Nehemiah 11:22

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.

The overseer also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani,.... He was the supervisor of them, that looked after them that they did their work in ministering to the priests, as they had occasion for them; this man's genealogy is further traced through Hashabiah and Mattaniah, to Micha the son of Asaph, Nehemiah 11:17 , of the sons of Asaph, the singers were over the business of the house of God; which, according to Jarchi, was to take care of the repairs of the temple and other things; but one would think rather that part of the service of the house which lay in singing the songs of it is respected.

Nehemiah 11:22. The sons of Asaph were over the business of the house of God — Were to take care at Jerusalem for the supply of such things as were necessary for the temple and the service of God, from time to time, while others minded the outward business, Nehemiah 11:16 . And this office was very proper for them, both as they were Levites, to whose care those things belonged; and as they were singers, who were not to come up to Jerusalem by turns, as other Levites, and as the priests did, but were constantly to reside there, and therefore were more capable of minding this business. Besides, their employment was not so frequent nor so great as some others were, and therefore they had more leisure for it.

(22) The overseer. — Pakid, or visitor. Of the sons of Asaph.—It requires no disturbance of the original to read the whole of Uzzi’s pedigree: “the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph, the singers in the service of the house of God.” Thus with the prayer of Nehemiah 11:17 there is a parallel.

Verse 22. - Properly, the whole of this verse forms a single sentence, and should run as follows: - "And the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem, Huzzi, the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph the singers, was over the business of the house of God." As Shabbethai and Jozabad "had the oversight of the outward business" (ver. 16), so the internal business was under the superintendence of Huzzi, or Uzzi. Uzzi appears as taking part in the dedication of the wall ( Nehemiah 12:42 ). Nehemiah 11:22

i.e. Were to take care at Jerusalem for the supply of such things as were necessary for the temple and the service of God, from time to time, whilst others minded the outward business, Nehemiah 11:16 . And this office was very proper for them, both as they were Levites, to whose care those things belonged; and as they were singers, who were not to come to Jerusalem by turns, as other Levites, and as the priests did, but were constantly to reside there, and therefore were more capable of minding this business. Besides, their employment was not so frequent nor so great as some others were, and therefore they had more leisure for it.

22 . Uzzi ] Uzzi’s position as overseer of the Levites ‘over the business of the house of God’ is parallel to that of Shabbethai and Jozabad ( Nehemiah 11:16 ). Micha ] R.V. Mica . Cf. Nehemiah 11:17 . Of the sons of Asaph, the singers were over &c.] R.V. of the sons of Asaph, the singers, over &c. The R.V. rightly takes the whole verse to be one sentence, defining firstly the descent and then the duties of Uzzi. The word ‘overseer’ must be joined with ‘over the business’: while ‘the singers’ is in apposition to ‘the sons of Asaph.’ The A.V. in dividing the sentence probably followed the LXX. and Vulg. (‘De filiis Asaph cantores in ministerio domus Dei’). The purpose of the division may have been to secure to ‘the singers’ a separate mention of their office. But (1) they were tacitly included in Nehemiah 11:17 , (2) ‘the singers’ would not be over ‘the business of the house of God.’ the business of the house of God ] See note on Nehemiah 11:16 . The ‘business’ is that of the liturgical worship and the organization necessary for the regular rotation of Levitical service.

22. the sons of Asaph, the singers were over the business of the house of God—They were selected to take charge of providing those things which were required for the interior of the temple and its service, while to others was committed the care of the "outward business of the house of God" (Ne 11:16). This duty was very properly assigned to the sons of Asaph; for, though they were Levites, they did not repair in rotation to Jerusalem, as the other ministers of religion. Being permanent residents, and employed in duties which were comparatively light and easy, they were very competent to undertake this charge.

And the overseer (chief) of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, in the business of the house of God. The מלאכה of the house of God was the duty of the Levites of the house of Shemaiah, Nehemiah 11:15 . Hence the remark in the present verse is supplementary to Nehemiah 11:15 . The chiefs or presidents of the two other divisions of Levites - of those to whom the outward business was entrusted, and of the singers - are named in Nehemiah 11:16 and Nehemiah 11:17 ; while, in the case of those entrusted with the business of the house of God, Nehemiah 11:15 , the chiefs are not named, probably because they were over the singers, the sons of Asaph, who in Nehemiah 11:15 had not as yet been named. This is therefore done afterwards in Nehemiah 11:22 . מלאכת לנגד, coram opere, i.e., circa ea negotia, quae coram in templo exigenda erant (Burm. in Ramb.), does not belong to המּשׁררים, but to הלויּם פּקיד: Uzzi was overseer of the Levites in respect of their business in the house of God, i.e., of those Levites who had the charge of this business. The reason of this is thus given in Nehemiah 11:23 : "for a command of the king was over them, and an ordinance was over the singers concerning the matter of every day." עליהם refers to the Levites. "A command of the king was over them" means: the king had commanded them. This command was concerning בּיומו יום דּבר, the matter of every day.

The words stand at the end of the verse, because they refer to the two subjects המּלך and אמנה. אמנה is an arrangement depending upon mutual agreement, a treaty, an obligation entered into by agreement; comp. Nehemiah 10:1 . The meaning of the verse is: The every-day matter was laid upon the Levites by the command of the king, upon the singers by an agreement entered into. בּיומו יום דּבר, pensum quotidianum, is correctly explained by Schmid: de rebus necessariis in singulos dies. That we are not to understand thereby the contribution for every day, the rations of food (Ramb., Berth.), but the duty to be done on each day, is obvious from the context, in which not provisions, but the business of the Levites, is spoken of; and Uzzi the Asaphite was placed over the Levites in respect of their business in the house of God, and not in respect of food and drink. The business of the Levites in the house of God was determined by the command of the king; the business of the singers, on the contrary, especially that one of the singers should exercise a supervision over the services of the Levites in worship, was made the matter of an אמנה, an agreement entered into among themselves by the different divisions of Levites.