Nehemiah 7 contains the listing of the 42,360 people who, with their slaves and animals, had made up the first and largest return from Babylon. This group was under the leadership of the governor Zerubbabel and the priest Jeshua (v7). It is the same record that is in Ezra 2. The “Nehemiah” and “Mordecai” mentioned (Ezra 2:2; Neh. 7:7) are of interest. It is possible they are the same as the Nehemiah whose life we have been studying and the Mordecai in the Esther story. If they were, then they returned to Babylon for their work there. The Esther story occurred between the time covered by Ezra and Nehemiah. Nehemiah returned to rebuild the walls after the temple had been finished which took 20 years from the time of this first return. Others believe they are different men by the same name.
The amazing thing about these two records is
that they are essentially the same. It
is likely that Ezra’s record was made in Babylon before they left, since that’s
where he was at the time. He did not come to Jerusalem until Ezra 7, after the
dedication of the temple. Nehemiah’s
account apparently was found in archives in Jerusalem and was likely made by
Zerubbabel after they arrived. Of course,
being the Bible, we expect an exact replication of the record in Nehemiah. From the commentaries the differences could
be as simple as …
·
The same person called by a different name. That was not uncommon in the day, for a
person to go by different names.
·
Changes in status. Perhaps deaths that occurred after the
original registration but before the second registration. Or changes of mind, either to stay in Babylon
or someone making a late decision to go.
As we have said, there are few differences,
and the multitude of identical names and numbers indicates the genuineness of
Nehemiah’s record.
As to why Nehemiah decided to repeat the
record, he himself tells us that “my God put it in my heart” to do this. He was going to do genealogical work (7:5),
something important to the temple work as well as the governmental needs. When he attributes this to the LORD’s moving
him to do this, it tells us that while it may not have been required, he saw it
as something honoring to the LORD. And
truly, it is just that. The first return
was a testimony to God’s faithfulness.
God had put it in the heart of Cyrus to allow this, according to the
prayer of Daniel (Dan. 9), and in accordance with the prophecy of 70 years by
Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11-12).
Are you encouraged by this? I hope so!
The Bible speaks of a “book of remembrance” with the names of those who
fear God (Mal. 3:16). Rev. 20:12 speaks
of a Book of Life. And Moses asked God to “blot me out of Your book which You
have written” if He would not forgive the sin of Israel. There is a record kept by God. From Neh. 7 we see He is very good at
record-keeping!
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