THE WALL BEING BUILT NEHEMIAH TAKES STEPS TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF JERUSALEM (NEHEMIAH 7:1). The walls having been rebuilt, and the doors in the gateways being in their place, what next remained was to ensure their proper control so that Jerusalem would be safe from band of marauders. This required... [ Continue Reading ]
THE REASON FOR THE DISCOVERY OF THE LIST (NEHEMIAH 7:4). Nehemiah 7:4 ‘Now the city was wide and large, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not built.' The walls having been completed, and the doors having been hung in the gates, Nehemiah now turned his thoughts onto the question o... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ORIGINAL LIST DISCOVERED BY NEHEMIAH IN THE RECORDS OFFICE, POSSIBLY IN JERUSALEM (NEHEMIAH 7:6). It is apparent that the list in Ezra was the first list of returnees made after their arrival in Judah, and that this is a second list, closely patterned on the first list, probably made on the acc... [ Continue Reading ]
THE NUMBER OF THE MEN OF ISRAEL (NEHEMIAH 7:7). Nehemiah 7:7 ‘The number of the men of the people of Israel, This proud claim demonstrates that the returnees saw themselves as the foundation of the new Israel. They were the true Israelites, in contrast with the syncretists who had remained in the... [ Continue Reading ]
THOSE ENROLLED BY FAMILY ASSOCIATION (NEHEMIAH 7:8). These submitted their numbers in terms of their clan. Those named would have been heads of clans centuries before, to whom the clan looked back with respect and awe. Compare Nehemiah 11:13 where a ‘son of Immer' (Nehemiah 7:40) is given a fuller... [ Continue Reading ]
THOSE ENROLLED BY DOMICILE (NEHEMIAH 7:25). We now come to those families who submitted their numbers in terms of domicile. This may simply have been as a consequence of the choice of the particular submitter, or it may have been though custom. Or, indeed, it may have been because it was easier to p... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE PRIESTS (NEHEMIAH 7:39). The priests are here divided up into four courses, in contrast with the twenty four courses pertaining under David (1 Chronicles 24:1). But these four courses would eventually in the future be divided up into twenty four under the names of the old course... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE LEVITES (NEHEMIAH 7:43). Compared with 4,289 priests who returned, only 74 Levites returned, to which we might add the 148 singers (128 in Ezra 2) and the 138 (139 in Ezra 2) gate-keepers, making 360 (341 in Ezra 2) in all, although it would appear that the writer of the list di... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE SINGERS/MUSICIANS (NEHEMIAH 7:44). The singers were a special order of Levites (seen as such in Nehemiah 11:15; Ezra 3:10; but seemingly not designated as Levites here) who according to 1 Chronicles 6:31 had been responsible for leading the singing and musical accompaniment in T... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE GATEKEEPERS (NEHEMIAH 7:45). The Gatekeepers were another special order of Levites. In 1 Chronicles 9:17 we are informed that in earlier pre-Exilic days the gatekeepers included ‘Shallum and Akkab and Talmon, and Ahiman and their brothers. Shallum was the chief'. These were the... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE NETHINIM (NEHEMIAH 7:46). The Nethinim (given ones) probably had their initial origin in the Gibeonites who were forced to become ‘hewers of wood and drawers of water' for the Tabernacle (Joshua 9:27). Whoever they were they were seen as ‘given to God'. (Compare the same descrip... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE SONS OF SOLOMON'S SERVANTS (NEHEMIAH 7:57). The fact that the total of these was combined with the total of the Nethinim (Nehemiah 7:60) suggests that they had similar duties. We have no specific knowledge of whether they had different duties, although two of the names (the scri... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE NON-PRIESTS WHO COULD NOT PROVE THEIR DESCENT FROM ISRAEL (NEHEMIAH 7:61). These appear to have been settled in the Babylonian cities described although the names of the cities mentioned are nowhere testified to in Babylonian records. This is not, however, surprising as few smal... [ Continue Reading ]
THE ENROLLING OF THE PRIESTS WHO COULD NOT PROVE THEIR ANCESTRY (NEHEMIAH 7:63). Far more important was the situation of the priests who could not demonstrate their ancestry, for this excluded them from priestly office, and from reception of priestly benefits such as the tithe, and the parts of off... [ Continue Reading ]
THE SUM TOTAL OF THE RETURNEES (NEHEMIAH 7:66). Nehemiah 7:66 ‘The whole assembly together was forty two thousand, three hundred and sixty.' The sum total of the returnees who represented Israel comes to 42,360. The adult male returnees enumerated above come to 31,089 (Ezra 29,818), plus whatever... [ Continue Reading ]
ENUMERATION OF THEIR SLAVES (NEHEMIAH 7:67). Nehemiah 7:67 ‘Besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty seven, and they had two hundred and forty five singing men and singing women.' The only difference from Ezra 2 lies in the fact... [ Continue Reading ]
ENUMERATION OF THE BEASTS OF BURDEN (NEHEMIAH 7:68). Nehemiah 7:68 ‘Their horses were seven hundred and thirty six; their mules, two hundred and forty five; their camels, four hundred and thirty five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty.' These are possibly enumerated as evidence of... [ Continue Reading ]
CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARDS THE TREASURY FOR THE TEMPLE (NEHEMIAH 7:70). It is at this point that this list differs considerably from the one in Ezra 2. This may have been because Sheshbazzar now being dead, his portion could be enumerated, whilst while he was alive he did not want it known. Or it may si... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah 7:73 ‘So the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities, and when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel were in their cities.' This confirms what was said in Nehemiah 7:6 that... [ Continue Reading ]