Bani (Levite)

Biblical Record

Bani was a Levite who served in Jerusalem after the return from the Babylonian exile. The name "Bani" appears several times in the Bible. Of these occurrences, the following passages in the book of Nehemiah can be identified with a Levite of the time of Nehemiah.

• Nehemiah 8:7 — When Ezra read the book of the Law before the people, Bani, together with Jeshua, Sherebiah, and other Levites, "caused the people to understand the law." The following verse (8:8) records that they read in the Law and explained its meaning so that the people understood the reading.
• Nehemiah 9:4-5 — On the twenty-fourth day of the month, the people assembled with fasting and clothed in sackcloth. At that time Bani, with the other Levites, "stood up upon the stairs" (a raised platform) and "cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God." They then called on the people to "stand up and bless the LORD your God," that is, to praise and extol Him. The list in 9:4 names "Bani" twice, and the list in 9:5 names him once.
• Nehemiah 10:13 — Bani also appears in the list of Levites who set their seal to the covenant the people made before God.

Nehemiah 3:17 describes Rehum, who repaired the wall, as one of the Levites and "the son of Bani," and 11:22 identifies Uzzi, the overseer of the Levites, as "the son of Bani." Whether these refer to the same Bani mentioned above cannot be determined from the text alone.

The following individuals are different people who merely share the same name:

• Bani the Gadite, one of David's mighty men (2 Samuel 23:36)
• Bani in the Levitical genealogy (1 Chronicles 6:46)
• Bani, an ancestor in the tribe of Judah (1 Chronicles 9:4)
• A lay family listed among the returnees as "the children of Bani" (Ezra 2:10; 10:29; 10:34)

Significance in the Bible

Every passage in which Bani appears is a list recording tasks the Levites carried out together. These lists show that after the return from exile, the Levites taught the Law and led the community in repentance and worship. No record describes Bani's personal life or character, and he is not mentioned in the New Testament.

Interpretations and Debates

• Identity: Scholars differ on whether the Bani of Nehemiah 8, 9, and 10 is a single individual or several Levites bearing the same name.
• The two Banis of 9:4: Three explanations have been offered for the name appearing twice in a single verse: that two different men shared the name; that the name was accidentally duplicated in the course of copying; or that the difference arose in transcribing another, similar name.
• Ancient translation: The Hebrew name "Bani" has the same consonants as the word for "sons of" (bene). For this reason, the word is known to be rendered differently in some places in the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament).
• The speaker of the prayer beginning in 9:6: The Hebrew text does not state who offered the long prayer of repentance that follows. The Septuagint adds the phrase "And Ezra said" before the prayer. As a result, some interpreters read it as the prayer of the Levites, including Bani, while others read it as the prayer of Ezra.

Beyond this, the Bible offers no account of Bani's origins or life.

In the Korean Church

Bani himself is rarely the subject of sermons or Sunday school lessons. However, Nehemiah 8–9, the passage in which he appears, deals with the public reading of the Law and an assembly of repentance, and it is frequently used in sermons at revival meetings and special early-morning prayer meetings. Nehemiah 8:8, in which the Levites explained the meaning of the Law, is often cited as a biblical model for expository preaching.