12:1 Now these [are] the priests and the Levites that {a} went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
(a) From Babylon to Jerusalem.
12:1 Priests - The chief of the priests, the heads of those twenty four courses which David appointed by divine direction, 1Chron 24:1 - 19. And whereas there were twenty four, and here but twenty - two, and ver.12, and c. only twenty, the reason of this difference may be, because two of the twenty four courses were extinct in Babylon, and two of the persons here named, ver.2,5, Hattush, and Maadiah, may be omitted in the account of the posterity of these, ver.12, and c. because they had no posterity. Ezra - Either this was another Ezra, or if it were the same mentioned Ezra 7:1, he lived to a great age; which may well be supposed, considering his great sobriety, and his great piety to which God promised long life, and withal the special providence of God continuing him so long in such a season, wherein the church of God did greatly need his help and counsel.
12:1-26 It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be.
