There were barely any people in Israel and now that the walls were up, the gates set and the doors in place, it was time to bring people back. But first Nehemiah felt led to find out how many people came to Jerusalem in the first wave in Ezra’s time. At this point we get a list of names and numbers and typically we skip it (let’s be honest).
But the thing is if you stop and compare this chapter with Ezra 2, you have quite a few questions. The reason is 1) The lists do not match in numbers between Ezra 2 and Neh 7 and 2) the total numbers do not match the 42,360 that the list says returned meaning there around 12,000 people not listed. So does this mean that the Scriptures are false?
Not at all. While there was a diligence to try to preserve the correct numbers, making a perfect census count is pretty tough. Numbers change daily with births and deaths. Also different people may be asked the census report.
But what are some other possibilities?
- It could mean that the 12,000 that were missing in the list were the young boys yet to be men, but were counted as potentials.
- The 12,000 could possibly be the priests that came back, but were not listed as they couldn’t prove their geneology (Neh 7:64)
- The differences look in single digits, and then in whole numbers. The single digit differences (such as 9 or 11 or 1) could just be attrition through birth and death. The whole number differences are larger (100, 300, 1100) and could be tribal heads exaggerating because bigger numbers meant more land.
- The other possibility is that the first list in Ezra is accurate and the second list is just a register that was done at a different time (Neh 7:5)
Any of these could be a real possibility. My guess is that it was either the priests or the exaggerated numbers for more land and finances. But either way census counts have always been a fluid number. So it’s not a big issue. We don’t see it as an issue in the church fathers or big discussions in history elsewhere. With a census there are often other factors that we don’t know about.\
