Adaiah and Maasiai (represented in Nehemiah by Amashai), are enumerated in both places in the same order. Among the Levites there occur the names of Shemaiah and Mattaniah as representatives of the great Levitic divisions of Merari and Gershon-Asaph, and we easily recognise our עבדיה in the עבדּא of the book of Nehemiah. Only the two first of the four chiefs of the doorkeepers, Shallum, Akkub, Talmon, and Ahiman, are named in the abridged enumeration of the book of Nehemiah, while the two others are only referred to in the added ואחיהם.” Now, even according to this statement of the matter, the difference is seen to be almost as great as the agreement; but in reality, as a more exact comparison of the catalogues shows, the true state of the case is very different. According to 1Ch 9:3, there dwelt in Jerusalem also sons of Ephraim and Manasseh; but the catalogue from 1Ch 9:4 onwards contains only sons of Judah and Benjamin, and not a single Ephraimite or Manassite. The reason of that is probably this, that only single families and individuals from among the latter dwelt there, while the register only makes mention of the heads of the larger family groups in the population of Jerusalem.
Verse 4
In the same place there dwelt, of the sons of Judah, three chiefs of the three most important families of Judah, that of Pharez, that of Shelah, and that of Zerah; cf. 1Ch 2:3-4. Of the family of Pharez was Uthai, whose descent is traced back in 1Ch 9:4 to Bani, of the children of Pharez. The Kethibh בן־בנימן־בּני is clearly to be read according to the Keri מן־בּני בן־בּני. The name Bani occurs, 1Ch 6:31, among the Merarites; while in the genealogies of Judah, 1 Chron 2-4, neither Bani nor Uthai, nor any one of his ancestors who are here named, is mentioned. In Neh 11:4, on the contrary, there is named of the sons of Pharez, Athaiah (עתיה, perhaps only another form of עוּתי), with quite other ancestors; while not a single one of the five names of the persons through whom his race is traced back to Mahalaleel, of the sons of Pharez, coincides with the ancestors of Uthai.
Verse 5
Of the family of Shelah, Asaiah the first-born, and his other) sons. בּנין, after הבּכור, can only be understood of the other sons or descendants. But the epithet give to Asaiah, השּׁילני, is surprising, for it is a formation from שׁילה or שׁילן, and appears to denote a native of Shiloh, a well-known city of Ephraim. This derivation, however, is not suitable, since here the sons (descendants) of Judah are enumerated; and no connection between the inhabitants of Judah and the
