Nehemiah 11 Commentary
Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. Chapter 7, verse 4.
Probably in order to solve the above problem, Chapter 11 begins with a decision to ensure Jerusalem has enough numbers. For Israel, state governance and spirituality were the same.
Today, civic leaders would be worried about Jerusalem’s poor numbers, but without the spiritual understanding that Israel uniquely possessed!
Israel’s diminished numbers were a sign of God’s wrath on the nation. It was a direct minus on the blessing of increase.
The chapter continues the cycle of lists and names. These are names of individuals. Individuals are important to the LORD. There is a divine interest in the saint’s name, as well as their location.
Your area of residence, your workplace, and the means by which you get to work, these details may appear unimportant to others, but they are important to your God.
Each life is important. We are not counted; we are numbered. Civic leaders would be happy to know that there are 100 people along X Street. The LORD would have a long list of individual names. Next to each name would be more details like your parentage and the number of strands of your hair!
The Psalmist gives us an impression of a file for each individual. It contains every detail possible for every life that the LORD created.
Yes, it was a form of identification, but importantly, the LORD knows each person’s father. Each individual is known by name.
Our lack of spirituality means our understanding of life and the world around us is summarized, and consequently limited and largely wrong.
Joe Biden is actually Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. With this full name, we probably now know that his father was Joseph Robinette Biden. But the Bible would do more by telling us who fathered Joseph Robinette Biden Sr.
They see lists, but we see detailed care by Heaven! The parentage chain represents a value chain, the blessings of the LORD passing from one generation to the next.
The parentage chain also means failure at any one given point cascades down the chain until it’s mended. Each new life means an opportunity to perpetuate value. It also means an open door for a fresh start – Let the LORD forget the past; we have a new team to execute the mandate as originally given!
You feel this way when you encounter references to Asaph’s distant children doing what their father did – generations of service to the LORD!
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