Nehemiah 12:24

And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) And the chief.—The account resumes with the Levites, and gives a list of the extant officers of the Temple, many names being the same as in earlier times.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-26 It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Nehemiah 8:7; Nehemiah 9:4), some read "Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel," etc.

Ward over against ward - i. e., "alternately," one part of the choir corresponding the other.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

23. The sons of Levi … were written in the book of the chronicles—that is, the public registers in which the genealogies were kept with great regularity and exactness.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Of which See Poole "Nehemiah 12:9".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the chief of the Levites,.... Here the thread of the history of Nehemiah, interrupted by the insertion of the two preceding verses, is carried from the priests to the Levites in the times of the third high priest:

Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel; these were singers, since it follows:

with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward; which office of theirs they performed by turns in courses, as David under a divine direction ordered, see 1 Chronicles 23:5.

Geneva Study Bible

And the chief of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over {g} against ward.

(g) That is, one after another and every one in his course.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

24. And the chief of the Levites] Once more a brief list is given of the chief Levite families.

Hashabiah] This name occurs in Nehemiah 10:12, and Ezra 8:19, but not in Nehemiah 12:8-9. Probably the same as Hashabneiah (Nehemiah 9:5).

Sherebiah] Cf. Nehemiah 12:8, Nehemiah 9:5, Nehemiah 10:13; Ezra 8:18.

Jeshua the son of Kadmiel] We have here an almost certain error in the text ‘Jeshua ben-Kadmiel’ instead of ‘Jeshua, Bani, (or Binnui), Kadmiel.’ Cf. Nehemiah 12:8, Nehemiah 10:9. In favour of this emendation is to be cited the reading of the LXX. υἱοὶ (b’nê) Καδμιήλ.

over against them] Cf. Nehemiah 12:9. LXX. κατεναντίον αὐτῶν, Vulg. ‘per vices suas.’

to praise and (R.V. to) give thanks] The reference is to the anti-phonal singing of the Levites in the Temple worship.

according to the commandment of David the man of God] The reference is to the organization of the Levitical singers by David mentioned in 1 Chronicles 16:4; 1 Chronicles 23:30.

On the title ‘the man of God’ applied to David cf. 2 Chronicles 8:14.

ward over (R.V. omit) against ward] The same phrase occurs in 1 Chronicles 26:16.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 24. - Hashabiah. See above, Nehemiah 9:5; Nehemiah 10:11. Sherebiah. Compare Nehemiah 9:4, 5; Nehemiah 10:12; Nehemiah 12:8. Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel. For ben, "son," we should probably read "Bani," a common Levitical name (Nehemiah 9:4, 5; Nehemiah 10:13), in which case the passage would run as follows: - "And the chief of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, with their brethren," etc. To praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David. Compare 1 Chronicles 15:16; 1 Chronicles 23:5; 1 Chronicles 25:3, etc. Man of God is an epithet not often applied to David. It occurs, however, again in ver. 36, and also in 2 Chronicles 8:14. Ward over against ward. Antiphonically - division over against division. Nehemiah 12:24

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The names Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, frequently occur as those of heads of Levitical orders: the two first in Nehemiah 10:12., Ezra 8:18.; the two last in Nehemiah 12:8, Nehemiah 10:10, and Ezra 2:40; and the comparison of these passages obliges us to regard and expunge as a gloss the בּן before Kadmiel. Opposite to these four are placed their brethren, whose office it was "to praise (and) to give thanks according to the commandment of David," etc.: comp. 1 Chronicles 16:4; 1 Chronicles 23:30; 2 Chronicles 5:13; and בּמצות ד, 2 Chronicles 29:25. משׁמר לעמּת משׁמר, ward opposite ward, elsewhere used of the gatekeepers, 1 Chronicles 26:16, is here applied to the position of the companies of singers in divine worship. The names of the brethren, i.e., of the Levitical singers, follow, Nehemiah 12:25, where the first three names must be separated from those which follow, and combined with Nehemiah 12:24. This is obvious from the consideration, that Mattaniah and Bakbukiah are mentioned in Nehemiah 11:17 as presidents of two companies of singers, and with them Abda the Jeduthunite, whence we are constrained to suppose that עבדיה is only another form for עבדּא of Nehemiah 11:17. According, then, to what has been said, the division into verses must be changed, and Nehemiah 12:25 should begin with the name משׁלּם. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub are chiefs of the doorkeepers; the two last names occur as such both in Nehemiah 11:19 and Ezra 2:42, and even so early as 1 Chronicles 9:17, whence we perceive that these were ancient names of races of Levitical doorkeepers. In Ezra 2:42 and 1 Chronicles 9:17, שׁלוּם, answering to משׁלּם of the present verse, is also named with them. The combination משׁמר שׁוערים שׁמרים is striking: we should at least have expected משׁמר שׁמרים שׁוערים, because, while שׁוערים cannot be combined with משׁמר, שׁמרים may well be so; hence we must either transpose the words as above, or read according to Nehemiah 11:19, בּשּׁערים שׁמרים. In the latter case, בּשּׁערים is more closely defined by the apposition השּׁערים בּאספּי: at the doors, viz., at the treasure-chambers of the doors. On 'acupiym, see rem. on 1 Chronicles 26:15, 1 Chronicles 26:17.