Nehemiah 7

The construction of the wall is completed in Nehemiah 6, and chapter 7 turns to the tasks that followed: guarding the city and organizing its population. Most of the chapter consists of a list of the first returnees, which is nearly identical to the list in Ezra 2.

Outline

• Verses 1–4: Nehemiah sets up the doors in the gates and appoints the porters, the singers, and the Levites. He places his brother Hanani and Hananiah, the ruler of the citadel, in charge of Jerusalem. He instructs that the gates not be opened until the sun is high and that the inhabitants each keep watch opposite their own houses, for the city was large but its inhabitants were few.
• Verses 5–7: When God moves his heart to take a census of the people, Nehemiah obtains the register (genealogical record) of those who had come up at the first. These were people who had been carried away captive by Nebuchadnezzar and had returned with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and others.
• Verses 8–38: The numbers of the laypeople follow, listed by family and by hometown.
• Verses 39–60: The list records four families of priests, the Levites, the singers, the porters, and the Nethinims, together with the children of Solomon's servants.
• Verses 61–65: Those who could not prove their genealogy, numbering 642, are listed. Priests whose genealogical records could not be found are excluded from the priesthood. The governor commands that they not eat of the most holy things until a priest with Urim and Thummim should stand up.
• Verses 66–69: The whole congregation numbers 42,360, in addition to 7,337 menservants and maidservants and 245 singing men and singing women. The numbers of livestock are also recorded.
• Verses 70–73: The rulers, the chief of the fathers, and the people give drams of gold, pounds of silver, and priests' garments. All the people dwell in their own cities (their hometowns).

Key Verses

• Nehemiah 7:2: "for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many" — shows the criteria for appointing leaders.
• Nehemiah 7:5: "And my God put into mine heart" — presents an administrative census as the result of God's leading.
• Nehemiah 7:64–65 — shows that the community sought to confirm its identity and the legitimacy of the priesthood through genealogy.

People and Places

• Hanani: Nehemiah's brother, who brought news of Jerusalem in chapter 1.
• Hananiah: The ruler of the citadel, a different person from the false prophet Hananiah in the Book of Jeremiah.
• Babylon: The place to which the returnees had been carried captive.
• Bethel, Bethlehem, Jericho: These appear as hometowns of the returnees.

Points to Consider When Reading

• The "Nehemiah" and "Mordecai" of verse 7 share only their names with better-known figures; they are generally regarded as different people from the Nehemiah of this book and the Mordecai of the Book of Esther.
• A comparison with Ezra 2 shows that the numbers for several families differ. Both chapters give a total of 42,360, but the individual figures, when added together, fall short of this total. Various explanations have been proposed, including variations introduced in the copying process, differences in when the records were made, and groups not included in the itemized list.
• The list is read as evidence that the community that returned from exile understood itself as the continuation of ancient Israel.