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Nehemiah 11-13; Psalm 126
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Jerusalem needs some people in it (Nehemiah 11)
1 Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem; the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine-tenths were to dwell in other cities.
2 And the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.
3 ¶ These are the heads of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem. (But in the cities of Judah everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities—Israelites, priests, Levites, Nethinim, and descendants of Solomon’s servants.)
4 Also in Jerusalem dwelt some of the children of Judah and of the children of Benjamin. ¶ The children of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the children of Perez;
5 and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of Shiloni.
6 All the sons of Perez who dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred and sixty-eight valiant men.
7 ¶ And these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;
8 and after him Gabbai and Sallai, nine hundred and twenty-eight.
9 Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Senuah was second over the city.
10 ¶ Of the priests: Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, and Jachin;
11 Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the leader of the house of God.
12 Their brethren who did the work of the house were eight hundred and twenty-two; and Adaiah the son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malchijah,
13 and his brethren, heads of the fathers’ houses, were two hundred and forty-two; and Amashai the son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer,
14 and their brethren, mighty men of valor, were one hundred and twenty-eight. Their overseer was Zabdiel the son of one of the great men.
15 ¶ Also of the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;
16 Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the heads of the Levites, had the oversight of the business outside of the house of God;
17 Mattaniah the son of Micha, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the leader who began the thanksgiving with prayer; Bakbukiah, the second among his brethren; and Abda the son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.
18 All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred and eighty-four.
19 ¶ Moreover the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren who kept the gates, were one hundred and seventy-two.
20 ¶ And the rest of Israel, of the priests and Levites, were in all the cities of Judah, everyone in his inheritance.
21 But the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel. And Ziha and Gishpa were over the Nethinim.
22 ¶ Also the overseer of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi the son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micha, of the sons of Asaph, the singers in charge of the service of the house of God.
23 For it was the king’s command concerning them that a certain portion should be for the singers, a quota day by day.
24 Pethahiah the son of Meshezabel, of the children of Zerah the son of Judah, was the king’s deputy in all matters concerning the people.
25 ¶ And as for the villages with their fields, some of the children of Judah dwelt in Kirjath Arba and its villages, Dibon and its villages, Jekabzeel and its villages;
26 in Jeshua, Moladah, Beth Pelet,
27 Hazar Shual, and Beersheba and its villages;
28 in Ziklag and Meconah and its villages;
29 in En Rimmon, Zorah, Jarmuth,
30 Zanoah, Adullam, and their villages; in Lachish and its fields; in Azekah and its villages. They dwelt from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.
31 ¶ Also the children of Benjamin from Geba dwelt in Michmash, Aija, and Bethel, and their villages;
32 in Anathoth, Nob, Ananiah;
33 in Hazor, Ramah, Gittaim;
34 in Hadid, Zeboim, Neballat;
35 in Lod, Ono, and the Valley of Craftsmen.
36 Some of the Judean divisions of Levites were in Benjamin.
In Nehemiah 8-10 (see notes) we see that the Jews have completed the rebuilding of the wall around Jerusalem and begin making preparations to inhabit their rebuilt city under the authority of their one true God. Apparently, not everyone wanted to necessarily live in Jerusalem after it had been rebuilt. Why? Well, it had taken some time to rebuild the city, and they had settled elsewhere over those years since they had returned from exile. Additionally, Jerusalem was a controversial city among the non-Jewish neighbors who were jealous of the Jews. Jerusalem would be a lightning rod over the centuries. As a matter of fact, it is still a lightning rod today. Then again, some people just prefer rural living over the city. However, the city needs to be inhabited by Jews.
The first step in repopulating the city is to get volunteers from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (verses 2-9). It was determined that 10% of the people who live in Judah should live in Jerusalem (verse 1). To determine which families should live in Jerusalem, they used a lottery system (verse 1). So, who are considered the winners? Are they the people selected or the people not selected to live in Jerusalem. Well, it's not like that. The lottery was viewed as the manner for determining God's will in a matter. For additional information on this lottery process, click here. If the lottery selected you to live in Jerusalem, you viewed that as the divine providence of God - a mission, so to speak. Here's a list of the people who would inhabit Jerusalem. You'll see some familiar names from I Chronicles 9 (see notes), which is a list of those who were originally deported to Babylon back between 605 - 582 B.C., in the three deportations that took place over those years. About half the names in the two lists are identical. That list goes down through verse 19. You will notice in verses 4-8 that the Jews who moved there were from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Originally, Jerusalem was located within the territory allocated to Benjamin. Down through verse 19 this list includes secular leaders (verse 9), priests (verses 10-14), Levites (verses 15-18) and gatekeepers (verse 19). Verse 20 draws a conclusion to this list, but verses 21-24 provide some additional detail to the list. Beginning in verse 21, we see information with regard to the returning exiles who lived outside the city of Jerusalem.
Who's your Daddy? (Nehemiah 12:1-26)
1 Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,
4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,
5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,
6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,
7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah. ¶ These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua.
8 ¶ Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who led the thanksgiving psalms, he and his brethren.
9 Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties.
10 ¶ Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim begot Eliashib, Eliashib begot Joiada,
11 Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.
12 ¶ Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of the fathers’ houses were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
14 of Melichu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai;
16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
17 of Abijah, Zichri; the son of Minjamin; 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; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
22 ¶ During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua.
23 The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers’ houses until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the chronicles.
24 ¶ And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David the man of God.
25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the storerooms of the gates.
26 These lived in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.
Here's a list of returning exiles who were priests and Levites. Remember, all priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. However, the whole Levite tribe did have duties relative to tabernacle/temple worship - at least when things were being done correctly. These lists in Ezra and Nehemiah are not the most interesting reading - OK! OK! - not interesting at all, but to the Jews they contained critical information. The pedigree for a Jew was a vital statistic. Recall Philippians 3:5 (see notes) where Paul proclaims that he was born of the Tribe of Benjamin; that means that Paul could trace his genealogy back some 2,000 years or so - and if that far, all the way back to Adam. I once worked very hard on my genealogy over a period of three years and could only trace my ancestry back 250 years. Think about the implications. With writing materials plenteous, we can only go back a few generations with our ancestry, yet with a scarcity of writing materials, many, if not most, Jews could trace their ancestry back to the beginning of creation - literally 4,000 years. Yes, I'd say they viewed it with some great importance, wouldn't you? As a matter of fact, for those who work so hard to try to fulfill the mandates of the Old Testament, may I suggest that a serious genealogical search is one of the clear mandates of the Old Testament. However, it is clear that genealogical roots are not an important part of New Testament Christian living. The moment we get saved, we can immediately trace our genealogy back to spiritual significance - Romans 8:16-17 (see notes): we're "heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." That's all I need to know.
Here's the choir loft (Nehemiah 12:27-47)
27 ¶ Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps.
28 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Netophathites,
29 from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth; for the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.
30 Then the priests and Levites purified themselves, and purified the people, the gates, and the wall.
31 ¶ So I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall, and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall toward the Refuse Gate.
32 After them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah,
33 and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam,
34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah,
35 and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets—Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph,
36 and his brethren, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them.
37 By the Fountain Gate, in front of them, they went up the stairs of the City of David, on the stairway of the wall, beyond the house of David, as far as the Water Gate eastward.
38 ¶ The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the Broad Wall,
39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, above the Old Gate, above the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, the Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Sheep Gate; and they stopped by the Gate of the Prison.
40 ¶ So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God, likewise I and the half of the rulers with me;
41 and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Minjamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;
42 also Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. The singers sang loudly with Jezrahiah the director.
43 ¶ Also that day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off.
44 ¶ And at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offerings, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions specified by the Law for the priests and Levites; for Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who ministered.
45 Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge of their God and the charge of the purification, according to the command of David and Solomon his son.
46 For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chiefs of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
47 In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah all Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each day. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.
We see here that the choir was very important; they took their positions up on the wall. Per King David's specifications, a contingency of Levites were responsible for providing the music worship of Israel along with all the other aspects of worship - seen in I Chronicles 23-25 (see notes). There are your Levites in charge of the offerings in verse 44. Now we're set up just like the good ol' days under King David, more or less. The priests and the Levites are in place, and it's time to dedicate the new wall around Jerusalem. This is the best it has been since the city fell to the Babylonians. As a matter of fact, it is better considering the siege on Jerusalem for the two decades before its actual fall. One important thing is missing, though - autonomy. Yes...they're back, but they are still under Persian rule. The glory of the former days under David aren't quite realized here. Many of the prophecies of restoration are fulfilled at this point, but the Messianic prophecies are not. Those are reserved for a yet-future millennium.
Nehemiah's Final Reforms (Nehemiah 13)
1 On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God,
2 because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.
3 So it was, when they had heard the Law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel.
4 ¶ Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah.
5 And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests.
6 But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king,
7 and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.
8 And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room.
9 Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
10 ¶ I also realized that the portions for the Levites had not been given them; for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field.
11 So I contended with the rulers, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their place.
12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.
13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.
14 ¶ Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its services!
15 ¶ In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions.
16 Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
17 ¶ Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day?
18 Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 ¶ So it was, at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day.
20 Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21 ¶ Then I warned them, and said to them, “Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!” From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath.
22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. ¶ Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy!
23 ¶ In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.
25 ¶ So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.
26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.
27 Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”
28 ¶ And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.
29 ¶ Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 ¶ Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service,
31 and to bringing the wood offering and the firstfruits at appointed times. ¶ Remember me, O my God, for good!
Then they spent some more time hearing the Law read openly and publicly. Deuteronomy 23:3 (see notes) says, "An Ammonite or Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the LORD; even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the LORD forever." Interestingly, when they came to this passage, they understood "to the tenth generation" to mean "forever," as we see in verse 1. Who's gonna wait around that long? Apparently this introduces the next issue. Nehemiah shuttled back and forth between Jerusalem and Persia. On one of these trips he noticed one of the rooms in the temple had been furnished for Tobiah, an enemy Ammonite, who resisted the rebuilding of Jerusalem. He was married into the priest's (Eliashib) family. Nehemiah was appalled and threw his "household goods" (verse 8) out of the temple. He also noticed that the Levites were not being funded properly; he fixed that problem. Another problem was a disregard for the sabbath in Judah. He rebuked the leadership. As far as the commerce taking place on the sabbath, Nehemiah had the gates locked up on Friday at sundown until nightfall on Saturday; he put a stop to that! Then there was the intermarriage thing with the priesthood. Nehemiah reminds them that foreign women were the downfall of Solomon as seen in I Kings 11:1-8 (see notes). Verse 31 seems to indicate that Nehemiah cleaned house in all these violations of the Law. Look at the brief prayer Nehemiah issues on behalf of the Levites left in charge in his absence in verse 29, "Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites."
Let's pay particular attention to the two verses that deal with King Solomon here:
26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.
27 Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”
Nehemiah makes the following points about King Solomon in these two verses:
Incidentally, Nehemiah is simply developing a point that was well accepted among the Jews already about King Solomon as seen in I Kings 11:1-8 (see notes). King Solomon's relationship with his 1,000 wives/concubines caused Israel a great deal of future problems. Among these same people, this marrying-pagan-women problem during this era also receives attention in Ezra 9-10 (see notes) and Malachi 2:10-17 (see notes).
Isn't it interesting how quickly these Jews went from exuberance over the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple to life as usual - the same life which had led to their demise a century or so earlier. Let's face it: Satan never gives up on bringing discouraging circumstances our way. Satan can't stand to see the people of God living in victory.
They that sow in tears shall reap in joy (Psalm 126)
A Song of Ascents.
1 ¶ When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion,
We were like those who dream.
2 Then our mouth was filled with laughter,
And our tongue with singing.
Then they said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”
3 The LORD has done great things for us,
And we are glad.
4 Bring back our captivity, O LORD,
As the streams in the South.
5 Those who sow in tears
Shall reap in joy.
6 He who continually goes forth weeping,
Bearing seed for sowing,
Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing,
Bringing his sheaves with him.
In Psalms 120-134, the introduction to each says "A Song of Ascents." We're not certain what these Hebrew superscriptions mean. The Hebrew word for "Ascents" means "steps of ascent." The Mishnah (Jewish collection of writings on Jewish thought and tradition) assigns the collection of fifteen songs with the fifteen steps of the temple, suggesting that the Levites sang these songs of ascents. Perhaps, but it may rather be that the songs were so subtitled because they were sung in the three annual festival processions, as the participants "ascended" to Jerusalem. Those three annual festivals were Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits and Tabernacles (see notes on Exodus 34:10-28).
Notice Psalm 126:1 "When the LORD brought back the captivity of Zion, We were like those who dream." The author is not identified, but this Psalm undoubtedly belongs to the time of the returning exiles to Jerusalem. That puts verses 5-6 into perspective, "Those who sow in tears Shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, Bearing seed for sowing, Shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, Bringing his sheaves with him." The "come again" surely references the return of the exiles to Jerusalem.