Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
Nehemiah appoints guardians for Jerusalem, finds the book of the census of those who returned from Babylon, and records the gifts offered for the construction.
Vulgate Text: 2 Esdrae (Nehemiah) 7:1-73
1. And after the wall had been built, and I had set up the doors, and had appointed the gatekeepers, and the singers, and the Levites: 2. I commanded Hanani my brother, and Hananiah the ruler of the house of Jerusalem (for he seemed to be a truthful man and one who feared God more than the rest) 3. and I said to them: Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the heat of the sun. And while they were still standing by, the gates were shut and barred: and I appointed guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, each in his turn, and each opposite his own house. 4. And the city was very broad and large, and the people in it were few, and houses had not been built. 5. And God put it into my heart, and I gathered the nobles, and the magistrates, and the common people, to register them, and I found the book of the census of those who had come up first, and it was found written in it. 6. These are the children of the province, who came up from the captivity of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and to Judea, each to his own city. 7. Those who came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel: 8. the children of Parosh, two thousand one hundred and seventy-two; 9. the children of Shephatiah, three hundred and seventy-two; 10. the children of Arah, six hundred and fifty-two; 11. the children of Pahath-moab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab, two thousand eight hundred and eighteen; 12. the children of Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; 13. the children of Zattu, eight hundred and forty-five; 14. the children of Zaccai, seven hundred and sixty; 15. the children of Binnui, six hundred and forty-eight; 16. the children of Bebai, six hundred and twenty-eight; 17. the children of Azgad, two thousand three hundred and twenty-two; 18. the children of Adonikam, six hundred and sixty-seven; 19. the children of Bigvai, two thousand and sixty-seven; 20. the children of Adin, six hundred and fifty-five; 21. the children of Ater, of Hezekiah, ninety-eight; 22. the children of Hashum, three hundred and twenty-eight; 23. the children of Bezai, three hundred and twenty-four; 24. the children of Hariph, one hundred and twelve; 25. the children of Gibeon, ninety-five; 26. the men of Bethlehem and Netophah, one hundred and eighty-eight; 27. the men of Anathoth, one hundred and twenty-eight; 28. the men of Beth-azmaveth, forty-two; 29. the men of Kiriath-jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth, seven hundred and forty-three; 30. the men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one; 31. the men of Michmash, one hundred and twenty-two; 32. the men of Bethel and Ai, one hundred and twenty-three; 33. the men of the other Nebo, fifty-two; 34. the men of the other Elam, one thousand two hundred and fifty-four; 35. the children of Harim, three hundred and twenty; 36. the children of Jericho, three hundred and forty-five; 37. the children of Lod, Hadid, and Ono, seven hundred and twenty-one; 38. the children of Senaah, three thousand nine hundred and thirty. 39. The priests: the children of Jedaiah, of the house of Jeshua, nine hundred and seventy-three; 40. the children of Immer, one thousand and fifty-two; 41. the children of Pashhur, one thousand two hundred and forty-seven; 42. the children of Harim, one thousand and seventeen. The Levites: 43. the children of Jeshua and Kadmiel, of the children 44. of Hodaviah, seventy-four. The singers: 45. the children of Asaph, one hundred and forty-eight. 46. The gatekeepers: the children of Shallum, the children of Ater, the children of Talmon, the children of Akkub, the children of Hatita, the children of Shobai, one hundred and thirty-eight. 47. The Nethinim: the children of Ziha, the children of Hasupha, the children of Tabbaoth, 48. the children of Keros, the children of Sia, the children of Padon, the children of Lebana, the children of Hagaba, the children of Shalmai, 49. the children of Hanan, the children of Giddel, the children of Gahar, 50. the children of Reaiah, the children of Rezin, the children of Nekoda, 51. the children of Gazzam, the children of Uzza, the children of Paseah, 52. the children of Besai, the children of Meunim, the children of Nephushesim, 53. the children of Bakbuk, the children of Hakupha, the children of Harhur, 54. the children of Bazlith, the children of Mehida, the children of Harsha, 55. the children of Barkos, the children of Sisera, the children of Temah, 56. the children of Neziah, the children of Hatipha, 57. the children of the servants of Solomon, the children of Sotai, the children of Sophereth, the children of Perida, 58. the children of Jaala, the children of Darkon, the children of Jaddel, 59. the children of Shephatiah, the children of Hattil, the children of Pochereth, who was born of Zebaim, the son of Amon. 60. All the Nethinim and the children of the servants of Solomon, three hundred and ninety-two. 61. And these are those who came up from Tel-melah, Tel-harsha, Cherub, Addon, and Immer; and they could not declare the house of their fathers, nor their seed, whether they were of Israel: 62. the children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda, six hundred and forty-two. 63. And of the priests: the children of Habaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife from the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called by their name. 64. These sought their record in the census, and it was not found; and they were cast out of the priesthood. 65. And the Athersatha said to them, that they should not eat of the most holy things until there stood up a priest learned and skilled. 66. The whole multitude as one man, forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, 67. besides their manservants and maidservants, who were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and among them singers, male and female, two hundred and forty-five; 68. their horses, seven hundred and thirty-six; their mules, two hundred and forty-five; 69. their camels, four hundred and thirty-five; their asses, six thousand seven hundred and twenty. Up to this point it is reported what was written in the commentary; from here the history of Nehemiah is woven. 70. And some of the heads of families gave for the work. The Athersatha gave to the treasury a thousand drachmas of gold, fifty bowls, and five hundred and thirty priestly tunics. 71. And some of the heads of families gave to the treasury of the work twenty thousand drachmas of gold, and two thousand two hundred silver minas. 72. And what the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drachmas of gold, and two thousand silver minas, and sixty-seven priestly tunics. 73. And the priests, and the Levites, and the gatekeepers, and the singers, and the rest of the common people, and the Nethinim, and all Israel, dwelt in their own cities.
Verse 2: Hanani and Hananiah, Guardians of Jerusalem
2. I COMMANDED HANANI MY KINSMAN. (This is that Hanani who brought the news of the desolation of Jerusalem to Nehemiah in Persia, chapter I, verse 2.) AND HANANIAH THE RULER (that is, prefect) OF THE HOUSE — namely, of the royal palace, as the Hebrews say, on Mount Zion. These two, being above the rest truthful men, that is, sincere and upright, and God-fearing, Nehemiah appointed as guardians of the city of Jerusalem.
Verse 3: The Gates Were Not Opened Until the Heat of the Sun
3. And while they were still standing by — that is to say: The gates were not closed in the evening except in the presence and attendance of these two guardians, namely Hanani and Hananiah, lest any treachery come from the enemies' ambushes. Again, in the morning they were not opened 'before the heat of the sun,' that is, before broad daylight, when everyone is awake.
Verse 4: The People Were Few
4. AND THE PEOPLE WERE FEW — for few had returned from Babylon, and of these few some, seeing the desolation of the city and the threats of the enemies, had betaken themselves to other cities and villages of Judea, while others had returned to Babylon or Persia, among whom was the leader Zerubbabel.
Verse 5: God Put It Into My Heart
5. And God put it into my heart — that is to say: God suggested to me a plan and method for supplementing the small number of inhabitants of Jerusalem, namely by reviewing the catalog of those who had originally returned from Babylon with Ezra, and according to it, inviting and summoning them to inhabit Jerusalem, which we will hear was actually done by lot in chapter XI. Whence he then reviews the catalog containing the census of the people who had returned.
Verse 6: The Census of the Returning Exiles
6. THESE ARE THE CHILDREN OF THE PROVINCE, WHO CAME UP FROM THE CAPTIVITY OF THE EXILES — that is, who returned from the deportation to Babylon, namely from Babylon to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel under Cyrus. This is the catalog, or census of the people, which Ezra reviewed in chapter II, but with different words from time to time and with generally different numbers, especially in the middle; for the beginning and end are the same in both places. The reason is that this census of the people, or catalog, was undertaken and recorded several times; namely, first in Babylon, when the Jews departed from there; second in Jerusalem, when they first arrived there; third when, after the temple was rebuilt, it was dedicated with a solemn concourse of the people. But these censuses varied among themselves; because as some died, others were born, and as some departed, others arrived. Therefore Ezra copied his catalog from one census, Nehemiah from another; and hence they differ. See Francisco de Lucas in his Notes, 79.
Verse 65: The Athersatha
65. And the Athersatha said — that is, Nehemiah, as is evident from chapter VIII, verse 9. Thus far the catalog. This intermediate annotation does not appear in the Hebrew, Greek, or some Latin texts. Hence the Greek corrector, and others, consider it should be omitted, and indeed reject it, as Lyra and the Carthusian do. Certainly the different style sufficiently argues that these inserted words are neither part of the text nor a matter of faith, says Sanchez. Nevertheless, the Bibles corrected at Rome retain this annotation. It seems therefore to have been added by the translator, just as many similar additions were made in the book of Esther, or by a paraphrast or some commentator: so Francisco de Lucas, Notes 79.
Verse 70: Gifts of the Heads of Families
70. AND SOME OF THE HEADS OF FAMILIES — This is the catalog of gifts offered for the construction, and it is the same as the one Ezra reviewed in chapter II, but as I said, different in the numbers; perhaps because Ezra included the gifts of more people, namely of all those also who from the reign of Cyrus, whether Jews or Persians, at Cyrus's urging, contributed something from their resources to the construction or later sent it to Jerusalem: but Nehemiah records only the gifts of the Jews returning from captivity, and only the principal ones at that, and therefore fewer than Ezra lists, says Francisco de Lucas in the passage cited.