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Texts -- Nehemiah 7:1-72 (NET)

Context
7:1 When the wall had been rebuilt and I had positioned the doors , and the gatekeepers , the singers , and the Levites had been appointed , 7:2 I then put in charge over Jerusalem my brother Hanani and Hananiah the chief of the citadel , for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many do. 7:3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem must not be opened in the early morning , until those who are standing guard close the doors and lock them. Position residents of Jerusalem as guards , some at their guard stations and some near their homes .” 7:4 Now the city was spread out and large , and there were not a lot of people in it. At that time houses had not been rebuilt . 7:5 My God placed it on my heart to gather the leaders , the officials , and the ordinary people so they could be enrolled on the basis of genealogy . I found the genealogical records of those who had formerly returned . Here is what I found written in that record: 7:6 These are the people of the province who returned from the captivity of the exiles , whom King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had forced into exile . They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah , each to his own city . 7:7 They came with Zerubbabel , Jeshua , Nehemiah , Azariah , Raamiah , Nahamani , Mordecai , Bilshan , Mispereth , Bigvai , Nehum , and Baanah . The number of Israelite men was as follows: 7:8 the descendants of Parosh , 2,172 ; 7:9 the descendants of Shephatiah , 372 ; 7:10 the descendants of Arah , 652 ; 7:11 the descendants of Pahath-Moab (from the line of Jeshua and Joab ), 2,818 ; 7:12 the descendants of Elam , 1,254 ; 7:13 the descendants of Zattu , 845 ; 7:14 the descendants of Zaccai , 760 ; 7:15 the descendants of Binnui , 648 ; 7:16 the descendants of Bebai , 628 ; 7:17 the descendants of Azgad , 2,322 ; 7:18 the descendants of Adonikam , 667 ; 7:19 the descendants of Bigvai , 2,067 ; 7:20 the descendants of Adin , 655 ; 7:21 the descendants of Ater (through Hezekiah ), 98 ; 7:22 the descendants of Hashum , 328 ; 7:23 the descendants of Bezai , 324 ; 7:24 the descendants of Harif , 112 ; 7:25 the descendants of Gibeon , 95 ; 7:26 The men of Bethlehem and Netophah , 188 ; 7:27 the men of Anathoth , 128 ; 7:28 the men of the family of Azmaveth , 42 ; 7:29 the men of Kiriath Jearim , Kephirah , and Beeroth , 743 ; 7:30 the men of Ramah and Geba , 621 ; 7:31 the men of Micmash , 122 ; 7:32 the men of Bethel and Ai , 123 ; 7:33 the men of the other Nebo , 52 ; 7:34 the descendants of the other Elam , 1,254 ; 7:35 the descendants of Harim , 320 ; 7:36 the descendants of Jericho , 345 ; 7:37 the descendants of Lod , Hadid , and Ono , 721 ; 7:38 the descendants of Senaah , 3,930 . 7:39 The priests : the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua ), 973 ; 7:40 the descendants of Immer , 1,052 ; 7:41 the descendants of Pashhur , 1,247 ; 7:42 the descendants of Harim , 1,017 . 7:43 The Levites : the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel , through the line of Hodaviah ), 74 . 7:44 The singers : the descendants of Asaph , 148 . 7:45 The gatekeepers : the descendants of Shallum , the descendants of Ater , the descendants of Talmon , the descendants of Akkub , the descendants of Hatita , and the descendants of Shobai , 138 . 7:46 The temple servants : the descendants of Ziha , the descendants of Hasupha , the descendants of Tabbaoth , 7:47 the descendants of Keros , the descendants of Sia , the descendants of Padon , 7:48 the descendants of Lebanah , the descendants of Hagabah , the descendants of Shalmai , 7:49 the descendants of Hanan , the descendants of Giddel , the descendants of Gahar , 7:50 the descendants of Reaiah , the descendants of Rezin , the descendants of Nekoda , 7:51 the descendants of Gazzam , the descendants of Uzzah , the descendants of Paseah , 7:52 the descendants of Besai , the descendants of Meunim , the descendants of Nephussim , 7:53 the descendants of Bakbuk , the descendants of Hakupha , the descendants of Harhur , 7:54 the descendants of Bazluth , the descendants of Mehida , the descendants of Harsha , 7:55 the descendants of Barkos , the descendants of Sisera , the descendants of Temah , 7:56 the descendants of Neziah , the descendants of Hatipha . 7:57 The descendants of the servants of Solomon : the descendants of Sotai , the descendants of Sophereth , the descendants of Perida , 7:58 the descendants of Jaala , the descendants of Darkon , the descendants of Giddel , 7:59 the descendants of Shephatiah , the descendants of Hattil , the descendants of Pokereth-Hazzebaim , and the descendants of Amon . 7:60 All the temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon , 392 . 7:61 These are the ones who came up from Tel Melah , Tel Harsha , Kerub , Addon , and Immer (although they were unable to certify their family connection or their ancestry , as to whether they were really from Israel ): 7:62 the descendants of Delaiah , the descendants of Tobiah , and the descendants of Nekoda , 642 . 7:63 And from among the priests : the descendants of Hobaiah , the descendants of Hakkoz , and the descendants of Barzillai (who had married a woman from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name ). 7:64 They searched for their records in the genealogical materials , but none were found . They were therefore excluded from the priesthood . 7:65 The governor instructed them not to eat any of the sacred food until there was a priest who could consult the Urim and Thummim . 7:66 The entire group numbered 42,360 , 7:67 not counting their 7,337 male and female servants . They also had 245 male and female singers . 7:68 They had 736 horses, 245 mules, 7:69 435 camels , and 6,720 donkeys . 7:70 Some of the family leaders contributed to the work . The governor contributed to the treasury 1,000 gold drachmas , 50 bowls , and 530 priestly garments . 7:71 Some of the family leaders gave to the project treasury 20,000 gold drachmas and 2,200 silver minas . 7:72 What the rest of the people gave amounted to 20,000 gold drachmas , 2,000 silver minas , and 67 priestly garments .

Pericope

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Bible Dictionary

  • SOLOMON

    [isbe] SOLOMON - sol'-o-mun (shelomoh; New Testament Solomon): I. EARLY LIFE 1. Name and Meaning 2. Sources 3. Birth and Upbringing 4. His Accession 5. Closing Days of David II. REIGN OF SOLOMON 1. His Vision 2. His Policy 3. Its R...

  • Priest

    [ebd] The Heb. kohen, Gr. hierus, Lat. sacerdos, always denote one who offers sacrifices. At first every man was his own priest, and presented his own sacrifices before God. Afterwards that office devolved on the head of the famil...
    [nave] PRIEST. Before Moses Melchizedek, Gen. 14:18; Heb. 5:6, 10, 11; 6:20; 7:1-21. Jethro, Ex. 2:16. Priests in Israel before the giving of the law, Ex. 19:22, 24. Called angel, Eccl. 5:6. Mosaic Ex. 28:1-4; 29:9, 44; Num....

  • Nehemiah

    [ebd] comforted by Jehovah. (1.) Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7. (2.) Neh. 3:16. (3.) The son of Hachaliah (Neh. 1:1), and probably of the tribe of Judah. His family must have belonged to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:3). He was one of the "Jews of the d...
    [isbe] NEHEMIAH - ne-he-mi'-a, ne-hem-i'-a (nechemyah, "comforted of Yah"): 1. Family 2. Youth 3. King's Cupbearer 4. Governor of Judea 5. Death LITERATURE Nehemiah, the son of Hacaliah, is the Jewish patriot whose life is recorded...
    [smith] (consolation of the Lord). Son of Hachaliah, and apparently of the tribe of Judah. All that we know certainly concerning him is contained in the book which bears his name. We first find him at Shushan, the winter residence o...
    [nave] NEHEMIAH 1. Son of Hachaliah, Neh. 1:1. Cupbearer of Artaxerxes, Neh. 1:11; 2:1. Is grieved over the desolation of his country, Neh. 1. Is sent by the king to rebuild Jerusalem, Neh. 2:1-8. Register of the people whom he...

  • Minister

    [ebd] one who serves, as distinguished from the master. (1.) Heb. meshereth, applied to an attendant on one of superior rank, as to Joshua, the servant of Moses (Ex. 33:11), and to the servant of Elisha (2 Kings 4:43). This name i...

  • MONEY

    [ebd] Of uncoined money the first notice we have is in the history of Abraham (Gen. 13:2; 20:16; 24:35). Next, this word is used in connection with the purchase of the cave of Machpelah (23:16), and again in connection with Jacob'...
    [smith] Uncointed money. --It is well known that ancient nations that were without a coinage weighed the precious metals, a practice represented on the Egyptian monuments, on which gold and silver are shown to have been kept in the ...

  • Levites

    [nave] LEVITES The descendants of Levi. Set apart as ministers of religion, Num. 1:47-54; 3:6-16; 16:9; 26:57-62; Deut. 10:8; 1 Chr. 15:2. Substituted in the place of the firstborn, Num. 3:12, 41-45; 8:14, 16-18; 18:6. Religious ...

  • Jeshua

    [ebd] (1.) Head of the ninth priestly order (Ezra 2:36); called also Jeshuah (1 Chr. 24:11). (2.) A Levite appointed by Hezekiah to distribute offerings in the priestly cities (2 Chr. 31:15). (3.) Ezra 2:6; Neh. 7:11. (4.) Ezra 2:...
    [smith] (a saviour), another form of the name of Joshua of Jesus. Joshua the son of Nun. (Nehemiah 8:17) [JOSHUA] A priest in the reign of David, to whom the nine course fell by David, to whom the ninth course fell by lot. (1 Chr...
    [nave] JESHUA 1. Called also Jeshuah. A priest, head of the ninth course, 1 Chr. 24:11. Nine hundred and seventy-three of his descendants returned from Babylon, Ezra 2:36; Neh. 7:39. 2. A Levite, had charge of the tithes, 2 Chr. ...

  • Jehoiarib

    [ebd] Jehovah defends, a priest at Jerusalem, head of one of the sacerdotal courses (1 Chr. 9:10; 24:7). His "course" went up from Babylon after the Exile (Ezra 2:36-39; Neh. 7:39-42).

  • JESHUA; JESHUAH

    [isbe] JESHUA; JESHUAH - jesh'-u-a, je-shu'-a (yeshua`, "Yahweh is deliverance" or "opulence"; compare JOSHUA): (1) the King James Version "Jeshuah," head of the 9th course of priests, and possibly of "the house of Jeshua" (1 Ch 24...

  • Israel

    [nave] ISRAEL 1. A name given to Jacob, Gen. 32:24-32; 2 Kin. 17:34; Hos. 12:3, 4. 2. A name of the Christ in prophecy, Isa. 49:3. 3. A name given to the descendants of Jacob, a nation. Called also Israelites, and Hebrews, Gen. 4...

  • Genealogy

    [nave] GENEALOGY, Num. 1:18; 2 Chr. 12:15; Ezra 2:59; Neh. 7:5; Heb. 7:3. Of no spiritual significance, Matt. 3:9; 1 Tim. 1:4; Tit. 3:9. From Adam to Noah, Gen. 4:16-22; 5; 1 Chr. 1:1-4; Luke 3:36-38; to Abraham, Gen. 11:10-32; ...

  • GENEALOGY, 8 part 2

    [isbe] GENEALOGY, 8 part 2 - I. Primeval Genealogies (1 Chronicals 1:1-54). To show Israel's place among the nations; follows Genesis closely, omitting only the Cainites; boldly, skillfully compressed, as if the omitted facts were ...

  • GENEALOGY, 8 part 1

    [isbe] GENEALOGY, 8 part 1 - 8. Principal Genealogies and Lists: In the early genealogies the particular strata to which each has been assigned by reconstructive critics is here indicated by J, the Priestly Code (P), etc. The signs...

  • DARIC

    [ebd] in the Revised Version of 1 Chr. 29:7; Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Neh. 7:70-72, where the Authorized Version has "dram." It is the rendering of the Hebrew darkemon and the Greek dareikos. It was a gold coin, bearing the figure of a Pe...
    [isbe] DARIC - dar'-ik (darkemon, and 'adharkon; dareikos): A Persian gold coin about a guinea or five dollars in value. The first form of the word occurs in 1 Ch 29:7; Ezr 2:69, and Neh 7:70-72; the second in Ezr 8:27 and is rende...
    [smith] (from dara , a king), Authorized Version "dram," (1 Chronicles 29:7; Ezra 2:69; 8:27; Nehemiah 7:70,71,72) a gold coin current in Palestine in the period after the return from Babylon. It weighed 128 grains, and was worth ...

  • Choir

    [nave] CHOIR 2 Sam. 19:35; 1 Kin. 10:12; 1 Chr. 9:33; 15:16, 19, 27; 2 Chr. 5:12, 13; 9:11; 23:13; 29:28; 35:15, 25; Ezra 2:41, 65, 65, 70; 7:7; 10:24; Neh. 7:1, 44, 67, 67, 73; 10:28, 39; 11:22, 23; 12:28, 29, 31, 38, 40, 42, 45, ...

  • Camel

    [ebd] from the Hebrew gamal, "to repay" or "requite," as the camel does the care of its master. There are two distinct species of camels, having, however, the common characteristics of being "ruminants without horns, without muzzl...

  • COINS

    [isbe] COINS - koinz: There were no coins in use in Palestine until after the Captivity. It is not quite certain whether gold and silver were before that time divided into pieces of a certain weight for use as money or not, but the...

  • Ai

    [ebd] ruins. (1.) One of the royal cities of the Canaanites (Josh. 10:1; Gen. 12:8; 13:3). It was the scene of Joshua's defeat, and afterwards of his victory. It was the second Canaanite city taken by Israel (Josh. 7:2-5; 8:1-29)....

  • Addon

    [ebd] low, one of the persons named in Neh. 7:61 who could not "shew their father's house" on the return from captivity. This, with similar instances (ver. 63), indicates the importance the Jews attached to their genealogies.

  • Abijah

    [ebd] father (i.e., "possessor or worshipper") of Jehovah. (1.) 1 Chr. 7:8. (2.) 1 Chr. 2:24. (3.) The second son of Samuel (1 Sam. 8:2; 1 Chr. 6:28). His conduct, along with that of his brother, as a judge in Beer-sheba, to which...

Resources/Books

Expository Notes on the Bible (Constable)

  • The Book of Samuel covers the period of Israel's history bracketed by Samuel's conception and the end of David's reign. David turned the kingdom over to Solomon in 971 B.C.3David reigned for 40 and one-half years (2 Sam. 2:11...
  • This list clearly defines the priests and Levites' line of descent. Only the descendants of Aaron, the priests, could serve in the temple by offering sacrifices on the incense altar (v. 49; cf. Num. 3:5-38). Nehemiah correctl...
  • This chapter contains a record of the people who responded to Cyrus' decree and returned to the Promised Land. It is a list of families rather than individuals and the towns in Babylon from which they came. Almost all of thes...
  • The designations "sons of"and "men of"in these verses point out the two ways whereby the exiles demonstrated their Jewish ancestry: by family genealogy or by residence in Palestine. Few of the returning exiles had personally ...
  • "We may infer from this pericope as it is clearly stated in 1 Chr. 5:17 and Neh. 7:5 that Jewish families kept genealogies to prove their Jewish descent, and to ascertain that mixture with foreign groups was somehow excluded....
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. London: SCM Press, 1973._____. "The Temple Vessels--A Continuity Theme."Vetus Testamentum Supplement23 (1972):166-81.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmilla...
  • The years of history the book covers are 445-431 B.C. or perhaps a few years after that.In 445 B.C. (the twentieth year of Artaxerxes' reign, 1:1) Nehemiah learned of the conditions in Jerusalem that led him to request permis...
  • I. The fortification of Jerusalem chs. 1-7A. The return under Nehemiah chs. 1-21. The news concerning Jerusalem 1:1-32. The response of Nehemiah 1:4-113. The request of Nehemiah 2:1-84. The return to Jerusalem 2:9-20B. The re...
  • The month Chislev (v. 1) corresponds to our late November and early December. The year in view was the twentieth year of Artaxerxes' reign (i.e., 445-444 B.C.). Susa (or Shushan, in Hebrew) was a winter capital of Artaxerxes ...
  • The builders finished the walls only 52 days after construction had begun (v. 15). "Elul"is late August and early September. Israel's enemies viewed their rapid progress as evidence that God had helped the workers (v. 16)."Th...
  • This is not a list of the people who accompanied Nehemiah to Jerusalem in 444 B.C. but a record of those who returned with Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, and Jeshua in 537 B.C. (v. 7). It is almost identical to the list in Ezra 2.W...
  • One writer viewed chapters 8-13 (really 7:73-13:37) as the third part of the tripartite structure of Ezra-Nehemiah. Ezra 1:1-4 deals with "potentiality,"the decree to the community to build God's house. Ezra 1:5--Nehemiah 7:7...
  • Ackroyd, Peter R. I and II Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah. London: SCM Press, 1973.Aharoni, Yohanan, and Michael Avi-Yonah. The Macmillan Bible Atlas. Revised ed., New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977.Albright, William F. The...
  • Zechariah began ministering among the Jews who had returned from captivity in Babylon (i.e., the restoration community) two months after Haggai began preaching (1:1; 7:1; cf. Neh. 12:10-16; Hag. 1:1). In a sense, Zechariah's ...
  • This is the first of four oracles that appear within the visions that Zechariah saw. These were messages that the prophet was to deliver along with the revelation of the vision."The vision had lifted the veil which hides the ...
  • 2:1-2 In the next scene of his vision, Zechariah saw a man (i.e., an angel who looked like a man) with a measuring line in his hand (cf. 1:11; 6:12; Ezek. 40:2-3). When the prophet asked him where he was going, he replied tha...
  • 3:1 Zechariah's guiding angel next showed the prophet, in his vision, Joshua (lit. Yahweh saves), Israel's current high priest (6:11; Ezra 5:2; Neh. 7:7; Hag. 1:1), standing before the angel of the Lord (1:11-12). "The accuse...
  • 7:1 Another prophetic message came to Zechariah from the Lord in 518 B.C. The fourth day of the ninth month would have been in early December. Chislev is the Babylonian name of the month. This message, which comprises the fol...
  • Paul concluded his exhortations concerning Christian living with instructions pertaining to three essential practices for those in Christ. He wanted to impress their importance on his readers. One exhortation dealt with his r...
  • A. Women served in the doorway of the Tabernacle (Exod. 38:8; 1 Sam. 2:22).The same word (saba) is used of their work as that of the Levites. These women were probably widows who devoted themselves to the service of God.B. Mi...
  • 7:1-2 The writer referred to Melchizedek (lit. righteous king, probably a title rather than a proper name) as the head of a priestly order. It was not uncommon for one individual to combine the roles of priest and king in ant...
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