Scripture Daily

Context No. 2018 of 4322 · Nehemiah

Context · Reflection

Nehemiah 7:62-73: in context

62The children of Delaiah, the children of Tobiah, the children of Nekoda: six hundred forty-two. 63Of the priests: the children of Hobaiah, the children of Hakkoz, the children of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai the Gileadite, and was called after their name. 64These searched for their genealogical records, but couldn’t find them. Therefore they were deemed disqualified and removed from the priesthood. 65The governor told them not to eat of the most holy things until a priest stood up to minister with Urim and Thummim. 66The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred sixty, 67in addition to their male servants and their female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred thirty-seven. They had two hundred forty-five singing men and singing women. 68Their horses were seven hundred thirty-six; their mules, two hundred forty-five; 69their camels, four hundred thirty-five; their donkeys, six thousand seven hundred twenty. 70Some from among the heads of fathers’ households gave to the work. The governor gave to the treasury one thousand darics of gold, fifty basins, and five hundred thirty priests’ garments. 71Some of the heads of fathers’ households gave into the treasury of the work twenty thousand darics of gold, and two thousand two hundred minas of silver. 72That which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand darics of gold, plus two thousand minas of silver, and sixty-seven priests’ garments. 73So the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their cities. When the seventh month had come, the children of Israel were in their cities.

The long census of those who returned from exile ends with a quiet, hopeful line. After all the names and numbers, the passage concludes: so the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, some of the people, the temple servants, and all Israel lived in their cities. When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities. The scattered exiles were home again, each in his own place, resettled in the land after the long years of captivity.

It is easy to pass over this closing line, but it records something worth pausing on: the people were home. These were the descendants of those carried away into exile, torn from their land, scattered, seemingly cut off from the promises. And now, after judgment and long captivity, they are back, each in his own city, resettled in the land, restored to their places. The line is understated, but it is the record of a homecoming, of God's faithfulness in bringing back a scattered and broken people, restoring them to the land they had lost. What had seemed finished was not finished; God brought them home. There is hope here for those who feel scattered, exiled, cut off from where they long to be. The people of Israel had every reason to think the exile was the end, that they would never return, that the scattering was final. But God restored them; he brought them back; he resettled them in their cities. When the LORD brought back those who returned to Zion, another psalm says, we were like those who dream; the homecoming was almost too good to believe. God is a God who restores, who brings back the scattered, who does not let exile be the final word for his people. This speaks to our own seasons of exile, whatever form they take, the sense of being far from where we belong, cut off, scattered, in a place of loss. God's faithfulness to bring his people home is not exhausted. He restored Israel to their cities after the long captivity; and he is still the God who restores, who brings back the exiled, who resettles his people. I will bring you back, he promised through Jeremiah, to the place from which I carried you away. The quiet line that ends this census, and all Israel lived in their cities, is the record of a promise kept, of a scattered people brought home; and it holds out hope that the God who restored them is faithful still to bring his own back from every exile, home at last to the place he has for them.

When I feel scattered or exiled, far from where I belong, cut off in a place of loss, do I assume the scattering is final, or can I take hope from the quiet record that God brought his exiled people home, each to his own city, after the long captivity, trusting that the God who restored them is faithful still to bring his own back from every exile, home at last?

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