Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 7:39
The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred seventy and three.
39. The priestsIt appearsthat only four of the courses of the priests returned from thecaptivity; and that the course of Abia (Lu1:5) is not in the list. But it must be noticed that these fourcourses were afterwards divided into twenty-four, which retained thenames of the original courses which David appointed.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
[See comments on Ne 7:6].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Enrolling Of The Priests ( Neh 7:39-42 ).
The priests are here divided up into four courses, in contrast with the twenty four courses pertaining under David (1Ch 24:1-19). But these four courses would eventually in the future be divided up into twenty four under the names of the old courses. The number of priestly families returning amount as a whole to four thousand, two hundred and eighty nine, roughly a tenth of the total of forty two thousand, three hundred and sixty who returned, and an even larger percentage of the named families. This was to be expected as they had a greater incentive for returning to Jerusalem. There would be a further addition to priestly numbers when some returned along with Ezra (Ezr 8:2 ff).
Neh 7:39
‘The Priests:’
The Priests are separately designated as a group. These were able to demonstrate their ancestry, and therefore their legitimacy to act in the forthcoming Temple.
Neh 7:39
‘The sons of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy three.’
Jedaiah (‘Yah knows’) was the head of the second order of priests in the time of David (1Ch 24:7). On the other hand ‘of the house of Jeshua’ possibly indicates that a different Jedaiah was in mind, one who was descended from Jeshua, the head of the ninth order of priests (1Ch 24:11). Jedaiah was a very popular name among the priests. For example, two Jedaiahs are named as priests who came with Zerubbabel from Babylon (Neh 12:1; Neh 12:6-7), who were chiefs of priests in the days of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, the High Priest under Zerubbabel (Neh 12:1; Neh 12:7; Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8). Furthermore two Jedaiahs as family names are found in the list of priests who were ‘heads of fathers’ houses’ in the days of Joiakim who succeeded Jeshua as High Priest (Neh 12:12; Neh 12:19; Neh 12:21). In this regard we should note that there was a tendency for names to be passed on to grandsons. A Jedaiah is also named as one of the priests who later took up dwelling in Jerusalem (Neh 11:10; 1 Chronicles 9/10). A Jedaiah (presumably one of those mentioned in Neh 12:6-7) was involved in the symbolic crowning of Jeshua the High Priest as ‘the Branch’ in Zec 6:10; Zec 6:14.
‘Of the house of Jeshua.’ This would usually indicate that he was a descendant of Jeshua (compare Exo 2:1; 1Sa 25:3 ; 1Ch 2:55; 2Ch 31:10). Jeshua (‘Yah saves’) was such a popular name that certain identification of this one is impossible to us, although it probably in this context looks back to the Jeshua who headed the ninth order of priests in 1Ch 24:11.
Jeshua was a very popular name. Jeshua was the name of a Levite who lived in Hezekiah’s time (2Ch 31:15). Jeshua the son of Jozadak was the name of the High Priest alongside Zerubbabel (e.g. Ezr 3:2; Zechariah 3; etc), and in this very same list a Jeshua is the son of Pahath-Moab (Neh 7:11), whilst another is a head of a Levite family (Neh 7:43). Another Jeshua had, along with others, oversight of workmen restoring the Temple in the early days of the return (Ezr 3:9), whilst still another, a Levite, was among those who helped the people to understand the Law in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah (Neh 8:7). It was this latter who, along with others, led worship, and called on the people to worship (Neh 9:4-5), and may have been the father of ‘Jozabad, the son of Jeshua’, whom, along with others, received the silver, gold and vessels for use in the Temple (Ezr 8:33). Jeshua, the son of Azaniah, was one of those who sealed the sure covenant of Nehemiah (Neh 10:9). Neh 12:10 refers to a Jeshua who came up with Zerubbabel (see Ezr 2:40 above), while a further Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel, is referred to in Neh 12:24 as present at the dedication of the walls in the time of Nehemiah. The famous Jeshua the son of Nun is mentioned in Neh 8:17.
Neh 7:40
‘The sons of Immer, one thousand and fifty two.’
Immer was the name of the sixteenth order of priests in David’s time (1Ch 24:14). Two ‘sons of Immer’, Hanani and Zebediah married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezr 10:20). Zadok, the ‘son of Immer’, (probably a relatively contemporary one) who lived in Jerusalem, helped in the building of the walls of Jerusalem under Nehemiah (Neh 3:29). Also living in Jerusalem was Amashsai, the son of Azazel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, a line (which probably only included prominent ancestors) that evidences the fact that Immer was long dead (Neh 11:13; compare 1Ch 9:12). Jer 20:1 speaks of a ‘Pashhur, the son of Immer’ living before the Babylonian Exile. In Neh 7:61 we learn of a place in Babylonia which was called Immer, the returnees from which could not prove their genealogy.
Neh 7:41
‘The sons of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty seven.’
Pashhur, which means ‘one who splits, one who cleaves’, was a common Jewish name. This is the only name among the four which does not directly tie up with the courses of priests in David’s time. Six ‘sons of Pashhur’ married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezr 10:22). A Pashhur, or someone who signed in the clan name, also sealed the sure covenant of Nehemiah in Neh 10:3.
We have already seen that a Pashhur who was ‘the son of Immer’ lived before the Babylonian Exile, and treated Jeremiah the prophet very badly (Jer 20:1-3). There was also at that time a Pashhur, the son of Malchijah (Jer 21:1; Jer 38:1; Neh 11:12), and a Gedaliah the son of a different Pashhur (Jer 38:1) who were also antagonistic towards Jeremiah. However, none of these indicate the Pashhur who was the source of the clan name. All that they demonstrate is that Pashhur was a common Jewish name likely to have been borne by a clan chief.
Neh 7:42
‘The sons of Harim, one thousand and seventeen.’
Harim was the name of the third order of priests in the days of David (1Ch 24:8), and this probably indicates their descent from him. In Ezr 10:21 the ‘sons of Harim’ covenanted to put away idolatrous foreign wives, and in Neh 12:15 they are listed among the priests who ‘went up with Zerubbabel’. A priestly Harim seals the covenant of Nehemiah, or someone does it in the family name (Neh 10:27).
We have already had ‘sons of Harim’ referred to in Neh 7:35, but they were of a non-priestly family, and there Harim was possibly a town. Some of ‘the sons of’ this Harim also married idolatrous foreign wives (Ezr 10:31), whilst one sealed the covenant of Nehemiah (Neh 10:27).
Malchijah, the son of Harim, was one of the wall-builders in Nehemiah, but we do not know to which of these two families that designation refers.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Neh 7:39-42
39The priests: the sons of Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973;
40 the sons of Immer, 1,052;
41 the sons of Pashhur, 1,247;
42 the sons of Harim, 1,017.
Neh 7:39 Jedaiah of the house of Jeshua, 973 Ezra 2 has the same, but 1Es 5:24 has Jeddu, the son of Jesus, among the sons of Sanasib, 972.
Neh 7:40 the sons of Immer, 1,052 Ezra 2 has the same, but 1Es 5:24 has the sons of Emmeruth, 1,052.
Neh 7:41 the sons of Pashhus, 1,247 Ezra 2 has the same, but 1Es 5:25 has the sons of Phassurus, 1,246.
Neh 7:42 the sons of Harin, 1,017 Ezra 2 has the same, but 1Es 5:25 has the sons of Charme, 1,017.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
Jedaiah: 1Ch 24:7-19, Ezr 2:36
Reciprocal: 1Ch 24:11 – Jeshuah Neh 11:10 – Jedaiah