12:1 VE
ELEH HA KOHANIM VE HA LEVIYIM ASHER ALU IM ZERU-BAVEL BEN SHE'ALTI-EI VE
YESHU'A SERA'YAH YIRME-YAH EZR'A
וְאֵלֶּה הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם אֲשֶׁר עָלוּ עִם זְרֻבָּבֶל בֶּן שְׁאַלְתִּיאֵל וְיֵשׁוּעַ שְׂרָיָה יִרְמְיָה עֶזְרָא
BN: Now these
are the Kohanim and the Leviyim who went up with Zeru-Bavel ben She'alti-El
and Yeshu'a: Sera-Yah, Yirme-Yah, Ezr'a...
All this has already been told in the Book of Ezra, though Nechem-Yah may not have known that, may even have written his memoirs, which form the first seven chapters of this book, before Ezra's book was compiled. Nevertheless they overlap, as we have seen in previous chapters. Ezra's first reference to the Kohanim and Leviyim who made Aliyah with Zeru-Bavel is at Ezra 1:5, though his list of their names does not begin until 2:2, and his list of the Kohanim specifically at 2:36. Nehemiah 7 is a virtually identical rendition of Ezra 2.
This is not
the Prophet Yirme-Yah (Jeremiah), who was alive when the Second Temple fell, and died in
exile in Egypt a few years later. It is nonetheless interesting to note that
this one is Yirme-Yah, where that one is remembered as Yirme-Yahu, though
English translations (and French, German, Russian, et cetera) have never
retained that additional, masculinising, Vav.
Chapter 10, for seventy verses, gave us the list of those who came back at a later time; why both lists; and why not this one first?
12:2
AMAR-YAH MALUCH CHATUSH
אֲמַרְיָה מַלּוּךְ חַטּוּשׁ
BN: Amar-Yah,
Maluch, Chatush...
Once again Nechem-Yah gives names without patronymics, rendering it a completely useless list, not just for us as cultural archeologists, but even in his own time. But presumably he can also say to the people, No, I published a full list, honouring the pioneering returnees, and your grandfather, your great-uncle, yes, they are on it. Politics!
Many of the names have come up previously, in Ezra and/or Nechem-Yah; I shall only be commenting on those which are either new to these pages, or can definitely be shown to have been named previously.
12:3
SHECHAN-YAH RECHUM MEREMOT
שְׁכַנְיָה רְחֻם מְרֵמֹת
BN: Shechan-Yah,
Rechum, Meremot...
12:4 ID'O
GINTOY AVI-YAH
עִדּוֹא גִנְּתוֹי אֲבִיָּה
BN: Id'o, Gintoy,
Avi-Yah...
12:5
MI-YAMIN MA'AD-YAH BILGAH
מִיָּמִין מַעַדְיָה בִּלְגָּה
BN: Mi-Yamin,
Ma'ad-Yah, Bilgah...
MI-YAMIN: As at Nehemiah 10:8, I
think this has to be a variation of Bin-Yamin, and as such a confirmation that the Yamin
were the tribe, and that Bin-Yamin is really Beney Yamin; is there ever an
occasion when we hear about the Beney Vin-Yamin? See also MIN-YAMIN at verse 17.
MA'AD-YAH: Rendered as Mo'ad-Yah at verse 17. A Mo'ed is an "appointed time", i.e. a regular fast, feast or festival.
12:6
SHEM'A-YAH VE YO-YARIV YED'A-YAH
שְׁמַעְיָה וְיוֹיָרִיב יְדַעְיָה
BN: Shem'a-Yah,
and Yo-Yariv, Yed'a-Yah...
12:7 SALU
AMOK CHILKI-YAH YED'A-YAH ELEH RA'SHEY HA KOHANIM VA ACHEYHEM BIY'MEY YESHU'A
סַלּוּ עָמוֹק חִלְקִיָּה יְדַעְיָה אֵלֶּה רָאשֵׁי הַכֹּהֲנִים וַאֲחֵיהֶם בִּימֵי יֵשׁוּעַ
BN: Salu, Amok,
Chilki-Yah, Yed'a-Yah. These were the chiefs of the Kohanim and their kinsmen in the days of Yeshu'a.
SALU: Another error? Verse 20 has a SALAI, as did Nehemiah 11:8. On the other hand, Nehemiah 11:7 had a SALU, but spelled with an Aramaic Aleph. See my notes at 11:8.
AMOK: Another of the same name at verse 20. The name means "deep".
ACHEYHEM: Literally "brothers", but in the Kohanic sense. In a mediaeval monastery, all the monks were "brothers", and even used it as part of their name, "Fra" for Friar from French frère from Lafin Frater. So Fra Bartholomew of Gleistonbury was a "brother" to all the other brothers at Gleistonbury, but he was also a brother to Fra Bartholomew of Tintern and Fra Bartholomew of Fountains, with whom who he had no blood relationship, and would never meet or even hear of in his life.
YESHU'A: Inferring that he was the Kohen Gadol of that time, though there is also a Levite named Yeshu'a in the next verse. I wonder if the Kohen Gadol counted as overall head of both the Ks and the Ls, and therefore this is the same Yeshu'a. Ezra's list of Leviyim starts at 2:40, and he presents the Leviyim with Yeshu'a and Kadmi-El first, as a pair, as though Kadmi-El were the head of the Leviyim, but Yeshu'a as KG is nonetheless his superior.
pey break
12:8 VE HA
LEVIYIM YESHU'A BINU'I KADMI-EL SHEREV-YAH YEHUDAH MATAN-YAH AL HUYEDOT HU VE
ECHAV
וְהַלְוִיִּם יֵשׁוּעַ בִּנּוּי קַדְמִיאֵל שֵׁרֵבְיָה יְהוּדָה מַתַּנְיָה עַל הֻיְּדוֹת הוּא וְאֶחָיו
BN: And the
Leviyim: Yeshu'a, Binui, Kadmi-El, Sherev-Yah, Yehudah, Matan-Yah who was in
charge of the thanksgiving, he and his brothers.
BINUI: Nechem-Yah, on the other hand, places Binu'i between Yeshu'a and Kadmi-El, so my conjecture in the previous verse remains precisely (or actually rather imprecisely) that. Binu'i does not appear in the Ezra list; but then, none of the others in this verse do either, only Yeshu'a and Kadmi-El.
Like the
lists in Ezr'a, this feels like it's being dictated off-the-cuff to a secretary
as a memo, rather than written as formal text in a memoir; throw-away lines,
half-remembered names and roles, ungrammatical sentences.
12:9 U
VAKBUK-YAH VE ONO (VE UNI) ACHEYHEM LE NEGDAM LE MISHMAROT
וּבַקְבֻּקְיָה וענו (וְעֻנִּי) אֲחֵיהֶם לְנֶגְדָּם לְמִשְׁמָרוֹת
BN: Also
Vakbuk-Yah and Ono (Uni), their brothers, were paired together for the watches.
ONO...UNI: The name has appeared as ONO before, and not been questioned by the Masoretes; why is it being questioned now? Perhaps because the other ONO is a town, not a person - see Nehemiah 11:35.
MISHMAROT:
Where does the translation as "wards" come from - this is not the town council? We know exactly what the Mishmarot were, and actually it included, besides the leading of the daily Temple services and the bringing of the Shewbread, one of the most important tasks that any priest could perform. Two types of "watches", the soldiers doing guard-duty from the Migdalim, the priests observing the movements of the planets and constellations from the Mitspeh, reading the "messages" (Mal'achim in Yehudit are messengers, though translated in Christian texts as "angels"), knowing exactly when the Mo'ed began and ended (see my note to verse 5), or the Shabat, and being able to point out supernovae or comets or the massive meteorite storms in constellation Lyra which are probably the origin of the "plagues" of Egypt. For a full account of how the Mishmarot were operated, click here.
12:10 VA
YESHU'A HOLID ET YO-YAKIM VE YO-YAKIM HOLID ET EL-YASHIV VE EL-YASHIV ET
YO-YAD'A
וְיֵשׁוּעַ הוֹלִיד אֶת יוֹיָקִים וְיוֹיָקִים הוֹלִיד אֶת אֶלְיָשִׁיב וְאֶלְיָשִׁיב אֶת יוֹיָדָע
BN: And Yeshu'a
fathered Yo-Yakim, and Yo-Yakim fathered El-Yashiv, and El-Yashiv Yo-Yad'a...
YO-YAKIM: An interesting variation which most translators miss, assuming it is Yoachim; but
Yoachim has a Chet (ח). I also
wonder, given how often the Vav and Yud become mistaken, if this wasn't actually
Yo-Yakum, which would be a splendid name for someone coming back to rebuild
Yehudah and Yeru-Shala'im (or does Yo-Yakim achieve that anyway?)
Sloppy that
the third HOLID ET is missing - though most translations act as if it were
there.
Which way
round should we read this: that the need to prove who was and who wasn't "Jewish" at this time led to all those princely pedigree lists and now these
HOLIDs, and from there it found its way into the Torah, to provide a source and
because that was the culture; or did it start in Torah and this was just a way
of continuing it? Ezra 9 and 10 speak obsessively about those Kohanim who were removed from the priesthood because they couldn't prove their genealogy, even provides a list to name-and-shame them into doing so; Nechem-Yah will himself return to the theme in his closing chapter (Nehemiah 13:23). My guess is that, back in the day, no one cared all that much about genealogy, because this issue of racial purity simply hadn't yet arisen; but today, in Ezra and Nechem-Yah's time, it was the definition of national identity, just as it is in Israel today, and was superimposed on the Torah as part of the Redaction, giving it thereby retroactive validation.
12:11 VE
YO-YAD'A HOLID ET YO-NATAN VI YO-NATAN HOLID ET YADU'A
וְיוֹיָדָע הוֹלִיד אֶת יוֹנָתָן וְיוֹנָתָן הוֹלִיד אֶת יַדּוּעַ
BN: And Yo-Yada
fathered Yo-Natan and Yo-Natan fathered Yadu'a.
I have
commented previously on Yo-Natan versus Yah-Natan versus, if I remember
correctly Yahu-Natan, or was it Yeho-Natan; and then Yochanan, which is an
entirely different root, and which occurs in verses 12 and 13 below. But yet again we are witnessing a name that honours that goddess, and which will later on be masculinised to honour the male deity.
Having said which, see verses 14 and 35, where he is Yo-Natan, but also verse 18, where he is indeed Yeho-Natan.
12:12 U VIYMEY YO-YAKIM HAYU KOHANIM RA'SHEY HA AVOT LI SERA-YAH MERA-YAH LE YIRME-YAH
CHANAN-YAH
וּבִימֵי יוֹיָקִים הָיוּ כֹהֲנִים רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת לִשְׂרָיָה מְרָיָה לְיִרְמְיָה חֲנַנְיָה
BN: And in the
days of Yo-Yakim there were Kohanim who served as heads of clans: of Sera-Yah, Mera-Yah; of
Yirme-Yah, Chanan-Yah...
What
exactly is this saying? That the Kohanim divided along clan lines too, and
these were the clan-chiefs? Or that there were Kohanim as heads of various
non-Levitical tribes? The latter is only possible if, as Chronicles suggests
for the time of David, the Kohanim were not yet exclusively from the tribe of Levi (see my reponse to this at the end of this chapter). Or perhaps that Yo-Yakim became Kohen Gadol, and the next list reflects the status at his time, including having Kohanim serve as clan-chiefs etc.
Odd grammar
too: why the preposition before Sera-Yah and Yirme-Yah but not before the other
two? The same in the next verse. Or are we making the mistake of thinking it's
a list of 4, when in fact it's a list of two and the second name in the pair is
the Kohen? Which is to say:
BN (alternate translation): And in the days of Yo-Yakim there were Kohanim who served as heads of clans: Mera-Yah for the clan of Sera-Yah; Chanan-Yah for the clan of Yirme-Yah.
And then:
what are these clans anyway? Groups who attached themselves to a leader, as if
in a political party, where all the other groupings have been based on their
cities of exile, their new home-towns, or their guild or craft? As with the choir and the orchestra, I think we have to assume a breaking-down of the Mishmarot into specific duties, rather than everyone taking their turn at everything, and then the clan-chief is the "overseer" of that particular group: head of marketing, head of sales, head of training, so to speak.
12:13 LE
EZRA MESHULAM LA AMAR-YAH YEHO-CHANAN
לְעֶזְרָא מְשֻׁלָּם לַאֲמַרְיָה יְהוֹחָנָן
BN: Meshulam for the group supervised by Ezra; Yeho-Chanan for the group supervised by Amar-Yah...
YEHO-CHANAN
is a variation on Chanan-Yah in verse 12, in the same way that Dorothy and
Theodor are the same name in Greek.
12:14 LE
MELUCHI (MELICHU) YO-NATAN, LE SHEVAN-YAH YOSEPH
למלוכי (לִמְלִיכוּ) יוֹנָתָן לִשְׁבַנְיָה יוֹסֵף
BN: Yo-Natan for the group under Meluchi
(Melichu); Yoseph for the group under Shevan-Yah...
MELUCHI: And no
sooner do I raise that Vav-Yud issue (Salu at verse 7, Ono at verse 9, in a sense Gintoy at verse 4 as well) than it occurs again, noted by the
Masoretes this time; and yet again in the following verse. See my note to Malki-Yah at Nehemiah 3:11.
12:15 LE
CHARIM ADN'A, LIM'RAYOT CHELKAI
לְחָרִם עַדְנָא לִמְרָיוֹת חֶלְקָי
BN: Adn'a for the group under Charim; Chelkai for the group under Merayot...
ADN'A: Elsewhere, and today, the name is Edna, and female. Perhaps ADN'A was the male version (cf Dan and Dinah, Yehudah and Yehudit etc) but the male dropped out of usage.
12:16 LE
ID'I (LE ID'O) ZECHAR-YAH LE GINTON MESHULAM
לעדיא (לְעִדּוֹא) זְכַרְיָה לְגִנְּתוֹן מְשֻׁלָּם
BN: Zechar-Yah for the group under Id'i
(Id'o); Meshulam for the group under Ginton...
GINTON: See my note to Gintoy at verse 4.
12:17 LA AVI-YAH ZICHRI LE MIN-YAMIN LE MO'AD-YAH PILTAI
לַאֲבִיָּה זִכְרִי לְמִנְיָמִין לְמוֹעַדְיָה פִּלְטָי
MIN-YAMIN: Is he the supervisor or the group? This just
adds confusion. Is there a name missing? Is Piltai the supervisor of two groups?
12:18 LE
VILGAH SHAMU'A, LI SHEMA-YAH YEHO-NATAN
לְבִלְגָּה שַׁמּוּעַ לִשְׁמַעְיָה יְהוֹנָתָן
BN: Shamu'a for the group under Bilgah; Yeho-Natan for the group under Shema-Yah.
וּלְיוֹיָרִיב מַתְּנַי לִידַעְיָה עֻזִּי
BN: And Matnai for the group under Yo-Yariv; Uzi for the group under Yed'a-Yah.
12:20 LE
SALAI KALAI LA AMOK EVER
לְסַלַּי קַלָּי לְעָמוֹק עֵבֶר
BN: Kalai for the group under Salai; Ever for the group under Amok...
12:21 LE
CHILKI-YAH CHASHAV-YAH LIYD'A-YAH NETAN-EL
לְחִלְקִיָּה חֲשַׁבְיָה לִידַעְיָה נְתַנְאֵל
BN: Chashav-Yah for the group under Chilki-Yah; Netan-El for the group under Yed'a-Yah.
Two supervisors with the same name - Yed'a-Yah here and in verse 19. Precisely why I called the list useless at verse 2 - this needs patronymics to become in any way meaningful. They give people numbers in jails and refugee camps, rendering them thereby anonymous; effectively the same is happening here.
12:22 HA
LEVIYIM BIYMEY EL-YASHIV YO-YAD'A VE YO-CHANAN VE YADU'A KETUVIM RA'SHEY AVOT
VE HA KOHANIM AL MALCHUT DAR-YAVESH HA PARSI
הַלְוִיִּם בִּימֵי אֶלְיָשִׁיב יוֹיָדָע וְיוֹחָנָן וְיַדּוּעַ כְּתוּבִים רָאשֵׁי אָבוֹת וְהַכֹּהֲנִים עַל מַלְכוּת דָּרְיָוֶשׁ הַפָּרְסִי
BN: The Leviyim
in the days of El-Yashiv - Yo-Yad'a and Yo-Chanan and Yadu'a - were recorded as the heads of clans; also the Kohanim, during the reign of Dar-Yavesh the
Parsi...
DAR-YAVESH HA PARSI: Darius the Persian. See Ezra 6.
pey break
12:23 BENEY
LEVI RA'SHEY HA AVOT KETUVIM AL SEPHER DIVREY HA YAMIM VE AD YEMEY YO-CHANAN
BEN EL-YASHIV
בְּנֵי לֵוִי רָאשֵׁי הָאָבוֹת כְּתוּבִים עַל סֵפֶר דִּבְרֵי הַיָּמִים וְעַד יְמֵי יוֹחָנָן בֶּן אֶלְיָשִׁיב
BN: The
clan-chiefs of the Beney Levi were written in the Book of the Chronicles, up
until the days of Yo-Chanan ben El-Yashiv.
Chronicles,
as in Chronicles? If yes, we will need to check and compare - especially 1 Chronicles 24:7 ff, which is an alternate version on this very list (see my link to MISHMAROT above), excepting only the fact that the "groups" belong to the time of David, not Nechem-Yah - or maybe they were given those names then, and had kept them "until the days of Yo-Chanan ben El-Yashiv", and were being revived or restored now.
12:24 VE
RA'SHEY HE LEVIYIM CHASHAV-YAH SHEREV-YAH VE YESHU'A BEN KADMI-EL VA ACHEYHEM LE
NEGDAM LEHALEL LEHODOT BE MITSVAT DAVID ISH HA ELOHIM MISHMAR LE'UMAT MISHMAR
וְרָאשֵׁי הַלְוִיִּם חֲשַׁבְיָה שֵׁרֵבְיָה וְיֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן קַדְמִיאֵל וַאֲחֵיהֶם לְנֶגְדָּם לְהַלֵּל לְהוֹדוֹת בְּמִצְוַת דָּוִיד אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים מִשְׁמָר לְעֻמַּת מִשְׁמָר
BN: And the
chiefs of the Leviyim: Chashav-Yah, Sherev-Yah, and Yeshu'a ben Kadmi-El, with
their clansmen facing them, to sing the Hallel and the Thanksgiving Psalms, per the instructions of our great hero David, each according to their turn on the rota.
All of which seems to confirm the 1 Chronicles 24 connection, and begins to let us see what the "groupings" were, even within the Temple services (and helps confirm the dating of Chronicles too).
LE NEGDAM:
as per its previous use during the building, this means "standing opposite them" as a physical location, not against them as some kind of opposing party - the standard layout of the choir in most European cathedrals. The
distinction is being made between who leads which part of the liturgy, the
Hallel Psalms (probably 113-118) being the Mitsvat David.
ISH HA ELOHIM does not make
him "a man of the gods" but "the great".
MISHMAR: as noted above, it does not mean
ward, but is the rota of Temple and shrine duties (see my explanation of this, above).
12:25
MATAN-YAH U VAKBUK-YAH OVAD-YAH MESHULAM TALMON AKUV SHOMRIM SHO'ARIM MISHMAR
BA ASUPHEY HA SHE'ARIM
מַתַּנְיָה וּבַקְבֻּקְיָה עֹבַדְיָה מְשֻׁלָּם טַלְמוֹן עַקּוּב שֹׁמְרִים שׁוֹעֲרִים מִשְׁמָר בַּאֲסֻפֵּי הַשְּׁעָרִים
BN: Matan-Yah,
and Bakbuk-Yah, Ovad-Yah, Meshulam, Talmon, Akuv, were the store-house managers of the collection-points at the city gates.
TALMON: An
Aramaic variation of SHELOMOH? Probably, and probably the reason why it became Solomon in English.
In
20th century terms, MISHMAR would be rendered as TORANUT.
Yet again we have names that we can probably identify from earlier lists, but lack the patronymic to enable us to do so; and which, if we could do so, would enable us to decipher what precisely these "groupings" were, what responsibilities, etc. Vakbuk-Yah, for example, as noted when he first came up at Ezra 2:51, is probably the provisioner of Kiddush wine for the Temple rituals.
12:26 ELEH
BIY'MEY YO-YAKIM BEN YESHU'A BEN YO-TSADAK U VIY'MEY NECHEM-YAH HA PECHAH VE
EZR'A HA KOEN HA SOPHER
אֵלֶּה בִּימֵי יוֹיָקִים בֶּן יֵשׁוּעַ בֶּן יוֹצָדָק וּבִימֵי נְחֶמְיָה הַפֶּחָה וְעֶזְרָא הַכֹּהֵן הַסּוֹפֵר
BN: These were at the time of Yo-Yakim ben Yeshu'a ben Yo-Tsadak, and at the time of Nechem-Yah
the governor, and of Ezra the Kohen and scribe.
HA PECHAH: Which takes us back to the question of the "two Nechem-Yahs"; the other one had a title too,
and it was Tirshat'a - see Ezra 2:63 and Nehemiah 7:65. So both of them cannot mean "governor" (though they are without more than a tiny because necessary to the pracice of good scholarship moment of doubt, the same Nechem-Yah).
pey break
12:27 U VA
CHANUKAT CHOMAT YERU-SHALA'IM BIKSHU ET HA LEVIYIM MI KOL MEKOMOTAM LAHAVIY'AM
LIYRU-SHALA'IM LA'ASOT CHANUKAH VE SIMCHAH U VE TODOT U VE SHIR METSILTAYIM
NEVALIM U VE CHINOROT
וּבַחֲנֻכַּת חוֹמַת יְרוּשָׁלִַם בִּקְשׁוּ אֶת הַלְוִיִּם מִכָּל מְקוֹמֹתָם לַהֲבִיאָם לִירוּשָׁלִָם לַעֲשֹׂת חֲנֻכָּה וְשִׂמְחָה וּבְתוֹדוֹת וּבְשִׁיר מְצִלְתַּיִם נְבָלִים וּבְכִנֹּרוֹת
BN: And at the
dedication of the wall of Yeru-Shala'im they invited the Leviyim from every
place, bringing them to Yeru-Shala'im to participate in the dedication and the
joyful celebrations, in the thanksgivings, and the singing, with cymbals,
psalteries, and with harps.
CHANUKAH:
Not the festival that we celebrate today; that is for an historical event still
several centuries in the future; though there are commonalities, in that this
was the dedication ceremony for the walls of Yeru-Shala'im, and that was the
dedication ceremony for the re-sanctification of the Temple.
12:28 VA
YE'ASPHU BENEY HA MESHORERIM U MIN HA KIKAR SEVIYVOT YERU-SHALA'IM U MIN
CHATSREY NETOPHATI
וַיֵּאָסְפוּ בְּנֵי הַמְשֹׁרְרִים וּמִן הַכִּכָּר סְבִיבוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִַם, וּמִן חַצְרֵי נְטֹפָתִי
BN: And the
companies of singers gathered themselves together, both from the plains surrounding Yeru-Shala'im, and from the villages of the Netophati.
NETOPHATI: Netophah is a town near Beit Lechem, according to Ezra 2:22 and Nehemiah 7:26, and used in the formula we have here in 2 Samuel 23:28/29 and 2 Kings 25:23. As to the relevance here? The root has to do with things "dropping down", whether animal droppings, or honey from the lips (Proverbs 5:3), or actual words, in the form of a prophecy (Amos 7:16, Micah 2:6), though Exodus 30:34 reckons it to be some kind of gum, probably made out of myrrh. My conjecture is that Netophah had been to Yehudah what somewhere like Stratford-upon-Avon is to contemporary England, or Laurel Canyon in the 1960s and 1970s, or Yavneh to the early Talmudic Rabbis, either a centre for choral teaching, and/or a centre for the Prophetic Guilds - being that close to David's home-town of Beit Lechem would have been a logical place to establish such a "university". The next verse confirms this.
12:29 U MI
BEIT HA GIL-GAL U MI SEDOT GEV'A VE AZ-MAVET KI CHATSERIM BANU LAHEM HA
MESHORERIM
וּמִבֵּית הַגִּלְגָּל וּמִשְּׂדוֹת גֶּבַע וְעַזְמָוֶת כִּי חֲצֵרִים בָּנוּ לָהֶם הַמְשֹׁרְרִים סְבִיבוֹת יְרוּשָׁלִָם
BN: Also from the shrine at Ha Gil-Gal, and out of the burial-grounds of Gev'a and Az-Mavet; for the singers
had built villages for themselves all around Yeru-Shala'im.
BEIT HA
GIL-GAL: See the link, but also note the definite article, which we are not used to with this particular shrine.
GEV'A: Yes, SEDOT are "fields", but look at my notes on the burial of Ya'akov at Avel Mitsrayim at Genesis 50:11, and especially my page on Avel Mitsrayim itself. GEB was the Egyptian deity of the underworld, and several places in Kena'an carry his (or possibly her) name, include Gev'a, Giv'ah, Giv-On, all of them "high places", as in "low hills", but different from HARIM not because of their height but because they were man-made - tumuli, indeed.
AZ-MAVET: And the very name gives this one. MAVET is the Yehudit word for "death". Burials in the ancient world, as they still are in modern Greece and Lebanon, were accompanied by "keening", and it wasn't just hysterical mourners who performed their grief, but trained "keeners" who led, or accompanied, in a highly theatrical form. Cf Genesis 23:2, Jeremiah 9:16-19 even more, or look at Mishnah Ketubot 4:4, where Rabbi Yehudah rules that "even the poorest man in Yisra-El must provide no less than two flutes and one lament-singing woman" for his wife's funeral, as a minimum display of honour.
So if you are gathering all the great singers and choirs to Yeru-Shala'im for a national dedication ceremony, you need to invite the professionals at the burial-grounds.
12:30 VA
YITAHARU HA KOHANIM VE HA LEVIYIM VA YETAHARU ET HA AM VE ET HA SHE'ARIM VE ET
HA CHOMAH
וַיִּטַּהֲרוּ הַכֹּהֲנִים וְהַלְוִיִּם וַיְטַהֲרוּ אֶת הָעָם וְאֶת הַשְּׁעָרִים וְאֶת הַחוֹמָה
BN: And the
Kohanim and the Leviyim purified themselves; and they purified the people, and
the gates, and the wall.
"You shall also make a basin out of brass, with a base made out of brass, to wash at; and you shall put it between the tent of meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it... And Aharon and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it... When they go into the tent of meeting, they shall wash with water, so that they do not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to cause an offering made by fire to smoke unto YHVH...They shall wash their hands and their feet, so that they do not die; and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations."
12:31 VA
A'ALEH ET SAREY YEHUDAH ME'AL LA CHOMAH VA A'AMIYDAH SHETEY TODOT GEDOLOT VE
TAHALUCHOT LA YAMIN ME'AL LA CHOMAH LE SHA'AR HA ASHPOT
וָאַעֲלֶה אֶת שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה מֵעַל לַחוֹמָה וָאַעֲמִידָה שְׁתֵּי תוֹדֹת גְּדוֹלֹת וְתַהֲלֻכֹת לַיָּמִין מֵעַל לַחוֹמָה לְשַׁעַר הָאַשְׁפֹּת
BN: Then I
brought the princes of Yehudah up onto the wall, and we raised two great rounds of ovation, and went in procession, following the wall to our right hand, in the direction of the Dung Gate...
And then the text goes back into the 1st person!
VA
A'AMIDAH: No, he didn’t appoint anyone, he himself led a "double standing
ovation" - an amidah shetey todot - and then led the procession, which went as two companies. Why two rounds
of thanks? Whoever said "hip hip hooray" just the once and ended there! But see verse 40, because they aren't done yet.
LA YAMIN: Isn't actually terribly helpful, as we don't know if they are facing outwards or inwards.
SHA'AR HA ASHPOT: For a map of the wall, see Nehemiah 1:1. The Dung Gate is the furthermost point of the wall from the Temple. The inference of verses 37 and 39 is that they started at the Fish Gate, though he appears to call it the Prison Gate - see verse 38.
12:32 VA
YELECH ACHAREYHEM HOSH'A-YAH VE CHETSI SAREY YEHUDAH
וַיֵּלֶךְ אַחֲרֵיהֶם הוֹשַׁעְיָה וַחֲצִי שָׂרֵי יְהוּדָה
BN: And after
them went Hosh'a-Yah, and half of the princes of Yehudah...
HOSH'A-YAH:
Yehoshu'a (Joshua) was originally Hoshe'a (Hosea) (Numbers 13:16); this adds yet one more variant to that list: Yesha-Yahu (Isaiah), David's father Yishai (Jesse), eventually Jesus. The Kohen
Gadol has been named Yeshu'a until now; and suddenly the same name-change, at
the very moment of the dedication of the wall. It would appear that the same reason applied - click here.
12:33 VA
AZAR-YAH EZRA U MESHULAM
וַעֲזַרְיָה עֶזְרָא וּמְשֻׁלָּם
BN: And
Azar-Yah, Ezra, and Meshulam...
Azar-Yah: see Ezra 7:1, where Azar-Yah is named as Ezra's grandfather. The one here, we can state for certain, is not that man - because Ezra is a diminutive of Azar-Yah, and in the world of the Yisra-Elim you do not name a child after a still-living grandfather, but only in honour and memory of a dead one.
12:34
YEHUDAH U VIM-YAMIN U SHEM'A-YAH VE YIRME-YAH
יְהוּדָה וּבִנְיָמִן וּשְׁמַעְיָה וְיִרְמְיָה
BN: Yehudah,
and Bin-Yamin, and Shem'a-Yah, and Yirme-Yah...
samech
break
12:35 U MIBNEY HA KOHANIM BA CHATSOTSROT ZECHAR-YAH VEN YO-NATAN BEN SHEM'A-YAH BEN
MATAN-YAH BEN MIYCHA-YAH BEN ZACHOR BEN ASAPH
וּמִבְּנֵי הַכֹּהֲנִים בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת זְכַרְיָה בֶן יוֹנָתָן בֶּן שְׁמַעְיָה בֶּן מַתַּנְיָה בֶּן מִיכָיָה בֶּן זַכּוּר בֶּן אָסָף
BN: And from among the sons of the Kohanim, blowing trumpets: Zechar-Yah ben Yo-Natan ben Shem'a-Yah ben
Matan-Yah ben Micha-Yah ben Zachur ben Asaph...
CHATSOTSROT: See my note to Nehemiah 4:12.
This must have been one grand event, with the cheering before, and now the trumpets alaruming in the big chiefs... but note who the real big chiefs are, the ones with the serious pedigrees: the Kohanim, the aristocracy of Yisra-El, which is now, from this moment on, fully a theocracy - no king - or not yet anyway. That will become part of the squabble between the Pharisees and Sadducees for the next four hundred years.
One
qualification: is it possible, since the text tells us "sons" plural, that all
the "beney" in this verse are individuals whose first name is not being given? No, the next
verse clearly states "his kinsmen", so this was simply one very long name, and yet again pedigree is being extolled as a primary virtue. But still a
legitimate question, especially as the list of names in the next verse is
entirely single names, no father, no pedigree. Maybe he didn't know them.
12:36 VE
ECHAV SHEM'A-YAH VA AZAR-EL MILELAI GILELAI MA'AI NETAN-EL VIYHUDAH CHANANI BI
CHLEY SHIR DAVID ISH HA ELOHIM VE EZR'A HA SOPHER LIPHNEYHEM
וְאֶחָיו שְׁמַעְיָה וַעֲזַרְאֵל מִלְלַי גִּלְלַי מָעַי נְתַנְאֵל וִיהוּדָה חֲנָנִי בִּכְלֵי שִׁיר דָּוִיד אִישׁ הָאֱלֹהִים וְעֶזְרָא הַסּוֹפֵר לִפְנֵיהֶם
KJ: 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.
BN: And his kinsmen Shem'a-Yah, and Azar-El, Milelai, Gilelai, Ma'i, Netan-El, and Yehudah, Chanani, with the musical instruments of David the Great; and Ezr'a the scribe was at the head of them.
MILELAI: Two options for this name. The first is MALAL, meaning "to cut off", for which see Psalm 37:2 and 90:6, or "fade away", as in Job 14:2; the verb always used in relation to nature, though sometimes poetically, metaphorically. The second, and the one that scholars and translators have traditionally preferred, is not a Yehudit word at all, but a Chaldean word that Nechem-Yah may have brought with him, also pronounced MALAL, and written the same as the other word when transcribed into Yehudit - מלל; it means "to speak" or "utter". Job 8:2 and 33:3 both employ it, and it appears in Psalm 106:2, though the language, the abstract constructs, and the treatment of YHVH in that hymn suggest a very much later writing (or re-writing) than Nechem-Yah's epoch.
GILELAI: I do wonder if the Masoretes haven't messed this up, and it should read GALILEE; no, only joking, but only partially. The root is the same, GALAL meaning... well, yes, there is GELEL, which means "dung", and many a scholar goes for this, even the usually reliable Strong... but GALAL is not GELEL. GALAL has to do with "rolling" (Galilee is a land of rolling hills), or "making a circuit" (Gelilah in synagogue is the taking-round of the re-dressed scroll so that all may touch its handles with the fringes of their prayer shawls), and Gil-Gal takes half of its name from the circular formation of the stone henge, as does Gulgolet-Yah (Golgotha), where the skull of Adam was buried.
Oh, and just to drop this in as a footnote, and thereby round this off, GELEL does come from the same root, however much that soils my commentary; but the dung in question has to be sheep, goat or possibly rabbit, and cannot be bovine or camel, because the point about the GELEL is that these are round droppings.
MA'I: The Yud ending suggests a genitive, and therefore the root MA'AH, which is used for the male testes, though usually translated euphemistically as "bowels", at Genesis 15:4, and at 2 Samuel 7:12 and 16:11, and as the female womb in Genesis 25:23, Ruth 1:11, Isaiah 49:1. But who takes such a name, unless you are the Temple priest whose duties are gynaecological, training the midwives perhaps - but wouldn't that be a priestess role, rather than a male priest? Or did the name hark back to the fertility rites, the days when the Temple hosted hundreds of gods and goddesses, and each had its own priest and priestess staff?
NETAN-EL:
yet another variation on Jonathan et cetera, the difference being the deity
being honoured; and, like Dorothy and Theodor which I mentioned earlier (verse 13), the order of presentation. Yo-Natan and Yah-Natan honour Yah, this honours El.
A huge
honour for Ezra, leading this group as Nechem-Yah led the other. Recognising the historic significance of the completion of the Torah.
CHLEY SHIR: See the link for as thorough account of the Biblical orchestra as you are likely to find - and readably concise too!
12:37 VE AL
SHA'AR HA AYIN VE NEGDAM ALU AL MA'ALOT IR DAVID BA MA'ALEH LA CHOMAH ME'AL LE
VEIT DAVID VE AD SHA'AR HA MAYIM MIZRACH
וְעַל שַׁעַר הָעַיִן וְנֶגְדָּם עָלוּ עַל מַעֲלוֹת עִיר דָּוִיד בַּמַּעֲלֶה לַחוֹמָה מֵעַל לְבֵית דָּוִיד וְעַד שַׁעַר הַמַּיִם מִזְרָח
KJ: 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.
BN: And at the Fountain Gate, where the stairs into the City of David faced them, right there at the turn of the wall, they began the steep climb up towards the house of David, eastward by the Water Gate.
BN: And at the Fountain Gate, where the stairs into the City of David faced them, right there at the turn of the wall, they began the steep climb up towards the house of David, eastward by the Water Gate.
One of the more convulted sentences, even by Nechem-Yah's Grade C at GCSE Yehudit standards!
SHA'AR HA AYIN: See Nehemiah 3:15, which includes the steps up to the City of David, as well as the Fountain Gate. My rather more detailed notes, and a brief walking tour through the area, can be found at its previous mention, which is Nehemiah 2:13/14.
MIZRACH: eastward? or the eastern water gate?
12:38 VE HA
TODAH HA SHENIT HA HOLECHET LEMO'AL VA ANI ACHAREYHEM VA CHATSI HA AM ME'AL LE
HA CHOMAH ME'AL LE MIGDAL HA TANURIM VE AD HA CHOMAH HA RECHAVAH
וְהַתּוֹדָה הַשֵּׁנִית הַהוֹלֶכֶת לְמוֹאל וַאֲנִי אַחֲרֶיהָ וַחֲצִי הָעָם מֵעַל לְהַחוֹמָה מֵעַל לְמִגְדַּל הַתַּנּוּרִים וְעַד הַחוֹמָה הָרְחָבָה
KJ: 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;
BN: And the second group leading the ovations was waiting there to meet them, myself at their tail, with half of the people, on the wall above the Tower of the Furnaces, and all the way to the Broad Wall.
BN: And the second group leading the ovations was waiting there to meet them, myself at their tail, with half of the people, on the wall above the Tower of the Furnaces, and all the way to the Broad Wall.
TODAH HA SHENIT: I would be just as comfortable translating this as "And a second standing ovation hailed them
as they came up..."; it is difficult to determine whether the Todah is the people or their reaction. The italics in the KJ version are their addition, likewise recognising that a rather badly written text needs some assistance!
ME'AL LE HA
CHOMAH: needs thinking about. Another grammatical error? Or a grammatical
variation of its epoch. LE HA simply isn't done in Yehudit. An ellision transforms it into LA. However, if the intention is to speak of "The Wall" rather than "the wall", then LE HA CHOMAH becomes correct. But howevering that however, the "broad wall" at the end of the verse (HA CHOMAH HA RECHAVAH) is definitely lower case.
MIGDAL HA
TANURIM: Why would there be furnaces in a tower in a wall? Refuse burning?
Cremations? They didn't have heating systems in those days! (Maybe they did, in the guard-rooms and the priestly observation lofts, in the towers). See my note at Nehemiah 3:11.
12:39 U
ME'AL LE SHA'AR EPHRAYIM VE AL SHA'AR HA YESHANAH VE AL SHA'AR HA DAGIM U
MIGDAL CHANAN-EL U MIGDAL HA ME'AH VE AD SHA'AR HA TSON VE AMDU BE SHA'AR
HA MATARAH
וּמֵעַל לְשַׁעַר אֶפְרַיִם וְעַל שַׁעַר הַיְשָׁנָה וְעַל שַׁעַר הַדָּגִים וּמִגְדַּל חֲנַנְאֵל וּמִגְדַּל הַמֵּאָה וְעַד שַׁעַר הַצֹּאן וְעָמְדוּ בְּשַׁעַר הַמַּטָּרָה
BN: And above the Gate of Ephrayim, and by the Old Gate, and by the Fish Gate, and the Tower of Chanan-El, and the Tower of the Hundred (Hameyah), all the way to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the gate of the guard.
A circuit
of the entire city, on the top of the wall. In today's world it would have been
seen on TV and the Internet by their enemies, and raised alarms; in those days,
no doubt, a few spies in the hills were able to report back with the same
impact, though the sound of those trumpets and songs and ovations probably
reached them in Damasek without needing spies (see verse 43)!
SHA'AR EPHRAYIM: See Nehemiah 8:16. Alas it is not drawn on the map at Nehemiah 1:1, mostly because it isn't included in the list of repairs in Nehemiah 3, and to be absolutely truthful, the archaeologists don't know precisely where it was, other than it being four hundred cubits from wherever the Corner Gate was, which could mean between the Fish and the Old, or it could mean between the Sheep and the Inspection, though the text here makes the latter less likely. For a full list of mentions, from which you can work this out for yourself as well as anyone, click here.
SHA'AR HA
YESHANAH: Why is this translated as "the gate of the old city"? What "old
city"? The Old Gate was restored at Nehemiah 3:6. The notion of an "old city" and a "new city" belongs to the Ottoman epoch, and today.
MIGDAL HA
ME'AH or MIGDAL HAMEYAH?
SHA'AR HA MATARAH: Oh but I wish the KJ committee had published the explanations of their translations, as I do in these pages. MATARAH as "prison"? How did they get to that? It is entirely plausible, though also highly unlikely - how do you build a prison into a wall. But wait a minute, The Clink in Southwark, London's most famous mediaeval jail. Or simply two holding-cells in a guard-house. Entirely plausible.
12:40 VA
TA'AMODNAH SHETEY HA TODOT BE VEIT HA ELOHIM VA ANI VA CHATSI HA SEGANIM IMI
וַתַּעֲמֹדְנָה שְׁתֵּי הַתּוֹדֹת בְּבֵית הָאֱלֹהִים וַאֲנִי וַחֲצִי הַסְּגָנִים עִמִּי
KJ: 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:
BN: So we raised two more grand ovations outside the house of Elohim, and I, and the half of the rulers with me...
VE ANI: His ego is everywhere! We know you were there, Nechem-Yah, you don't have to keep reminding us.
TA'AMODNAH: Interesting grammar; perfectly correct, but not the way we would expect him to say it.
12:41 VE HA
KOHANIM EL-YAKIM MA'ASEY-YAH MIN-YAMIN MIYCHAH-YAH EL-YO'EYNAI ZECHAR-YAH
CHANAN-YAH BA CHATSOTSROT
וְהַכֹּהֲנִים אֶלְיָקִים מַעֲשֵׂיָה מִנְיָמִין מִיכָיָה אֶלְיוֹעֵינַי זְכַרְיָה חֲנַנְיָה בַּחֲצֹצְרוֹת
KJ: And the priests; Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Michaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets;
BN: And the Kohanim El-Yakim, Ma'asey-Yah, Min-Yamin, Micha-Yah, El-Yo'eynai, Zechar-Yah, Chanan-Yah, with trumpets...
12:42 U
MA'ASEY-YAH U SHEM'A-YAH VE EL-AZAR VE UZI VIY'HO-CHANAN U MALKI-YAH VE EYLAM VA
AZER VA YASHMIY'U HA MESHORERIM VA YIZRACH-YAH HA PAKID
וּמַעֲשֵׂיָה וּשְׁמַעְיָה וְאֶלְעָזָר וְעֻזִּי וִיהוֹחָנָן וּמַלְכִּיָּה וְעֵילָם וָעָזֶר וַיַּשְׁמִיעוּ הַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְיִזְרַחְיָה הַפָּקִיד
KJ: 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.
BN: ...and Ma'asey-Yah, and Shem'a-Yah, and El-Azar, and Uzzi, and Yeho-Chanan, and Malki-Yah, and Eylam, and Azer. And the singers sang loud, with Yizrach-Yah their conductor.
Once again
we are seeing the word PAKID with a variant meaning - it appears to be a very
generic term, like "boss". Here it cannot be rendered as "overseer", though it
usually is. It has to be "conductor", surely? Choir-master, if you want to be pedantic.
12:43 VA
YIZBECHU VA YOM HA HU ZEVACHIM GEDOLIM VA YISMACHU KI HA ELOHIM SIMCHAM SIMCHAH
GEDOLAH VE GAM HA NASHIM VE HA YELADIM SAMECHU VA TISHAM'A SIMCHAT
YERU-SHALA'IM ME RACHOK
וַיִּזְבְּחוּ בַיּוֹם הַהוּא זְבָחִים גְּדוֹלִים וַיִּשְׂמָחוּ כִּי הָאֱלֹהִים שִׂמְּחָם שִׂמְחָה גְדוֹלָה וְגַם הַנָּשִׁים וְהַיְלָדִים שָׂמֵחוּ וַתִּשָּׁמַע שִׂמְחַת יְרוּשָׁלִַם מֵרָחוֹק
KJ: 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.
BN: And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced, because Ha Elohim had given them cause to rejoice with great joy; and the women also, and the children rejoiced, so that the joy of Yeru-Shala'im was heard even afar off.
HA ELOHIM:
Yet again! We seem to be still in a polytheistic world, even after spending four days listening to the reading of the Torah, with YHVH, YHVH, YHVH emphasised over and again.
ME RACHOK:
See my note to verse 39.
12:44 VA
YIPAKDU VA YOM HA HU ANASHIM AL HA NESHACHOT LA OTSAROT LA TERUMOT LA RE'SHIT
VE LA MA'ASROT LICHNOS BA HEM LISDEY HE ARIM MENA'OT HA TORAH LA KOHANIM VE
LA LEVIYIM KI SIMCHAT YEHUDAH AL HA KOHANIM VE AL HA LEVIYIM HA OMDIM
וַיִּפָּקְדוּ בַיּוֹם הַהוּא אֲנָשִׁים עַל הַנְּשָׁכוֹת לָאוֹצָרוֹת לַתְּרוּמוֹת לָרֵאשִׁית וְלַמַּעַשְׂרוֹת לִכְנוֹס בָּהֶם לִשְׂדֵי הֶעָרִים מְנָאוֹת הַתּוֹרָה לַכֹּהֲנִים וְלַלְוִיִּם כִּי שִׂמְחַת יְהוּדָה עַל הַכֹּהֲנִים וְעַל הַלְוִיִּם הָעֹמְדִים
BN: And on that day officials were appointed over the store-rooms of the Treasury, to collect the heave-offerings, and the first-fruits, and the tithes, field by field and town by town, according to the portions determined in the Trah for the Kohanim and the Leviyim; for Yehudah was rejoicing over the Kohanim and Leviyim who served them.
NESHACHOT: See my note to Nehemiah 3:30.
MENA'OT HA
TORAH:
12:45 VA
YISHMERU MISHMERET ELOHEYHEM U MISHMERET HA TAHARAH VE HA MESHORERIM VE HA
SHO'ARIM KE MITSVAT DAVID SHELOMOH VENO
וַיִּשְׁמְרוּ מִשְׁמֶרֶת אֱלֹהֵיהֶם וּמִשְׁמֶרֶת הַטָּהֳרָה וְהַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְהַשֹּׁעֲרִים כְּמִצְוַת דָּוִיד שְׁלֹמֹה בְנוֹ
KJ: 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.
BN: And the rotation system for the service of the gods, and the rotation system for the purification-rites, and for the choir, and for the gate-keepers, the one incipited by order of David and Shelomoh his son, this too was formally adopted.
MISHMERET: The word appears in this form at Nehemiah 7:3, but there it clearly intends the rotation of guards protecting the city, which was a different rotation-system from the ones listed here. At verse 9, above, it appeared in the plural as MISHMAROT - for which see my detailed explanation there.
12:46 KI
VIY'MEY DAVID VE ASAPH MI KEDEM ROSH (RA'SHEY) HA MESHORERIM VE SHIR TEHILAH VE
HODOT LE ELOHIM
כִּי בִימֵי דָוִיד וְאָסָף מִקֶּדֶם ראש (רָאשֵׁי) הַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְשִׁיר תְּהִלָּה וְהֹדוֹת לֵאלֹהִים
KJ: For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.
BN: For in the days of David and Asaph of old there were leaders of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving to the gods.
ROSH (RA'SHEY): Why does the editor think this should be in the plural? Is it:
a) because he thinks the ordering of the verse is wrong, and should be
KI VIY'MEY DAVID VE MI KEDEM ASAPH ROSH HA MESHORERIM VE SHIR TEHILAH VE HODOT LE ELOHIM
meaning (though it really needs two verbs - HAYAH for "was" and VE SHIRU for "they sang"):
For in the days of David, and of old, Asaph [was] the leader of the singers, and [they sang] songs of praise and thanksgiving to the gods.In which case it is ROSH.
or b) because he thinks the choir was actually broken down into separate sections, as per verse 24, with one section of the choir taking on the Hallel Psalms and another the Thanksgiving Psalms, each with its own leader, and Asaph as overall artistic director and conductor; in which case it is RASHEY.
Either is entirely defensible as an explanation. Neither is obvious from what is yet again a horrible original text.
12:47 VE
CHOL YISRA-EL BIY'MEY ZERU-BAVEL U VIY'MEY NECHEM-YAH NOTNIM MENAYOT HA
MESHORERIM VE HA SHO'ARIM DEVAR YOM BE YOMO U MAKDISHIM LA LEVIYIM VE HA
LEVIYIM MAKDISHIM LIVNEY AHARON
וְכָל יִשְׂרָאֵל בִּימֵי זְרֻבָּבֶל וּבִימֵי נְחֶמְיָה נֹתְנִים מְנָיוֹת הַמְשֹׁרְרִים וְהַשֹּׁעֲרִים דְּבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ וּמַקְדִּשִׁים לַלְוִיִּם וְהַלְוִיִּם מַקְדִּשִׁים לִבְנֵי אַהֲרֹן
KJ: 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.
U VIYMEY NECHEM-YAH: yet again takes us into 3rd person narrative, someone else writing this about Nechem-Yah - or we have to ask, and that too yet again, are there perhaps two Nechem-Yahs, one the governor, and the other the writer?.. but no, the egotisms are always those of the governor.
MAKDISHIM: A three-class system, the "people" (the peasants, urban and rural), the Leviyim (the middle class), and the Kohanim (the aristocracy).
The two texts cites are, first, 2 Samuel 20:25-26, which has Tsadok and Avi-Atar as the joint high priests, and Ir'a the Ya'iri as David's personal chaplain. However, this was at the time of the conquest of Yeru-Shala'im, when cults were being merged or subsumed, and the centralisation upon YHVH and Elohim was still many years away, and so it cannot be regarded as exemplary.
Whether or not non-Leviyim served in the past, there is no question that the law is now fixed, and they certainly may not serve in future. Nehemiah 7 investigates the genealogy of all the rulers of Yehudah, and 7:65 could not be more explicit:
Though many scholars prefer to interpret this as evidence, even confirmation, that the
Leviyim were not themselves of necessity "sons of Aharon", which is to say biological descendants of the tribe of Levi, but that the sons of Aharon most
definitely were. I have raised this issue previously (at verse 12 but also in other commentaries); let me take this opportunity to offer a brief rebuttal.
The two texts cites are, first, 2 Samuel 20:25-26, which has Tsadok and Avi-Atar as the joint high priests, and Ir'a the Ya'iri as David's personal chaplain. However, this was at the time of the conquest of Yeru-Shala'im, when cults were being merged or subsumed, and the centralisation upon YHVH and Elohim was still many years away, and so it cannot be regarded as exemplary.
The second, and the one considered key to the argument that David's sons served as Leviyim, is 1 Chronicles 18:17; the point on this occasion being that David was of the tribe of Yehudah, not Levi, and so non-Leviyim must have been serving. But actually it is very clear that the named priests are in verse 16, followed by Shavsha the Scribe, and then in verse 17 the military Chief of Staff, followed by the sons as secular ministers - RISH'ONIM, not KOHANIM.
Whether or not non-Leviyim served in the past, there is no question that the law is now fixed, and they certainly may not serve in future. Nehemiah 7 investigates the genealogy of all the rulers of Yehudah, and 7:65 could not be more explicit:
"These sought their names in the register, that is to say the proof of their genealogy, but it was not found; therefore were they deemed polluted, and expelled from the priesthood."
pey break
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