Nehemiah 9:4

Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites,.... On an ascent; an elevated place where the Levites used to stand when they sang at the time of sacrifice, and where they might be seen and heard by

Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God. Then stood up upon the stairs.

Upon the stairs, of the Levites, or, upon the scaffold, &c., i.e. upon such stairs, or rather scaffolds, or pulpits, as the Levites used to stand upon when they taught the people. But you must not think that all the persons here named stood in one place, and uttered the following words together, which would have caused great confusion in their speeches, by which means but few of the people could have distinctly heard or understood them; but that they stood upon several pulpits, each of them either teaching of that part of the congregation which was allotted to him, or praying or blessing God with them. Cried with a loud voice; thereby testifying their deep sense of their sins and miseries, and their fervent and importunate desire of God’ s mercy.

Nehemiah 9:4 Then stood up upon the stairs, of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, [and] Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God.Ver. 4. Then stood up] Each of these eight in his turn, or each in his own proper place; the people being, for more convenience sake, divided into eight several congregations. And cried with a loud voice] Verbis non modo disertis, sed et exertis, Words not only of eloquence but shouted out, of that God might hear (which yet he can do very well without any audible voice, Exodus 14:15 1 Kings 22:32), and all the people might hear, and join in prayer. Unto the Lord their God] As being in covenant with them. This shows their faith, as the former their fervency. Faith is the foundation of prayer; and prayer is the fervency of faith.

(4) Stairs, of the Levites.—The scaffold of the Levites, without the comma: the steps of ascent to the pulpit of Ezra (Nehemiah 8:2). Bani, and Chenani.—Probably, Binnui and Haman (Nehemiah 10:9-10). Their God.—When the people are called upon (Nehemiah 9:5), it is “your God”; hence these eight Levites offered a prayer which is not inserted.

4. upon the stairs (Marg. Or, scaffold) of the Levites] R.V. upon the stairs of the Levites. According to a common but inaccurate punctuation of the A.V., of the Levites is applied to the list of names which follows. It refers to the pulpit or stage erected for the Levites, that they might read the Law and conduct the service standing in view of the people. Cf. Nehemiah 8:4. For the word rendered ‘stairs’ (LXX. ἀνάβασις. Vulg. ‘gradus’) compare Nehemiah 12:37. It more generally appears as ‘ascent,’ e.g. Joshua 10:10; 2 Samuel 15:30; Isaiah 15:5. Jeshua, &c.] See note on Nehemiah 8:7; cf. Nehemiah 10:9. Kadmiel] cf. Nehemiah 10:9. Bani … Bunni … Bani] The repetition of Bani’s name is probably due to an error of copyists. The Syriac version for the second ‘Bani’ reads ‘Binnui’; but as in Nehemiah 10:9, Nehemiah 12:8, Binnui’s name comes, as here, between those of Jeshua and Kadmiel, we should here substitute Binnui for the first Bani. The LXX. renders all three names as if the Hebrew in each case had been ‘B’nκy’ = ‘sons of,’ reducing the number of proper names in the verse to five (ἸησοῦςκαὶοἱυἱοὶΚαδμιήλ, ΣεχενίαυἱὸςΣαραβία, υἱοὶΧωνενί). For ‘Bunni,’ cf. Nehemiah 10:15; for ‘Shebaniah,’ ‘Sherebiah,’ cf. Nehemiah 10:12. The names probably represent the chief Levitical houses and not individuals; cf. the mention of Jeshua, Binnui, and Kadmiel in Ezra 2:40; Ezra 3:9, and of Sherebiah in Ezra 8:18. But whether the whole house is in each case intended, or a single representative of each house mentioned, we are not told. cried with a loud voice] If the names represent houses or families, we can picture to ourselves the platform crowded with the members of eight Levite houses, who burst forth into some well-known Psalm of adoration to the God of Israel. If they are names of individual representatives, we must suppose them to have been deputed to recite or chant a specially prepared form of prayer, in order to direct the worship of the people.

The Septuagint and the Vulgate remove the comma after “stairs.” By the “stairs (or scaffold) of the Levites” is to be understood as an elevated platform from which they could the better address and

4. Stairs — Margin, scaffold. Probably the same platform, or “pulpit of wood,” used for the same purpose on the first day of the month.Nehemiah 8:4.