Nehemiah 8:7

“Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodijah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, etc.] That is, others of them besides those named; for they seem all to be Levites, unless they can be thought to be priests, and so the Levites are distinguished from them; but the former seems evident from (<160904>Nehemiah 9:4-6) these also caused the people to understand the law; as well as Ezra; from whence it is plain that he did not only read the law, but gave the sense of it, especially where there was any seeming difficulty, and these men were assisting in the same work: and the people stood in their place; to hear the law read and explained;…”

“caused the people to understand the law . . . gave the sense--Commentators are divided in opinion as to the import of this statement. Some think that Ezra read the law in pure Hebrew, while the Levites, who assisted him, translated it sentence by sentence into Chaldee, the vernacular dialect which the exiles spoke in Babylon. Others maintain that the duty of these Levites consisted in explaining to the people, many of whom had become very ignorant, what Ezra had read.”

“The names here (and in Nehemiah 9:4, Nehemiah 9:5; Nehemiah 10:9) seem not to be the personal appellations of individuals, but rather designations of Levitical families, the descendants respectively of Jeshua, etc., who lived not later than the time of Zerubbabel Nehemiah 7:43; Nehemiah 12:8. return to 'Top of Page'”

“Understand - As well the words, which being Hebrew, now needed to be translated into the Chaldee or Syriack language, now, the common language of that people, who together with their religion, had also in a great part lost their language; as also the meaning of them: they expounded the mind and will of God in what they read, and applied it to the peoples present condition. Place - That is, In their several places and stations into which the company seems to have been distributed for conveniency of hearing; it not being likely that so vast a congregation could distinctly hear one man's voice. Or, by their stations, that is, by the several stations of the Levites, and persons last named; who…”

“8:7-9 The Levites always had the role of teaching people God’s word (Deut 33:10; Mal 2:5-6). In this case, they probably explained the meaning of the Hebrew Scriptures to smaller groups of people in Aramaic. Most of the people spoke Aramaic, the language of Babylon, rather than Hebrew as their first language. Jewish leaders eventually translated large portions of the Hebrew Bible into Aramaic, allowing people to hear and study the Bible in a language they understood.”

“Jeshua: Neh 3:19, Neh 9:4, Neh 10:9, Neh 12:24 Bani: Neh 3:17, Neh 9:4, Neh 10:13 Sherebiah: Neh 9:4, Neh 10:12, Neh 12:24; Ezr 8:18 Akkub: Neh 11:16, Neh 11:19, Neh 12:25 Hodijah: Neh 10:10, Neh 10:18 Maaseiah: Neh 8:4, Neh 3:23, Neh 12:41, Neh 12:42; Ezr 10:22 Kelita: Neh 10:10; Ezr 10:23 Azariah: Neh 3:23, Neh 10:2, Neh 12:33 Jozabad: Ezr 10:22, Ezr 10:23 Hanan: Neh 10:10 Pelaiah: Neh 10:10 caused: Lev 10:11; Deu 33:10; Ch2 17:7-9, Ch2 30:22; Mal 2:7 Nehemiah 8:8”