People Asked to Move Inside The City

Nehemiah 11:1–19
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Since Jerusalem’s walls had been rebuilt, it was necessary for a sufficient number of people to inhabit the city. Perhaps this included people to defend the city, carry on business, etc. People already dwelt in the city, but it was decided that they needed one tenth of the population, so they cast lots to decide which people would live there. The other nine tenths were to dwell in the other cities of the land. Since this required many people to make sacrifices (such as moving and perhaps leaving their inherited possession in the land) they decided to draw lots.

The following verses list the different kinds of people who lived in Jerusalem. Many were  descendants of Judah, others were of the tribe of Benjamin (vv 1-3). There is a list of leaders of the tribe of Judah who lived in Jerusalem (vv. 4-6). A total of 468 valiant men lived there. Then there is a list of leaders of the people of the tribe of Benjamin who lived in Jerusalem (vv. 7-9). The total men of the tribe of Benjamin was 928. Also there is a list of leaders of the priests who lived in Jerusalem (vv. 10-14). The numbers in this case are 822, 242, and 128, but I am not sure exactly what the distinction was between these different numbers. The priests, of course, had to be descendants of Aaron, and they led in the worship in the temple (v. 11). Following this is a list of the leaders of the Levites who lived in Jerusalem (vv. 15-18). These had oversight of the business outside the temple (v16). In addition Mattaniah is named as leading the thanksgiving in prayer (v. 17). The total Levites were 284. If the tallies are followed (vv. 6,8,12,13,14,18,19), we have 3,044, so that, including wives and children, one could estimate a population between 10,000-12,000.

Application

All of the above would involve in some cases a change of work, of means of livelihood, etc. Anyway, a sacrifice was made for the people of God. This poses a question: If I am ever called on to make a move like this, where self-denial must take precedence would I be willing to do it?