Nehemiah 11:1-2

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT

III. Persons Bound by Vows are Listed, and Reforms on Nehemiah's Second Visit are Described: Chapter s 11-13
A. The genealogies of residents of Jerusalem and names of other cities are listed.
1. An effort is made to increase Jerusalem's population.

TEXT, Nehemiah 11:1-2

1

Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities.

2

And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

COMMENT

The story is resumed from chapter seven after the interruption of the great revival. Nehemiah had gotten the genealogical list to help trace the people's present whereabouts; now an effort was about to be made to coax some of them to Jerusalem. With the city's walls repaired there was more protection for them. A strong Jerusalem would be a refuge in time of danger for all the surrounding townspeople and would help build a stable economy for the entire area. But people were needed to man the fortifications.

From Nehemiah 11:1 we judge that government officials were the largest part of its residents; the location of government buildings and agencies there would be responsible for that. Evidently it had been an almost empty city before the walls had been constructed. None really wanted to move there; it was the post in greatest danger; so the expedient of casting lots was resorted to. Families or clans would be the units involved; to select individuals would fragment families.

The volunteers of Nehemiah 11:2 then present a puzzle. Were they people who chose to move there, and thus reduced the number who must be chosen by lot?[77] Or were they the ones who allowed their names to be included in the drawing,[78] or were good sports about moving there when they lost? The lot is cast in Nehemiah 11:1; the volunteers are applauded in Nehemiah 11:2; we would have expected to hear mention of those chosen by lot, if they were a different group. At any rate, something of the desperate conditions of the city may be guessed from the applause they received for moving there.

[77] Interpreter's Bible, op. cit., p. 771.

[78] Adenay, op. cit., p. 184.

WORD STUDY

LOT (Nehemiah 11:1, Goral; sound like gravel?): a small stone. Sometimes a number of stones, including one or more of an odd color, were shaken in a container and thrown onto the ground, thus deciding matters by chance; or they were shaken together and thrown into a vase, and each person drew one out, seeking for the odd-colored one. Eventually they were made into cubes and the faces numbered to form dice.