Nehemiah 7

Nehemiah 7 is the seventh chapter of the Book of Nehemiah in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible,[1] or the 17th chapter of the book of Ezra-Nehemiah in the Hebrew Bible, which treats the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah as one book.[2] Jewish tradition states that Ezra is the author of Ezra-Nehemiah as well as the Book of Chronicles,[3] but modern scholars generally accept that a compiler from the 5th century BCE (the so-called "Chronicler") is the final author of these books.[4] This chapter records the joint appointments of Hanani and Hananiah over Jerusalem and the second appearance of the Golah ("exiles") list, that is, the list of the first returning group of Jews from Babylon, which was documented earlier in Ezra 2 with few variations.[5]

Nehemiah 7
Nehemiah rebuilds the walls of Jerusalem. Illustration from the Bible Encyclopedia.
BookBook of Nehemiah
CategoryKetuvim
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part16

Text

The original text of this chapter is in Hebrew language. This chapter is divided into 73 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Hebrew are of the Masoretic Text, which includes Codex Leningradensis (1008).[6][lower-alpha 1]

There is also a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint, made in the last few centuries BCE. Extant ancient manuscripts of the Septuagint version include Codex Vaticanus (B; B; 4th century), Codex Sinaiticus (S; BHK: S; 4th century), and Codex Alexandrinus (A; A; 5th century).[8]

An ancient Greek book called 1 Esdras (Greek: Ἔσδρας Αʹ) containing some parts of 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah is included in most editions of the Septuagint and is placed before the single book of Ezra–Nehemiah (which is titled in Greek: Ἔσδρας Βʹ). 1 Esdras 9:37-55 is an equivalent of Nehemiah 7:73-8:12 (The reading of the Law).[9][10]

Vigilance (7:1–3)

The wall around Jerusalem was not the ultimate security but 'a necessary defense and dynamic distinctive symbol' of the Jews among the surrounding nations, so the inhabitants have to participate in the system to protect the city.[11]

Verses 1–2
1 Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, 2 I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many.[12]

Verse 4
Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt.[14]

The Revised Standard Version reads ... no houses had been built, the Revised Version, the houses were not builded. H. E. Ryle counsels against a literal interpretation of these words, suggesting that the real meaning was that there were large open spaces within the walls where more houses could be built.[15]

The census (7:4–73)

The defensive measures implemented by Nehemiah, Hanani and Hananiah were only for short-term, because the bigger goal was to reestablish Jerusalem as the center of Jewish culture and religious purity, so it has to be repopulated from some people who then lived outside the city.[16] Nehemiah was looking for Jews with veriable heritage to send some family members to populate Jerusalem, but instead of starting a census, he used the original listing of those who had been the first to return which specified clan origins.[16] This list is almost an exact replication of the one in Ezra 2, with slight variations likely due to the transcribing and transmission over time.[16]

Verse 7
Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;[17]
Ezra 2:2      Nehemiah 7:7
SeraiahAzariah
ReelaiahRaamiah
MisparMispereth
RehumNehum

See also

Notes
  1. Since the anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo in 1947, the whole book of Ezra-Nehemiah has been missing from the text of the Aleppo Codex.[7]

References
  1. Halley 1965, p. 236.
  2. Grabbe 2003, p. 313.
  3. Babylonian Talmud Baba Bathra 15a, apud Fensham 1982, p. 2
  4. Fensham 1982, pp. 2–4.
  5. Smith-Christopher 2007, p. 320.
  6. Würthwein 1995, pp. 36-37.
  7. P. W. Skehan (2003), "BIBLE (TEXTS)", New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2 (2nd ed.), Gale, pp. 355–362
  8. Würthwein 1995, pp. 73-74.
  9. Catholic Encyclopedia: Esdras: THE BOOKS OF ESDRAS: III Esdras
  10. Jewish Encyclopedia: Esdras, Books of: I Esdras
  11. Larson, Dahlen & Anders 2005, pp. 206–207.
  12. Nehemiah 7:1–2 ESV
  13. Note on Nehemiah 7:2 in NKJV
  14. Nehemiah 7:4: New King James Version
  15. Ryle, H. E., Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges on Nehemiah 7], accessed 7 September 2020
  16. Larson, Dahlen & Anders 2005, p. 208.
  17. Nehemiah 7:7 KJV
  18. McConville 1985, p. 14.
  19. Grabbe 2003, p. 314.
  20. Notes [a] on Ezra 3:2 in NKJV
  21. Notes [a], [b], [c], [d] on Ezra 2:2 and notes [a], [b] on Nehemiah 7:7 in NKJV

Sources

Further reading
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