Verse 8. - Moreover the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, etc. Here again families are probably intended, as in Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9; Nehemiah 9:4, 5, etc., though it is possible that the founders of the families actually returned with Zerubbabel. Jeshua, Binnui, and Kadmiel appear as the leading Levitical families at the sealing of the covenant (Nehemiah 10:9). On Mattaniah see the comment upon Nehemiah 11:17.

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.Moreover the Levites,.... Who lived in the same times: were

Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah; most of these are made mention of in Nehemiah 8:7, the last of them is said to be

over the thanksgiving, he and his brethren; he was the precentor, or had the directing and conducting of the songs of the temple, particularly the thanksgiving song at the daily sacrifices; Jarchi takes the word here used to be the name of a musical instrument.