Now these are the priests and the Levites, that went up with Zorobabel the son of Salathiel, and Josue: Saraia, Jeremias, Esdras,

Now these are the priests and the Levites who ascended with Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

The priests - The number of the names here given, which is 22, is probably to be connected with that of the Davidic "courses," which was 24 1-Chronicles 24:7-18. Eight names are identical with those of the heads in David's time. On comparing the present list with that of the families who sealed to Nehemiah's covenant Nehemiah 10:2-8, we shall find that the first sixteen recur in that document nearly in the same order; but that the last six are absent from it. It would seem that as these six declined to seal to Nehemiah's covenant, they were placed below the rest here in a sort of supplementary list. Note especially the "and" which connects the second part of the lists with the earlier part, both in Nehemiah 12:6 and in Nehemiah 12:19.

Now these are the priests - Not the whole, but the chief of them, as we are informed, Nehemiah 12:7, Nehemiah 12:22, Nehemiah 12:23, and Nehemiah 12:24. The Septuagint omit Nehemiah 12:3, except the word Shechaniah; as also Nehemiah 12:4, Nehemiah 12:5,Nehemiah 12:6, Nehemiah 12:9,Nehemiah 12:37, Nehemiah 12:38, Nehemiah 12:39, Nehemiah 12:40, and Nehemiah 12:41. The Arabic omits the first twenty-six verses, and Nehemiah 12:29. Mention is made of Ezra in this verse; and he is generally allowed to be that Ezra whose book the reader has already passed over, and who came to Jerusalem in the time of Cyrus, with Zerubbabel. If this were the same, he must have been at this time upward of a hundred years of age: and this case is not improbable, as an especial providence might preserve such a very useful man beyond the ordinary age of men. See what has been said on the case of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 1:1 (note).

Now these [are] the priests and the Levites that (a) went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,
(a) From Babylon to Jerusalem.

Now these are the priests and the Levites that went up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua,.... Who went up from the captivity in Babylon to Jerusalem with them; the one was the prince, the other the high priest, the same with Joshua the high priest, Zac 3:1, the names of the priests are given in this and the six following verses:
Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra; not Jeremiah the prophet, who cannot be thought to live so long as through the captivity; but Ezra may be Ezra the priest and scribe, who might come up with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem, and return to Babylon again, and from thence come again as he did, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes, Ezra 7:1, though this by some (m) is not thought very probable.
(m) Vid. Rainold de Lib. Apocryph. praelect. 153. p. 402, &c.

It is a debt we owe to faithful ministers, to remember our guides, who have spoken to us the word of God. It is good to know what our godly predecessors were, that we may learn what we should be.

PRIESTS AND LEVITES WHO CAME UP WITH ZERUBBABEL. (Nehemiah 12:1-9)
these are the priests--according to Nehemiah 12:7, "the chief of the priests," the heads of the twenty-four courses into which the priesthood was divided (1Ch. 24:1-20). Only four of the courses returned from the captivity (Nehemiah 7:39-42; Ezra 2:36-39). But these were divided by Zerubbabel, or Jeshua, into the original number of twenty-four. Twenty-two only are enumerated here, and no more than twenty in Nehemiah 12:12-21. The discrepancy is due to the extremely probable circumstance that two of the twenty-four courses had become extinct in Babylon; for none belonging to them are reported as having returned (Nehemiah 12:2-5). Hattush and Maadiah may be omitted in the account of those persons' families (Nehemiah 12:12), for these had no sons.
Shealtiel--or Salathiel.
Ezra--This was most likely a different person from the pious and patriotic leader. If he were the same person, he would now have reached a very patriarchal age--and this longevity would doubtless be due to his eminent piety and temperance, which are greatly conducive to the prolongation of life, but, above all, to the special blessing of God, who had preserved and strengthened him for the accomplishment of the important work he was called upon to undertake in that critical period of the Church's history.

Priests - The chief of the priests, the heads of those twenty four courses which David appointed by divine direction, 1Ch. 24:1-19. And whereas there were twenty four, and here but twenty - two, and Nehemiah 12:12, &c. only twenty, the reason of this difference may be, because two of the twenty four courses were extinct in Babylon, and two of the persons here named, Nehemiah 12:2, Nehemiah 12:5, Hattush, and Maadiah, may be omitted in the account of the posterity of these, Nehemiah 12:12, &c. because they had no posterity. Ezra - Either this was another Ezra, or if it were the same mentioned Ezra 7:1, he lived to a great age; which may well be supposed, considering his great sobriety, and his great piety to which God promised long life, and withal the special providence of God continuing him so long in such a season, wherein the church of God did greatly need his help and counsel.