John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 11:3
Now these are the chief of the province that dwelt in Jerusalem ,.... That is, of Judea, reduced to a province by the king of Babylon, and now a province of the Persian monarchy: but in the cities of Judah dwelt everyone in his possession in their cities ; in which they or their ancestors had formerly dwelt: to wit, Israel: the people in general of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and such of the other tribes that returned with them: the priests, and the Levites, and the Nethinims,... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Nehemiah 11:1-19
Jerusalem is called here the holy city (Neh. 11:1), because there the temple was, and that was the place God had chosen to put his name there; upon this account, one would think, the holy seed should all have chosen to dwell there and have striven for a habitation there; but, on the contrary, it seems they declined dwelling there, 1. Because a greater strictness of conversation was expected from the inhabitants of Jerusalem than from others, which they were not willing to come up to. Those who... read more