Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

And they cared for the care of their God, etc.; i.e., they observed all that was to be observed, both with respect to God and with respect to purification, i.e., they faithfully and punctually performed their office. On משׁמרת שׁמר, see rem. on Gen 26:5 and Lev 8:35. "And (so also) the singers and doorkeepers," i.e., they, too, observed the duties incumbent on them. This must be mentally supplied from the beginning of the verse. "According to the commandment of David and of Solomon his son;" comp. Ch2 8:14 and Ch1 24:26. ו must be inserted before שׁלמה, as in the lxx and Vulgate, after the analogy of Ch2 33:7 and Ch2 35:4; for an asyndeton would be here too harsh. As ו is here omitted, so does it also appear superfluously before אסף, Neh 12:46, probably by a clerical error. The verse can be only understood as saying: "for in the days of David, Asaph was of old chief of the singers, and of the songs of praise, and of the thanksgiving unto God." ו before Asaph is here out of place; for to take it as introducing a conclusion: in the days of David, therefore, was Asaph ... seems unnatural. The ו probably came into the text through a reminiscence of Ch2 29:30 and Ch2 35:15. The matter, however, of these passages is consistent with the naming of David and Asaph, while such a co-ordination is unsuitable in the present passage. The Masoretes have indeed attempted to make sense of the words by altering the singular ראשׁ into the plural ראשׁי; but the Keri ראשׁי is nothing more than a worthless conjecture, arising partly from the unsuitableness of ו before אסף, and partly from the consideration that Henan and Ethan were, as well as Asaph, chiefs of bands of singers. Nehemiah, however, was not concerned in this passage about exactness of statement, - the mention of Asaph as chief of the singers being quite sufficient for the purpose of his remark, that from the times of David onward orders of singers had existed. - In Neh 12:47 this subject is concluded by the general statement that all Israel, i.e., the whole community, in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, gave the portions prescribed in the law for the ministers of the sanctuary, singers, doorkeepers, Levites, and priests. מקדּישׁים, they were sanctifying, i.e., consecrabant. הקדּישׁ, to sanctify, said of the bringing of gifts and dues to the ministers of the sanctuary; comp. Ch1 26:27; Lev 27:14. On the matter itself, comp. Neh 10:38. and Num 18:26-29.