[See comments on Ne 7:6].

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Enrolling Of The Non-Priests Who Could Not Prove Their Descent From Israel ( Neh 7:61-62 ).

These appear to have been settled in the Babylonian cities described although the names of the cities mentioned are nowhere testified to in Babylonian records. This is not, however, surprising as few small cities and towns are. The fact that they stand out as those who could not prove their descent demonstrates how careful Jewish families were to keep records of descent. The main problem that would result from this would be the proving of their right to land in Israel. As they were presumably circumcised they would have the same rights as proselytes to take part in the worship of YHWH, and to be adopted as Israelites (Exo 12:48). Indeed the fact that they are listed demonstrates their acceptability to the other immigrants already listed, but it is noteworthy that their names do not occur later in Ezra/Nehemiah. They were not called on to seal the covenant, or to supervise the building of the wall in Jerusalem, and so on.

Neh 7:61

‘And these were they who went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon (Addan), and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel:’

The Babylonian towns or districts mentioned are not testified to in inscriptions and records, apart from here. Note the two things that these returnees could not do, they could not trace their father’s houses in Israel, and they could not prove that they were descended from Israelites. This would appear to confirm that the previous names have been names of pre-Exilic father’s houses.

The variation between Addon and Addan parallels the similar differences in personal names, and may suggest that they arose because the two compilers pronounced names differently, as people of different dialects do today.

It may well be that these particular people were in fact the product of earlier exiles with the consequence being that they had been in Babylonia for a long time. Thus the only method they had of attempting to demonstrate their Jewishness was by the naming of Babylonian cities or districts known to have received exiles from Israel/Judah, combined of course with the fact that they were circumcised, worshipped in synagogues and observed the Sabbath.

Neh 7:62

‘The sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, six hundred and forty two.’

The name Delaiah was a good Israelite name. It was the name of a descendant of David in 1Ch 3:24, of the leader of the twenty third order of David’s priests (1Ch 24:18), and of one of the princes who pleaded with Jehoiakim not to destroy the roll containing the prophecies of Jeremiah (Jer 36:12; Jer 36:25). It was also the name of the father of the wary Shemaiah in Neh 6:10. But it was, of course, in itself, no proof of Israelite ancestry.

In contrast Tobiah and Nekoda are not found directly as Israelite names. Tobiah (‘Yah is good’) certainly has connections with Yahwism, but as far as we know was borne only by the Ammonite deputy of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria (Neh 2:10; Neh 4:7; Neh 6:1; Neh 6:14; Neh 6:17), who was probably a Yahwist of the debased (idolatrous) kind (Ezr 4:2), for he named his son Jeho-hanan (Neh 6:17). Nekoda is the name of the father’s house of one of the Nethinim (Neh 7:50), but that may have been a foreign name.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Neh 7:61-65

61These were they who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon and Immer; but they could not show their fathers’ houses or their descendants, whether they were of Israel: 62the sons of Delaiah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nekoda, 642. 63Of the priests: the sons of Hobaiah, the sons of Hakkoz, the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, and was named after them. 64These searched among their ancestral registration, but it could not be located; therefore they were considered unclean and excluded from the priesthood. 65The governor said to them that they should not eat from the most holy things until a priest arose with Urim and Thummim.

Neh 7:62 642 In Ezr 2:60 the number is 652.

Neh 7:63 Hobaiaha Ezr 2:61 spells the name Habaiah.

Neh 7:64 they were considered unclean The VERB (BDB 146 II, KB 169, Pual IMPERFECT) means defiled, here in the same sense that their Levitical ancestry could not be confirmed. The special food for the priests could not be eaten by them (cf. Lev 2:3; Lev 7:21-36).

Neh 7:65 The governor refers to Nehemiah (Ezr 2:63, Tirshatha; 1Es 5:40 has Nehemias and Attharias). He demanded that their confirmation be a heavenly affirmation. The Urim and Thummim were a set of objects (cf. Exo 28:30; Lev 8:8) kept by the High Priest (cf. Deu 33:8) to determine the will of God (cf. Num 27:21). Nehemiah seems to be using these objects and a future priest as a way of referring to God’s Promised One (much like Zechariah used Jesusha).

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Telharesha: The first of these variations only exists in the translation; the original being uniformly [Strong’s H8521], Telharsha the latter simply arises from the insertion of a , wav; being written [Strong’s H135], Addan, in the parallel passage, and [Strong’s H114], Addon, here. Ezr 2:59, Tel-harsa, Addan

seed: or, pedigree

Reciprocal: Num 1:18 – their pedigrees Mic 2:5 – the congregation

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge