Nethinims

The Nethinim — rendered in the UPDV as "those given [to temple service]" — appear chiefly in the post-exilic books as a temple-auxiliary class set alongside priests, Levites, singers, and porters. Their name is the bracketed gloss for the Hebrew nethinim (literally "given ones"), and the Chronicler, Ezra, and Nehemiah consistently treat them as a named, ordered rank of sanctuary-servants whose family rolls, return-tallies, residence on Ophel, and tax-exempt status are tracked alongside the rest of the temple staff.

Servants of the Levites

The institutional placement of the Nethinim is fixed by Ezra's recruitment narrative at Casiphia. When Ezra finds no Levites in the caravan he is leading up to Jerusalem, he sends to Iddo the chief at Casiphia: "I put words in their mouth to say to Iddo, [and] his brothers those given [to temple service], at the place Casiphia, that they should bring to us ministers for the house of our God" (Ezr 8:17). The mission yields a Levitical-auxiliary recruit-roster: "of those given [to temple service], whom David and the princes had given for the service of the Levites, two hundred and twenty Nethinim: all of them were mentioned by name" (Ezr 8:20). Two clauses anchor the order. The historical-provenance clause traces the class back to a Davidic-and-princely appointment for the service of the Levites; the count-and-named clause registers the Casiphia reinforcement at 220 Nethinim, every recruit carrying a named entry on the roll.

Return from the Captivity

The Nethinim are listed as one of the orders returning from Babylon under Zerubbabel. The Chronicler exhibits them at the head of the post-exilic resettlement census: "Now the first inhabitants who dwelt in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and those given [to temple service]" (1Ch 9:2). The fourfold population census names Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and closes with the Nethinim as a named fourth temple-auxiliary class.

In the Ezra return-list the family-roll opens with a heading-and-first-three-families entry: "Those given [to temple service]: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth" (Ezr 2:43). The roll runs on through dozens of further named houses, then is capped by a tally that brackets the Nethinim with Solomon's slaves: "All those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves, were three hundred ninety and two" (Ezr 2:58). The roster is then closed off with a resettlement notice that places the Nethinim among the temple-staff orders dispersing into their towns: "So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people: and the singers, and the porters, and those given [to temple service] dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities" (Ezr 2:70).

Nehemiah preserves the same returnee-list. Its Nethinim heading reproduces the Ezra opening verbatim: "Those given [to temple service]: the sons of Ziha, the sons of Hasupha, the sons of Tabbaoth" (Ne 7:46). Its tally restates the same 392-head total: "All those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves, were three hundred ninety and two" (Ne 7:60). And its closing resettlement notice places the Nethinim among the temple-staff orders dispersing into the cities: "So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and those given [to temple service], and all Israel, dwelt in their cities" (Ne 7:73).

A second Ezra-led caravan in the seventh year of Artaxerxes shows the same six-order roster, with the Nethinim again at the tail of the temple-staff list: "there went up some of the sons of Israel, and of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the porters, and those given [to temple service], to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king" (Ezr 7:7).

Tax-Exempt Status under Artaxerxes

Artaxerxes' decree carried by Ezra explicitly names the Nethinim — using the bare Hebrew term — as a tax-exempt class alongside the other temple personnel: "Also we inform you⁺, that concerning any of the priests and Levites, the singers, porters, Nethinim, or servants of this house of God, it will not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll, on them" (Ezr 7:24). The plural-you ⁺ marks the decree's address to the imperial treasurers; the Nethinim are listed by name within the protected sanctuary-staff classes shielded from royal tribute, custom, and toll.

Residence on Ophel

The wall-rebuilding and resettlement chapters fix the Nethinim's quarter on Ophel, the ridge south of the temple mount. Nehemiah inserts a residence-clause into the wall-roster at the southeast quarter: "those given [to temple service], they were living on Ophel, to the place across from the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out" (Ne 3:26). A second wall-roster entry, a few verses later, locates a Nethinim-house alongside the goldsmiths' repair section: "After him repaired Malchijah one of the goldsmiths to the house of those given [to temple service], and of the merchants, across from the gate of Hammiphkad, and to the ascent of the corner" (Ne 3:31).

The Jerusalem-resettlement chapter confirms the Ophel location and adds names of overseers: "But those given [to temple service] dwelt in Ophel: and Ziha and Gishpa were over those given [to temple service]" (Ne 11:21). The Ziha-name here echoes the same Ziha-house that heads the Nethinim family-roll at Ezr 2:43 and Ne 7:46, attaching the overseer-line to the lead family of the order.

A Sealed-Community Rank

In the covenant-sealing scene of Nehemiah 10 the Nethinim are listed as one of the ordered ranks of the sealed community: "And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, those given [to temple service], and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding" (Ne 10:28). The four temple-worker classes are named in descending rank — priests, Levites, porters, singers — and the Nethinim follow as the fifth class, fixing their identity as a temple-service auxiliary set apart for sanctuary labor.

The Jerusalem-province roster opens Nehemiah 11 with the same ordering, this time placing the Nethinim beside the sons of Solomon's slaves at the bottom of the temple-adjacent classes: "Now these are the chiefs of the province who dwelt in Jerusalem: but in the cities of Judah dwelt every one in his possession in their cities, [to wit,] Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and those given [to temple service], and the sons of Solomon's slaves" (Ne 11:3). Israel names the lay-body, priests and Levites the two leadership orders of the sanctuary, the Nethinim the given-to-service auxiliary order, and the sons of Solomon's slaves the lowest-ranked temple-adjacent class.

Across these passages the Nethinim are exhibited as a continuous, named, post-exilic temple-auxiliary class — Davidic in origin, Levitical in service, Casiphia-recruited under Ezra, Ophel-resident under Nehemiah, tax-exempt by Artaxerxes' decree, and entered on the same returnee-rolls as the priests, Levites, singers, and porters with whom they staffed the second-temple sanctuary.