Nehemiah 7
Irwin2. Hanani. The same as mentioned in i. 2.
the ruler of the palace. R.V., “the governor of the castle,” the Temple-fortress.
3 while they stand by. Rather, as R.V., “while they stand on guard.” The porters, singers, and Levites were the watchers at the city gates; while the nightly guardianship of the interior was committed to the inhabitants generally. This was especially necessary from the large unoccupied spaces within the walls (4). The late opening of the gates was an unusual precaution.
5 a register. Rather, as R.V., “the book of the genealogy”—the list of those who had come up from Babylon ninety years before (Ezra ii.).
6 the province. Judæa was now a province of the Persian empire.
8. The children of Parosh, etc. There are variations in this transcript from the original in Ezra, in almost every verse; instructively showing the risks to which written documents are subject in the transmission from hand to hand, especially in numerical statements. The total number, however, is the same in both records: ver. 66, compared with Ezra ii. 64. On details, see notes in Ezra.