Nehemiah 11:1 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Nehemiah 11:1
And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwell in other cities.
ten (as an accumulation to the extent of the digits) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
dwell
לָשֶׁ֙בֶת֙la.She.vet
H3427
properly · preposition + verb, qal infinitive construct
Jerusalem
בִּֽירוּשָׁלִַ֙ם֙bi.ru.sha.Lim
H3389
Jerushalaim or Jerushalem · preposition + proper noun, a place name
holy
הַקֹּ֔דֶשׁha.Ko.desh
H6944
a sacred place or thing · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
city
עִ֣יר'ir
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · noun, common feminine singular construct
nine
וְתֵ֥שַׁעve.Te.sha'
H8672
nine or (ordinal) ninth · conjunction + cardinal number, both genders singular absolute
parts
הַיָּד֖וֹתhai.ya.Dot
H3027
a hand (the open one (indicating power · definite article + noun, common both genders plural absolute
cities
בֶּעָרִֽיםbe.'a.Rim
H5892
a city (a place guarded by waking or a watch) in the wi… · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 48:2 For they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; The LORD of hosts is his name.
Isaiah 52:1 Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more com…
Nehemiah 10:34 And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the…
Nehemiah 11:18 All the Levites in the holy city were two hundred fourscore and four.
Matthew 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Deuteronomy 17:8-9 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being…
Joshua 18:10 And Joshua cast lots for them in Shiloh before the LORD: and there Joshua divided the land unto the children of Israel according to their di…
Judges 20:9-10 But now this shall be the thing which we will do to Gibeah; we will go up by lot against it;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Nehemiah 11:1-19
Jerusalem is called here the holy city (Neh 11:1), because there the temple was, and that was the place God had chosen to put his name there; upon this account, one would think, the holy seed should all have chosen to dwell there and have striven for a habitation there; but, on the contrary, it seems they declined dwelling there, 1. Because a greater strictness of conversation was expected from the inhabitants of Jerusalem than from others, which they were not willing to come up to. Those who care not for being holy themselves are shy of dwelling in a holy city; they would not dwell in the New Jerusalem itself for that reason, but would wish to have a continuing city here upon earth. Or, 2.…
To bring one of ten - Jerusalem certainly had many inhabitants at this time; but not sufficient to preserve the city, which was now encompassed with a wall, and the rebuilding of which was going on fast. Nehemiah therefore obliged one tenth of the country people to come and dwell in it, that the population might be sufficient for the preservation and defense of the city. Ten were set apart, and the lot cast among them to see which one of the ten should take up his residence in the city.
John Gill on Nehemiah 11:1
And the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem,.... Where it was proper they should, being the metropolis of the nation, both for the performance of their offices, and to protect and defend it, as well as to set an example to the people, and encourage them to dwell there also:
the rest of the people also cast lots to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city; so called, because of the temple and the worship of God in it; and so it is called by Julian the emperor (g); and some (h) have thought that the Cadytis of Herodotus (i) is the same with Jerusalem, which had its name from "holy", and is now called by the Turks "cuds", that is, "holy" (k): now, though it was the chief city,…
Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem. etc. The arrangement that had been begun right after the rebuilding of the city is now complete; but up to this time, it could not be finished before the numbering of the people and the completion of the solemnities of the seventh month, so that it might be determined who should live in the holy city itself and who in the other towns. It is fitting regarding the figures of the sacraments that the leaders of the people are said to have lived in Jerusalem. For it is proper that the prelates of the holy Church should surpass the people as much in the merits of their life as they surpass them in the height of their power. Indeed, the other cities of Israel signify the devout conversation of God's people. But the habitation of the people of Jerusalem especially represents the deeds of those who, having overcome the struggle against vices, approach the vision of supreme peace with a free mind, according to that verse of the Psalmist: "The Lord loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (Psalm 87). Hence, subsequently, a tenth part of the people was chosen by lot to receive habitation in Jerusalem, while the other nine parts resided in their own towns; because it is indeed the privilege of the perfect—those who fully keep the precepts of the Decalogue in the love of God and neighbor—to approach the heavenly secrets with their minds and to imitate, if I may say so, the peace of supreme blessedness amid the turmoil of a fleeting life. Although the gate to eternal life is open to those who keep God's general commandments, as the Lord declares to the rich man who questioned Him in the Gospel. Such people dwell, as it were, in the cities given to them by the Lord, because they vigilantly guard themselves against the snares of the ancient enemy by adhering to the divine law. But those who wish to be perfect, having sold all that they have and distributed it to the poor, and thus follow the Lord, these dwell, as it were, in the citadel of Jerusalem, close to the temple of God and the ark of the covenant, because they approach more intimately the grace of their Creator. It is well said that their habitation in the holy city was not due to human choice, but by the casting of lots, just as the possession of other cities was given by lot to the children of Israel in the time of Joshua; because indeed both…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
City — The earliest mention of city-building is that of Enoch, which was built by Cain (Gen. 4:17). After the confusion of tongues, the descendants of Nimrod founded several cities (10:10-12). Next, we have…
Election · .By lot — .By lot
Jerusalem · .HOLY CITY — .HOLY CITY
Lot, The · Used after the — Used after the
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Nehemiah 11:1-36
The narrative returns to the issue of repopulating the secure city of Jerusalem (see 7:1-5). The list of names roughly parallels the list in 1 Chr 9:2-17.
11:1-2 Sacred lots were probably the Urim and Thummim (10:34; Josh 7:14, 16-18; 14:2).
Rashi on Nehemiah 11:1
one of ten of Israel, so that they should dwell in Jerusalem to guard the city.
and nine parts nine parts of Israel.
