Nehemiah - Chapter 7
1-3:
GUARDING JERUSALEM
This chapter concludes the efforts by Nehemiah to rebuild the wall. It begins with his assignment of guards for the city, and then moves into an extended list of families.
With the wall complete and the gates and doors finally in place, the people of Jerusalem may become lax and trust their security to the wall alone. But Nehemiah does not allow any laxness to occur and he assigns leaders to guard the city and the new wall. Hananai, Nehemiah's brother, first appeared in chapter one when he first brought Nehemiah the sad report on the condition of the walls and gates. Now he is described as the leader of the citadel and a person of strong integrity, fearing God. Nehemiah entrusted the care of the city only to those who deserved his trust.
Verse 3 is a verse that causes difficulty in understanding as translated, and the form of it in the KJV may miss the intended meaning. What is truly being said is that the gates should be closed in the heat of the day when the heat of the sun may bring drowsiness and therefore less than full attention to security, so keep the gates closed during those hours.
4-73:
REGISTERING THE RESIDENTS
God now urged Nehemiah to take a census of the people residing in Jerusalem according to their genealogy. For this counting and registration, Nehemiah used a registry of persons who had returned from Babylon at the order from Cyrus releasing them from captivity. These were people who had returned more than 90 years earlier and the list is essentially the registry Nehemiah had earlier indicated he had used and it is seen as well in Ezra 2.
An important part of this census and registration is revealed to us in verses 64-65.
Those who could not trace their direct line or who tried to hide their line were excluded from the priesthood. Now they were not allowed to hold the office of priest nor to consume the holy bread of the temple until a priest who could trace his direct line back consulted with the most holy oracle stones of the Urim and Thummim. These stones had originally been supplied by God when He established the holy priesthood of Aaron. Little is known concerning these oracle stones other than they did indeed supply yes or no answers to the Lord's will when questioned by His true priests who were of the line of Levi.
(Study scriptures for these holy stones:
EX 28:30
LEV 8:8
EZRA 2:63
NUM 27:21
1ST SAMUEL 28:6