Or, Remembering the Shoes We Fill
Scripture: Nehemiah 7:1-73
Date: May 4, 2025
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Nehemiah 7 isn’t just another list of names, it is the same list as Ezra 2. It’s not just a long and detailed record, it’s a repeated record. It’s covering the identical ground. It’s a copy and paste genealogy, if that metaphor had been invented in 445 BC.
Did Nehemiah not realize it? Actually, he deliberately included it; he says so. He was excited about it. This is exactly the list he wanted for such a time as this. What was his logic?
Ezra put this list early in his account. Ezra 2 is the record of the first wave of 42k-plus returnees from Babylon with Zerubbabel after Cyrus’ repatriation decree in 538 BC. There is another list in Ezra 8 of those that returned from Babylon with Ezra himself in 458 BC. Ezra 10 has a list of names of those who had married, then put away, foreign wives. Nehemiah 3 has the list of the families and groups that built certain sections of the Jerusalem’s wall in 445 BC. And now in Nehemiah 7, a little over 90 years after the first return, Nehemiah references the original list of names, most of whom were likely dead. Why?
He wants the current generation to remember their families, to remember the risks and pains of travel and resettling and rebuilding, and to remember that they have inherited the responsibilities. They had shoes to fill. In a similar way, so do we.
Nehemiah led a people who have been taunted and threatened. They’ve just now got doors installed in the gates, the wall is all done. Now they can go home and tend to their own matters, right? What else do they need to do? It turns out, they have a lot of hard part ahead. It’s been said that “if you do one good deed your reward usually is to be set to do another and harder and better one.”
The rest of Nehemiah’s account in chapters 8-13 describe the rebuilding of the intangibles. The walls are working, the culture needs work. There has been some renewed altar sacrifices and temple worship, there’s been some family business and local farming again. And yet in some ways they have just now got to the foundational part of the project.
What does this re-listing do?
Nehemiah describes the dedication ceremony of the wall in 12:27ff. Here at the start of chapter 7 Nehemiah describes his appointments of particular men to lead in the protection of the city and one of his polities that would help. There are three layers of appointment.
Gatekeepers were first employed at the temple. The singers and the Levites were also temple employees, and could function as backup guards. Even with all the doors installed, security personnel were necessary, and these were the first appointed responders until more men could be trained.
Nehemiah gave…charge over Jerusalem to two men (verse 2), a high level appointment. Later in the Roman Republic, rule by two was called a duumvirate. Hanani was Nehemiah’s brother, and was the one who originally reported the desperate conditions to Nehemiah (1:2). Hananiah is a second man, one who had been governor of the castle referring to the royal palace. He had experience and he was trustworthy: a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. Why both? A focus on the few to guard the many.
An identified vulnerability required a notable policy. Nehemiah ordered in verse 3 that the gates not be opened with the sunrise, as was typical, but only opened in the middle of the day, when the sun is hot, and most everyone was up. That said, the afternoon has its own after-lunch drowsy temptation, so…keep the doors shut. And, even with the gates closed, they were to be manned with more appointed guards.
Verse 4 explains the facts on the ground. The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. It had not become a population center again yet. The ESV takes it too far in saying “no houses,” when the translation might be more basic, “houses had not been built.” But verse 3 just said some of the guards were to be stationed in front of their own homes. The point is, most of the effort had gone to the defense budget, not to dwelling places.
Nehemiah noted, God put it into my heart, just as God had stirred up Cyrus’ heart (Ezra 1:1). It was time not merely to provide for the protection of the city, but to provide for the city’s repopulation. It was time to bring the city back to life. So in the Lord’s providence Nehemiah got the idea, really the conviction, to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people and identify not just who belonged but who had responsibilities to bear.
“Guys, you are the important men. You have inherited the important mandate.” Here is the roll call.
It seems that Nehemiah expected that he would have to collect his own information and make a new record. That would give him an idea who should take up residence within the walls.
Instead, he found the older record of the families who returned: those who came up at the first. Verse 6 specifies further, these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried into exile. This “book” is the legal list, but also an historical narrative. It’s a family tree of relationships, but even more, a reminder of inherited responsibilities. The city belonged to some and not others, so did the work of investing in the city’s ongoing renewal.
While I believe verses 6-73 to be part of the profitable inspired Word, I read it all in October in Ezra. We don’t need to hear each name again, but we are profited by thinking about why the list is here again, as we’ve been doing.
There are only a few differences between Ezra’s record and this copy. The variations in names and numbers are explainable by copying errors. But note that Nehemiah copied his paperwork, he had to handwrite his own version in order to include it.
Ezra’s copy of the genealogy praised God with the specific names of those God brought back from Babylon. The LORD promised judgment, captivity, and return. God is faithful, see the families.
Nehemiah’s copy reminded his generation who they were, how they got there. It put them in a mind to thank God and put them in a mind to pick up the work. What progress God had given in 90 years. And also, what promises God still had for them, including the return of the King. The wall was good, listening to the Law and walking according to it in the next chapter even better.
The community had new walls, which put them in a better place than their fathers who had returned. The risks were part of the ongoing project.
What responsibilities? To worship the Lord and walk in His ways. To build and battle while waiting for the King.
So we must learn to see ourselves as part of a the Lord’s long project. We are learning how to honor Christ, so that we can carry and advance that Christ-honoring culture. We must not cut ourselves off from our fathers, and we must pick up our responsibilities for the blessing of the world until Christ comes. Take stock. Maybe our genealogy isn’t quite as specific, but we’ve still got shoes to fill.
What will your future people remember about your risks of faith (see also Hebrews 13:7)? Will you pick up the baton, and then keep running until you can hand it off?
You are not the first to fight the seed of the serpent. Remember the battle, keep your weapons close. You will not be the last to work for the seed of the woman. Remember your calling, put your tools to use. Church, not one of you is alone. Remember your people in Jesus’ name.
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. (Romans 16:20 ESV)