Nehemiah 11, Resettlement of Jerusalem

The leaders of Israel (including Levites and priests) have written out and signed a commitment to follow the Law and support the temple. Meanwhile, as the exiles return to their family lands, Jerusalem is underpopulated. (It is possible, suggests Yamauchi, that in the Babylon captivity Jerusalem suffered more casualties than other regions.)

Nehemiah 11: 1-2, Resettling Jerusalem

Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.

The leaders deliberately resettle Jerusalem, partially by assigning one in ten to move into the service.

Nehemiah 11: 3-14, Leaders move into Jerusalem

These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon's servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on his own property in the various towns,while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem): From the descendants of Judah: Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez; and Maaseiah son of Baruch, the son of Col-Hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, a descendant of Shelah.
     The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 able men.

     From the descendants of Benjamin: Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah, and his followers, Gabbai and Sallai--928 men.

     Joel son of Zicri was their chief officer, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.

From the priests: Jedaiah; the son of Joiarib; Jakin; Seraiah son of Hilkiah, the son of Meshullam, the son of Zadok, the son of Meraioth, the son of Ahitub, supervisor in the house of God, and their associates, who carried on work for the temple--822 men; 

    Adaiah son of Jeroham, the son of Pelaliah, the son of Amzi, the son of Zechariah, the son of Pashhur, the son of Malkijah, and his associates, who were heads of families--242 men; 

    Amashsai son of Azarel, the son of Ahzai, the son of Meshillemoth, the son of Immer, and his associates, who were able men--128. 

    Their chief officer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.

 

We have a list of people moving into Jerusalem. Our author, as before, wants precise records. 1 Chronicles 9: 2-21 has a list of people who resettled in Jerusalem. There is considerable overlap between that list and the list in this chapter. (Is this evidence that the author of the scroll of Chronicles is the same as the author of the Ezra-Nehemiah scroll? Or evidence that the authors are different?)

Nehemiah 11: 15-19, Levites and gatekeepers

From the Levites: 

     Shemaiah son of Hasshub, the son of Azrikam, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Bunni; 

     Shabbethai and Jozabad, two of the heads of the Levites, who had charge of the outside work of the house of God; 

     Mattaniah son of Mica, the son of Zabdi, the son of Asaph, the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer; 

     Bakbukiah, second among his associates; and Abda son of Shammua, the son of Galal, the son of Jeduthun.

     The Levites in the holy city totaled 284.

The gatekeepers: Akkub, Talmon and their associates, who kept watch at the gates--172 men.
 

Numerous Levites move into Jerusalem. Throughout this return to Judah, the Levites have been in short supply.

Nehemiah 11: 20-24, The rest...

The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on his ancestral property. The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them.

The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mica. Uzzi was one of Asaph's descendants, who were the singers responsible for the service of the house of God.

The singers were under the king's orders, which regulated their daily activity.

Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king's agent in all affairs relating to the people.

 

Here appear some ad-hoc details of people who settled nearby.

Nehemiah 11: 25-35, Nearby villages

As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages, in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet, in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements, in Ziklag, in Meconah and its settlements, in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom.

The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Micmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements, in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah, in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim, in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat, in Lod and Ono, and in the Valley of the Craftsmen.

A number of people settled in nearby villages and so we have a long list here of settled towns. A list of Judean towns from the days of Joshua (almost one thousand years before) given in Joshua 15. Ezra 2: 21-35 has a similar but different list of villages in Judah from the time after the exile. According to Yamauchi, this list apparently describes a smaller region than the region of Judah prior to the exile.

Many of these towns do not appear in earlier Israelite history.  However, Beersheba (verse 27) appears throughout the Old Testament story, beginning in Genesis 21: 22-34. It is the southernmost of the towns and often represented the southern boundary of Judah. Ziglag (in verse 28) is described in 1 Samuel 27: 6 as the ancient town given to David by the Philistines; Zorah (verse 29) is the ancient town of Samson's father (Judges 13:2.) In Joshua 10: 3-5, five Philistine Canaanite towns join forces against Joshua and the Israelites; Jarmuth (verse 29, above) is one of them, as is Lachish (verse 30). Lachish also has a rich history, being an important city near Jerusalem. It was where king Amaziah was murdered (see 2 Kings 14: 19) and was  fortified by Judean kings as the Babylonian army approached (see Jeremiah 34: 7, for example.)

In the days of Joshua, the tribe of Benjamin settled north of the tribe of Judah and so the descendants of Benjamin return again to towns north of Jerusalem, such as Geba, fortified by King Asa (1 Kings 15: 22), Aija is Ai, says Yamauchi, infamous from Joshua 7-8. Bethel, like Beersheba, also appears throughout Old Testament history, visited by Abram in Genesis 12: 8 (note that Ai is also mentioned there.) The town of Lod (verse 35) exists today; the Ben Gurion airport at Tel Aviv sits on its northern boundary so if you have flown into Israel, you have landed at the community of Lod. Ono, near modern Tel Aviv, appears in Nehemiah 6: 1-4, when Sanballat and his crew attempt to kidnap Nehemiah.

Nehemiah 11: 25-36, Levites in Benjamin

Some of the divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin.

Levites are needed everywhere to aid in worship and, since the days of Joshua, are given no specific region or towns as their own. So some Levites must settle in Benjamin.