Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 7:66
The whole congregation together [was] forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,
[See comments on Ne 7:6].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Sum Total Of The Returnees ( Neh 7:66 ).
Neh 7:66
‘The whole assembly together was forty two thousand, three hundred and sixty.’
The sum total of the returnees who represented Israel comes to 42,360. The adult male returnees enumerated above come to 31,089 (Ezra 29,818), plus whatever number the defrocked priests came to. That leaves just over 11,000 to be accounted for. They may have been made up of the under age males. But in view of the fact that in the next verse female slaves and female singing women are counted, and in the following verses domestic animals are numbered, it would be quite remarkable if the female members of Israel were ignored. Indeed it would have been a direct insult. Thus we may see them as represented in the remaining 11,000 (with under age children being ignored). If it then be argued that 11,000 females hardly suffices when there are 31,000 males we can reply, firstly that many of the males might well have left their families behind, intending to bring them to Judea once they had satisfactorily settled and were confident that they would be able to feed them, and secondly that many of the males who made the decision to come might well have been unmarried. It was the unmarried ones who would be more prepared to take the risks involved in returning. Indeed this lack of females might well have been part of the cause of a number of them marrying foreign wives. But, of course, there would also be Israelite women who had remained in the land who would also be available, who were, however, mainly syncretistic.
Both this list in Nehemiah and the list in Ezra, in spite of its differences, give the same total. But that is probably because the number of returnees in the initial immigration having been fixed, that was the number that was retained as having become sacrosanct. It is probable that in the second list the women were not specifically counted, but simply allowed to make up the number.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Neh 7:66-69
66The whole assembly together was 42,360, 67besides their male and their female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers. 68Their horses were 736; their mules, 245; 69their camels, 435; their donkeys, 6,720.
Neh 7:66 42,360 This same number is also in Ezr 2:64. When you add up both Ezra’s (29,818) and Nehemiah’s (31,089) lists by names, cities and groups neither equal this number. This shows that both lists are incomplete.
Milton Terry, Biblical Hermeneutics, p. 525, has an interesting numerical comment.
The probability is that neither list is intended as a perfect enumeration of all the families that returned from exile, but only of such families of Judah and Benjamin as could show an authentic genealogy of their father’s house, while the 42,360 includes many persons and families belonging to other tribes who in their exile had lost all certain record of their genealogy, but were nevertheless true descendants of some of the ancient tribes. It is also noticeable that Ezra’s list mentions 494 persons not recognized in Nehemiah’s list, and Nehemiah’s list mentions 1,765 not recognised in Ezra’s list; but if we add the surplus of Ezra to the sum of Nehemiah (494 + 31,089 = 31,583) we have the same result as by adding Nehemiah’s surplus to the sums of Ezra’s numbers (1,765 + 29,818 = 31,583). Hence it may be reasonably believed that 31,583 was the sum of all that could show their father’s house, that the two lists were drawn up independently of each other; and that both are defective, though one supplies the defects of the other.
Neh 7:67 245 In Ezr 2:65 the number of singers is 200; 1Es 5:42 also has 245.
Neh 7:68 Many Hebrew manuscripts omit this verse, as does the Septuagint. However, it is present in Neh 7:66.
Neh 7:69 The amounts and weights of valuable metals between Ezra and Nehemiah are very different.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
congregation = assembly, convocation, or muster. Compare Ezr 2:64.
forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore. This number (42,360) agrees with Ezr 2:64. Though the two lists are not identical, there is no discrepancy, but the difference shows the independence of the two accounts:
Numbered in Neh. 742,360
Named in Neh. 31,089
Named in Ezra, not in Neh. 49431,583
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Difference between names and numbers:10,777
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Ezr 2:64