-- And the Levites Jeshua the son of Azaniah; Binnui, of the sons of Henadad; Kadmiel,
Verse 9 names the first three Levites to sign the covenant recorded in this chapter: Jeshua, Binnui and Kadmiel. These were men who served at the house of God, and their signatures raise the question this chapter forces on every reader — should they have signed at all?
One commentator sets out the order of the list and explains what a signature meant here:
Chapter 9 closes with a covenant, and this chapter gives the names of those who sealed it. They bound themselves to keep it by their signatures. It seems they signed not only for themselves but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document. Twenty-two priests followed him (vv. 1-8), then seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13), then forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.
after-note: meaning unchanged
Kadmiel, the third name in the verse, is not new to this book. His service started long before the signing:
A Levite and his family who returned from exile, and helped in the rebuilding of the temple. He led the devotions of the people and sealed the covenant.
Binnui is identified by his family rather than his father, and that family had been busy on the city wall earlier in the book:
Only the "second piece" of Binnui (v. 24) is mentioned, which seems to indicate that he helped Azariah to protect his house. This Binnui seals the covenant in Nehemiah 10:9.
The names in verse 9 come straight after the long confession of chapter 9. That order matters:
All this is excellent in its time and season, and the covenant of this chapter is the outcome, and fitting conclusion, of the confession of the previous chapter. As another has said, "'Ceasing to do evil' is to be followed by 'learning to do well.' It is very right, if we have been doing wrong, to begin with confession of the wrong, before we set ourselves to do the right. But doing the right thing should follow the confession of the wrong thing."
The Levites of verse 9 were part of a small group acting for a whole nation. The rest of the people did not stand back:
The leaders of the people, the governor, the priests, the Levites, and the chief fathers set their seal to the covenant: 84 persons in all who represent over 40,000... Here we find the consequence of true humiliation, true separation and true confession. There was no disagreement, but one mind. All of them — young and old, sons and daughters, women and children, priests, singers, Levites, temple servants — "joined with their brethren", accepting what their leaders, these 84 men, had done; there was no opposition from any side.
A signature here was not vague goodwill. The pledge had clear headings:
First, their own conduct: they would obey the law of God given through Moses (29). Second, the nations around them: they would keep a holy separation (30). Third, the LORD: they would gladly give Him His due by keeping the Sabbath, the holy days, and the law of the seventh year (31). Fourth, the house of God: they bind themselves to keep up its service and not forsake it (32-39).
These men meant what they signed. One commentator traces the instinct behind it:
They were not ignorant of the past (Neh. 9:13-14), and they had confessed the former transgressions of their people; and yet they now make another covenant, blinded by the excitement of the moment to this: they were just like their fathers... And yet they were doubtless sincere, fully intending to be faithful to the obligations they were undertaking. Almost anyone can understand what they did here, for the flesh is naturally legal, and making a covenant seems an easy way of providing against failure.
Another writer notes that God said nothing at the time, and points to where His verdict appears:
We may wonder if some of them did not have doubts about their ability to keep the covenant. No doubt they wanted to express their desire to obey the Lord at least. The Lord did not say at this time what He thought of it, but the New Testament makes His thoughts very clear, as for instance Romans 3:19: "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God."
- Confession — The names in verse 9 come after chapter 9's confession. Owning the wrong comes first; doing right follows.
- Signature — Seventeen Levites signed after Nehemiah and the priests. They bound themselves, and they acted for the people too.
- Continuity — Kadmiel had already returned from exile and led the people's worship. The men who had served are the men who sign.
- Consent — Eighty-four representatives sealed it. The whole people joined in with one mind, women and children included.
- Contrast — Their sincerity was real. But the flesh is naturally legal, and a signed pledge gives no power to keep it.
and their brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan,
Nehemiah 10 is mostly a list of names. Verse 10 gives five of them. They are Levites who put their seal to a written agreement with God, made just after the nation confessed its failure. Why record such ordinary names at all, and what were these men binding themselves to do?
The chapter opens with a list of those who put their names to the covenant made at the end of chapter 9. What did sealing mean, and who were these men signing for?
At the close of the last chapter a covenant is made. At the start of this one we get the names of those who sealed it. That is, of those who bound themselves to keep it by their signatures. They seem to have signed not only for themselves but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document. After him came twenty-two priests (vv. 1-8), then seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13), and then forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.
Verse 10 falls inside that middle group. The order of the names told its own story.
Here the chief men took the lead, as was fitting; yet it was no small sign of their low condition that the governor signed first among those who sealed. Then came faithful priests, followed by fewer Levites, and a fair number of leading laymen.
The names here are not new. Pelaiah, Hanan, Kelita and Hodiah appear earlier as the Levites who explained Scripture to the crowd at the reading of the law.
A Levite who instructed the people in the law, and who sealed the covenant. Neh. 8:7; Neh. 10:10.
That earlier service shaped what they became fit for later.
The Levites play a valuable role in all this. They had taught the people (Neh. 8:8). Then, after carrying out their service faithfully, they gained understanding of the details of the law (Neh. 8:13). So they entered into a more exact grasp of things already revealed. Their faithfulness and their fellowship with God make them fit to speak in public for the whole assembly when sin has to be owned.
Kelita, third in the list, had a personal history that made his signature costly.
A Levite who had married a foreign wife. Ezra 10:23. He helped Ezra explain the law and sealed the covenant. Neh. 8:7; Neh. 10:10.
The very first clause of the agreement he sealed touched that point.
The covenant includes three points: first, the refusal of profane marriages, as in Ezra 10 (v. 30). Second, complete sanctification of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was the sign of the covenant, and keeping it meant absolute separation from the nations (v. 31). Third, the sabbatical year, which perhaps had never been strictly kept since the giving of the law.
The signing answered something the people had just discovered about themselves.
The people have returned to the word of God. They have gone over their history before God. They discovered that the source of all their present distress lies in their failure to obey the word of God. Having clearly seen and owned their past failure, they seek to guard against repeating it. The means they adopt to reach this desirable end is to enter into a sure covenant, written and sealed.
Commentators also mark the limits of what was done. One points to the ground the covenant stood on.
This covenant was based on the law. That is why the people broke it as quickly as they broke the covenant of Sinai, and as quickly as any other covenant made on the same terms. But such covenants give man an occasion to learn in depth what the flesh is. This is why the law, as an obligation, is necessary.
Others read the silence of the account as significant.
We may wonder whether some of them had doubts. Were they able to keep the covenant? Were they likely to? No doubt they wanted at least to express their desire to obey the Lord. The Lord did not say at this time what He thought of it. But the New Testament makes His thoughts very clear. Take Romans 3:19: "Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God."
- Confess — the sealing in chapter 10 follows the confession in chapter 9. Owning the wrong comes first; doing right comes next.
- Commit — the men named in verse 10 bound themselves in writing. They signed for themselves and for the whole people.
- Consistency — these Levites had taught the law to others. The teachers were among the first to sign it.
- Cost — Kelita had once married a foreign wife. He still sealed a covenant whose first clause forbade that very thing.
- Caution — the agreement rested on law, and they broke it as fast as the covenant of Sinai. Such covenants teach man what the flesh is.
Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah,
Mica, Rehob and Hashabiah are three names in the middle of a signature list, and such a name is easy to skim past. But each man was signing a binding promise for a whole nation, and the chapter makes us ask what that signature was worth.
The names in this verse belong to one group in an ordered list. Each group signed in turn, and the signers acted for more than themselves.
At the close of the last chapter a covenant is made. At the beginning of this one we get the names of those who sealed it. They bound themselves to keep it by their signatures, and it seems they signed not only for themselves but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document. Then came twenty-two priests (vv. 1-8), then seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13), then forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.
The order also reveals the nation's condition.
Here the chief men took the lead as was fitting; yet it was no small sign of their low condition that the governor signed first among those who sealed. Then came faithful priests, followed by fewer Levites, and a fair number of leading laymen.
Mica, Rehob and Hashabiah were not signing a vague statement of goodwill. The document had definite clauses, which fall under four heads.
1st. As to their personal walk, that it should be in obedience to the law of God given by Moses (29). 2nd. As to the nations around, they would maintain a holy separation (30). 3rd. As to the Lord, they would devotedly render to Him His due by keeping the Sabbath, the holy days, and the law of the seventh year (31). 4th. As to the house of God, they charge themselves to maintain the service and not forsake the house (32-39).
Nehemiah's own work had been rebuilding the city wall. Yet the pledges never mention the wall.
Why is so much made of the house of God? As another has written, the great test of faithfulness was the upkeep of the house, the support of those who served in it, and the necessary obedience to and consistency with the principles of divine order. The house was always the reminder and symbol of that order. Yet there was no Presence in the house as there had been in earlier days. It had value only so far as its moral features were kept up. The people inside the city and the people outside it — the whole people — through those who signed, declared their intention to conform to the will of God. They pledged their support to the house, not to the wall.
Nothing here suggests a cold formality. The sealing by the leaders was met by a wide answering movement among the people.
There can be no doubt that there was a general movement in the hearts of the people, and that this covenant-making was no mere formal act; for while the "nobles" had signed it on behalf of all, there was clear agreement with what they had done, since all classes came forward willingly to ratify it.
Coming straight after the long confession of chapter 9, the signing has its own moral fitness.
"Ceasing to do evil" must lead on to "learning to do good." If we have been doing wrong, it is very right to begin by confessing the wrong. Only then do we set ourselves to do the right. But doing the right thing is the proper companion of confessing the wrong thing. And we see all this moral beauty as we pass from the ninth chapter to the tenth.
Yet the writers agree that this method could not work. Signing a pledge feels like a safeguard against failure.
Few cannot understand this transaction, for the flesh is legal by nature, and making a covenant seems an easy way to guard against failure. God's people have often used this method, only to discover their own complete helplessness. In many cases it has taught them to look to Another for the power they needed, instead of to themselves... Blessed are they who, by this or any other process, have come to the end of themselves. They have stopped expecting anything from their own promises or efforts. They have learned that in their flesh nothing good dwells, and that the desire to do right is there, but not the power to carry it out.
The collapse came soon after.
Alas for good Nehemiah's expectations! Even such a strong body of signatories could not make the covenant sure. We have only to turn over two pages of Nehemiah's book to find the people as lawless as before. Neither royal decrees nor documents signed and sealed will make flesh anything different from what it is. Scripture says, "the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God" (Rom. 8:7-8).
- Named. Mica, Rehob and Hashabiah are three of the seventeen Levites who sealed. They signed after Nehemiah and the priests, and they signed for a whole people.
- Pledged. They bound themselves to four things. Obedience to the law, separation from the nations, the Lord's due in Sabbath and holy days, and the upkeep of His house.
- Focused. The pledges name the house of God and never the wall, since the house was the reminder and symbol of divine order.
- Ordered. Confession came first, in chapter 9, and the purpose to do right followed it here in chapter 10.
- Powerless. No signed document can change the flesh. The failure that followed teaches the signer to stop trusting his own promises and to look to Another for power.
Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah,
Nehemiah 10 lists the men who sealed the written covenant made at the end of chapter 9. This verse names three of them, which raises simple questions: who signed, what did they sign, and why did God keep their names?
One writer sets out the order of the names, and notes who the signers stood for:
The last chapter ends with a covenant. This one begins with the names of those who sealed it. They bound themselves to keep it by their signatures. And it would seem that they signed not only for themselves, but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document. Twenty-two priests followed (vv. 1-8), then seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13), and after them forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.
Verse 12 falls inside that block of seventeen Levites — the men set apart to serve at God's house.
Nehemiah the governor held the title Tirshatha. One writer reads the order of the signatures as a comment on the state of the nation:
Here the chief men took the lead, as was fitting. Yet it was no small sign of how low they had sunk that the Tirshatha signed first among those who sealed. Then came faithful priests, followed by fewer Levites, and a fair number of leading laymen.
Of the three names in this verse, one has a trail running back through the earlier books. A dictionary entry gathers the places his name appears:
A Levite who with his sons and brothers returned from exile: he assisted Ezra, sealed the covenant, and was a chief of the choir. Ezra 8:18; Neh. 8:7; Neh. 9:4-5; Neh. 10:12; Neh. 12:8, 24. In Ezra 8:24 apparently the same man is called a priest.
So his seal here comes after years of service: he returned from exile, worked with Ezra, led the singing, and now he signs.
One writer explains these records in a single line:
God notices their faithfulness, and had it recorded.
That record also reaches into the future:
Here there is little to say, except that the Lord takes pleasure in recording even the names of His servants... He honours those who honour Him, and records their names in His word now, as He will glorify their persons in the great day that hastens.
The document these men signed had a clear content. One writer sums it up in four parts:
1st. As to their personal walk, that it should be in obedience to the law of God given by Moses (29). 2nd. As to the nations around, they would maintain a holy separation (30). 3rd. As to Jehovah, they would devotedly give Him His due by keeping the Sabbath, the holy days, and the law of the seventh year (31). 4th. As to the house of God, they charge themselves to maintain the service and not forsake the house (32-39).
For Levites like the three named here, that fourth item was their own daily work.
One writer weighs what such a promise is worth, and what God's people learn from it:
They were doubtless sincere, fully intending to be faithful to the obligations they were undertaking. Almost anyone can understand what they did. The flesh is naturally legal, and making a covenant looks like an easy way to guard against failure. God's people have often tried this method, only to discover how completely helpless they are. In many cases that is how they have learned to look to Another for the power they needed, instead of to themselves.
- Sealed. Zaccur, Sherebiah and Shebaniah were three of the seventeen Levites who signed. Their signatures bound them to the written covenant.
- Signed for others. The signers acted not only for themselves but on behalf of the people, so three obscure names carried a nation's promise.
- Recorded. God notices faithfulness and had it written down. He records the names of His servants now, and will glorify their persons later.
- Pledged. What they signed covered four things: personal obedience, separation from the nations, God's due in the Sabbaths, and the upkeep of His house.
- Helpless. They meant it sincerely. But the flesh is naturally legal, and covenant-making only ends in helplessness. That is how God's people learn to look to Another for power.
Hodijah, Bani, Beninu.
Nehemiah 10:13 names the last three Levites — Hodiah, Bani, Beninu — who sealed the written covenant made at the end of chapter 9. Three short names raise big questions: why record them at all, what did the sealing bind them to, and could they keep it?
The list runs by office, and verse 13 closes the Levites' section.
At the close of the last chapter a covenant is made. At the start of this one we get the names of those who sealed it. That is, of those who bound themselves to keep it by their signatures. They seem to have signed not only for themselves, but also on behalf of the people. Nehemiah, as the governor, was the first to put his name to this solemn document. After him came twenty-two priests (vv. 1-8). Then came seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13). After them came forty-four chiefs of the people, probably heads of families.
The size of each group, and the order of signing, tell their own story.
Here the chief men took the lead, as was fitting; yet it was no small sign of how low they had sunk that the governor signed first among those who sealed. Then came faithful priests, followed by fewer Levites, and a fair number of leading laymen.
Hodiah, Bani and Beninu did not sign only for themselves.
The leaders of the people, the governor, the priests, the Levites, and the chief fathers set their seal to the covenant: 84 persons in all, who represent over 40,000... Here we find the result of true humbling, true separation and true confession. There is no disagreement, but one mind. All — young and old, sons and daughters, women and children, priests, singers, Levites, temple servants — "joined with their brothers", accepting what their leaders, these 84 men, had done... God allows disagreement and division among the children of God when confession of faults is missing or incomplete, whether in individuals or in assemblies. Once that confession is real and complete, and no one tries to justify or excuse himself, fellowship with one another is restored.
The rest of the chapter spells out what a name on the document meant.
1st. As to their personal walk, that it should be in obedience to the law of God given by Moses (29). 2nd. As to the nations around, they would maintain a holy separation (30). 3rd. As to Jehovah, they would give Him His due with devotion: they would keep the Sabbath, the holy days, and the law of the seventh year (31). 4th. As to the house of God, they take on themselves the duty of maintaining the service and not forsaking the house (32-39).
The covenant rested on the law, and that decided its future.
This covenant rested on the law. That is why it broke as fast as the covenant of Sinai broke, and as fast as any other covenant made on the same terms. But such covenants give man the chance to learn in depth what the flesh is. That is why the law, as an obligation, is necessary.
Why would men who had just confessed the past bind themselves again?
They knew the past, and they had confessed the former sins of their people. Yet now they make another covenant. The excitement of the moment blinded them to this: as their fathers were, so were they... Few people will fail to understand what they did. The flesh is legal by nature, and making a covenant seems an easy way to guard against failure. God's people have often turned to this device, only to discover their own utter helplessness. In many cases it has taught them to look to Another for the power they needed, instead of to themselves.
We never meet these three men again. One commentator, writing on another list of names, shows why God keeps such names on record.
These modest roles are very valuable in the eyes of the Lord... It is the same today. Whether it is serving tables, passing the bread and the cup, or taking care of the "upper room", the Lord forgets none of it. He records the names of those who have kept charge of this service just as deservedly as any others.
- Named. Hodiah, Bani and Beninu end the seventeen Levites (vv. 9-13). They sign between the twenty-two priests and the forty-four chiefs of the people.
- Few. The governor signed first, and fewer Levites signed than priests. Both marked how low the nation had fallen.
- Representative. Eighty-four signatures stood for more than forty thousand people. All then joined in with one mind — no group held back, no group acted alone.
- Bound. The seal bound them to four things. They promised obedience in daily walk, separation from the nations, the Sabbath and the seventh year, and the upkeep of God's house.
- Broken — yet remembered. Built on law, the covenant failed as fast as Sinai did. It taught men to look to Another for strength. Yet God still wrote down the names of those who served, however small their part.