Nehemiah Chapter 7 verse 5 Holy Bible

Pulpit Commentary

Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, etc. As Nehemiah contemplated the vast empty spaces within the city walls, and considered with himself how they might best be peopled, the thought came to him - and he hailed it as a Divine inspiration - that by taking a census of the people he might pave the way for some transfer of the inhabitants of the country districts into the capital, which would at any rate strengthen the latter, and lessen the desolate appearance of its streets and squares, which had so pained him. The census would show what proportion the country and town populations bore to each other, and would point out which were the places in the country districts that could best afford to lose a portion of their inhabitants. A census, therefore was resolved upon, and, according to ordinary Jewish usage (Numbers 1:17-47; 1 Chronicles 21:5, 6; Ezra 2:3-62), it was genealogical. The tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were numbered separately (Nehemiah 11:4-19); and in the tribe of Judah the children of Pharez were reckoned apart from those of Zerah (1 Chronicles 9:4, 6). No doubt the genealogical principle was acted upon throughout, but further evidence upon the point is wanting. It would seem to have been in the course of his preparations for this census, perhaps in searching for precedents, that Nehemiah found the "register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first," which is the subject of the next section. CHAPTER 7:6-73 THE REGISTER OF THOSE WHO RETURNED UNDER ZERUBBABEL, WITH THE NUMBER OF THEIR SLAVES, BEASTS, AND OBLATIONS (Nehemiah 7:6-73). It is no doubt a curious circumstance that this list should occur twice, with no important differences, in the two Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Perhaps it was not in the original Ezra, that writer not having had the good fortune to "find" the document; but Nehemiah having "found" it and inserted it here, in connection with its discovery, a later arranger (Malachi?) removed it to the early part of Ezra, because it belonged to that portion of the Jewish history chronologically. The double record enables us to make out a more perfect catalogue than we could have obtained from either separately,-since there are corruptions in each which may be corrected by means of the other. See the comment which follows.

Ellicott's Commentary

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(5-73) The genealogical reckoning of the people, as the first step towards increasing the population of the metropolis, is determined on, not without express Divine suggestion; the allusion to this inspiration from God, is, as in Nehemiah 2:12, very emphatic. The original register of Zerubbabelis found and copied. The express language of both Ezra and Nehemiah makes it plain that this is no other than the list of those who came up with Zerubbabel and Joshua after the decree of Cyrus, in B.C. 538. Nehemiah's own census follows, in Nehemiah 11. The exposition, especially as compared with Ezra 2, has been given on that chapter.