Nehemiah 7: What the Passage Says

The Chapter in a Sentence

With the wall finished and the doors hung, Nehemiah puts Hanani and Hananiah in charge of Jerusalem and sets rules for guarding the gates. The city is large but thinly settled, and his God puts it in his heart to gather the people to be listed by family line, and he finds the register of those who first returned from exile in Babylon. That list is copied out here: families, towns, priests, Levites, singers, gatekeepers, temple servants, totals of people and animals, and gifts given for the work. It ends with the people settled in their own towns by the seventh month.

Claim by Claim

1. 7:1
   • The wall was built.
   • Nehemiah had set up the doors in the gates.
   • The gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites were appointed.
2. 7:2
   • Nehemiah put his brother Hanani in charge over Jerusalem.
   • Nehemiah put Hananiah, the commander of the fortress, in charge over Jerusalem.
   • He was a faithful man.
   • He feared God more than many did.
3. 7:3
   • Nehemiah told them not to let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun was hot.
   • Nehemiah told them that while the guards were still standing on duty, the doors were to be shut and barred.
   • Nehemiah told them to appoint watches from the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
   • Each was to be at his own watch post.
   • Each was to be stationed opposite his own house.
4. 7:4
   • The city was wide and large.
   • The people within the city were few.
   • The houses had not been rebuilt.
5. 7:5
   • Nehemiah's God put it into his heart to gather the nobles, the officials, and the people.
   • The purpose of gathering them was that they might be enrolled by genealogy.
   • Nehemiah found the genealogical register of those who had come up first.
   • Nehemiah found the following written in that register.
6. 7:6
   • These are the people of the province who went up out of the captivity.
   • They were among those who had been carried into exile.
   • Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried them away.
   • They returned to Jerusalem and to Judah.
   • Each returned to his own city.
7. 7:7
   • They came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah.
   • What follows is the number of the men of the people of Israel.
8. 7:8
   • The descendants of Parosh numbered 2,172.
9. 7:9
   • The descendants of Shephatiah numbered 372.
10. 7:10
    • The descendants of Arah numbered 652.
11. 7:11
    • The descendants of Pahath-moab, through the line of Jeshua and Joab, numbered 2,818.
12. 7:12
    • The descendants of Elam numbered 1,254.
13. 7:13
    • The descendants of Zattu numbered 845.
14. 7:14
    • The descendants of Zaccai numbered 760.
15. 7:15
    • The descendants of Binnui numbered 648.
16. 7:16
    • The descendants of Bebai numbered 628.
17. 7:17
    • The descendants of Azgad numbered 2,322.
18. 7:18
    • The descendants of Adonikam numbered 667.
19. 7:19
    • The descendants of Bigvai numbered 2,067.
20. 7:20
    • The descendants of Adin numbered 655.
21. 7:21
    • The descendants of Ater, through Hezekiah, numbered 98.
22. 7:22
    • The descendants of Hashum numbered 328.
23. 7:23
    • The descendants of Bezai numbered 324.
24. 7:24
    • The descendants of Hariph numbered 112.
25. 7:25
    • The descendants of Gibeon numbered 95.
26. 7:26
    • The men of Bethlehem and Netophah numbered 188.
27. 7:27
    • The men of Anathoth numbered 128.
28. 7:28
    • The men of Beth-azmaveth numbered 42.
29. 7:29
    • The men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth numbered 743.
30. 7:30
    • The men of Ramah and Geba numbered 621.
31. 7:31
    • The men of Michmash numbered 122.
32. 7:32
    • The men of Bethel and Ai numbered 123.
33. 7:33
    • The men of the other Nebo numbered 52.
34. 7:34
    • The descendants of the other Elam numbered 1,254.
35. 7:35
    • The descendants of Harim numbered 320.
36. 7:36
    • The people of Jericho numbered 345.
37. 7:37
    • The people of Lod, Hadid, and Ono numbered 721.
38. 7:38
    • The descendants of Senaah numbered 3,930.
39. 7:39
    • What follows is the count of the priests.
    • The descendants of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, numbered 973.
40. 7:40
    • The descendants of Immer numbered 1,052.
41. 7:41
    • The descendants of Pashhur numbered 1,247.
42. 7:42
    • The descendants of Harim numbered 1,017.
43. 7:43
    • What follows is the count of the Levites.
    • The descendants of Jeshua, through Kadmiel, of the descendants of Hodevah, numbered 74.
44. 7:44
    • What follows is the count of the singers.
    • The descendants of Asaph numbered 148.
45. 7:45
    • What follows is the count of the gatekeepers.
    • The gatekeepers were the descendants of Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita, and Shobai.
    • The gatekeepers numbered 138.
46. 7:46
    • What follows is the list of the temple servants.
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Ziha, the descendants of Hasupha, and the descendants of Tabbaoth.
47. 7:47
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Keros, the descendants of Sia, and the descendants of Padon.
48. 7:48
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Lebana, the descendants of Hagaba, and the descendants of Shalmai.
49. 7:49
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Hanan, the descendants of Giddel, and the descendants of Gahar.
50. 7:50
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Reaiah, the descendants of Rezin, and the descendants of Nekoda.
51. 7:51
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Gazzam, the descendants of Uzza, and the descendants of Paseah.
52. 7:52
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Besai, the descendants of Meunim, and the descendants of Nephushesim.
53. 7:53
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Bakbuk, the descendants of Hakupha, and the descendants of Harhur.
54. 7:54
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Bazlith, the descendants of Mehida, and the descendants of Harsha.
55. 7:55
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Barkos, the descendants of Sisera, and the descendants of Temah.
56. 7:56
    • The temple servants included the descendants of Neziah and the descendants of Hatipha.
57. 7:57
    • What follows is the list of the descendants of Solomon's servants.
    • They included the descendants of Sotai, the descendants of Sophereth, and the descendants of Perida.
58. 7:58
    • The descendants of Solomon's servants included the descendants of Jaala, the descendants of Darkon, and the descendants of Giddel.
59. 7:59
    • The descendants of Solomon's servants included the descendants of Shephatiah, the descendants of Hattil, the descendants of Pochereth of Zebaim, and the descendants of Amon.
60. 7:60
    • All the temple servants together with the descendants of Solomon's servants numbered 392.
61. 7:61
    • These also went up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer.
    • They could not show their father's house or their descent.
    • They could not show whether they were of Israel.
62. 7:62
    • The descendants of Delaiah, the descendants of Tobiah, and the descendants of Nekoda numbered 642.
63. 7:63
    • Among the priests were the descendants of Habaiah, the descendants of Hakkoz, and the descendants of Barzillai.
    • Barzillai had taken a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite.
    • He was called by their name.
64. 7:64
    • These men searched for their entry among those enrolled by genealogy.
    • Their record was not found.
    • They were therefore excluded from the priesthood as unclean.
65. 7:65
    • The governor told them that they should not eat of the most holy things.
    • The prohibition was to last until a priest stood up with Urim and Thummim.
66. 7:66
    • The whole assembly together numbered 42,360.
67. 7:67
    • This number did not include their male and female servants.
    • Their male and female servants numbered 7,337.
    • They had 245 male and female singers.
68. 7:68
    • Their horses numbered 736.
    • Their mules numbered 245.
69. 7:69
    • Their camels numbered 435.
    • Their donkeys numbered 6,720.
70. 7:70
    • Some of the heads of the families gave toward the work.
    • The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 gold darics.
    • The governor gave 50 basins.
    • The governor gave 530 priestly garments.
71. 7:71
    • Some of the heads of the families gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 gold darics.
    • They gave 2,200 minas of silver.
72. 7:72
    • The rest of the people gave 20,000 gold darics.
    • The rest of the people gave 2,000 minas of silver.
    • The rest of the people gave 67 priestly garments.
73. 7:73
    • The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel settled in their cities.
    • When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

Words Worth Explaining

Every language note in this chapter, gathered. These explain what a word meant, never what it means for the reader.

7:1

Levites were members of the tribe of Levi who were not priests; they did the supporting work of the temple, music, gatekeeping, maintenance, and assisting at the sacrifices. Gatekeepers and singers were hereditary temple offices, not casual jobs.

7:2

The "fortress" (Hebrew *birah*) was the citadel next to the temple that controlled access to it. The King James "he was a faithful man" leaves it unclear whether the description belongs to Hanani or to Hananiah; the Hebrew is equally ambiguous.

7:3

City gates were normally opened at first light. Holding them shut until the sun was high meant opening them only when the streets were busy and the guards fully alert, and closing them again while the guards were still at their posts rather than after they had gone off duty.

7:4

The rebuilt wall enclosed the full area of the old pre exile city, but the returned population was a fraction of what had once filled it. Jerusalem was a large shell with empty lots inside, which is the problem chapter 11 later solves by moving people in.

7:5

Family records mattered practically: they established who could claim ancestral land, who counted as an Israelite, and above all who was eligible to serve as a priest. See verses 61-65, where men who could not produce their records lost their standing.

7:6

"The province" is Judah as an administrative district of the Persian Empire (called Yehud). Nebuchadnezzar deported the population of Judah to Babylon in stages, ending with the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC; the first groups returned about fifty years later under Persian rule.

7:7

The Nehemiah named here is not the author of the book: this is a list of leaders from the earlier return, roughly a century before Nehemiah's own time. Nearly the same list appears in Ezra 2, though some of the numbers differ between the two copies.

7:8

"The descendants of Parosh" and the entries like it name extended family groups by their ancestor; the figures count adult males, so the actual population of each group was larger.

7:11

Pahath-moab means "governor of Moab." The clan kept as its family name an official title one of its ancestors had held, in the way a family might carry a surname like Marshal or Constable.

7:14

The King James counts in scores, where a score is twenty. "Threescore" is sixty, "fourscore" is eighty, so "seven hundred and threescore" is 760.

7:25

From here the list changes basis: instead of naming an ancestor, it names a town, and counts the men whose families belonged to that place. Both ways of registering appear side by side because some returning families identified themselves by clan and others by ancestral home.

7:26

The King James says "fourscore," which means eighty.

7:33

"The other Nebo" distinguishes this village in Judah from the better-known Mount Nebo east of the Jordan.

7:39

Priests were the descendants of Aaron, a subgroup within the tribe of Levi, and alone could offer sacrifices. Note the proportion: over four thousand priests returned but only seventy-four Levites (verse 43).

7:43

Seventy four Levites against more than four thousand priests is a startling imbalance. The Levites did the heavy, unglamorous temple work for lower status and no share in the sacrificial portions, and most of them evidently chose to stay in Babylon.

7:44

Asaph was a temple musician appointed in David's time; his descendants formed a guild responsible for the singing that accompanied worship.

7:45

Gatekeepers were not doormen. They controlled who entered the temple courts and in what state of ritual purity, guarded the storerooms and their contents, and opened and closed the complex each day. It was a position of trust rather than a menial one.

7:46

The King James "Nethinims" transliterates a Hebrew word meaning "the given ones", a class of servants assigned to the temple for its heavy and menial work, such as hauling wood and water. Many of the names in this list are foreign, suggesting the group originated as prisoners of war or resident foreigners attached to the sanctuary.

7:57

A second servant class, understood as descendants of the labor force Solomon conscripted for his building projects. They are counted together with the temple servants in verse 60.

7:61

Tel-melah, Tel-harsha and the rest were settlements in Babylonia where deported Judeans had lived. These families came back with everyone else but had no documents proving Israelite descent.

7:62

This Tobiah is a clan ancestor, not Tobiah the Ammonite who spends the earlier chapters trying to stop Nehemiah building the wall. The name was common.

7:63

Ordinarily a family line was traced through the father. This priest had married into the prominent Gileadite family of Barzillai and taken their name instead, which is exactly what made his own priestly descent impossible to document.

7:64

"Unclean" here is a matter of ritual status, not morality or misconduct: without proof of descent they were not qualified to handle holy things, so they were barred from priestly duty.

7:65

The King James "Tirshatha" is a Persian title for a provincial governor. The "most holy things" were the portions of the offerings reserved for priests to eat, a right that came with the office. The Urim and Thummim were objects kept by the high priest and used to obtain a yes-or-no answer from God; the ruling effectively suspends the question indefinitely, since no such priest was available.

7:66

The individual figures listed above add up to roughly 31,000, well short of this total. The same gap appears in the parallel list in Ezra 2, and no explanation is given in either text.

7:67

These singers are not the temple singers of verse 44; they were household performers, an indication that some of the returning families were wealthy.

7:69

The King James word "asses" means donkeys. They were the ordinary pack animal and the backbone of the caravan, which is why there are nearly ten times as many of them as horses.

7:70

The gold coins were darics, a Persian coin of about a third of an ounce (8.4 grams) of gold, a substantial sum each. The bowls were vessels for catching and pouring the blood of sacrifices. The clothing was the specialized garments a priest had to wear on duty.

7:71

The King James "pound" here renders the mina, a weight of silver of roughly 1.25 pounds (about 570 grams), reckoned at fifty or sixty shekels depending on the standard used.

7:72

A mina was a weight for silver. Silver was weighed on a scale instead of counted like coins.

7:73

The seventh month, Tishri, falls in September-October and carried three major observances: the day of trumpet blasts, the Day of Atonement, and the week-long Feast of Booths. The remark sets up the assembly described in the next chapter.