Nehemiah 7:5 - Exposition

And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles , etc. As Nehemiah contemplated the vast empty spaces within the city walls, and considered with himself how they might best be peopled, the thought came to him—and he hailed it as a Divine inspiration—that by taking a census of the people he might pave the way for some transfer of the inhabitants of the country districts into the capital, which would at any rate strengthen the latter, and lessen the desolate appearance of its streets and squares, which had so pained him. The census would show what proportion the country and town populations bore to each other, and would point out which were the places in the country districts that could best afford to lose a portion of their inhabitants. A census, therefore was resolved upon, and, according to ordinary Jewish usage ( Numbers 1:17-47 ; 1 Chronicles 21:5 , 1 Chronicles 21:6 ; Ezra 2:3-62 ), it was genealogical. The tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi were numbered separately ( Nehemiah 11:4-19 ); and in the tribe of Judah the children of Pharez were reckoned apart from those of Zerah ( 1 Chronicles 9:4 , 1 Chronicles 9:6 ). No doubt the genealogical principle was acted upon throughout, but further evidence upon the point is wanting. It would seem to have been in the course of his preparations for this census, perhaps in searching for precedents, that Nehemiah found the "register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first," which is the subject of the next section.