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Texts -- Nehemiah 7:57-73 (NET)

Context
7:57 The descendants of the servants of Solomon : the descendants of Sotai , the descendants of Sophereth , the descendants of Perida , 7:58 the descendants of Jaala , the descendants of Darkon , the descendants of Giddel , 7:59 the descendants of Shephatiah , the descendants of Hattil , the descendants of Pokereth-Hazzebaim , and the descendants of Amon . 7:60 All the temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon , 392 . 7:61 These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah , Tel Harsha , Kerub , Addon , and Immer (although they were unable to certify their family connection or their ancestry , as to whether they were really from Israel ): 7:62 the descendants of Delaiah , the descendants of Tobiah , and the descendants of Nekoda , 642 . 7:63 And from among the priests : the descendants of Hobaiah , the descendants of Hakkoz , and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name ). 7:64 They searched for their records in the genealogical materials , but none were found . They were therefore excluded from the priesthood . 7:65 The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim . 7:66 The entire group numbered 42,360 , 7:67 not counting their 7,337 male and female servants . They also had 245 male and female singers . 7:68 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 7:69 435 camels , and 6,720 donkeys . 7:70 Some of the family leaders contributed to the work . The governor contributed to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas , 50 bowls , and 530 priestly garments . 7:71 Some of the family leaders gave to the project treasury 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver minas . 7:72 What the rest of the people gave amounted to 20,000 gold drachmas , 2,000 silver minas , and 67 priestly garments .
The People Respond to the Reading of the Law
7:73 The priests , the Levites , the gatekeepers , the singers , some of the people , the temple servants , and all the rest of Israel lived in their cities . When the seventh month arrived and the Israelites were settled in their cities ,

Pericope

NET

Bible Dictionary

  • Temple

    [nave] TEMPLE. Solomon's Called also Temple of the Lord, 2 Kin. 11:10; Holy Temple, Psa. 79:1; Holy House, 1 Chr. 29:3; House of God, 1 Chr. 29:2; 2 Chr. 23:9; House of the Lord, 2 Chr. 23:5, 12; Jer. 28:5; Father's House, John 2...

  • Tel-haresha

    [ebd] hill of the wood, a place in Babylon from which some captive Jews returned to Jerusalem (Ezra 2:59; Neh. 7:61).

  • SOLOMONS SERVANTS

    [smith] (CHILDREN OF). (Ezra 2:55,58; Nehemiah 7:57,60) The persons thus named appear in the lists of the exiles who returned from the captivity. They were the descendants of the Canaanites who were reduced by Solomon to the helot st...

  • SOLOMON'S SERVANTS

    [isbe] SOLOMON'S SERVANTS - ('adbhedhe shelomoh; douloi Salomon): "The children of Solomon's servants" constituted a company or guild of the Jewish exiles who returned with Zerubbabel from Babylonia to Jerusalem in 537 BC, pursuant...

  • SOLOMON

    [isbe] SOLOMON - sol'-o-mun (shelomoh; New Testament Solomon): I. EARLY LIFE 1. Name and Meaning 2. Sources 3. Birth and Upbringing 4. His Accession 5. Closing Days of David II. REIGN OF SOLOMON 1. His Vision 2. His Policy 3. Its R...

  • Priest

    [nave] PRIEST. Before Moses Melchizedek, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5:6, 10, 11; 6:20; 7:1-21. Jethro, Ex. 2:16. Priests in Israel before the giving of the law, Ex. 19:22, 24. Called angel, Eccl. 5:6. Mosaic Ex. 28:1-4; 29:9, 44; Num....

  • Nehemiah

    [nave] NEHEMIAH 1. Son of Hachaliah, Neh. 1:1. Cupbearer of Artaxerxes, Neh. 1:11; 2:1. Is grieved over the desolation of his country, Neh. 1. Is sent by the king to rebuild Jerusalem, Neh. 2:1-8. Register of the people whom he...

  • Minister

    [ebd] one who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 4:43). This name i...

  • MONEY

    [ebd] Of uncoined money the first notice we have is in the history of Abraham (Gen. 13:2; 20:16; 24:35). Next, this word is used in connection with the purchase of the cave of Machpelah (23:16), and again in connection with Jacob'...
    [smith] Uncointed money. --It is well known that ancient nations that were without a coinage weighed the precious metals, a practice represented on the Egyptian monuments, on which gold and silver are shown to have been kept in the ...

  • Liberality

    [nave] LIBERALITY. Ex. 22:29, 30 Ex. 13:2, 12. Ex. 23:15 Ex. 34:20. Ex. 25:1-8; Ex. 35:4-29; Ex. 36:3-6; Ex. 38:8; Lev. 19:5 Lev. 22:29; Num. 35:8. Deut. 12:11, 12, 17-19; Deut. 14:27-29; Deut. 15:7-18; Deut. 16:10, 17; Deut. 18:1...

  • Levites

    [nave] LEVITES The descendants of Levi. Set apart as ministers of religion, Num. 1:47-54; 3:6-16; 16:9; 26:57-62; Deut. 10:8; 1 Chr. 15:2. Substituted in the place of the firstborn, Num. 3:12, 41-45; 8:14, 16-18; 18:6. Religious ...

  • Israel

    [nave] ISRAEL 1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4. 2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3. 3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 4...

  • Genealogy

    [nave] GENEALOGY, Num. 1:18; 2 Chr. 12:15; Ezra 2:59; Neh. 7:5; Heb. 7:3. Of no spiritual significance, Matt. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; Tit. 3:9. From Adam to Noah, Gen. 4:16-22; 5; 1 Chr. 1:1-4; Luke 3:36-38; to Abraham, Gen. 11:10-32; ...

  • GENEALOGY, 8 part 2

    [isbe] GENEALOGY, 8 part 2 - I. Primeval Genealogies (1 Chronicals 1:1-54). To show Israel's place among the nations; follows Genesis closely, omitting only the Cainites; boldly, skillfully compressed, as if the omitted facts were ...

  • GENEALOGY, 8 part 1

    [isbe] GENEALOGY, 8 part 1 - 8. Principal Genealogies and Lists: In the early genealogies the particular strata to which each has been assigned by reconstructive critics is here indicated by J, the Priestly Code (P), etc. The signs...

  • Dram

    [ebd] The Authorized Version understood the word 'adarkonim (1 Chr. 29:7; Ezra 8:27), and the similar word darkomnim (Ezra 2:69; Neh. 7:70), as equivalent to the Greek silver coin the drachma. But the Revised Version rightly regar...
    [nave] DRAM Called also Drachm. A Persian coin of differently estimated value, 1 Chr. 29:7; Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Neh. 7:70-72.

  • DARIC

    [ebd] in the Revised Version of 1 Chr. 29:7; Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Neh. 7:70-72, where the Authorized Version has "dram." It is the rendering of the Hebrew darkemon and the Greek dareikos. It was a gold coin, bearing the figure of a Pe...
    [isbe] DARIC - dar'-ik (darkemon, and 'adharkon; dareikos): A Persian gold coin about a guinea or five dollars in value. The first form of the word occurs in 1 Ch 29:7; Ezr 2:69, and Neh 7:70-72; the second in Ezr 8:27 and is rende...
    [smith] (from dara , a king), Authorized Version "dram," (1 Chronicles 29:7; Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Nehemiah 7:70,71,72) a gold coin current in Palestine in the period after the return from Babylon. It weighed 128 grains, and was worth ...

  • Camel

    [ebd] from the Hebrew gamal, "to repay" or "requite," as the camel does the care of its master. There are two distinct species of camels, having, however, the common characteristics of being "ruminants without horns, without muzzl...

  • COINS

    [isbe] COINS - koinz: There were no coins in use in Palestine until after the Captivity. It is not quite certain whether gold and silver were before that time divided into pieces of a certain weight for use as money or not, but the...

  • Addon

    [ebd] low, one of the persons named in Neh. 7:61 who could not "shew their father's house" on the return from captivity. This, with similar instances (ver. 63), indicates the importance the Jews attached to their genealogies.

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • This list clearly defines the priests and Levites' line of descent. Only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, could serve in the temple by offering sacrifices on the incense altar (v. 49; cf. Num. 3:5-38). Nehemiah correctl...
  • This chapter contains a record of the people who responded to Cyrus' decree and returned to the Promised Land. It is a list of families rather than individuals and the towns in Babylon from which they came. Almost all of thes...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. London: SCM Press, 1973._____. "The Temple Vessels--A Continuity Theme."Vetus Testamentum Supplement23 (1972):166-81.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmilla...
  • The years of history the book covers are 445-431 B.C. or perhaps a few years after that.In 445 B.C. (the twentieth year of Artaxerxes' reign, 1:1) Nehemiah learned of the conditions in Jerusalem that led him to request permis...
  • I. The fortification of Jerusalem chs. 1-7A. The return under Nehemiah chs. 1-21. The news concerning Jerusalem 1:1-32. The response of Nehemiah 1:4-113. The request of Nehemiah 2:1-84. The return to Jerusalem 2:9-20B. The re...
  • This is not a list of the people who accompanied Nehemiah to Jerusalem in 444 B.C. but a record of those who returned with Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, and Jeshua in 537 B.C. (v. 7). It is almost identical to the list in Ezra 2.W...
  • One writer viewed chapters 8-13 (really 7:73-13:37) as the third part of the tripartite structure of Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra 1:1-4 deals with "potentiality,"the decree to the community to build God's house. Ezra 1:5--Nehemiah 7:7...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. London: SCM Press, 1973.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed., New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William F. The...
  • Zechariah began ministering among the Jews who had returned from captivity in Babylon (i.e., the restoration community) two months after Haggai began preaching (1:1; 7:1; cf. Neh. 12:10-16; Hag. 1:1). In a sense, Zechariah's ...
  • A. Women served in the doorway of the Tabernacle (Exod. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2:22).The same word (saba) is used of their work as that of the Levites. These women were probably widows who devoted themselves to the service of God.B. Mi...
  • 7:1-2 The writer referred to Melchizedek (lit. righteous king, probably a title rather than a proper name) as the head of a priestly order. It was not uncommon for one individual to combine the roles of priest and king in ant...
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