Eliashib

February 16, 2015

The defiled priest (Neh 13:28-13:29)

“One of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore, I chased him from me.

‘Remember them,

O my God,

Because they have defiled the priesthood

The covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.’”

Nehemiah specifically chased the son of Jehoiada, the grandson of the high priest Eliashib, because he had married a non-Jewish person. It does not say if he inflicted physical punishment on him. Certainly, he had defiled the priesthood. Once again, he has a little prayer to God to remember the covenant about the defilement of the priesthood.

 

February 16, 2015

Nehemiah leaves and returns (Neh 13:6-13:9)

“While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem. In the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon I went to the king. After some time I asked leave of the king. I returned to Jerusalem. I then discovered the wrong that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah, preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. I was very angry. I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the room. Then I gave orders to cleanse the chambers. I brought back the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.”

Nehemiah had left Jerusalem because he had agreed to stay there only 12 years. He then returned to serve the Persian King Artaxerxes. Once again, he asked the king to return to Jerusalem around the year 433 BCE. The text says Babylon but it was Persia as in the beginning of this book. When he got back, he was shocked and angry at what he saw. He was so angry that he threw out all the furniture of Tobiah in the Temple storehouse. He had it cleansed and restored it with grain offerings and frankincense.

February 14, 2015

The genealogy of the high priests (Neh 12:10-12:11)

“Jeshua was the father of Joiakim. Joiakim was the father of Eliashib. Eliashib was the father of Joiada. Joiada was the father of Jonathan. Jonathan was the father of Jaddua.”

This was the list of the inherited high priests from around 540-405 BCE. This would make sense since Jeshua was with Zerubbabel when they returned to Jerusalem in the 6th century.

 

February 7, 2015

The northeast Sheep Gate (Neh 3:1-3:2)

“Then the high priest Eliashib set to work with his fellow priests. They rebuilt the Sheep Gate. They consecrated it. They set up its doors. They consecrated it as far as the Tower of the Hundred and as far as the Tower of Hananel. The men of Jericho built next to him. Next to them Zaccur son of Imri built.”

Eliashib was the current high priest in Jerusalem, the grandson of Zerubbabel, whose group first came to Jerusalem over a hundred years before this time. He and his fellow priest went to work on the Sheep Gate. They finished it and the walls to the 2 towers, of the Hundred and Hananel. The Tower of Hananel was on the north side of town. This Sheep Gate must have been the gate where they brought sheep into Jerusalem. It might have been near the Temple. It seems to be between the tower of Hundred and the tower of Hananel, on the northeast side of Jerusalem. The 100 tower may have been about 100 cubits from the Temple, about 150 feet from the Temple. This was the gate between the 2 towers. It does not say how long they took to build this gate and the adjoining walls. They had some help from the men of Jericho and Zaccur. Jericho was about 12 miles northeast of Jerusalem. Why they came is not clear since this was in Benjamin territory not Judah. There were 5 or 6 other people with the name of Zaccur.

February 6, 2015

The list of the guilty Levites (Ezra 10:23-10:24)

“Among the Levites, there were Jozabad, Shimei, Kelaiah, which is Kelita, Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. Among the singers there was only Eliashib. However, among the gatekeepers, there were Shallum, Telem, and Uri.”

Among the Levites, it was a smaller number who had married the foreign wives. There were only 6 Levites, 1 singer, and 3 gate keepers, for a total of 10, which were 6 less than the priests.

 

 

December 3, 2014

The various priestly positions (1 Chr 24:7-24:19)

“The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim, the fourth to Seorim, the fifth to Malchijah, the sixth to Mijamin, the seventh to Hakkoz, the eighth to Abijah, the ninth to Jeshua, the tenth to Shecaniah, the eleventh to Eliashib, the twelfth to Jakim, the thirteenth to Huppah, the fourteenth to Jeshebeab, the fifteenth to Bilgah, the sixteenth to Immer, the seventeenth to Hezir, the eighteenth to Happizzez, the nineteenth to Pethahiah, the twentieth to Jehezkel, the twenty-first to Jachin, the twenty-second to Gamul, the twenty-third to Delaiah, and the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of Yahweh according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as Yahweh God of Israel had commanded him.”

There seems to be 24 levels or positions that the priests have. Their service and procedure had somehow been established by Aaron at the command of Yahweh.   However, there was no Temple at the time of Aaron. It is hard to tell what each of these 24 positions entailed. Apparently, these are people living at the time of King David, while there still was no temple. 8 of these priests only have their name appear in this book, (1) Jehoiarib, (4) Seorim, (12) Jakim, (13) Huppah, (14) Jeshebeab, (18) Happizzez, (20) Jehezkel, and (22) Gamul. There were 6 others whose name appears elsewhere, but they may be related to them, (6) Mijamin, (7) Hakkoz, (15) Bilgah, (17) Hezir, (21) Jachin, and (24) Maaziah. There were 3 other people named (2) Jedaiah, (3) Harim, and (19) Pethahiah. There were 13 people with the name of (5) Malchijah, even though it does not sound like a popular name. (8) Abijah incidentally shows up as an ancestor to Zachery, the father of John the Baptist in the later Gospel of Luke. There are at least 10 others with the name of (9) Jeshua, mostly Levites. There are at least 7 other people with the name of (10) Shecaniah. 6 others had the name of (11) Eliashib. (16) Immer was also the name of a place. There were 4 others with the name of (23) Delaiah.

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