Nehemiah 12:1-26
The Priests and Levites (cf. Ezra 2:36–40)
1 Now these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shechaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, and Jedaiah.
These were the heads of the priests and their brethren in the days of Jeshua.
8 Moreover the Levites were Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah who led the thanksgiving psalms, he and his brethren. 9 Also Bakbukiah and Unni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties.
10 Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim begot Eliashib, Eliashib begot Joiada, 11 Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.
12 Now in the days of Joiakim, the priests, the heads of the fathers’ houses were: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14 of Melichu, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17 of Abijah, Zichri; the son of Minjamin; of Moadiah, Piltai; 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; and of Jedaiah, Nethanel.
22 During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers’ houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua. 23 The sons of Levi, the heads of the fathers’ houses until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the chronicles.
24 And the heads of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers across from them, to praise and give thanks, group alternating with group, according to the command of David the man of God. 25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers keeping the watch at the storerooms of the gates. 26 These lived in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor, and of Ezra the priest, the scribe.
The priests and Levites are focused on here in the time of the Judean governor Nehemiah and Ezra the scribe who was also a priest. The Levitical priests specially set aside by God for His service were to regularly praise and give thanks to the LORD in worship with the leaders of the priests specifically recorded here from the chronicles. We who are now in Christ do not have only certain individuals of a certain lineage or calling to be named as priests to our God. We find in Revelation 1:6, 5:10, 20:6 that all who are called into our Lord are priests meant to serve and give thanks with our praises (1 Peter 2:5, 9) to the Father and Son in the power of the Holy Spirit living in us now. We serve and praise Him because the Father sent His Son to sacrifice Himself in our place for our sin and minister over that sacrifice as our High Priest to bring praise and honor to the Father. As we then imitate Christ, we also fulfill our calling to minister the gospel to one another in His sacrifice and our own lives as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1) in that same pattern of priests and sacrifices which no man can do for us as some attempt to make us believe. As ministers of His grace we serve as priests to rule with Him (2 Timothy 2:12) and give joyful thanks with never-ending praises in all we sacrifice to serve our great God and Savior (Titus 2:13, 2 Peter 1:1), Jesus the Christ, who alone intercedes (Romans 8:26-27, 34, Hebrews 7:25, 1 Timothy 2:5) for us. Our lineage and authority to be priests comes from being in Christ alone and not by the hand of any man or earthly inheritance, obtained by receiving the Lord under His authority and spiritual lineage, and therefore our identity as priests to our God is absolute according to His decree as His servants and (Romans 11:29, Galatians 3:15, Hebrews 6:17-18) is irrevocable. Like those gone before us in the time of Ezra, we who are in Christ are priests who praise and give thanks for our salvation and minister the gospel to others to the praise and glory (Ephesians 1:6, 12, 14, 1 Peter 1:7-8) of God.
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