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Nehemiah Chapter 12
Priests and Levites
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Nehemiah 12:1 Now these are
the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son
of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
Like we do today, many names are the
same. People name their children after those they esteem highly. I
have an aunt who named one of her kids Dwight after Dwight
Eishenhower a president of the United States after Truman and just
before John Kennedy. We see Jeremiah mentioned here. The bible
doesn't say anything about his death but writings other than the
bible says he was stoned to death in Egypt by those that rebelled
fled there to try to escape the Babylonian captivity. If he would
have survived, he would have been very old by the time of Nehemiah.
Yet we know that with God anything is possible. I would have loved
to have read of him surviving until after the captivity. That would
have been so awesome.
- Nehemiah 12:2
Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,
- 3 Shechaniah, Rehum,
Meremoth,
- 4 Iddo, Ginnetho,
Abijah,
- 5 Miamin, Maadiah,
Bilgah,
- 6 Shemaiah, and
Joiarib, Jedaiah,
- 7 Sallu, Amok,
Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chief of the priests and of
their brethren in the days of Jeshua.
- 8 Moreover the
Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and
Mattaniah, which was over the thanksgiving, he and his
brethren.
God always has faithful people even in
the midst of rebellion and those that do evil. We see here that
there were worship leaders who encouraged praise, thanksgiving and
worship. Rejoicing in the Lord with praying, singing and love for
God is always a good thing.
- Psalm 150:1
Praise ye the LORD. Praise God in his sanctuary: praise him in
the firmament of his power.
- 2 Praise him for
his mighty acts: praise him according to his excellent
greatness.
- 3 Praise him
with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and
harp.
- 4 Praise him
with the timbrel and dance: praise him with stringed instruments
and organs.
- 5 Praise him
upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding
cymbals.
- 6 Let every
thing that hath breath praise the LORD. Praise ye the LORD.
Praise and worship gives us courage,
comfort, joy and strength to continue even in the midst of hardship
and opposition. It is a good thing. Still it should be done with
reverence realizing how awesome, holy and wonderful our Lord is.
Using instruments also is a good thing. We should never ban
instruments that are used to worship God.
There are times also when we sit in
silence acknowledging the price Jesus paid to give us eternal life
and salvation. All worship from within us is good. Some cry, some
shout, some sing, some rejoice. It's okay. Let us never be those
that mock and criticize sincere worship.
- Nehemiah 12:9 Also
Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, were over against them in
the watches.
- 10 And Jeshua begat
Joiakim, Joiakim also begat Eliashib, and Eliashib begat
Joiada,
- 11 And Joiada begat
Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.
- 12 And in the days
of Joiakim were priests, the chief of the fathers: of Seraiah,
Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah;
- 13 Of Ezra,
Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan;
- 14 Of Melicu,
Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph;
- 15 Of Harim, Adna;
of Meraioth, Helkai;
- 16 Of Iddo,
Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam;
- 17 Of Abijah,
Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai;
- 18 Of Bilgah,
Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan;
- 19 And of Joiarib,
Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi;
- 20 Of Sallai,
Kallai; of Amok, Eber;
- 21 Of Hilkiah,
Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethaneel.
- 22 The Levites in
the days of Eliashib, Joiada, and Johanan, and Jaddua, were
recorded chief of the fathers: also the priests, to the reign of
Darius the Persian.
- 23 The sons of Levi,
the chief of the fathers, were written in the book of the
chronicles, even until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib.
- 24 And the chief of
the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of
Kadmiel, with their brethren over against them, to praise and to
give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of
God, ward over against ward.
- 25 Mattaniah, and
Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, Akkub, were porters
keeping the ward at the thresholds of the gates.
- 26 These were in the
days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in
the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the
scribe.
Dedication of the Wall
- Nehemiah 12:27 And
at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the
Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to
keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and
with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps.
- 28 And the sons of
the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain
country round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of
Netophathi;
- 29 Also from the
house of Gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for
the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem.
- 30 And the priests
and the Levites purified themselves, and purified the people,
and the gates, and the wall.
- 31 Then I brought up
the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great
companies of them that gave thanks, whereof one went on the
right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate:
- 32 And after them
went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of Judah,
- 33 And Azariah,
Ezra, and Meshullam,
- 34 Judah, and
Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah,
- 35 And certain of
the priests' sons with trumpets; namely, Zechariah the son of
Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of
Michaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph:
- 36 And his brethren,
Shemaiah, and Azarael, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethaneel, and
Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of
God, and Ezra the scribe before them.
- 37 And at the
fountain gate, which was over against them, they went up by the
stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above
the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.
- 38 And the other
company of them that gave thanks went over against them, and I
after them, and the half of the people upon the wall, from
beyond the tower of the furnaces even unto the broad wall;
- 39 And from above
the gate of Ephraim, and above the old gate, and above the fish
gate, and the tower of Hananeel, and the tower of Meah, even
unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the prison gate.
- 40 So stood the two
companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I,
and the half of the rulers with me:
- 41 And the priests;
Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and
Hananiah, with trumpets;
- 42 And Maaseiah, and
Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah,
and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah
their overseer.
- 43 Also that day
they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced: for God had made
them rejoice with great joy: the wives also and the children
rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off.
Woman, children, and everyone rejoiced
in singing and worship. Talk about revival. This was it. This is
something we should never stop doing. There are times of repentance,
weeping and asking God for restoration and forgiveness. That too is
very important but never should we stop giving thanks and worshiping
God with singing, playing instruments, prophesying, seeking,
rejoicing and just being glad that we belong to the Lord. He is
worthy of all our praise continually.
- Revelation 4:10
The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the
throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast
their crowns before the throne, saying,
- 11 Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were
created.
Service at the Temple
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Nehemiah 12:44 And at that
time were some appointed over the chambers for the treasures,
for the offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to
gather into them out of the fields of the cities the portions of
the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the
priests and for the Levites that waited.
Tithes were to support the priests and
Levites and those that did service because they lived for the
service of the temple and wasn't able to own land and support
families like the other tribes. Giving is a form of worship too. It
is a blessing to give to the work of God and support those that God
calls into His service. In fact if done with a heart of love, giving
is actually fun and makes our hearts glad.
- Nehemiah 12:45 And
both the singers and the porters kept the ward of their God, and
the ward of the purification, according to the commandment of
David, and of Solomon his son.
- 46 For in the days
of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and
songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
- 47 And all Israel in
the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the
portions of the singers and the porters, every day his portion:
and they sanctified holy things unto the Levites; and the
Levites sanctified them unto the children of Aaron.
This time of rejoicing was encouraged and set
in order by David years before. DC
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1Chronicles 25:1
Moreover David and the captains of the host separated to the
service of the sons of Asaph, and of Heman, and of Jeduthun, who
should prophesy with harps, with psalteries, and with cymbals:
and the number of the workmen according to their service was:
Nehemiah
Chapter 13
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