Nehemiah 12:8

Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, which was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 12:8-9. Moreover the Levites, which were over the thanksgiving — Appointed to see that the psalms of thanksgiving were continually sung in the temple, in due time and manner. Also, their brethren were over against them in the watches — That is, in the places where they were appointed to stand, and wait, and perform their office, which was to keep the guard of the gates, while the others sung.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-26 It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Of the Levitical houses here mentioned, three only returned at first, those of Jeshua, Kadmiel, and Judah or Hodevah Nehemiah 7:43. The others must have returned subsequently.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. Abijah—one of the ancestors of John the Baptist (Lu 1:5).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Moreover the Levites,.... Who lived in the same times: were

Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah; most of these are made mention of in Nehemiah 8:7, the last of them is said to be

over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren; he was the precentor, or had the directing and conducting of the songs of the temple, particularly the thanksgiving song at the daily sacrifices; Jarchi takes the word here used to be the name of a musical instrument.

Geneva Study Bible

Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, {c} which was over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren.

(c) Had charge of them who sang the psalms.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

8. Moreover the Levites] This list of Levite houses which returned along with Zerubbabel consists of eight names, Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Unni. In Ezra 2:40-42, the list of the Levites and singers that returned consists of Jeshua, Kadmiel, Hodaviah (?), and the children of Asaph. Other Levitical lists occur in Nehemiah 10:9-14, Nehemiah 12:24-26. Jeshua and Kadmiel occur in all the lists. Binnui represents ‘the sons of Henadad’, cf. Ezra 3:9 with Nehemiah 3:24; Nehemiah 10:10, who probably returned to Jerusalem in the year after Zerubbabel. Sherebiah’s name occurs in Nehemiah 8:7, Nehemiah 9:4, Nehemiah 10:13. Judah is probably to be identified with Hodijah in Nehemiah 10:10. Mattaniah is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:17 as an Asaphite chief. It is probable therefore that he represents ‘the children of Asaph’ in Ezra 2:41, while other families of ‘the singers’ are represented by Bakbukiah (? = Bukkiah of the sons of Heman, 1 Chronicles 25:4), who is mentioned in Nehemiah 11:17, and by Unno = Unni (1 Chronicles 15:18; 1 Chronicles 15:20).

the thanksgiving] R.V. marg. ‘Or, the choirs’. The Hebrew word only occurs here; and the LXX. not understanding it renders ἐπὶ τῶν χειρῶν. The Vulgate gives ‘super hymnos.’ Compare the description of Mattaniah, the Asaphite, in Nehemiah 11:17, ‘the chief to begin the thanksgiving in prayer.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 8. - Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, etc. Here again families are probably intended, as in Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 9:4, 5, etc., though it is possible that the founders of the families actually returned with Zerubbabel. Jeshua, Binnui, and Kadmiel appear as the leading Levitical families at the sealing of the covenant (Nehemiah 10:9). On Mattaniah see the comment upon Nehemiah 11:17. Nehemiah 12:8

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The heads of Levitical houses in the time of Jeshua the high priest. - Of these names we meet, Nehemiah 10:10., with those of Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, and Sherebiah, as of heads who sealed the covenant; while those of Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son (?) of Kadmiel, are again cited in Nehemiah 12:24 as heads of Levites, i.e., of Levitical divisions. The name יהוּדה does not occur in the other lists of Levites in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and is perhaps miswritten for הודיּה (Nehemiah 10:10; Nehemiah 13:7). Mattaniah is probably Mattaniah the Asaphite, the son of Micah, the son of Zabdi, head of the first band of singers (Nehemiah 11:17); for he was היּדות על, over the singing of praise. The form היּדות, which should probably be read according to the Keri היּדוּת, is a peculiar formation of an abstract noun; comp. Ewald, 165, b.