The priests and Levites were the most important people who returned from exile because they reestablished worship in the land. Verses 1-7 give the names of 22 leaders among them who had returned in 537 B.C. with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (cf. 1 Chron. 24:7-19). The writer also mentioned eight Levites by name (vv. 8-9; cf. Ezra 2:40-42).
The genealogy of the high priest was especially important. Five succeeding descendants of Jeshua appear in the text (vv. 10-11).83This list continues the one in 1 Chronicles 6:3-15 that ends with the Babylonian exile in 586 B.C.
The text also lists heads of 21 priestly families in the generation that followed Jeshua's (vv. 12-21).
The names of the heads of the nine Levitical families Nehemiah referred to in verse 22 appear in verses 24-26. The four high priests he mentioned in verse 22 evidently registered these names. Darius the Persian (v. 22) is probably Darius II (423-404 B.C.).84The "Book of the Chronicles"(v. 23) is not the canonical Book of Chronicles but another record of names.85
