John Gill Commentary Nehemiah 7

Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set
up the doors
Which was not done when Sanballat sent his first letter, but now was, (Nehemiah 6:1),

and the porters and the singers, and the Levites were appointed;
not to attend the doors of the gates of the wall, but to return to their service in the temple, who had beenemployed in one thing or another, while the wall and gates were building and repairing; see (Nehemiah 3:17).

That I gave my brother Hanani
Who first brought him the melancholy account of the state of Jerusalem, (Nehemiah 1:2Nehemiah 1:3) ,

and Hananiah the ruler of the palace ;
the king's palace, in which the viceroy of the king of Persia dwelt, and now Nehemiah; to these two men he gave

charge over Jerusalem ;
committed it to their care during his absence, who may be supposed now to return to Persia, as he had promised, (Nehemiah 2:6) ,

for he was a faithful man ;
this is said of Hananiah, and given as a reason why such a trust was committed to him; Hanani's character was well known, and his journey from Jerusalem to Shushan was a full proof of his hearty concern for the interest of it:

and feared God above many ;
Hananiah was exemplary in his fear of God, few were equal to him, and none exceeded him; or of many days, as Jarchi; of a long time he had feared the Lord, and served him many years.

And I said unto them, let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened
until the sun be hot
Or until the heat of the day, or near noon; at least not till the sun had been up some time, and shone out clearly, and caused much heat; that if any enemies were near, or lying in wait, they might be discovered, and the inhabitants also up and ready to defend themselves:

and while they stand by ;
according to Aben Ezra, Hanani and Hananiah were to be present at the opening and shutting of the gates, and so Grotius; but these being the chief rulers, it is not likely; but rather those whom they appointed to look after them, these were to stand by while their servants did it; they were not to leave it wholly to them, but to see it done themselves:

let them shut the doors, and bar them ;
or "lay hold" ^F1 on them, handle them to see whether they are shut fast or not:

and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, everyone in his
watch, and everyone to be over against his house ;
no foreigners were to be of the watch, only inhabitants, and those everyone in their turn, and to be placed over against where they dwelt; and so it might be thought would be the more careful and diligent in their watch.

FOOTNOTES:

• F1: (wzxaw) "et tractate", Junius & Tremellius; "contrectate eas", Piscator.

Now the city was large and great
The circumference of it, all within the wall; for that was built on its old foundation, and enclosed as much ground as ever it did: Hecataeus ^F2 , an Heathen writer, says the circumference of Jerusalem was fifty furlongs, which was more than six miles; but Josephus ^F3 makes the circuit of it but thirty three furlongs or about six miles:

but the people were few therein ;
in comparison of the largeness of the place; for though there were 42,360 that came up at first with Zerubbabel, and many more with Ezra, yet a great number chose to settle in the towns and cities in the country, Jerusalem being in such a desolate condition:

and the houses were not builded ;
some were, but they were but few, many of them still lay in ruins.

FOOTNOTES:

• F2: Apud Euseb. Praepar. par. Evangel. l. 9. c. 4. p. 408. & apud Joseph. contr. Apion, l. 1. c. 22.
• F3: De Bell. Jud. l. 5. c. 4. sect. 3.

And my God put into mine heart
Every good motion in him, and whatever he thought of that was conducive to the good and welfare of Jerusalem, Nehemiah always ascribed it to God; see (2 Corinthians 3:5)

to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that
they might be reckoned by genealogy ;
that their number might be known, and of what families they were, and in what cities they formerly dwelt; and this was not only of use for the present purpose of Nehemiah, but was of service hereafter to show the pedigree of families, and that it might be clearly known from whence the Messiah sprung:

and I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the
first ;
from Babylon to Jerusalem, along with Zerubbabel, as appears from (Nehemiah 7:7) , and this was of great use to him, whereby he would know not only their names and number, but to what city they belonged, and who to the city of Jerusalem, that they might be called upon to come, and rebuild their houses, and take up their residence there:

and found written therein ;
the names of the persons and families after mentioned.