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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 11:20 - 11:20
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Certain special remarks follow in Neh 11:20. - Neh 11:20 states that the rest of the Israelites, priests, and Levites dwelt in all the (other) cities of Judah, each in his inheritance. These cities are enumerated in Neh 11:25.
Neh 11:21
The Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, the southern slope of Mount Moriah; see rem. on Neh 3:26. Their chiefs were Zihah and Gispa. צִיחָה occurs Ezr 2:43, followed by חֲשׂוּפָא, as head of a division of Levites; whence Bertheau tries, but unsuccessfully, to identify the latter name with גִּשְׁפָּא. For it does not follow that, because a division of Nethinim was descended from Hasupha, that Gishpa, one of the chiefs of those Nethinim who dwelt on Ophel, must be the same individual as this Hasupha.
Neh 11:22-23
And the overseer (chief) of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzzi, the son of Bani, of the sons of Asaph, the singers, in the business of the house of God. The מְלָאכָה of the house of God was the duty of the Levites of the house of Shemaiah, Neh 11:15. Hence the remark in the present verse is supplementary to Neh 11:15. The chiefs or presidents of the two other divisions of Levites - of those to whom the outward business was entrusted, and of the singers - are named in Neh 11:16 and Neh 11:17; while, in the case of those entrusted with the business of the house of God, Neh 11:15, the chiefs are not named, probably because they were over the singers, the sons of Asaph, who in Neh 11:15 had not as yet been named. This is therefore done afterwards in Neh 11:22. מְלֶאכֶת לְנֶגֶד, coram opere, i.e., circa ea negotia, quae coram in templo exigenda erant (Burm. in Ramb.), does not belong to הַמְּשֹׁרְרִים, but to הַֽלְוִיִּם פְּקִיד: Uzzi was overseer of the Levites in respect of their business in the house of God, i.e., of those Levites who had the charge of this business. The reason of this is thus given in Neh 11:23 : “for a command of the king was over them, and an ordinance was over the singers concerning the matter of every day.” עֲלֵיהֶם refers to the Levites. “A command of the king was over them” means: the king had commanded them. This command was concerning בְּיֹומֹו יֹום דְּבַר, the matter of every day. The words stand at the end of the verse, because they refer to the two subjects הַמֶּלֶךְ and אֲמָנָה. אֲמָנָה is an arrangement depending upon mutual agreement, a treaty, an obligation entered into by agreement; comp. Neh 10:1. The meaning of the verse is: The every-day matter was laid upon the Levites by the command of the king, upon the singers by an agreement entered into. בְּיֹומֹו יֹום דְּבַר, pensum quotidianum, is correctly explained by Schmid: de rebus necessariis in singulos dies. That we are not to understand thereby the contribution for every day, the rations of food (Ramb., Berth.), but the duty to be done on each day, is obvious from the context, in which not provisions, but the business of the Levites, is spoken of; and Uzzi the Asaphite was placed over the Levites in respect of their business in the house of God, and not in respect of food and drink. The business of the Levites in the house of God was determined by the command of the king; the business of the singers, on the contrary, especially that one of the singers should exercise a supervision over the services of the Levites in worship, was made the matter of an אֲמָנָה, an agreement entered into among themselves by the different divisions of Levites. The king is not David, who once regulated the services of the Levites (1Ch 23:4.), but the Persian king Artaxerxes, who is mentioned as הַמֶּלֶךְ in Neh 11:24; and הַמֶּלֶךְ מִצְוַת undoubtedly refers to the full power bestowed by Artaxerxes upon Ezra to order all that concerned the worship of God at Jerusalem; Ezr 7:12.
Neh 11:24
Finally, the official is named who had to transact with the king the affairs of the people, i.e., of the whole Jewish community in Judah and Jerusalem. Pethahiah, a Jew of the descendants of Zerah, was at the king's hand in all matters concerning the people. הַמֶּלֶךְ לְיַד can scarcely be understood of a royal commissioner at Jerusalem, but certainly designates an official transacting the affairs of the Jewish community at the hand of the king, at his court.