Chapter 12 recounts those priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, at the beginning of tile restoration (Ezra 1-2), and their children, to the days of Nehemiah and Ezra. At verse 27 begins the account of the dedication of the all of Jerusalem.
From all the country side, the Levites and the singers were gathered, and the priests, and Levites purified themselves and the people, the gates and the wall. Two companies of the princes of Judah were made,—one led by Ezra; the other accompanied by Nehemiah, and they stood and gave thanks, accompanied by the sounding of trumpets by the priests, and the voices of the singers. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced.
What a scene it must have been, when with great joy these feeble folk rejoiced over the goodness of God to them, with wives and children; joining, "so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (verse 43). Again all was in order, in so far as might be under the hand of the king of Persia.
There was no splendor, as in the days of Solomon, but there was a deep work of God, in those who sought to find in Him their all.
His Word was their spiritual food and light amid the surrounding darkness.