And I made treasurers. It was perhaps now for the first time that special treasurers were provided to have the charge of the temple store-chambers, these having hitherto been under the superintendence of the high priest (Nehemiah 13:4).
The appointment mentioned in Nehemiah 12:44 is probably the same with this; and the entire duty of the treasurers is to be learnt by combining that passage with the present. They were to be both the collectors and the dispensers of the tithes.
Of the four treasurers, one was a priest, one a Levite, one a layman of rank (see Nehemiah 10:22), and one a professional scribe. This last, Zadok, is perhaps to be identified with the "Zidkijah" of Nehemiah 10:1, who appears to have been Nehemiah's private secretary (see the comment ad loc.
). Unto their brethren i.e. to the priests and Levites, brethren of Shelemiah and Pedaiah.