Nehemiah 11:14

And their brethren, mighty men of valour, an hundred twenty and eight: and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(14) Of valour.—Able for the service of God’s house: men of ability, therefore.

The son of one of the great men.—Rather, son of Haggedolim.

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

i.e. Of a person then or lately eminent in valour, or worth, or dignity. Or, of Gedolim, or Haggedolim, a man so called.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And their brethren, mighty men of valour, an hundred twenty and eight,.... The brethren of Adaiah and Amashai, who were able men to do the work of their office as priests, and men of courage to fight the enemy, and defend the city upon occasion:

and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men; or the son of Hagedolim, or Gedolim, as some, who take it to be the proper name of a man.

Geneva Study Bible

And their brethren, mighty men of valour, an hundred twenty and eight: and their overseer was Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

14. mighty men of valour] Cf. 1 Chronicles 9:13 ‘Very able men (lit. mighty men of valour) for the work of the service of the house of God.’

their brethren … an hundred twenty and eight] Query: ‘their’ an error for ‘his’?

In our list of the priests, Nehemiah 11:10-14 we have the following figures:

Jedaiah, Jachin, Seraiah, &c.

  = 822

Adaiah, &c.

  = 242

Amashsai

  = 128

  1192

It is noticeable that these figures do not correspond with the number 1760 mentioned in 1 Chronicles 9:13.

overseer] Cf. Nehemiah 11:9.

the son of one of the great men] so R.V. marg. R.V. text the son of Haggedolim. It is a disputed point whether ‘Haggedolim’ is a proper name. The literal translation would be ‘the son of the great ones,’ so the LXX. renders Βαδιὴλ υἱὸς τῶν μεγάλων. But who are ‘the great ones’? The explanation which has been given that they are the priests mentioned in this section, Nehemiah 11:10-14, is merely a conjecture, which has no other evidence in its favour. Some (e.g. Neteler) think it means ‘the high-priests;’ and suppose Zabdiel to have been the Sagan or deputy high-priest. On the other hand, if ‘Haggedolim’ he a proper name, it is a very peculiar one; but cf. Nehemiah 11:35, ‘Gehaharashim.’

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 14. - Their brethren, mighty men of valour. Not "men of great courage," as Bp. Patrick explains, but "very able men for the work of the service of the house of God," as our translators render the parallel passage of Chronicles (1 Chronicles 9:13). Zabdiel, the son of one of the great men. Rather, as in the margin, "the son of Haggedolim." Nehemiah 11:14

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.