Some leaders had already chosen to live in Jerusalem (v. 1). Nehemiah initiated a plan to determine which one family in ten of those not living in the city would move into it (v. 1). Additional immigrants volunteered to live there (v. 2). There was a cross section of leaders, therefore, who lived in Jerusalem while other leaders lived in the other towns of Judah (v. 3).
"The city wall was built, and now a new measure to safeguard the city was instituted, namely, to repopulate it."77
The residents of Jerusalem included Jews from the tribes of Judah (vv. 4-6) and Benjamin (vv. 7-9). There were twice as many from Benjamin as from Judah. There were priests (vv. 10-14), Levites (vv. 15-18), and gatekeepers (v. 19). The rest lived in the outlying towns (v. 20) except for the temple servants (v. 21). The Ophel was apparently a levelled mini-valley (or perhaps a low hill) between the City of David and the temple area.78Pethahiah appears to have been an adviser to the Persian king (Artaxerxes) in matters of Jewish affairs (v. 24).79
Estimates of Jerusalem's population at this time vary from 4,80080to 8,00081.
