Nehemiah 11

Nehemiah 11:1

G. Repopulation of Jerusalem’s Precincts (Chap. 11)11:1, 2 Chapter 11 is closely related to the last verse of chapter 7. Nehemiah was concerned about the sparse population in Jerusalem; more people should have been living there to defend the city in case of attack. But fear kept many Jews in the country. Finally, lots were cast to bring in one out of every ten residents of the small towns to dwell in Jerusalem. Others who volunteered joined them in the city. 11:3-36 Having been enrolled earlier (chap. 7), the families living in Jerusalem are named here (vv. 3-24). There were four hundred and sixty-eight men of Judah, each the head of a household (vv. 4-6). The Benjamites were nine hundred and twenty-eight families strong (vv. 7, 8); Joel . . . and Judah were their overseers (v. 9). Three divisions of priests are listed in verses 10-14; Zabdiel was their leader. The Levites in the holy city numbered four hundred and fifty-six, one hundred and seventy-two of them being gatekeepers (vv. 15-19). The temple servants, under Ziha and Gishpa, lived in Ophel, a section of Jerusalem close to the temple (v. 21).

A man named Uzzi had overall charge of the Levites, and Pethahiah was the king’s agent in the city, under Nehemiah, of course (vv. 22-24). The rest of the Jews lived in the neighboring villages: Judah lived in the villages listed in verses 25-30, and Benjamin in the villages listed in verses 31-35. Some divisions of Levites that formerly lived in Judah now moved over to the territory of Benjamin (v. 36).