Nehemiah 11:11

Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, was the ruler of the house of God.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(11) Seraiah.—The high-priestly family name. Eliashib was the present occupant.

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 11:11. The ruler of the house of God — One of the chief priests, who ruled with and under the high-priest.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the margin reference notes. Both accounts appear to be extracts from a public official register which Nehemiah caused to be made of his census. The census itself seems to have been confined to the dwellers at Jerusalem. The subjoined table exhibits the differences between the accounts of the entire population of Jerusalem as given in Nehemiah and in Chronicles:

1 Chron ehemiah Tribes of Judah Of Pharez 468 Of Zerah 690 Tribe of Benjamin 956 928 Tribe of Levi Priests 1760 1192 Levites 284 Porters 212 172

According to Nehemiah's numbers, supplemented from Chronicles, the entire adult male population of the city was 3,734, which would give a total population of 14,936. According to Chronicles, supplemented from Nehemiah, the adult males were 4,370, and consequently the entire population, would have been 17,480. As the Nethinims and the Israelites of Ephraim and Manasseh 1 Chronicles 9:3 are not included in either list, we may conclude that the actual number of the inhabitants, after the efforts recorded in Nehemiah 11:1-2, was not much short of 20,000.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

11. the ruler of the house of God—assistant of the high priest (Nu 3:32; 1Ch 9:11; 2Ch 19:11).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

One of the chief priests; who ruled with and under the high priest: see Numbers 3:32 1 Chronicles 9:11 2 Chronicles 19:11 31:13.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their brethren that did the work of the house were eight hundred twenty and two,.... That offered the sacrifices, burnt incense, set on the shewbread, lighted the lamps, &c.

and Adaiah the son of Jeroham; see 1 Chronicles 9:12 whose genealogy is traced here through Pelaliah, Amzi, Zechariah, Pashur, to Malchiah.

Geneva Study Bible

Seraiah the son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, {c} was the ruler of the house of God.

(c) That is, was the high priest.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

11. Seraiah] 1 Chronicles 9:11, ‘Azariah the son of Meshullam.’ The same person may be intended, as the same genealogy is given in both lists. If so, the names have possibly been accidentally confused, either through similarity of sound or through corruption in the original text from which the lists were taken. Very probably they were father and son; and the two lists have selected different names to represent the priestly house. Cf. 1 Chronicles 7:13, ‘Hilkiah begat Azariah; and Azariah begat Jeraiah.’

Meraioth] In 1 Chronicles 6:7, Meraioth is the grandfather of Ahitub, in Ezra 7:3 the great-grandfather. But in these genealogies names were freely left out for brevity, and the exact relationship by succession cannot be determined. Names also are repeated in the same family. Meraioth probably occurred often in the line of Seraiah.

was the ruler of the house of God] R.V. omits was. The same title occurs in connexion curiously enough with the same proper name in 2 Chronicles 31:13, ‘And Azariah the ruler of the house of God.’ It is tempting to suggest that Azariah’s name has been substituted for that of Seraiah from a gloss on ‘the ruler of the house of God.’ If the title is equivalent to that of the High-priest, then Seraiah is the well-known High-priest, the ancestor of Ezra, put to death by Nebuchadnezzar (see Ezra 7:1; 2 Kings 25:18). For the use of the title ‘n’gîd’ (Vulg. ‘princeps’), cf. 1 Chronicles 12:27, ‘Jehoiada … leader of the house of Aaron.’ But it may denote only a special officer of the Temple. The LXX. renders ἀπέναντι οἴκου τοῦ θεοῦ (reading ‘neged’ for ‘n’gîd’).

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 11. - Seraiah (called "Azariah" in 1 Chronicles 9:11) designates the high priestly family of this time, as in Nehemiah 10:2; Nehemiah 12:1, 12. The "Seraiah" who gave name to it was probably the high priest taken prisoner by Nebu-zaradan, and put to death (2 Kings 25:18 - 21). The son of Hilkiah. Really the grandson (Ezra 7:1). The son of Meshullam. Or "Shallum" (ibid. ver. 2). The ruler of the house of God. i.e. the high priest; or, rather, the family which furnished the high priests at this time. The actual high priest was Eliashib, the son of Joiakim, and grandson of Jeshua (see Nehemiah 12:10; Nehemiah 13:4). Nehemiah 11:11

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Of the priests: Jedaiah, Joiarib, and Jachin, three heads of houses, therefore of orders of priests (for בּן before Joiarib probably crept into the text by a clerical error; see rem. on 1 Chronicles 9:10); Seraiah, a descendant of Ahitub, as ruler of the house of God, and their brethren, i.e., the eight hundred and twenty-two ministering priests belonging to these three orders. Also Adaiah, of the house or order of Malchiah, and his brethren, two hundred and forty-two fathers of families; and lastly, Amashai, of the order of Immer, with one hundred and twenty-eight brethren, i.e., priests. And their chief was Zabdiel ben Haggedolim (lxx υἱὸς τῶν μεγάλων). עליהם refers to all the before-named priests. לעבות ראשׁים heads of fathers, i.e., of families, Nehemiah 11:13, is striking, for the brethren of Adaiah (אחיו), in number two hundred and forty-two, could not be heads of houses, but only fathers of families. The words seem to have come into the text only by comparing it with 1 Chronicles 9:13. If they were genuine, we should be obliged to understand לעבות ראשׁים of fathers of families, contrary to general usage.