This chapter gives an account of the chief of the priests and Levites in the days of Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Joiakim, Eliashib, and Nehemiah, Ne 12:1, of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, and of the joy expressed on that occasion, Ne 12:27, and of the appointment of some persons over the treasuries for the priests, Levites, singers, and porters, Ne 12:44.
Ver. 1. Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua,.... Who went up from the captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem with them; the one was the prince, the other the high priest, the same with Joshua the high priest, Zec 3:1, the names of the priests are given in this and the six following verses:Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra; not Jeremiah the prophet, who cannot be thought to live so long as through the captivity; but Ezra may be Ezra the priest and scribe, who might come up with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem, and return to Babylon again, and from thence come again as he did, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, Ezr 7:1, though this by some is not thought very probable.
Vid. Rainold de Lib. Apocryph. praelect. 153. p.