Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 12:12
And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
12. And in the days of Joiakim ] See note on Neh 12:10.
the chief of the fathers ] R.V. heads of fathers’ houses.
On the list contained in these verses, see note on Neh 12:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
As their fathers were priests in the days of Joshua, so in the days of Joiakim, the son of Joshua, the sons of those persons executed the priesthood in their fathers steads, some of their fathers probably being yet living, and many of them now dead.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
12. in the days of Joiakim werepriests, the chief of the fathersAs there had been priests inthe days of Jeshua, so in the time of Joiakim, the son and successorof Jeshua, the sons of those persons filled the priestly office inthe place of their fathers, some of whom were still alive, thoughmany were dead.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 12-21. And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers,…. This was the son and successor of Jeshua, or Joshua, the first high priest of the second temple; the principal men of the priesthood in his time were as follow, and who were the sons, or however the descendants of the priests in the time of his father before mentioned: these were Meraiah, Hananiah, Meshullam, Jehohanan, Jonathan, Joseph, Adna, Helkai, Zechariah, (the prophet of that name,) Meshullam, Zichri, Piltai, Shammua, Jehonathan, Mattenai, Uzzi, Kallai, Eber, Hashabiah, Nethaneel; in all twenty, whereas there are twenty two named, as in his father’s days, there being no sons or descendants from two of them, namely, Hattush and Miamin.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neh 12:12-21 contains the list of the priestly houses and their heads, which has been already explained in conjunction with that in Neh 12:1-7. Neh 12:22-26. The list of the heads of the Levites, Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:24, is, according to Neh 12:26, that of the days of Joiakim, and of the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. Whence it follows, that it does not apply only to the time of Joiakim; for though Ezra might indeed have come to Jerusalem in the latter days of Joiakim’s high-priesthood, yet Nehemiah’s arrival found his successor Eliashib already in office, and the statements of Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:23 must be understood accordingly.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
3. The priests families are listed at the time of Joiakim.
TEXT, Neh. 12:12-21
12
Now in the days of Joiakim the priests, the heads of fathers households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
13
of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohahan;
14
of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
15
of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
16
of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
17
of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;
18
of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
19
of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
20
of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
21
of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
COMMENT
Only two comments come to mind here.
Joiakim, in Neh. 12:12, succeeded Jeshua (Neh. 12:10); therefore this entire list is from the next generation after the list in Neh. 12:1-7.
This means that the Ezra in Neh. 12:13 (and obviously the Ezra in verse one) is not the Ezra of the previous book, and the associate of Nehemiah; the date is a little too early.
WORD STUDIES
PURIFY (Neh. 12:27): the basic idea of the Hebrew word is brightness or splendor; i.e. it causes something to shine or be bright. It signifies to be or become clean or pure: to cleanse or purify. It can be done for three reasons. (1) Of physical purity: Eze. 39:12 describes the cleansing of the land from corpses. Num. 8:6-7 speaks of washing and completely shaving the Levites to prepare them for Gods service. (2) Of ceremonial purity: Eze. 43:26 speaks of cleansing the altar for the new Temple of which Ezekiel had a vision, A leper who had been healed would be purified in a ceremony administered by a priest: Lev. 14:11. (3) Of moral purity: Mal. 3:3 uses the figure of purifying metal from dross as a parallel of a persons moral cleansing. Jer. 33:8 speaks of cleansing through Gods forgiveness.
DEDICATION (Neh. 12:30 : Hanukkah): Sometimes a study of word derivations leads one down some strange and unexpected paths. There are three words formed from the same base, all of which have one common meaning: to choke. Apparently from this come the ideas of being narrow or of closing. A collar is placed around the neck of an animal and it is strangled down so that it can be initiated into mans service and trained for usefulness: thus it becomes dedicated, or consecrated to certain purposes. Each of the italicized words is a translation of one of the forms of this word. Our English word, neck, is derived from this same base (note the N and K, also in Hanukkah). So a wall was collared for mans service.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(12-26) List of representatives of Zerubbabels priests in the days of Joiakim; to which is added an account of the Levites in his day. Between these there is an interpolation (Neh. 12:22-23).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The Priests Who Were Heads Of Fathers’ Houses In The Days Of Joiakim, Son Of Jeshua ( Neh 12:12-21 ).
We now have listed priest who were head of father’s houses at some point during the High Priesthood of Joiakim, the son of Jeshua. This is the next generation from those above, something that is indicated by introducing them in terms of their ancestry. It is probable, but not necessary, that the naming is of father and eldest son. However, strictly speaking, only descent is indicated. The slight differences between the names of the ‘fathers’ given here, and those given in Neh 12:1-7 merely indicate that Hebrew names were flexible. They are not necessarily due to copying errors, but rather indicate that the two lists have different primary sources, those sources having been obtained from the records office. Had one been copied from the other we would have expected the names to be the same, nor would we have anticipated the introduction of Hattush in Neh 12:1-7. But it is noteworthy that once again the last six names are introduced by ‘and’ (for which see explanation above on Neh 12:1-7), which confirms a distinction between the first named and the last six.
The fact of an inclusio, – ‘and in the days of Joiakim were’ (Neh 12:12) – ‘these were in the days of Joiakim –’ (Neh 12:26) may suggest that Neh 12:12-26 are to be seen as a whole unit, although it is not impossible that some material was inserted (e.g. Neh 12:22-25), with ‘these were in the days of Joiakim’ in Neh 12:26 referring strictly to Neh 12:12-21.
Neh 12:12
‘And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers’ houses:
Neh 12:12
‘Of Seraiah, Meraiah;’ 12:12c ‘Of Jeremiah, Hananiah;’ 12:13a ‘Of Ezra, Meshullam;’ 12:13b ‘Of Amariah, Jehohanan;’ 12:14a ‘Of Malluchi, Jonathan;’ 12:14b ‘Of Shebaniah, Joseph;’ 12:15a ‘Of Harim, Adna;’ 12:15b ‘Of Meraioth, Helkai;’ 12:16a ‘Of Iddo, Zechariah;’ 12:16b ‘Of Ginnethon, Meshullam;’ 12:17a ‘Of Abijah, Zichri;’ 12:17b ‘Of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;’ 12:18a ‘Of Bilgah, Shammua;’ 12:18b ‘Of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;’ 12:19a ‘And of Joiarib, Mattenai;’ 12:19b ‘Of Jedaiah, Uzzi;’ 12:20a ‘Of Sallai, Kallai;’ 12:20b ‘Of Amok, Eber;’ 12:21a ‘Of Hilkiah, Hashabiah;’ 12:21b ‘Of Jedaiah, Nethanel.’
The unusual ‘of Miniamin, of Mohdiah, Piltai’ in Neh 12:17 b (we would expect a name after Miniamin) may either indicate that the name of the ‘son’ of Miniamin has dropped out, or that the names of the sons of both Miniamin and Moadiah was Paltai, or that Miniamin died without an heir and Moadiah being related to him, produced an heir for him through the law of levirate marriage, who was named Paltai. On the information given the number of courses at this stage was twenty, a reduction on the previous twenty two. But if men died without male seed that could have occurred. Once more then the writer makes clear that the Jerusalem priesthood is of genuine descent. It is an interesting possibility that Zechariah the son of Iddo in Neh 12:16 a is a reference to the prophet Zechariah.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Neh 12:12-21
12Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of fathers’ households were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
13of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
14of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
15of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
16of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
17of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;
18of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
19of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
20of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
21of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
Neh 12:14 Malluchi In Neh 12:2 the name is spelled Malluch.
Shebaniah Many assume he is the same as Shecaniah of Neh 12:3.
Neh 12:15 Meraioth Many assume he is the same as Meremoth of Neh 12:3.
Helkai Many assume he is the Hilkiah of Neh 12:6.
Neh 12:16 Zechariah This is the post-exilic prophet (519 B.C., cf. Zec 1:1) linked with Haggai, Zerubbabel, and Joshua.
Neh 12:20 Sallai Many assume he is the same as Sallu of Neh 12:7.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the chief: Neh 12:22, 1Ch 9:33, 1Ch 9:34, 1Ch 15:12, 1Ch 24:6-31
Seraiah: Neh 12:1
Reciprocal: Neh 12:47 – Zerubbabel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Neh 12:12. In the days of Joiakim were priests As the writer had mentioned those who were the chief of the priests in the days of Jeshua, so now he mentions the sons of every one of them who officiated in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, either as assistants to their fathers, or succeeding them when they were dead. He begins with the three named in this verse, and so proceeds in order to give an account of the rest, which reaches to Neh 12:22.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
12:12 And in the days of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of {e} Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
(e) That is, next to Seraiah or rather of the order, who was called after the name of Seraiah.