Nehemiah 11:1-24

1. The residents of Jerusalem 11:1-24

Some leaders had already chosen to live in Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11:1). Nehemiah initiated a plan to determine which one family in ten, of those not living in the city, would move into it (Nehemiah 11:1). Additional immigrants volunteered to live there (Nehemiah 11:2). There was a cross section of leaders, therefore, who lived in Jerusalem, while other leaders lived in the other towns of Judah (Nehemiah 11:3).

"The city wall was built, and now a new measure to safeguard the city was instituted, namely, to repopulate it." [Note: Fensham, p. 244.]

The residents of Jerusalem included Jews from the tribes of Judah (Nehemiah 11:4-6) and Benjamin (Nehemiah 11:7-9). There were twice as many from Benjamin as from Judah. There were priests (Nehemiah 11:10-14), Levites (Nehemiah 11:15-18), and gatekeepers (Nehemiah 11:19). The rest lived in the outlying towns (Nehemiah 11:20), except for the temple servants (Nehemiah 11:21). The Ophel was apparently a leveled mini-valley (or perhaps a low hill) between the City of David and the temple area. [Note: Breneman, p. 259.] Pethahiah appears to have been an adviser to the Persian king (Artaxerxes) in matters of Jewish affairs (Nehemiah 11:24). Compare 1 Chronicles 9:2-34 for a similar list. Estimates of Jerusalem’s population at this time vary from 4,800 [Note: M. Broshi, "La population de l’ancienne Jerusalem," Revue Biblique 92 (1975):9-10.] to 8,000 [Note: D. E. Gowan, Bridge Between the Testaments, p. 20.] .