Nehemiah 11:15-19

4. Levites.

TEXT, Nehemiah 11:15-19

15

Now from the Levites: Shemaiah the son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni;

16

and Shabbethai and Jozabad, from the leaders of the Levites, who were in charge of the outside work of the house of God;

17

and Mattaniah the son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, who was the leader in beginning the thanksgiving at prayer, and 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 284.

19

Also the gatekeepers, Akkub, Talmon, and their brethren, who kept watch at the gates, were 172.

COMMENT

These verses likewise are paralleled in 1 Chronicles 9:14-16. Only two phrases will be picked out for comment.

In Nehemiah 11:16, the outside work was probably the various kinds of responsibilities which the Levites had as distinguished from the service of the house of God (see Nehemiah 11:22): teaching, acting as officers or as judges (1 Chronicles 23:4) for example.

In Nehemiah 11:19, the gatekeepers (presumably of the Temple) are evidently synonymous with the descendants of Solomon's servants, as noted in our comments on verse three, thus completing the categories named there.

WORD STUDY

LOT (Nehemiah 11:1, Goral; sound like gravel?): a small stone. Sometimes a number of stones, including one or more of an odd color, were shaken in a container and thrown onto the ground, thus deciding matters by chance; or they were shaken together and thrown into a vase, and each person drew one out, seeking for the odd-colored one. Eventually they were made into cubes and the faces numbered to form dice.