Ne. 11: Who Lives In Jerusalem?

Nehemiah 11:3 "These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon's servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on his own property in the various towns..."

I bet you are wondering who lives in Jerusalem now. And who lives where if they didn't live in Jerusalem.

OK, well neither did I, but the information is here.

Can you believe they had to cast lots for people to move to Jerusalem? And take volunteers? For this brand new construction, I would think people would line up to live in Jerusalem...the heavily guarded, fortified new city. But apparently this was not so. I suppose they needed to draw straws because people were more comfortable living where they were. They didn't want to pack up their things and move to an unfamiliar place. 

Jerusalem was a more conspicuous target for attack than were their fields and steads in the surrounding areas. Moving from the farm to the city would require a different lifestyle. Besides, its been a hundred years or so since the exile, so generations had been settled in by this time, and they weren't about to hoist themselves out of their groove. I can understand that.

There are some pretty neat names in this chapter. Ahitub. Meshillemoth. Bunni. Bakbukiah (sounds like a chicken). Uzzi Bani Pethahiah Meshezebel.