Bible Commentaries

II. Nehemiah's Further Exertions in Behalfof the Community - Nehemiah 7:1

The building of the wall being now concluded, Nehemiah first madearrangements for securing the city against hostile attacks (Nehemiah 7:1-3); thentook measures to increase the inhabitants of Jerusalem (7:4-73 and Nehemiah 11:1 and Nehemiah 11:2); and finally endeavoured to fashion domestic and civil life accordingto the precepts of the law (Neh 8-10), and, on the occasion of the solemndedication of the wall, to set in order the services of the Levites (Neh 12).

Nehemiah 7:1-2

The watching of the city provided for. - Nehemiah 7:1 When the wall wasbuilt, Nehemiah set up the doors in the gates, to complete the fortificationof Jerusalem (comp. Nehemiah 6:1). Then were the gatekeepers, the singers, andthe Levites entrusted with the care (הפּקד, praefici; comp. Nehemiah 12:14). The care of watching the walls and gates is meant in thisconnection. According to ancient appointment, it was the duty of thedoorkeepers to keep watch over the house of God, and to open and closethe gates of the temple courts; comp. 1 Chronicles 9:17-19; 1 Chronicles 26:12-19. Thesingers and the Levites appointed to assist the priests, on the contrary,had, in ordinary times, nothing to do with the service of watching. Underthe present extraordinary circumstances, however, Nehemiah committedalso to these two organized corporations the task of keeping watch overthe walls and gates of the city, and placed them under the command of hisbrother Hanani, and of Hananiah the ruler of the citadel. This is expressedby the words, Nehemiah 7:2: I gave Hanani … and Hananiah … charge over Jerusalem. הבּירה is the fortress or citadel of the city lying to the north ofthe temple (see rem. on Nehemiah 2:8), in which was probably located the royalgarrison, the commander of which was in the service of the Persian king. The choice of this man for so important a charge is explained by theadditional clause: “for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.”The כּ before אישׁ is the so-called Caph veritatis, which expressesa comparison with the idea of the matter: like a man whom one may trulycall faithful. מרבּים is comparative: more God-fearing thanmany.

Nehemiah 7:3

The Chethiv ויאמר is both here and Nehemiah 5:9 certainly aclerical error for the Keri ואמר, though in this place, at allevents, we might read ויּאמר, it was said to them. “The gates ofJerusalem are not to be opened till the sun be hot; and while they (thewatch) are yet at their posts, they are to shut the doors and lock them; andye shall appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some to be attheir watch-posts, others before their house.” יגיפוּ inHebrew is used only here, though more frequently in the Talmud, ofclosing the doors. אחז, to make fast, i.e., to lock, as morefrequently in Syriac. The infin. absol. העמיד instead of thetemp. fin. is emphatic: and you are to appoint. The sense is: the gates areto be occupied before daybreak by the Levites (singers and other Levites)appointed to guard them, and not opened till the sun is hot and the watchalready at their posts, and to be closed in the evening before the departureof the watch. After the closing of the gates, i.e., during the night, theinhabitants of Jerusalem are to keep watch for the purpose of defendingthe city from any kind of attack, a part occupying the posts, and the otherpart watching before their (each before his own) house, so as to be at handto defend the city.

Nehemiah 7:4

The measures taken by Nehemiah for increasing the number of theinhabitants of Jerusalem. - Nehemiah 7:4 The city was spacious and great, and thepeople few therein, and houses were not built. ידים רחבת, broads on both sides, that is, regarded from the centre towardseither the right or left hand. The last clause does not say that there were nohouses at all, for the city had been re-inhabited for ninety years; but onlythat houses had not been built in proportion to the size of the city, thatthere was still much unoccupied space on which houses might be built.

And God put into my heart, i.e., God inspired me with the resolution;comp. Nehemiah 2:12. What resolution, is declared by the sentences following,which detail its execution. The resolution to gather together the nobles andrulers of the people for the purpose of making a list of their kinsmen, andthus to obtain a basis for the operations contemplated for increasing theinhabitants of Jerusalem. והסּגנים החרים arecombined, as in Nehemiah 2:16. On התיחשׂ, comp. 1 Chronicles 5:17.

While this resolve was under consideration, Nehemiah found the register,i.e., the genealogical registry, of those who came up at first (fromBabylon). בּראשׁונה, at the beginning, i.e., with Zerubbabeland Joshua under Cyrus (Ezra 2), and not subsequently with Ezra (Ezra7). “And I found written therein.” These words introduce the list nowgiven. This list, vv. 6-73a, is identical with that in Ezra 2, and has beenalready discussed in our remarks on that chapter.