Nehemiah 7:43

The Enrolling Of The Levites (Nehemiah 7:43).

Compared with 4,289 priests who returned, only 74 Levites returned, to which we might add the 148 singers (128 in Ezra 2) and the 138 (139 in Ezra 2) gate-keepers, making 360 (341 in Ezra 2) in all, although it would appear that the writer of the list did not include the singers and gatekeepers as Levites, although he may have assumed that his readers would know that they were Levites. These small numbers tie in with the fact that when Ezra later gathered those who were returning with him he says, ‘I viewed the people and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi', a situation which he set about remedying (Ezra 8:15). The Levites were clearly not enthusiastic about returning. This is partly explicable by the fact that as the Levites only assisted the priests in the Temple, it was something that was not so appealing as being a fully fledged priest (as Ezra 8:15 confirms), and partly by the fact that the priests would have been exiled in large numbers as people of importance, whilst the Levites may well have been seen as ‘the poor of the land', and thus not exiled in large numbers. The lowly state of the Levites as compared with the priests is brought out in Ezekiel 44:10. It is clear from Ezekiel 44 that the Levites bore a large part of the blame for the encouragement of idolatrous worship in pre-Exilic days.

Nehemiah 7:43

‘The Levites.'

Details are now given of the generality of Levites, who would assist the priests in worship, who were among those who returned. This will then be followed by the more specialist singers and gatekeepers, who may not at this time have described themselves as ‘Levites', although they were originally. We must be careful, however, not to read too much into silence. The musicians are clearly seen as Levites in Nehemiah 3:10, a short while later.

Nehemiah 7:43

‘The sons of Jeshua, of Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodevah, seventy four.'

The two orders of Levites who returned are the sons of Jeshua, (the son of Azaniah - Nehemiah 10:4) and the sons of Kadmiel, who was ‘of the sons of Hodaviah'. Ezra 2:40 reads, ‘the sons of Joshua, of Kadmiel of the sons of Hodaviah', an alternative rendering of the name. The addition, “of the sons of Hodevah,” is applied to Kadmiel, in order to distinguish him from other Levites of a similar name. Kadmiel appears to be a typically Levite name. The Jeshua and Kadmiel mentioned here were heads of father's houses in the past.

According to Ezra 3:9 Jeshua and Kadmiel were chiefs of two orders of Levites in the times of Zerubbabel and Joshua, who had oversight of the workmen of the house of God. These chiefs may originally have been given these names, or they may have taken the name of their ancestors in celebration of the return from Exile. Two men of the same names (probably grandsons. At this time the naming of grandsons after their grandfathers was common practise) played their part in the ceremony of praising God for the return (Nehemiah 9:4), and in sealing the covenant of Nehemiah (Nehemiah 10:9) and these names reoccur as names of orders of Levites in Nehemiah 12:8. In the MT a ‘Jeshua the son of Kadmiel' is mentioned in Nehemiah 12:24.

With regard to Hodaviah, there is no mention of the sons of Hodaviah in the lists of Levites in Chronicles. It was, however, the name of one of the heads of the half-tribe of Manasseh on the East of the Jordan (1 Chronicles 5:24), and of a Benjamite, who was the son of Hassenuah (1 Chronicles 9:7). It was also the name of a son of Elioenai, and a descendant of David (1 Chronicles 3:24). Thus it was a regular Jewish name.

The limited number of Levites is revealing. The Law gave them nine tenths of the tithes, but that was because when the Law was given the numbers of Levites were very large. This is clear evidence against the suggestion that the Law of Moses as we have it was mainly composed by Ezra, as used to be suggested.