Nehemiah 7:26-30: a reflection

26The men of Bethlehem and Netophah: one hundred eighty-eight. 27The men of Anathoth: one hundred twenty-eight. 28The men of Beth Azmaveth: forty-two. 29The men of Kiriath Jearim, Chephirah, and Beeroth: seven hundred forty-three. 30The men of Ramah and Geba: six hundred twenty-one.

This passage is part of a long list of the exiles who returned from Babylon, and here they are counted by their hometowns: the men of Bethlehem, of Anathoth, of Kiriath Jearim, and others, each group numbered by the place they belonged to. These were people returning not to some generic location, but to their own towns, their own places, to rebuild the particular communities they belonged to.

Notice that the returning exiles are identified by their own places. They did not come back to settle just anywhere; they returned to their own towns, the particular places their families belonged to, to rebuild and resettle them. God restored his people to their own homes and communities, not to some abstract land, but to the specific places that were theirs. Belonging to a particular place and people mattered.

That points to something worth valuing: the particular place and community God has given us. We can be restless for somewhere else, imagining our real calling lies in some distant or more significant place, and neglect the particular place and people God has actually set us among. But there is value in belonging to a place, and in building up the particular community God has given us, our own town, our own church, our own neighborhood, rather than only dreaming of somewhere else. Be faithful to build up the particular place and people God has set you among, as these returned to their own towns to rebuild them. Do not despise your own place in favor of some imagined elsewhere; God has given you a particular community to belong to and to build up. Invest yourself there, in the place that is yours, as these exiles returned to build up their own.

Lord, this passage counts the returning exiles by their own hometowns, each group returning not to some generic location, but to their own places, to rebuild the particular communities they belonged to; you restored your people to their own homes, not to an abstract land. Help me value the particular place and community you have given me. I can be restless for somewhere else, imagining my real calling lies in some distant or more significant place, and neglect the particular place and people you have actually set me among. But there is value in belonging to a place, and in building up the particular community you have given me, my own town, my own church, my own neighborhood, rather than only dreaming of somewhere else. Help me be faithful to build up the particular place and people you have set me among, as these returned to their own towns to rebuild them. Keep me from despising my own place in favor of some imagined elsewhere; you have given me a particular community to belong to and build up. Help me invest myself there, in the place that is yours for me.