(24) And the chief.--The account resumes with the Levites, and gives a list of the extant officers of the Temple, many names being the same as in earlier times.

Verse 24. - Hashabiah. See above, Nehemiah 9:5; Nehemiah 10:11. Sherebiah. Compare Nehemiah 9:4, 5; Nehemiah 10:12; Nehemiah 12:8. Jeshua, the son of Kadmiel. For ben, "son," we should probably read "Bani," a common Levitical name (Nehemiah 9:4, 5; Nehemiah 10:13), in which case the passage would run as follows: - "And the chief of the Levites were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, with their brethren," etc. To praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David. Compare 1 Chronicles 15:16; 1 Chronicles 23:5; 1 Chronicles 25:3, etc. Man of God is an epithet not often applied to David. It occurs, however, again in ver. 36, and also in 2 Chronicles 8:14. Ward over against ward. Antiphonically - division over against division.

12:1-26 It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be.And the chief of the Levites,.... Here the thread of the history of Nehemiah, interrupted by the insertion of the two preceding verses, is carried from the priests to the Levites in the times of the third high priest:

Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel; these were singers, since it follows:

with their brethren over against them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, ward over against ward; which office of theirs they performed by turns in courses, as David under a divine direction ordered, see 1 Chronicles 23:5.