Smoodock's Blog

It is so easy to read over genealogies and records of people, whose names are all that are listed in the written account. It is only natural to wonder what could such records mean for us today? Well, actually, they can be very important to the understanding of the text. In the matter before us in chapter twelve of the Book of Nehemiah, the names listed represent two generations of Jews. These two generations incorporate the release of Zerubbabel and Jeshua and those who went up to Jerusalem with them from Babylon during the reign of Cyrus, king of Persia, and the release of Ezra and those who went up with him during the reign of Darius the Persian, Xerxes in secular history.

Ezra, remember, arrived after the Temple was built and dedicated (Ezra 6:13-18; cp. 7:8-9), and just prior to the dedication of Jerusalem’s city walls (Nehemiah 12:26-27, 36). Nehemiah, of course, was there for most of the building project at Jerusalem, and was also there for the dedication of the walls (Nehemiah 12:26-27, 38, 47). However, the point of all this is, all of what occurred in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, occurred during the days of two generations of priests, namely, that of Jeshua and that of his son Joiakim (Nehemiah 12:1, 26).

Thus, here is fulfilled the first part of Daniel’s Seventy Weeks Prophecy (Daniel 9:25), vis-à-vis the first forty-nine years (the seven weeks of verse-25). We are told that the names of the heads of the families of the Levites were recorded in the Book of Chronicles during the days of Eliashib, the son of Joiakim, and his son, Johanan (Nehemiah 12:22-23). Moreover, the leaders of the Levites conducted the celebrations of praise and thanksgiving according to the design set up by David the king, the man of God (Nehemiah 12:24-25). Nevertheless, as was mentioned above, all of these things occurred during the tenure of Joiakim, the high priest and son of Jeshua, who officiated his office during the days of Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe (Nehemiah 12:26).