. The two men who carried this book, the builder and the reader of the law, stand together in one scene for the only time either book records.
Nehemiah 12:38, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:38
“The broad wall - What part this was, we know not: it might have been a place designed for a public promenade, or a parade for assembling the troops or guard of the temple.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 12:39, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:39
“And from above the gate of Ephraim,.... The gate which led to the tribe of Ephraim, where that tribe formerly dwelt, see Neh 8:16 and above the old gate; of which mention is made, Neh 3:6 and above the fish gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even unto the sheep gate; of all which see Neh 3:1, and they stood still in the prison gate; which was not a gate of the city, but of the court of the prison, Neh 3:25, which was near both the king's palace and the temple, see Jer 20:1.”
Nehemiah 12:40, 2 voices
Nehemiah 12:40
“So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God,.... Having made their procession on the wall in different ways, they met in the temple, that is, in the great court of it, for no other would hold them: and I, and the half of the rulers with me; Nehemiah, and the other half with Hoshaiah, Neh 12:32.”
Nehemiah 12:40
“The crowd of people, it is likely, walked on the ground, some within the wall and others without, one end of this ceremony being to affect them with the mercy they were giving thanks for, and to perpetuate the remembrance of it among them.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
3. (vv. 41-43)
a.Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai: Seven priests sound trumpets and the singers, led by their overseer Jezrahiah, sing loud enough that the chapter records it. Great sacrifices follow, and verse forty-three names the source of the day's joy plainly: God had made them rejoice, not the choir or the wall itself, and the joy reaches wives and children both, a household celebration rather than a leaders' ceremony. The joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off, and Spurgeon preached this verse alongside the joy of the Lord is your strength from chapter 8 as one sermon, the strength and the sound of the same joy.
Nehemiah 12:42, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:42
“The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People A Sermon (No. 1027) Delivered on Lord’s Day Morning, December 31st, 1871, by C. H. SPURGEON, At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”—Nehemiah 8:10. “And the singers sang aloud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. Also 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.”—Nehemiah 12:42-43.”
Nehemiah 12:43, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:43
“And they sacrificed great victims on that day, etc. On that day of perpetual light (about which Zachariah said: And there shall be one day which is known to the Lord, not day nor night: that is, removed from the experience of passing times) the …”
Bede· written before 735· Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiahpatristic
D. Portions appointed, for Judah rejoiced in the priests who served
1. (vv. 44-47)
a.appointed over the chambers for the treasures: Joy becomes provision: men are appointed over storerooms for the offerings, firstfruits and tithes because Judah rejoiced for the priests and Levites who served, gladness producing giving rather than the reverse. Singers and porters keep their ward according to the commandment of David and of Solomon his son, reaching back past even the return to the temple's first builders. The closing verse compares the days of Zerubbabel to the days of Nehemiah and describes tithes moving in a sanctified chain, the people to the Levites and the Levites to the priests, so that the chapter that opened with a register of names closes with an economy that keeps them all at their work.
Nehemiah 12:44, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:44
“Judah rejoiced - Judah’s satisfaction with the priests and Levites took the shape of increased offerings, more ample tithes, and the like, from where the appointment of treasuries and treasurers became necessary.”
Nehemiah 12:45, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:45
“And both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and the ward of their purification,.... The singers kept their turns in course in the temple, and were not wanting to officiate on all occasions, besides morning and evening services; and the porters they diligently kept the gates of the temple, that no impure person or thing in a ceremonial sense entered: according to the commandment of David, and Solomon his son; who made very good rules and orders relative to the better and more regular performance of service by them; see 1Ch 25:1.”
Nehemiah 12:46, 1 voice
Nehemiah 12:46
“For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers,.... Persons appointed over the rest to instruct them, and see that they did their work aright, as besides Asaph, Haman, and Jeduthun, and their sons, 1Ch 25:2 and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God; such were made by them, some under divine inspiration, which bear the names of David and Asaph, as may be observed in the book of Psalms.”
Nehemiah 12:47, 3 voices
Nehemiah 12:47
“And they sanctified the Levites, etc. The people sanctified the Levites by giving them tithes, as if to the holy ones of God; and the Levites themselves sanctified the priests by offering them a tenth part, as if giving from their own tithes to those …”
Bede· written before 735· Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiahpatristic
Nehemiah 12:47
The intention is to compare the religious activity and strictness of Nehemiah’s time with that which had prevailed under Zerubbabel, as described by Ezra Ezr 6:16, Ezr 6:22. It is implied that the intermediate period had been a time of laxity. They sanctified holy things ... - i. e, “the people paid their tithes regularly to the Levites, and the Levites paid the tithe of the tithes to the priests.”
Nehemiah 12:47
“Both are said to be sanctified; when what is contributed, either voluntarily or by law, for the support of religion and the maintenance of the ministry, is given with an eye to God and his honour, it is sanctified, and shall be accepted of him accordingly, and it will cause the blessing to rest on the house and all that is in it, Ezek. xliv.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Nehemiah 12. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 10 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; Charles Spurgeon; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; John Wesley; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther and Matthew Henry.
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