Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 7:73
So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and [some] of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities; and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel [were] in their cities.
73. some] R.V. some. The Heb. gives the partitive idea. (LXX. . Vulg. ‘reliquum vulgus.’)
Nethinims ] R.V. Nethinim.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Neh 7:73 b 8:12. The Reading of the Law
This verse begins a new section in the work. The style alters. The use of the first pers. sing. is resumed in Neh 12:31. The Compiler has recourse to other material for this narrative. The thread of Nehemiah’s Memoir, which was broken off at Neh 7:5, is therefore not resumed.
and when the seventh month came ] R.V. And when the seventh month was come. The R.V. gives the right division of the verse. The second clause introduces a new section. Very similar words occur in Ezr 3:1 after the register of names. The close of the ‘register’ perhaps contained suitable words with which to resume the narrative in both passages. But possibly the Compiler consciously repeats himself and borrows from Ezr 3:1, ‘the seventh month.’ The mention of this date raises the question of the chronology of the following episodes.
The year is not stated. It is not therefore possible to say with certainty that the events described in chap. 8. followed immediately upon the completion of the wall. But, although not stated, this is what is clearly suggested by the compiler of the work. The mention of the 25th of the 6th month (Neh 6:15) is followed by the narrative of the 1st of the 7th month (Neh 7:73; Neh 8:2). As no other year is mentioned, presumably the events are those which occurred in the same year.
The objection which has been raised against this simple view is chiefly based upon the difficulty caused by the strangely sudden reappearance of Ezra. The fact that in 1Es 9:37 ff. the events here described follow immediately upon the expulsion of ‘the strange women’ (Ezra 9) has been by some scholars understood to supply the right order of time. The public reading of the law and the sacred covenant would then have to be placed in the year 457, and ‘the seventh month’ in the second year after Ezra’s arrival. An apparent confirmation of this view is given by Josephus. But the chronology of Josephus in this period is very untrustworthy. Undoubtedly following 1 Esdras, which does not mention Nehemiah, he places Ezra’s activity in the generation before that of Nehemiah, and Ezra’s death before Nehemiah’s arrival at Jerusalem. His treatment of their lives seems to be based on the supposition that they were not contemporaries (see Josephus, Antiquities, xi. 5); in 1, Ezra appears as a contemporary of Joiakim the High-priest, in 5 his death is mentioned as occurring at the same time as that of Joiakim the High-priest, who was succeeded by Eliashib. It seems fatal to this view that, in order to maintain it, it is necessary to strike out, as later glosses, the mention of Nehemiah’s name in Neh 8:9, Neh 10:1.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 73. All Israel, dwelt in their cities] It was in reference to this particularly that the public registers were examined; for by them they found the different families, and consequently the cities, villages, c., which belonged to them, according to the ancient division of the lands. It seems that the examination of the registers occupied about a month for as soon as the walls were finished, which was in the sixth month, (Elul,) Ne 6:15, Nehemiah instituted the examination mentioned in this chapter, Ne 7:5; and by the concluding verse we find that the different families had got into their paternal cities in the seventh month, Tisri, answering to a part of our September and October. Thus the register determined every thing: there was no room for complaint, and none to accuse the governor of partiality.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
73. So . . . all Israel, dwelt intheir citiesThe utility of these genealogical registers wasthus found in guiding to a knowledge of the cities and localities ineach tribe to which every family anciently belonged.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
So the priests and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities,…. The same is said in Ezr 2:70,
[See comments on Ezr 2:70],
and, when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities; the month Tisri, answering to part of September, in which month was the feast of tabernacles; at this time of the year they were in their cities when they came forth out of Babylon, and so they were now; see Ezr 3:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Neh 7:73
‘So the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities, and when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel were in their cities.’
This confirms what was said in Neh 7:6 that all returned to their own cities (which for some would include Jerusalem). The people are listed in terms of previous designations:
The priests.
The Levites.
Some of the people. ‘Some’ may have in mind that the remainder were still in exile, or simply that some did not choose to dwell in cities, or that some could not dwell in their cities because they were already fully occupied (e.g. by the Edomites in the south) or more likely that some could not identify which were their own cities e.g. those who were unsure of their ancestry.
The singers and the gatekeepers and the Nethinim (with the son of Solomon’s servants included with the Nethinim, as they were in the totals).
All these, apart from those who chose not to do so, or could not identify their cities, dwelt in their cities. Thus ‘all Israel’, as summed up in the previous descriptions, were in their cities. The return was complete. Israel was once more in place in accordance with God’s allocation after the conquest. The summary is a cry of triumph. Israel has been restored! And they are back in their old cities.
Then it is stressed that when the next great Feast came following their arrival (the seventh month was a red letter month in the Jewish calendar, containing the Feast of trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles) they were all in their cities. This feast was a celebratory feast, and the point is that when it came they had good reason for celebration.
While the order of those mentioned has been regularised here, with the native Jews first, followed by the Nethinim, the whole summed up as ‘all Israel’, the verse pretty well parallels that in Ezra, which confirms that these words were in the original lists. Indeed with Neh 7:6, Neh 7:73 forms an inclusio.
The emendation made by some English translations, placing ‘in Jerusalem’ after ‘some of the people’ (in accordance with 1 Esdras) is unnecessary. It goes without saying that some would take up residence in Jerusalem if they ‘returned to their own cities’, but the emendation was made simply because of a failure to understand the phrase ‘some of the people’, so that it was felt that it needed to be explained.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
REFLECTIONS
LEAVING the subject of Jerusalem’s safety, and the means the zealous Nehemiah adopted to preserve her from the foe, I would call upon myself and Reader to an higher subject arising out of it, and consider how our Almighty Governor, when about to return to the court of heaven, having finished the holy building of salvation in his own blood and righteousness, set watchmen upon the walls of his Zion, and poured forth abundance of grace that a standing ministry might be alive to the safety and security of his redeemed ones. Yes, blessed Jesus! methinks I see thee in the moment of thy departure sending forth thy servants, and bidding them to be very anxious for the everlasting interests of thy Zion; and under thy blessed Spirit to watch at thy gates, and at the doors of thine house, night and day, and to give the Lord Jehovah no rest, nor peace, until he hath made Jerusalem a praise in the earth. Ye ministers of my God! see that ye are found faithful to your post! Plead with the people! plead with God in Christ; make mention of his purchase, of his blood, of his cross, of the register of the names in the book of life written in heaven; and never cease, never give over; but be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort. And oh thou adorable Emmanuel! do thou bless and crown the labours of thy faithful sent servants, that Jerusalem may again be peopled with men as a flock.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Neh 7:73 a
73Now the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants and all Israel, lived in their cities.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought provoking, not definitive.
1. How are the list of names in Ezra 2 related to the list in Nehemiah 7?
2. What is the purpose of these lists?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
the Nethinims. See note on Ezr 2:43.
the seventh month. This was in 426 B. C, not in 404 B. C, which is referred to in Neh 9:1-3 and Ezr 9:1-4. See App-58.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
seventh month
i.e. October; also, Neh 8:2; Neh 8:14.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
all Israel: It was for the purpose of ascertaining the different families, and consequently the different cities, villages, etc., which belonged to them, according to the ancient division of the land, that the public registers were examined.
when the seventh: Ezr 2:70, Ezr 3:1
Reciprocal: Num 29:1 – the seventh 1Ch 9:2 – the first 1Ch 23:5 – porters Ezr 6:16 – the children Neh 10:28 – the rest Neh 11:3 – Israel
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Neh 7:73. So the priests and the Levites, &c.,dwelt in their cities When all the business before mentioned was finished, the people were sent back, by Nehemiahs direction, to the several cities to which they belonged; where they remained till the seventh month came, which was five days after the wall was finished, that being on the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month, chap. Neh 6:15.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
PART IV (Neh 7:73 b Neh 10:39). Ezra and the Law.
Neh 7:73 b Neh 8:12. The Reading of the Law.
Neh 7:73 b. These words are repeated by mistake from Ezr 3:1.
Neh 8:1. Cf. Ezr 7:6-10. It is clear that we have here only part of the original narrative. It is difficult to understand, knowing what we do about Ezra from other parts of the book, how the initiative regarding the reading of the Law should have been taken by the people as is here implied. Something must originally have preceded this section, which probably recorded how Ezra first impressed upon the people the need of studying and observing the Law. This would explain why the people gathered together and requested Ezra to read the Law to them.
Neh 8:2. all that could hear with understanding: as men and women are mentioned immediately before, presumably children are to be understood and referred to by these words, though see Neh 7:7.upon the first day of the seventh month: see note on Ezr 3:1, and cf. Lev 23:23-25, Num 29:1-6.
Neh 8:4. a pulpit of wood: read a wooden platform (lit. tower); pulpit does not convey quite the right idea, as a number of men in addition to Ezra stood on it.
Neh 8:6. Cf. Deu 7:15, 1Ch 16:36
Neh 8:7 f. None of those here mentioned are among those who stood on the platform with Ezra; they were all Levites (see Neh 9:5, Neh 10:9-14. so that the word and before the Levites should be deleted. But the whole of Neh 8:7, with the exception of and the people stood in their place, seems to be an interpolation, for the procedure as now described in the text is illogical because the understanding of the Law is made to precede the reading of it (see Neh 8:8). In Neh 8:6 it is said that the people worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground, i.e. they were prostrate; so that the words at the end of Neh 8:7, and the people stood in their place, evidently mean that they rose up from their prostrate position. In Neh 8:8 it then goes on to say that they read in the book, etc.; but they should be he, i.e. Ezra; the second they (they gave the sense) refers to the Levites; while the third they refers to the people. The text in both verses is confused, and differs from the LXX as well as from the Greek Ezra (9:4850). The word distinctly (RVm. with an interpretation; Heb. mphrash) comes from a root meaning to explain or expound; in Aramaic the root means to translate (cf. Ezr 4:18); and in rabbinical Heb. it came to be used as a technical term for expounding Scripture, and especially the Law; hence the name Pharisee, since the Pharisees were par excellence the expounders of the Law. Taking Neh 8:8 with the emendation suggested above (though the whole text as it stands must be regarded with suspicion) the meaning seems to be that Ezra read the Law, presumably sentence by sentence, and briefly expounded it, whereupon the Levites made his explanation clear to the people. It must be confessed that it is not easy to picture the exact procedure: whether the Levites spoke to small groups of the people after each passage read by Ezra; or whether, after Ezra had finally concluded, the Levites began their explanation on the basis of his words. But though our text fails to give a satisfactory account of the details of what actually took place, the really important point is clear enough, viz. that by Ezras inspiration and under his guidance the Law was now for the first time put before the Jews in such a way as to convince them that it was the most important thing in the world that their lives should be conducted wholly in accordance with its precepts.
Neh 8:9. And Nehemiah . . . the Tirshatha: these words do not belong here, they have been interpolated by the Chronicler.your God: one would rather expect our; this is, moreover, what the LXX reads.For all the people wept: the Jews having learned the great demands which the Law made upon them now realised in how many ways they had fallen short of its requirements; hence their consternation and sorrow; cf. the action of king Josiah on hearing the book of the Law read for the first time (2Ki 22:11).
Neh 8:12. because they had understood . . .: this had been the very cause (see end of Neh 8:9) of the peoples weeping; here it is said to be the cause of great mirth; the words were probably added by the Chronicler in forgetfulness of what had been written above.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
7:73 So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and [some] of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities; and when the {i} seventh month came, the children of Israel [were] in their cities.
(i) Which contained part of September and part of October.