Nehemiah 11:4 - Exposition

At Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin . It is not meant that all the dwellers in Jerusalem were of these two tribes, since among them were certainly Levites ( Nehemiah 11:10-19 ), Ephraimites, and Mansesites ( 1 Chronicles 1:1-54 . s. c.), together with Nethinims ( Nehemiah 11:21 ) who were of no tribe, and probably some representatives of all or most of the other tribes (see the comment on Ezra 2:70 ). But the present purpose of Nehemiah is to mention especially the Jewish and Benjamite chiefs. Athaiah , or Uthai, as the name is given in 1 Chronicles 9:4 . The son of Uzziah . The ancestors assigned to Athaiah here and in 1 Chronicles 9:1-44 . are wholly different, with the single exception of Pharez or Perez, the son of Judah. Both lists are of course abbreviations of a far longer one, and it has happened that the two writers have in no ease selected for mention the same name.