Nehemiah 12


Nehemiah 12 is the twelfth chapter of the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible, or the 22nd chapter of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah as one book. Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles, but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE is the final author of these books. This chapter recounts the lineage of the priests and Levites and describes the dedication of the walls of Jerusalem, whose construction has been a primary concern since the beginning of the book.

Text

The original text of this chapter is in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 47 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis.
There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus, Codex Sinaiticus, and Codex Alexandrinus.

Priests and Levites (12:1–26)

This part records the several lists of priests and Levites to document the genuineness of the Jewish community and its religious authority, in order to give legitimacy in this postexilic community. The list starts with those said to have returned with Zerubbabel in the first wave at the time of the Persian king, Cyrus, but this list is quite different from the one in Ezra 2. After listing the high priests from the last one at the time of exile, Jozadak, the father of Jeshua, until Jaddua , it records those returning at the time of Ezra, with a careful note on its sources.

Verse 1

These verses describe the joyous dedication of the completed work orchestrated by Nehemiah, within the frame of a symmetrically ordered structure as follows:
The exuberant tone of this passage is indicated by the framework of "joy" which brackets this section, as the final exposition after previous use in some turning points in the narrative:
  • : the laying of the foundations
  • : the dedication of the temple
  • : the people's initial response to Ezra's reading of the law
Two lists of participants are recorded in verses 32–36 and 41–42, and also display a remarkable symmetry:
  • First Company, processing to the right :
  • Second Company, processing to the left

    Verse 36

  • "Of David": or "prescribed by David" ; TEV "of the kind played by David," but 'the precise relationship of these musical instruments to David is not clear'.
The appearance of "Ezra, the scribe" provides the primary evidence for the contemporaneity of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Verse 39

  • "Tower of Hananeel": a well-known landmark, which is mentioned also in Nehemiah 3:1; Jeremiah 31:38; Zechariah 14:10, standing midway between "the sheep gate" and "the fish gate", at the northeast corner of Jerusalem, then from this point, the wall which had run northwestern from the sheep gate now turned to west.

    Verse 42

  • "Sang loud": in Hebrew literally "made their voice to be heard".

    Verse 43

The words "joy" and "rejoice" occur five times in this sentence: "this verse is full of joy; but before the rejoicing comes the abundant offering of sacrifices." Methodist commentator Joseph Benson notes that the security of the walls meant that "they could praise the Lord there without disturbance or fear".

The organization of worship (12:44–47)

The last part of this chapter focuses on the priests and Levites who help people worship God in the Temple, as their needs were taken care by the same people. David was mentioned twice, indicating that the people were emulating the traditions established since the time 'God directed David to establish the Temple'. Verse 47 also confirms that the pattern of bringing food for Temple workers was already observed from the time of Zerubbabel when the Temple was rebuilt, and consistently practiced until the time of Nehemiah. This explains the anger of Nehemiah a few years later when he heard the people stopped providing the needs of the Temple workers.

Verse 44

  • "Out of the fields": The translation reads מִשְּׂדֵי rather than the MT reading לִשְׂדֵי.
  • "For Judah": here in the sense of "the people of Judah", as "Judah" can be 'a proper name as well as a place name'.
  • "Waited": Hebrew: "stood", NKJV: "ministered"; or "standing", NET Bible: "were ministering".