Nehemiah 11:3

Now these are the chief, &c. The heading of our list differs from that in 1 Chronicles 9:2, which runs, -Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were, Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the Nethinim." The purpose of the list in 1 Chronicles 9 is apparently to give the names of the families who had either remained in Judea at the time when the mass of the people were transported to Babylon, or had returned to their own country either from exile or from voluntary flight in Egypt and the neighbouring nations. The purpose of the list in our passage is apparently to state the number of the inhabitants either before or after (Rawlinson) the measures taken to augment them in Nehemiah's time.

The mention of -the king" in Nehemiah 11:23 and Nehemiah 11:24 is apparently a reference to Artaxerxes; a conclusive proof that the list belongs to the age of Nehemiah.

According to some commentators, the list is intended to give the names of -the princes of the people" mentioned in Nehemiah 11:1. But the expression -the chiefs of the province" (see on Ezra 2:1) suggests that the list and its superscription have no original connexion with Nehemiah 11:1-2. It is more probable that the Compiler having access to this list belonging to the age of Nehemiah, in which the classification is that of -the dwellers in Jerusalem" (4 19) and -the residue of Israel" (20 36) has inserted it here in terms as nearly as possible corresponding to the division of the people in Nehemiah 11:1.

Nethinims R.V. Nethinim.

and the children of Solomon's servants See on Ezra 2:58; Nehemiah 7:57. These are not mentioned in the parallel passage, 1 Chronicles 9:2.