Priests And Levites Serving in The Temple
July 12, 2022
Commentary
Now that the walls and gates of Jerusalem were restored, it was important that the Jews live in their capital city and make the population grow. For one thing, people were needed to protect the city; for they never knew when the enemy might decide to attack. It may have been safer for the people to live in the small outlying villages where there was no threat to the Gentile society, but somebody had to take the risk and move into the big city. A variety of people were needed as servants for the temple ministry, that was so important to the Jewish nation. The priests officiated at the altar, and the Levites assisted them. Some supervised the maintenance of the building (Neh. 11:16) while others ministered with prayer and praise (vv. 17, 22); and both were important. There were nearly 300 men appointed to guard the temple (v. 19). Since the tithes and offerings were stored in the temple, it was important that the building be protected. It took many people, with many skills, to maintain the temple.
Chapter 12 gives a list of priests and Levites needed to serve in the temple. David had appointed 24 priestly divisions to serve in the temple (1 Chron. 24:7-19) when it would be built. Now Nehemiah listed the 22 leaders of the priests who had returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel, almost 100 years earlier. Perhaps two names were dropped from the list in copying or perhaps it was not possible to fill the roster of 24. The many generations of high priests extended from Aaron to Jehozadak (vv. 10-11), who was taken into exile to Babylon (1 Chron. 6:3-15). Verses 12-21 list the heads of the priestly families in the days of Jeoiakim, the son of Jeshua the high priest (v. 10). Twenty names are listed here, corresponding roughly to the 22 names in verses 1-7. Darius is probably Darius II who ruled Persia from 423 to 404 b.c. (vv. 22-26).
Application
Every member of the family of God was important in Nehemiah’s day and the same is still true today. I need to continually be thanking the Lord for including me in His family?
Nehemiah 12:1– 26 (NET)
1 These are the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethon, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Moadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. These were the leaders of the priests and their colleagues in the days of Jeshua.
8 And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who together with his colleagues was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. 9 Bakbukiah and Unni, their colleagues, stood opposite them in the services.
10 Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim was the father of Eliashib, Eliashib was the father of Joiada, 11 Joiada was the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.
12 In the days of Joiakim, these were the priests who were leaders of the families: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14 of Malluch, Jonathan; of Shecaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adna; of Meremoth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17 of Abijah, Zicri; of Miniamin and of Moadiah, Piltai; 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallu, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
22 As for the Levites, in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua the heads of families were recorded, as were the priests during the reign of Darius the Persian. 23 The descendants of Levi were recorded in the Book of the Chronicles as heads of families up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib. 24 And the leaders of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua son of Kadmiel, and their colleagues, who stood opposite them to offer praise and thanks, one contingent corresponding to the other, as specified by David the man of God.
25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who were guarding the storerooms at the gates. 26 These all served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra the priestly scribe.
Illustration: John Wesley’s Analysis of Being a True Servant
John Wesley provides the most convicting analysis on what it means to be a true servant: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you can.” (The Purpose Driven Life, Zondervan Publishing, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2002, pg. 231).