Of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name.
These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. The governor told that they should not eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to minister with Urim and Thummim.
The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, in addition to their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven. They had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty.
Some from among the heads of fathers’ households gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred thirty priests’ garments. Some of the heads of fathers’ households gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver. That which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, plus two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven priests’ garments.
So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel, lived in their cities. When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel were in their cities.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv65, 70, 71, 73 Meaning, Nehemiah: for Tirshatha in the Chaldean tongue signifieth…
Meaning, Nehemiah: for Tirshatha in the Chaldean tongue signifieth a butler.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v70 The Tirshatha, i.e. the governor, to wit, Nehemiah. So…
The Tirshatha, i.e. the governor, to wit, Nehemiah. So it is no wonder that the number of the monies, and other things here contributed, differ from that Ezr 2, because this is another collection; that was made in Zerubbabel’s time, and this in Ezra’s.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv70–72 And some of the chief of the fathers gave…
And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work,.... To be put into the treasure, out of which the expenses of the temple, and service of it were defrayed:
twenty thousand drachms of gold; which were so many pounds of our money, and somewhat more: for, according to Bishop Cumberland (f), a drachm of gold was of the value of twenty shillings and four pence: and 2200 pounds of silver; "the maneh", or pound, with the Jews, was of the value of sixty shekels, Eze 45:12 and so is reckoned by our Brerewood (g) to be of our money seven pounds and ten shillings; he reckoning a shekel at half a crown, whereas it was little more than two shillings and four pence; and so sixty of them, or a "maneh", came to about seven pounds; wherefore this sum here was seven times so many pounds of silver.
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(f) Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 115. (g) De Ponder & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv68, 69, 70, 71, 73 Verse 68. Their horses, c.] The whole of this…
Verse 68. Their horses, c.] The whole of this verse is wanting in fifty of Kennicott's MSS., and in twenty-nine of those of De Rossi, in the edition of Rab. Chayim, 1525, in the Roman Edit. of the Septuagint also in the Syriac and in the Arabic. It should however be observed, that the Arabic omits the whole list, having nothing of the chapter but the first five verses. The whole is found in the parallel place, Ezr 2:66. Calmet's note on this passage is incorrect.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv70, 73 Neh 7:70. The Tirshatha — The governor, namely, Nehemiah.…
Neh 7:70. The Tirshatha — The governor, namely, Nehemiah. So it is no wonder that the number of the moneys, and other things here contributed, differ from that of Ezra, chap. 2., because this was another collection: that was made in Zerubbabel’s time, this in Ezra’s.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v70 Compared with Ezr 2:69 there is considerable difference between…
Compared with Ezr 2:69 there is considerable difference between the totals for gold, silver, and garments. The usual explanation is that of corruption in the one or the other of the passages.
Neh 7:73
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Dwelt in their cities - Nehemiah’s quotation from Zerubbabel’s register ends here, and the narration of events in Jerusalem in his own day is resumed from Neh 7:3. The narrative Neh. 8; 10 appears from internal evidence to be by a different author (see the introduction of the Book of Nehemiah).
The last two clauses of Neh 7:73 should stand as the beginning of Neh. 8 (as in the Septuagint). The text would then run: “And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in their cities, the whole people gathered themselves together as one man,” etc. Compare the margin reference.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv65, 68, 69, 70 Athersatha; Nehemias, (Calmet) as he is called in Chaldean,…
Athersatha; Nehemias, (Calmet) as he is called in Chaldean, 1 Esdras ii. 63. (Menochius)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv70, 71, 73 And some of the chief of the fathers, &c.--With…
And some of the chief of the fathers, &c.--With Neh 7:69 the register ends, and the thread of Nehemiah's history is resumed. He was the tirshatha, or governor, and the liberality displayed by him and some of the leading men for the suitable equipment of the ministers of religion, forms the subject of the remaining portion of the chapter. Their donations consisted principally in garments. This would appear a singular description of gifts to be made by any one among us; but, in the East, a present of garments, or of any article of use, is conformable to the prevailing sentiments and customs of society.
drams of gold--that is, darics. A daric was a gold coin of ancient Persia, worth £1 5s.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv63, 64, 65, 67, 68, 70, 71, 73 63. Habaiah] R.V. Hobaiah.
63. Habaiah] R.V. Hobaiah.
Koz] R.V. Hakkoz.
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one of the daughters] R.V. a wife of the daughters.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv66, 67, 68, 70, 73 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand…
The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. It makes against the view of Bishop Patrick and others, who regard Ezra"s list as made at Babylon, some time before the final departure, and Nehemiah"s as made at Jerusalem, after the arrival of the exiles, that the sum total is in each case the same. (see Ezr_2:64) Bishop Kennicott"s theory, that the three lists that of Ezra, that of Nehemiah, and that in the first of Esdras had all one original, and that the existing differences proceed entirely from mistakes of the copyists, is the only tenable one. It is especially remarkable that the differences in the numbers of the three lists consist chiefly in a single unit, a single ten, or a single hundred or in a five; less often in two units, or two tens, or two hundreds, or in a six differences probably arising from the obliteration of one or two signs in a notation resembling the Roman or the Egyptian, where there are special signs for a thousand, a hundred, ten, five, and the unit, complex numbers being expressed by repetition of these, as 3438 in Latin inscriptions by MMMCCCCXXXVIII Any fading of a sign in such a notation as this causes a copyist to diminish the amount by one, five, ten, a hundred, a thousand, etc. A fading of two sigmas may produce a diminution of two thousand, two hundred, twenty, two; or again of eleven hundred, one hundred and ten, one hundred and five, fifteen, eleven, six, and the like.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv67, 72 And they had two hundred forty and five singing…
Neh_7:67
And they had two hundred forty and five singing men and singing women.
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Church music
The captives in the text had music left in them, and if they could find, amid all their trials, two hundred and forty and five singing men and singing women, then in this day of gospel sunlight and freedom from all persecution there ought to be a great multitude of men and women willing to sing the praises of God. All our churches need arousal on this subject. Those who can sing must throw their souls into the exercise, and those who cannot sing must learn how, and it shall be heart to heart, voice to voice, and the music shall swell jubilant with thanksgiving and tremulous with pardon. Have you ever noticed the construction of the human throat as indicative of what God means us to do with it ? In only an ordinary throat and lungs there are fourteen direct muscles that produce 16,888 sounds, and thirty indirect muscles that produce 173,741,828 sounds, and the human voice can produce seventeen trillion, five hundred and ninety-two billion, one hundred and eighty-six million, forty-four thousand, four hundred and fifteen different sounds. What does that mean? It means that you should sing! Do you suppose that God, who gives us such a musical instrument as that, intends us to keep it shut? Suppose some great tyrant should get possession of the musical instruments of the world, and should lock up the organ of Westminster Abbey, and the organ of Lucerne, and the organ at Haarlem, and the organ at Freiburg, and all the other great musical instruments of the world--you would call such a man as that a monster; and yet you are more wicked if, with the human voice--a musical instrument of more wonderful adaptation than all the musical instruments that man ever created--you shut it against the praise of God.
I. Music seems to have been born in the soul of the world. The omnipotent voice with which God commanded the world into being seems to linger yet with its majesty and sweetness, and you hear it in the grain-field, in the swoop of the wind amid the mountain fastnesses, in canary's warble and in thunder-shock, in brook's tinkle and in ocean's paean. There are soft cadences in nature, and loud notes, some of which we cannot hear at all, and others are so terrific that we cannot appreciate them. The animalcules have their music, and the spicula of hay and the globule of water are as certainly resonant with the voice of God as the highest heavens in which the armies of the redeemed celebrate their victories. When the breath of the flower strikes the air and the wing of the firefly cleaves it, there is sound and there is melody ; and as to those utterances of nature which seem harsh and overwhelming, it is as when you stand in the midst of a great orchestra, and the sound almost rends your ear because you are too near to catch the blending Of the music.
II. Music seems dependent on the laws of acoustics and mathematics, and yet where these laws are not understood at all the art is practised There are to-day five hundred musical journals in China. Two thousand years before Christ the Egyptians practised this art. Pythagoras learned it. Lasus, of Hermione, wrote essays on it. Plato and Aristotle introduced it into their schools; but I have not much interest in that. My chief interest is in the music of the Bible. The Bible, like a great harp with innumerable strings, swept by the fingers of inspiration, trembles with it. So far back as the fourth chapter of Genesis you find the first organist and harper--Jubal. So far back as the thirty-first chapter of Genesis you find the first choir. All up and down the Bible you find sacred music--at weddings, at inaugurations, at the treading of the wine-press. The Hebrews understood how to make musical signs above the musical text. When the Jews came from their distant homes to the great festivals at Jerusalem they brought harp and timbrel and trumpet, and poured along the great Judaean highways a river of harmony, until in and around the temple the wealth of a nations song and gladness had accumulated. All through the ages there has been great attention paid to sacred music. Ambrosius, Augustine, Gregory the Great, Charlemagne, gave it their mighty influence, and in our day the best musical genius is throwing itself on the altars of God. Handel, and Mozart, and Bach, and Durante, and Wolf, and scores of other men and women have given the best part of their genius to Church music. A truth in words is not half so mighty as a truth in song. Luthers sermons have been forgotten, but the Judgment Hymn he composed is resounding yet all through Christendom.
III. While there may be great varieties of opinion in regard to music, it seems to me that the general spirit of the word of God indicates what ought to be the great characteristics.
1. A prominent characteristic ought to be adaptiveness. Music that may be appropriate for a concert-hall or the opera-house or the drawing-room may be shocking in church. Glees, madrigals, ballads may be as innocent as psalms in their places. There is no reason why music should always be religious music. So I am in favour of concert-halls as well as churches. But church music has only one design, and that is devotion, and that which comes with the toss, the song, and the display of an opera-house is a hindrance to the worship. From such performances we go away saying, What splendid execution! Did you ever hear such a soprano? Which of those solos did you like the better? When, if we had been rightly wrought upon, we would have gone away saying, Oh! how my soul was lifted up in the presence of God while they were staging the first hymn; I never had such rapturous views of Jesus Christ as my Saviour as when they were singing that last doxology. There is an everlasting distinction between music as an art and music as a help to devotion. Though a Schumann composed it, though a Mozart played it, though a Sontag sang it, away with it if it does not make the heart better and honour Christ.
2. Correctness ought to be a characteristic of church music. God loves harmony, and we ought to love it. There is no devotion in a howl or yelp.
3. Another characteristic must be spirit and life. Music ought to rush from the audience like the water from a rock--clear, bright, sparkling. If all the other part of the church service is dull, do not have the music dull. With so many thrilling things to sing about, away with all drawling and stupidity. Let our song be like an acclamation of victory. You have a right to sing. Do not surrender your prerogative. If, in the performance of your duty, or the attempt at it, you should lose your place in the musical scale and be on C below when you ought to be on C above, or you should come in half a bar behind, we will excuse you. Still, it is better to do as Paul says, and sing with the spirit, and the understanding also.
4. Again, I remark, church music must be congregational. This opportunity must be brought down within the range of the whole audience. A song that the worshippers cannot sing is of no more use to them than a sermon in Choctaw. Let us wake up to this duty. Let us sing alone, sing in our families, sing in our schools, sing in our churches. I never shall forget hearing a Frenchman singing the Marseillaise Hymn on the Champs Elysees, Paris, just before the battle of Sedan. I never saw such enthusiasm before or since. As he sang that national air, oh I how the Frenchmen shouted. Have you ever in an English assemblage heard a band play God Save the Queen? If you have, you know something about the enthusiasm of a national air. Now, I tell you that these songs we sing Sabbath by Sabbath are the national airs of Jesus Christ and of the kingdom of heaven, and if you do not learn to sing them here, how do you ever expect to sing the song of Moses and the Lamb? (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv65, 73 Tirshatta i.e. governor, Neh 8:9.
Tirshatta i.e. governor, Neh 8:9.
Urim (See Scofield "Exo 28:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v70 The Gifts of the Governor and of the People
The Gifts of the Governor and of the People
v. 70. And some at the chief of the fathers gave unto the work, namely, that of restoring the Temple and of beautifying its worship. The Tirshatha, in this case apparently Nehemiah himself, gave to the treasure a thousand drains of gold, that is, of the Persian dance, which were the legal money of the kingdom, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests’ garments.
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v. 71. And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand drama of gold and two thousand and two hundred pound of silver (the daric being valued at between five and six dollars, and the pound of silver at $32).
v. 72. And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drains (darics) of gold, and two thousand pound of silver, and threescore and seven priests’ garments.
v. 73. So the priests and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel dwelt in their cities; and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities, all of which leads up to the account of the great festival celebrated in that month, with Nehemiah present, as he proceeds to relate. It is well pleasing to the Lord if people are willing to sacrifice of their money and goods for the support of the Church and for the spread of the kingdom.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv64, 66, 68, 70, 73 These sought their records among those enrolled by their…
These sought their records among those enrolled by their genealogy
"They sought their written genealogical records" or "They searched their written genealogical records"
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These sought
"These" refers to the descendants of Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai. (See: Nehemiah 7:63)
but they could not be found
This can be expressed in active form. AT: "but they could not find their records" (See: Active or Passive)
they were excluded from the priesthood as unclean
This can be translated in active form. The abstract noun "priesthood" can be translated as the verb "work as priests." AT: "the governor treated them as if they were unclean and did not allow them to work as priests" (See: Active or Passive and Abstract Nouns)
until there rose up a priest with Urim and Thummim
This can be stated in active form. AT: "until a priest with Urim and Thummim approved" (See: Active or Passive)
Urim and Thummim
These were sacred stones that the high priest carried on his breastplate and used at times to determine God's will. (See: Translate Unknowns)
translationWords
priest
clean
govern
sacrifice
raise
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv65, 66, 70, 73 7:65 Urim and Thummim . . . sacred lots:…
7:65 Urim and Thummim . . . sacred lots: See study notes on Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.