Nehemiah 11:6

All the sons of Perez that dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 11:6. Four hundred threescore and eight valiant men — Such were most proper for this place and time, because of its many enemies round about.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the margin reference notes. Both accounts appear to be extracts from a public official register which Nehemiah caused to be made of his census. The census itself seems to have been confined to the dwellers at Jerusalem. The subjoined table exhibits the differences between the accounts of the entire population of Jerusalem as given in Nehemiah and in Chronicles:

1 Chron ehemiah Tribes of Judah Of Pharez 468 Of Zerah 690 Tribe of Benjamin 956 928 Tribe of Levi Priests 1760 1192 Levites 284 Porters 212 172

According to Nehemiah's numbers, supplemented from Chronicles, the entire adult male population of the city was 3,734, which would give a total population of 14,936. According to Chronicles, supplemented from Nehemiah, the adult males were 4,370, and consequently the entire population, would have been 17,480. As the Nethinims and the Israelites of Ephraim and Manasseh 1 Chronicles 9:3 are not included in either list, we may conclude that the actual number of the inhabitants, after the efforts recorded in Nehemiah 11:1-2, was not much short of 20,000.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

4. at Jerusalem dwelt certain of the children of Judah—The discrepancy that is apparent between this [Ne 11:4-36] and the list formerly given in 1Ch 9:1-9, arose not only from the Jewish and Oriental practice of changing or modifying the names of persons from a change of circumstances, but from the alterations that must have been produced in the course of time. The catalogue in Chronicles contains those who came with the first detachment of returned exiles, while the list in this passage probably included also those who returned with Ezra and Nehemiah; or it was most probably made out afterwards, when several had died, or some, who had been inserted as going on the journey, remained, and others came in their stead.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Such were most proper for this place and time, because of its many enemies round about it.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

All the sons of Perez that dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men. And so well qualified to defend the city against its enemies.

Geneva Study Bible

All the sons of Perez that dwelt at Jerusalem were four hundred threescore and eight valiant men.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

6. at Jerusalem] R.V. in.

four hundred threescore and eight valiant men] Our list gives the number of the sons of Perez, 468; the Chronicles list gives the number of the sons of Zerah, 690. It is clear, therefore, that neither list is complete, but that each is drawn from some fuller document.

valiant men] i.e. men capable of bearing arms, able-bodied men.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - Valiant men. Or, "fighting men"- men able to bear arms and serve in the wars. Nehemiah 11:6

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Of the children of Judah two heads: Athaiah of the children of Perez (comp. 1 Chronicles 2:4), and Maaseiah of the children of Shela. It has been already remarked on 1 Chronicles 9:5, that השּׁלני is wrongly pointed, and should be read השּׁלני. כּל־חזה is a proper name, as in Nehemiah 3:15. Athaiah and Maaseiah are not further known. There were in all four hundred and sixty-eight able-bodied men of the sons of Perez, i.e., four hundred and sixty-eight fathers of families of the race of Perez, among whom are probably included the fathers of families belonging to Shela, the younger brother of Perez.