Nehemiah 11:3-10

From this verse to Nehemiah 12:26 we have a succession of lists: (1) the chiefs of the provinces that dwelt in Jerusalem, 4 26; (2) the towns and villages occupied by the Jews, 25 36; (3) the priests and Levites that went up with Zerubbabel from Babylon, Nehemiah 12:1-9; (4) the genealogy of the high-priests beginning at Jeshua, Nehemiah 12:10-11; (5) the heads of the priestly houses in the days of Joiakim, Nehemiah 12:12-21; (6) of the Levitical houses at the same period, Nehemiah 12:22-26.

The origin of the lists is not recorded. That some of them may have been included in the -Memoirs" of Nehemiah is very possible. But all doubtless bear traces of the Compiler's work either by abridgement or by necessary adaptation from official records.

The first of the lists presents a close resemblance to a list contained in the Book of Chronicles: compare Nehemiah 11:3-19 with 1 Chronicles 9:2-17. The two lists are clearly the same although they differ in certain details. The best way of accounting for the presence of this duplicate list is to suppose that both were copied from the same official document, but by different hands and for different purposes. The Compiler found both copies extant, the one in connexion with the genealogies of the tribes (1 Chronicles 9), the other either embodied in, or preserved along with, the official documents of Nehemiah's government.