UBF Daily Bread

THE WALL IS COMPLETED

Passage: Nehemiah 6:15~7:73a

Key verse: 6:16

¹⁵So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.

Opposition to the Completed Wall

¹⁶When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

¹⁷Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. ¹⁸For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. ¹⁹Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.

7 After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers,^(A) the musicians^(B) and the Levites^(C) were appointed. ²I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani,^(D) along with Hananiah^(E) the commander of the citadel,^(F) because he was a man of integrity and feared^(G) God more than most people do. ³I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.”

The List of the Exiles Who Returned^(H)

⁴Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it,^(I) and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. ⁵So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. This is what I found written there:

⁶These are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles^(J) whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive (they returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, ⁷in company with Zerubbabel,^(K) Joshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum and Baanah):

The list of the men of Israel:

⁸the descendants of Parosh	2,172
⁹of Shephatiah	372
¹⁰of Arah	652
¹¹of Pahath-Moab (through the line of Jeshua and Joab)	2,818
¹²of Elam	1,254
¹³of Zattu	845
¹⁴of Zakkai	760
¹⁵of Binnui	648
¹⁶of Bebai	628
¹⁷of Azgad	2,322
¹⁸of Adonikam	667
¹⁹of Bigvai	2,067
²⁰of Adin^(L)	655
²¹of Ater (through Hezekiah)	98
²²of Hashum	328
²³of Bezai	324
²⁴of Hariph	112
²⁵of Gibeon	95

²⁶the men of Bethlehem and Netophah^(M)	188
²⁷of Anathoth^(N)	128
²⁸of Beth Azmaveth	42
²⁹of Kiriath Jearim, Kephirah^(O) and Beeroth^(P)	743
³⁰of Ramah and Geba	621
³¹of Mikmash	122
³²of Bethel and Ai^(Q)	123
³³of the other Nebo	52
³⁴of the other Elam	1,254
³⁵of Harim	320
³⁶of Jericho^(R)	345
³⁷of Lod, Hadid and Ono^(S)	721
³⁸of Senaah	3,930

³⁹The priests:

the descendants of Jedaiah (through the family of Jeshua)	973
⁴⁰of Immer	1,052
⁴¹of Pashhur	1,247
⁴²of Harim	1,017

⁴³The Levites:

the descendants of Jeshua (through Kadmiel through the line of Hodaviah)

⁴⁴The musicians:^(T)

the descendants of Asaph

148

⁴⁵The gatekeepers:^(U)

the descendants of
Shallum, Ater, Talmon, Akkub, Hatita and Shobai	138

⁴⁶The temple servants:^(V)

the descendants of

Ziha, Hasupha, Tabbaoth,

⁴⁷Keros, Sia, Padon,

⁴⁸Lebana, Hagaba, Shalmai,

⁴⁹Hanan, Giddel, Gahar,

⁵⁰Reaiah, Rezin, Nekoda,

⁵¹Gazzam, Uzza, Paseah,

⁵²Besai, Meunim, Nephusim,

⁵³Bakbuk, Hakupha, Harhur,

⁵⁴Bazluth, Mehida, Harsha,

⁵⁵Barkos, Sisera, Temah,

⁵⁶Neziah and Hatipha

⁵⁷The descendants of the servants of Solomon:

the descendants of

Sotai, Sophereth, Perida,

⁵⁸Jaala, Darkon, Giddel,

⁵⁹Shephatiah, Hattil,

Pokereth-Hazzebaim and Amon

⁶⁰The temple servants and the descendants of the servants of Solomon^(W)

392

⁶¹The following came up from the towns of Tel Melah, Tel Harsha, Kerub, Addon and Immer, but they could not show that their families were descended from Israel:

⁶²the descendants of
Delaiah, Tobiah and Nekoda	642

⁶³And from among the priests:

the descendants of

Hobaiah, Hakkoz and Barzillai (a man who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and was called by that name).

⁶⁴These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. ⁶⁵The governor, therefore, ordered them not to eat any of the most sacred food until there should be a priest ministering with the Urim and Thummim.^(X)

⁶⁶The whole company numbered 42,360, ⁶⁷besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 245 male and female singers. ⁶⁸There were 736 horses, 245 mules,^[a] ⁶⁹435 camels and 6,720 donkeys.

⁷⁰Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governor gave to the treasury 1,000 darics^[b] of gold, 50 bowls and 530 garments for priests. ⁷¹Some of the heads of the families^(Y) gave to the treasury for the work 20,000 darics^[c] of gold and 2,200 minas^[d] of silver. ⁷²The total given by the rest of the people was 20,000 darics of gold, 2,000 minas^[e] of silver and 67 garments for priests.^(Z)

⁷³The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the temple servants,^(AA) along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns.^(AB)

Ezra Reads the Law

When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns,^(AC)

Footnotes

Nehemiah 7:68 Some Hebrew manuscripts (see also Ezra 2:66); most Hebrew manuscripts do not have this verse.
Nehemiah 7:70 That is, about 19 pounds or about 8.4 kilograms
Nehemiah 7:71 That is, about 375 pounds or about 170 kilograms; also in verse 72
Nehemiah 7:71 That is, about 1 1/3 tons or about 1.2 metric tons
Nehemiah 7:72 That is, about 1 1/4 tons or about 1.1 metric tons

1. With the help of our God (6:15-7:3)

With the help of God, the wall was completed without a gap in 52 days. When the enemies of God and of his people saw the completed wall, they lost their self-confidence. Nehemiah put a man of integrity who feared God in charge of opening and closing the gates. He appointed men to serve God in the temple and in the city. Spiritual order was restored to God's people.

2. The registration exposes the enemy (7:4-73a)

It became clear why Tobiah opposed God's work, and why he had not wanted God's people to have unity and spiritual order. He and his family were not Levites; he was not even an Israelite (7:62). He had exercised leadership and had power because of his wealth, but now men with spiritual and Biblical qualifications would be leaders, and he was excluded.

Prayer: Lord, give us courage to appoint as leaders people with spiritual qualifications--not just people with human ability, money or clever minds.

One Word: Have integrity and fear God

Bible Resource Data Base

Nehemiah 1:1~13:31

Nehemiah, Sarah Barry
Nehemiah 6:1~14

NOW STRENGTHEN MY HANDS, LA UBF
Nehemiah 6:1~14

God, Strengthen My Hands, LA UBF
Nehemiah 1:1~13:31

The Sound of Rejoicing, LA UBF
Nehemiah 6:15~7:73

WORK DONE WITH THE HELP OF OUR LORD, LA UBF
Nehemiah 6:15~7:73

Our God Had Helped Us, LA UBF

Daily Bread

THE WALL IS COMPLETED

Passage: Nehemiah 6:15~7:73a

Key verse: 6:16

Opposition to the Completed Wall

The List of the Exiles Who Returned^(H)

Ezra Reads the Law

Footnotes

Cross references

Daily Bread Data Base

Bible Resource Data Base

UBF Daily Bread App

Daily Bread

THE WALL IS COMPLETED

Passage: Nehemiah 6:15~7:73a

Key verse: 6:16

Opposition to the Completed Wall

The List of the Exiles Who Returned(H)

Ezra Reads the Law

Footnotes

Cross references

Daily Bread Data Base

Bible Resource Data Base

UBF Daily Bread App

The List of the Exiles Who Returned^(H)