Nehemiah 12:10

“SUCCESSION OF THE HIGH PRIESTS. (Neh. 12:10-47) Jeshua begat Joiakim, &c.--This enumeration was of great importance, not only as establishing their individual purity of descent, but because the chronology of the Jews was henceforth to be reckoned, not as formerly by the reigns of their kings, but by the successions of their high priests.”

“The six generations of high priests covered a little more than two centuries (538-333 B.C.), or a little under thirty-five years to a generation. Jaddua was the high priest who (according to Josephus) had an interview with Alexander shortly after the battle of Issus. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Jeshua - Here follows a catalogue of the Jewish high - priests; which was the more necessary, because their times were now to be measured, not by the years of their kings as formerly, but by their high - priests. Nehemiah 12:12”

“12:10-11 Joiakim probably served in the early years of Ezra’s service. • Eliashib and Joiada served during Nehemiah’s time (3:1; 13:4, 28). • Johanan: An Aramaic papyrus document from a Jewish colony that settled in Elephantine, Egypt (about 410 BC) and Josephus (Antiquities 11.5.4, AD 93) both mention Johanan serving after Nehemiah’s time.”

“Jeshua: Neh 12:26; Ch1 6:3-15 Eliashib: Neh 3:1, Neh 13:4, Neh 13:7, Neh 13:28 Nehemiah 12:11”

“A note on the genealogy of the high-priestly line from Jeshua to Jaddua is inserted, so to speak, as a connecting link between the lists of Levites, to explain the statements concerning the dates of their composition, - dates defined by the name of the respective high priests. The lists given Neh 12:1 were of the time of Jeshua; those from Neh 12:12 and onwards, of the days of Joiakim and his successors. The name יונתן, as is obvious from Neh 12:22 and Neh 12:23, is a clerical error for יוחנן, Johanan, Greek Ἰωάννης, of whom we are told, Joseph. Ant. xi. 7. 1, that he murdered his brother Jesus, and thus gave Bagoses, the general of Artaxerxes Mnemon, an opportunity for taking severe…”