Nehemiah 11:3-9

2. People of Israel.

TEXT, Nehemiah 11:3-9

3

Now these are the heads of the provinces who lived in Jerusalem, but in the cities of Judah each lived on his own property in their citiesthe Israelites, the priests, the Levites, the temple servants and the descendants of Solomon's servants.

4

And some of the sons of Judah and some of the sons of Benjamin lived in Jerusalem. From the sons of Judah: Athaiah the son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, of the sons of Perez;

5

and Maaseiah the son of Baruch, the son of Col-hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, the son of the Shilonite.

6

All the sons of Perez who lived in Jerusalem were 468 able men.

7

Now these are the sons of Benjamin: Sallu the son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah;

8

and after him Gabbai and Sallai, 928.

9

And Joel the son of Zichri was their overseer, and Judah the son of Hassenuah was second in command of the city.

COMMENT

In Nehemiah 11:3, the heads of the provinces are not the same as the leaders of the people in verse one, but are the persons who moved to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:4-19) or lived in the cities of Judah and Benjamin (Nehemiah 11:20-36). Next we have the classifications of the names which will follow, except that no names of descendants of Solomon's servants will appear. It may be that they are synonymous with the gatekeepers in Nehemiah 11:19. All these groups are named in Ezra 2, in the same order, where also the gatekeepers are associated with the sons of Solomon's servants, and with the temple servants (Ezra 2:42; Ezra 2:55; Ezra 2:58).

The term Israelites (or Israel) corresponds with people of Israel in Ezra 2:2, where also it is placed first after the rulers.

In Nehemiah 11:4 they are subdivided into sons of Judah and sons of Benjamin. Leaders from Judah are listed in Nehemiah 11:4-6, and those from Benjamin in Nehemiah 11:7-9.

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.