And Joiada begat Jonathan, and Jonathan begat Jaddua.
All Commentaries on Nehemiah 12:11 Go To Nehemiah 12
Bede
AD 735
“Now these are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah,” and so on. Here leaders of the priests are described together with their brothers (i.e., the lesser priests and Levites), those who came up from the Babylonian captivity with Zerubbabel and Jeshua son of Jehozadak. Once these have been set forth, there are also added those who, from this time until the beginning of the kingdom of the Macedonians, succeeded each other in turn in the leadership of the priesthood. For there follows “Jeshua begot Joiakim, Joiakim begot Elijahhib, Elijahhib begot Joiada, Joiada begot Jonathan, and Jonathan begot Jaddua.” In fact, Josephus writes that Jaddua, who was the last of these, was the high priest in the time of Alexander the Great, and when Jaddua with his brothers met him, Alexander received him humbly and with honor. Josephus, who spells his name Jaddus, says that he was the father of the high priest Onias, who is mentioned in the book of Maccabees. This not to say that Nehemiah, the author of this book, could have lived right up to that time in the flesh but that he knew Jaddua when he was an infant, and Jaddua could have reached the rank of priesthood long after Nehemiah’s death. For at the end of this book mention also is made of the sons of Joiada son of Elijahhib, to the effect that one of these was the soninlaw of Sanballat the Horonite, though the name of his soninlaw is not recorded. But because this Joiada is the grandfather of Jaddua, it is clear that the soninlaw who is mentioned was either Jaddua’s father or parental uncle, and so he could have been born when Nehemiah was still alive. –.
