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

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).

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.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.