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,^[1] who is mentioned in the book of Maccabees.^[2] 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^[3] mention also is made of the sons of Joiada son of Elijahhib, to the effect that one of these was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, though the name of his son-in-law is not recorded. But because this Joiada is the grandfather of Jaddua, it is clear that the son-in-law who is mentioned was either Jaddua’s father or parental uncle, and so he could have been born when Nehemiah was still alive.

After the succession of the high priests has been described, a catalogue of the lesser priests and Levites who existed in their time is also added so that we may know that after a large number of citizens were gathered in Jerusalem, there was also an excellent and most noble assembly of priests and Levites sufficient to provide for the services of the temple and altar, to confess and praise God, for the guardianship of the temple and city and to educate the people. And it was not done without the understanding of a more sacred mystery that the rebuilt city of Jerusalem deserved a greater multitude of citizens in every rank and order that it is ever said to have lost when the enemy was attacking and destroying it. For in the same way the holy church often receives greater gains from its losses when, by one person’s lapse through carelessness into sin, many are frightened by his example and become more careful to continue steadfastly in the purity of faith; often these same people who have sinned begin, after they have done penance, to bear greater fruits of good works than they used to bear before the invasion of sin; often, when the church has been ravaged by heretics and after it recovers the light of truth through the perseverance of catholic teachers, it has given birth to more children in order that they might come to know and uphold the reason of this same truth that has been restored.

The city had been built long before, but it was not proper that it be dedicated before the inhabitants had been gathered and ministers suitable for the temple and guardians for the gates and vestibules had been appointed. The holy city, after being built, is dedicated when, after the number of the elect is completed at the end of the world, the church in its entirety is introduced in heaven to the sight of its Creator, and whenever in this life we are uplifted with desire for that future life, it is as if we are rejoicing over the future dedication of our city. Thus this same dedication also can be interpreted in a twofold way, namely, at the present time the hope of those who desire and purify the eyes of their heart so that they can see God, but then in the reality of blessed persons in spiritual bodies who enjoy a vision of God amid hosts of angelic spirits.

The leaders of Judah (i.e., confession or praise)^[1] are all those more perfect teachers of the holy church who at the dedication of the city go up on top of the wall because when the time of retribution appears, they will be proven to have risen above the ordinary life of the holy church by their more exalted manner of living. For they are the ones concerning whom the Lord promises this holy church through the prophet, saying, I have posted guardians on your walls.^[2] Thus it is just that those today who have been placed in the office of watchman over the holy church’s walls will at that time also be distinguished by the glory of this same reward.

It would take a long time to discuss all the gates and towers individually. Let it suffice to have said that those who completed the gates, towers and city wall amid great toil, hardship, famine, cold and vigils by day and night while the tireless enemy fights against and assails them, afterwards, once the enemy has been beaten back and thrown into disarray, go walking together through the gates, towers and buildings of this city and rejoice with songs, hymns, harps, cymbals, lyres, and trumpets and thanksgivings together with those very teachers who were the authors of the project and the teachers of God’s law. No one can doubt that in the same sequence, this takes place in the spiritual building too when, as the hour of final retribution approaches as though it were the long-desired dedication of God’s city, the faithful obtain eternal rewards for their works when, much like Nehemiah and Ezra and the other priests and Levites as they each bring forth their workers, all the teachers of faithful peoples conduct their listeners whom they have acquired for the Lord into the fortifications of the heavenly homeland. Then, as well as the other fortifications of the holy city, Nehemiah also walks with his choir of praisers over the Tower of the Ovens in whose structure they once used to sweat, when teachers of the truth rejoice over the sublime rewards of those whom they have taught. For if the loaves of the furnace that are baked in secret signify the inward devotion of the mind of the faithful that is strengthened by the fire of love, which is why such loaves were also commanded by the Law to be offered as a sacrifice to the Lord,^[1] what could be more aptly figured by the ovens in which these loaves are baked than their very hearts that are accustomed always to burn with the flame of inner love and to beget deeds or words of the virtues?

For on that day of perpetual light about which Zechariah said, And there shall be one day that is known to the Lord, not day or night^[1] (that is, a day that is remote from the usual experience of passing time), the elect sacrifice great victims to the Lord, namely, those about which the psalmist, tasting them in the hope of things to come, said, You have broken my bonds; I will offer to you the sacrifice of praise.^[2] He properly also reveals where he was hoping that he would offer this sacrifice when he immediately adds, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the courtyards of the Lord’s house, in the sight of all his people, in the midst of you, O Jerusalem.^[3] For we pay our vows to the Lord in the midst of Jerusalem in the sight of all his people when, in the heavenly homeland, after the whole multitude of the saints has congregated, we offer those praises of thanksgiving to him whom in this present life we sigh for and thirst for with daily desire.

The reason that the people liked the priests, Levites and other ministers of holy things to dwell in Jerusalem is that they rejoiced in the good works of those by whose God-devoted perseverance not only had the people been corrected from their sins but also the city rebuilt and dedicated with great praise and joy. The allegorical exposition of this chapter is clear to us because the Lord stated that those who preach the gospel should live by the gospel.^[1] But woe to those priests and ministers of holy things who are happy to take from the people the payments due to their rank but are not at all eager to labor for the salvation of this same people, not to offer them any holy guidance by living uprightly or to sing of the pleasantness of the heavenly kingdom by preaching something delightful to them; instead, so far from opening the doors of the heavenly city for them by having citizenship in heaven, they are proven rather to shut these doors by acting perversely, and so far from rejoicing in the works of these ministers when confessing or praising the Lord, the people are compelled to be all the more afflicted.