Palestinie.n Jews e.t the time, beyond the recording the heads of the priestly and slight hints furnished by this che.pter. These Levitical courses, which Nehemiah he.s noted hints eeem to imply that under him special as belonging to the de.ys of J oiakim, we.s attention WB.S pa.id to the formation of lists, continued under his successors, Elie.shib especially of the chief priests and Levites, Joie.de., Johanan, and Jaddua, down (at an; e.nd the.t the temple service was celebrated rate) to the accession of Darius Codomannus; with gree.t exactness e.nd regale.rity (vers. and, 2. That in the case of the Levites the lists 24-26). The present list is particule.rly were inserted into the book of the chronicles ve.lue.ble, as ene.bling us to check the.t with -not our " Book," but that larger one, of which the chapter opens, and as establishing which ours is in the ma.in an abbreviation- the family character of the names whereof down to the time of Johanan, the son (or, the.t list is me.de up. rather, grandson) of Eliashib. It he.s been Ver. 12.-0f Sere.ie.h, ller&ie.h. It will . supposed that the writer originally accom- be observed that the family names of the panied these statements with lists that have priestly courses follow the order of the se.me ' been lost, but this does not appear to be names in vers. 1-7, e.nd exactly accord with probable. them, excepting in minute differences of spelling, and in one omission-that of the Ver. 22.-In the days of Eliashib, .Joiada, name of "Hattush." It might be supposed and .Johe.nan, e.nd J'addue.. See comment the.t the family of Hattush had died out ; on vers. 10, 11. In the reign of Darius. but this is contradicted by its reappearance Rather, "to the reign." The "Darius" e.mong the signatures to the covenant (eh. intended is beyond e.11 doubt Codomannus, x. 4); the omission here would therefore the e.dverse.ry of Alexander the Gree.t, who appear to be accidental. was contemporary with Jaddua. The lists Ver. 17. -Of lli.u.ia.min. Rather, "of went on under the four high priests down Miamin" (see ver. 5). The name of the to the time when Darius Codome.nnus we.a head of the COUl'Se in Joialrim's time has, by king of Persia. It is not said the.t they the carelessness of a copyist, fe.!len ont. then ceased. The Persian. Some suppose Ver. 19.-And of .Toiarib. The conjunction e.n antithesis here between this Darius and "and" occurring here, exactly as it does in "De.rius the Mede" of Daniel (v. 31 ; :ri. ver. 6, once only in the whole list, and 1). But this is unlikely, since there was before the same name, shows that the two nothing to recall that unimportant person- documents (eh. xii 1-7, 12-21) are from age to the thoughts of the writer. Others, the same hand. That the hand is that with better reason, suggest s. tacit allusion of Nehemiah, or a contemporary, seems to to the transfer of empire from Persia to follow from the fact that no reason can be Macedon, and think the date of the passage assigned for the division, or for the low must be subsequent to B.O. 331, whon the place in the lists of the names Joie.rib and kingdom passed away from Persia. J edaiah, except the failure of these families Ver. 23. -Even until the days of .Tohanan. to set their seals to the covenant (see the Why the practice of inserting the names in co=ent on ver. 6). the book of the chronicles cee.sed at this de.ta it is impossible to say, unless it was that the PAJ!.ENTHETIC STATEMENT OF THE TIME chronicles themselves cee.sed to be compiled. DOWN TO WHICH EXACT LISTS OF THE LEAD- There certainly appears to be e. long gap in the authentic Jewish annals between the ING PRIESTS AND LEVITES WERE KEPT (eh. close.of the Old Testament canon and the xii. 22, 23). These verses appear to consti- composition of the First Book of the Macca- tute a late insertion. They interrupt the bees. Johe.nan, the son of Eliashib. The list of high church officers in the time of "grandson" really, as appears by vers. 10, 11. Joiakim, which is co=enced in ver. 12 and LIST 01" THE ORIEi." LEVITIOAL FAMILIES not concluded till ver. 26. By their men- IN THE TIME OF JOIAKIM AND LATER (eh. tion of J e.ddua as high priest, and of "Darius xii. 24-26). That family, rather the.n per- the Persian " as contemporary king, they sonal, names are here intended is sufficiently betray a writer who lived e.t least e.s late as shown in the fin.al summary of ver. 26, since Jl.C. 336, or nearly e. century after the time these.me individuals cannot have flourished of Nehemiah's religions reforms. The facts underJoiakim (B.O. 490-460) and also under put on record by this writer are not of very Nehemiah (n.c. 444-430). The actual much imports.nee. They seem to be simply names-Jeshua, Kadmiel, He.she.biah, Shere- these :-1. That the practice of accurately biah, &c.-are all found a.a family names. OH. XII. 1-26.] THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH. 129
Ver. 24.-Hashabiah. See above, eh. ix. over aga.in■t ward. Antiphonically-divi- 6 ; x. 11. Bherebiah. Compare eh. ix. 4, sion over against di vision. 6; x. 12; xii. 8. leahua, the son of Kad- Ver. 25. -Meshullam and Obadiah are miel. For ben, "son," we should probably new as Levitical names; but the remaining read "Bani," o. common Levitical name (eh. names of the passage are well known. Talmon ix. 4, 6 ; x. 13), in which case the passage and Akkub are among the porters of David's would run as follows:-" And the chief of time (1 Chron. ix. 17), and are mentioned in the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Ezra ii. 42; Neh. vii. 45; xi. 19. Bakbukiah Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, with their brethren," and Mattaniah occur in eh, xi. 17 and xii. 8 &c. To praise and to give thanks, accord- 9 ; but as families of singers, rather than of ing to the commandment of David. Com- porters, in those places. Keeping the ward at pare 1 Chron. xv. 16; xxiii. 5; xxv. 3, &c. the thresholds of the gates. Rather, as in the Man of God is an epithet not often applied margin, "at the treasuries." It is thought to David. It occurs, however, again in ver. that the chambers above the gateways may 36, and also in 2 Chron. viii 14. Ward have been used as storehouses or treasuries.
HOMILETICS.