The walls of the city were in place but now it needed people to settle into it and grow it back up again. The leaders of the people all decided to make Jerusalem their home and the rest of the people where chosen by lot so that every 1/10 would live in Jerusalem. And then there were those noble volunteers and saw the need and made that decision without needing lots.
It wasn’t the most comfortable option to live in the city. Much of it was still broken down, they wouldn’t have fields so they would need to do some form of business, and now that they had walls they could easily be the target for enemy nations coming against them and trapping them inside.
But they came, whether by default being a leader, by lot, or by choice.
Judah’s descendants – 468 capable men
Benjamin’s descendants – 928
The priests – 822 + 128
The Levites – 284
The gatekeepers – 172
The numbers weren’t exactly overwhelming, but it was start. “Do not despise the day of small beginnings” (Zech 4:10).
The rest of the people all went to their own how villages and fields.
What we do see is good community health.
- Leaders were leading by being the first to settle in Jerusalem.
- Some were volunteering to live in Jerusalem and were highly praised because of it.
- The temple work inside and out was being attended to.
- And the farms and lands were being cultivated again.
It was a new day in Jerusalem and Israel. It was rough living and tough rebuilding.
But it was home.
