Nehemiah’s most visible task had been overseeing the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, but he also reckoned with the human side of the story. In his recollection he stated, “Then my God put it into my mind to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of those who were the first to come back” (Nehemiah 7:5).

This genealogical register was included in Ezra’s book when it was created (Ezra 2), but Nehemiah repeated all this information, presumably to make sure that the information would be preserved in more than one place. This emphasis on genealogy is really an insistence that for each of us, “knowing who we are” includes recognizing that we come from a many-generations-deep heritage.

All in all they counted forty-two thousand three hundred sixty family members among those who had returned, plus seven thousand three hundred thirty seven slaves, and two hundred forty five singers (Nehemiah 7:66-67) – isn’t it interesting that they listed the singers separately, as if they were neither to be included within the count of citizens or slaves. Having started counting the humans, they went on to count the animals, including a census of horses, mules, camels, and donkeys (7:68-69).

Nearly all of these individuals were living on farms or in towns in the surrounding countryside (7:72), rather than in Jerusalem itself (7:4). Perhaps Nehemiah saw this as a potential defensive problem at the gates, leading him to insist that the gates could only be opened in full daylight (7:3).

* * * * *

We have lost so much of our corporate memory, O Lord: we remember just one or two previous generations, though our heritage as your people is nearly forty centuries deep. Enable us to know that these stories are the stories of our people: that they are indeed our stories as well.