Nehemiah 10:24

Now those that sealed were,.... That sealed the covenant, made Nehemiah 9:38 . Nehemiah the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah; the governor of the Jews: and Zidkijah; who seems also to have been a prince, since, without, it could not be said it was sealed by their princes, Nehemiah 9:38 though some think both these were priests, and then the princes must be supposed to be among the chief of the people, Nehemiah 10:14, from hence to the end of the twenty seventh their names follow; the names of the priests, Nehemiah 10:2, who were in all twenty one; no mention is made either of Eliashib the high priest, nor of Ezra the priest and scribe; some think the former had not behaved well in his office, and that the latter was either sick, or returned to Babylon, or however hindered by some providence or another, since we hear of him both a little before and after, Nehemiah 8:2 then the names of the Levites, Nehemiah 10:9, in all seventeen, most of which we have met with in this book before; next follow the names of the chief of the people, Nehemiah 10:14, their number in all forty four; and their names may be observed in the list of those that came out of Babylon with Zerubbabel; the whole number of those that sealed, princes, priests, Levites, and chief of the people, were eighty four.

CHAPTER 10 Ne 10:1-27. The Names of Those Who Sealed the Covenant. 1. Nehemiah, the Tirshatha—His name was placed first in the roll on account of his high official rank, as deputy of the Persian monarch. All classes were included in the subscription; but the people were represented by their elders (Ne 10:14), as it would have been impossible for every one in the country to have been admitted to the sealing.

( Nehemiah 10:16-29 ) The heads of the people. Forty-four names, thirteen of which are found in the list (Ezra 2) of the kindreds who returned with Zerubbabel; see Ezra 2. The rest are names either of the heads of the different houses into which these kindreds were divided, or of the elders of the smaller towns of Benjamin and Judah. The fact that, while only thirty-three kindreds and placed are enumerated in Ezra 2, forty-four occur here, - although names of kindreds mentioned in Ezra 2, e.g., Shephatiah, Arah, Zaccai, etc., are wanting here, - is to be explained partly by the circumstance that these kindreds included several houses whose different heads all subscribed, and partly by fresh accessions during the course of years to the number of houses.

The delegates sent to Iddo succeeded, through the gracious assistance of God (אל בּיד, see Ezra 7:6 ), in inducing forty Levites, and two hundred and twenty Nethinim, by means of Iddo's influence, to join their fellow-countrymen in their journey to Jerusalem. They brought to us ... לנוּ and עלינוּ refer to Ezra and his fellow-travellers. שׂכל אישׁ, a man of understanding, seems to be a proper name, being joined to Sherebiah, the name following, by a ו copulative. He was one of the descendants of Mahli, the son, i.e., grandson, of Levi the son of Israel, i.e., Jacob: comp. Exodus 6:16 , Exodus 6:19 ; 1 Chronicles 6:4 . Sherebiah occurs again in Ezra 8:24 , and Nehemiah 8:7 ; Nehemiah 9:4 , etc., Ezra 10:13 ; Ezra 12:24 . The Levite Hashabiah, Ezra 10:19 , is also named again, Ezra 8:24 , Nehemiah 10:2 , and Nehemiah 12:24 , while the name of the Levite Jeshaiah, on the contrary, is not again met with in the books of either Ezra or Nehemiah.

The delegates sent to Iddo succeeded, through the gracious assistance of God (אל בּיד, see Ezra 7:6 ), in inducing forty Levites, and two hundred and twenty Nethinim, by means of Iddo's influence, to join their fellow-countrymen in their journey to Jerusalem. They brought to us ... לנוּ and עלינוּ refer to Ezra and his fellow-travellers. שׂכל אישׁ, a man of understanding, seems to be a proper name, being joined to Sherebiah, the name following, by a ו copulative. He was one of the descendants of Mahli, the son, i.e., grandson, of Levi the son of Israel, i.e., Jacob: comp. Exodus 6:16 , Exodus 6:19 ; 1 Chronicles 6:4 . Sherebiah occurs again in Ezra 8:24 , and Nehemiah 8:7 ; Nehemiah 9:4 , etc., Ezra 10:13 ; Ezra 12:24 . The Levite Hashabiah, Ezra 10:19 , is also named again, Ezra 8:24 , Nehemiah 10:2 , and Nehemiah 12:24 , while the name of the Levite Jeshaiah, on the contrary, is not again met with in the books of either Ezra or Nehemiah.

Verse 18. - Delaiah... Maaziah . The spelling of the former of these names, as it appears here and in Jeremiah 36:12, 25 , differs by the addition of a shurek ( וּ ) from the name, spelt the same in the English Version, found in 1 Chronicles 3:24 ; Nehemiah 6:10 ; Nehemiah 7:62 ; Ezra 2:60 . The latter name recurs in Nehemiah 10:8 , etc., though without a final shurek. 1 Chronicles 24:18