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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 12:24 - 12:24
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The names Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, frequently occur as those of heads of Levitical orders: the two first in Neh 10:12., Ezr 8:18.; the two last in Neh 12:8, Neh 10:10, and Ezr 2:40; and the comparison of these passages obliges us to regard and expunge as a gloss the בֶּן before Kadmiel. Opposite to these four are placed their brethren, whose office it was “to praise (and) to give thanks according to the commandment of David,” etc.: comp. 1Ch 16:4; 1Ch 23:30; 2Ch 5:13; and בְּמִצְוַת ד, 2Ch 29:25. מִשְׁמָר לְעֻמַּת מִשְׁמָר, ward opposite ward, elsewhere used of the gatekeepers, 1Ch 26:16, is here applied to the position of the companies of singers in divine worship. The names of the brethren, i.e., of the Levitical singers, follow, Neh 12:25, where the first three names must be separated from those which follow, and combined with Neh 12:24. This is obvious from the consideration, that Mattaniah and Bakbukiah are mentioned in Neh 11:17 as presidents of two companies of singers, and with them Abda the Jeduthunite, whence we are constrained to suppose that עֹבַדְיָה is only another form for עַבְדָּא of Neh 11:17. According, then, to what has been said, the division into verses must be changed, and Neh 12:25 should begin with the name מְשֻׁלָּם. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub are chiefs of the doorkeepers; the two last names occur as such both in Neh 11:19 and Ezr 2:42, and even so early as 1Ch 9:17, whence we perceive that these were ancient names of races of Levitical doorkeepers. In Ezr 2:42 and 1Ch 9:17, שַׁלוּם, answering to מְשֻׁלָּם of the present verse, is also named with them. The combination מִשְׁמָר שֹׁועֲרִים שֹׁמְרִים is striking: we should at least have expected מִשְׁמָר שֹׁמְרִים שֹׁועֲרִים, because, while שֹׁועֲרִים cannot be combined with מִשְׁמָר, שֹׁמְרִים may well be so; hence we must either transpose the words as above, or read according to Neh 11:19, בַּשְּׁעָרִים שֹׁמְרִים. In the latter case, בַּשְּׁעָרִים is more closely defined by the apposition הַשְּׁעָרִים בַּאֲסֻפֵּי: at the doors, viz., at the treasure-chambers of the doors. On 'acupiym, see rem. on 1Ch 26:15, 1Ch 26:17.