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).

It’s not certain whether the “book of genealogy” of which Nehemiah spoke was a detailed genealogical chronicle, or just the summary of information which Ezra had included in his book (Ezra 2). Nehemiah did in fact repeat all the information that Ezra had recorded, 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 (7:66-67) – 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). I probably would have skipped counting the camels, but they were obviously being thorough.

Nearly all of those who had returned from exile were living on farms or in towns in the surrounding countryside (7:73), rather than in Jerusalem itself (7:4). Apparently Nehemiah saw this as a potential defensive problem: if an enemy army attacked the city in a night raid, there would not be enough defenders to fight off this surprise attack. So he insisted that the city gates could only be opened in full daylight (7:3), when it would be impossible for an enemy to sneak up on the city without being seen.

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We have lost so much of our corporate memory, O Lord. Although our heritage as your people is nearly forty centuries deep, yet within our families we remember the stories of just one or two previous generations. Help us to remember that these stories – Ezra and Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah, and the rest – are the stories of our people: and that therefore they are foundational for our personal stories as well.

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