Context No. 3798 of 4322 · Nehemiah
Context · Reflection
Nehemiah 7:11-15: in context
11The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab: two thousand eight hundred eighteen. 12The children of Elam: one thousand two hundred fifty-four. 13The children of Zattu: eight hundred forty-five. 14The children of Zaccai: seven hundred sixty. 15The children of Binnui: six hundred forty-eight.
This passage is part of a long register of the families who returned from exile to Judah, listed by name and number. To a modern reader it is just a column of figures, so many of this family, so many of that. But behind the dry list lies something moving.
Each number represents real people who made the long, hard journey back from Babylon to rebuild a ruined homeland and a fallen temple, and God had every one of them counted and recorded. They were not an anonymous mass; they were a named, numbered remnant, each family known. There is quiet comfort in this. God keeps account of his people. The ones who return to him, who take up the hard and unglamorous work of rebuilding, are not overlooked or forgotten; they are known and numbered by name. The very existence of this careful list testifies that no faithful returnee was lost in the crowd. God knows those who are his, records their names, and counts even the ordinary families who answered his call to come home.
Do I trust that God knows and records me by name, counting even the ordinary and unnoticed among his people, so that my faithfulness to answer his call is never lost in the crowd?
Sources
- Nehemiah 7:11: "The children of Pahathmoab, of the children of Jeshua and Joab: two thousand eight hundred eighteen."
- Nehemiah 7:6: "These are the children of the province who went up out of the captivity of those who had been carried away."
- Luke 10:20: "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven."