ABC:Nehemiah 7

Verse 5

Infidels.org claims the Bible is wrong about the Ezra/Nehemiah census figures: The ReasonProject also claims this is a contradiction with the headline "How many of Adin's offspring returned from Babylon?" Wikipedia similarly asserts this is a contradiction.

“ Ezra 2:1 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

Ezra 2:64 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,

Nehemiah 7:5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city;

Nehemiah 7:66 The whole congregation together was forty and two thousand three hundred and threescore,

”

History

It's a little-known fact that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were actually one book originally, just like the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles originally were, and just got subdivided. Ezra-Nehemiah wasn't actually subdivided into separate books until many centuries after being authored. Unfortunately Ezra-Nehemiah is the book least evidenced by the Dead Sea Scrolls, with the exception of Esther (the only book not found among the DSS), with only a few manuscripts preserving fragments from it, so it is tough to tell what the original genealogy looked like before the book was divided into halves. It seems quite possible that the two separate accounts were originally one account from the original scroll, and (rather poorly) transformed into two accounts when the book was divided (probably around 400 A.D. when the Catholic Church was created). At any rate, the book(s) of Ezra-Nehemiah involve some very unusual controversy.

According to the Scofield Reference Bible, a timeline of the Jewish exile in Babylon can be summarized as follows:

• 586 B.C.: Jerusalem conquered by Babylon, second/last deportation of Jews to Babylon.
• 538 B.C.: First wave of returning Jews. Zerubbabel begins rebuilding the temple but Samaritans oppose them and construction is delayed. (Ezra 1-6)
• 520 B.C.: Prophets Haggai and Zechariah urge the temple's rebuilding and construction renews. (Haggai and Zechariah 1-8)
• 515 B.C.: Second temple is finished in March.
• 458 B.C.: Ezra implements worship reforms. (The Scofield provides an alternate date of 398 B.C.)
• 444-432 B.C.: Nehemiah appointed governor of Judah and rebuilds Jerusalem's walls. (Nehemiah 1-7 and 11-13)
• 400 B.C.: End of Old Testament history.

Account Comparison

The following is a table comparing the accounts from Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7. While the accounts agree on the totals, specific numbers given for various families do indeed differ.

Family	Term	Ezra 2	Neh. 7	Difference	Verses	Notes
Parosh	Children	2172	2172	-	Ezra 2:3, Neh. 7:8
Shephatiah	Children	372	372	-	Ezra 2:4, Neh. 7:9
Arah	Children	775	652	117	Ezra 2:5, Neh. 7:10
Pahathmoab	Children	2812	2818	6	Ezra 2:6, Neh. 7:11	Notable ancestors mentioned - Jeshua, Joab
Elam	Children	1254	1254	-	Ezra 2:7, Neh. 7:12
Zattu	Children	945	845	100	Ezra 2:8, Neh. 7:13
Zaccai	Children	760	760	-	Ezra 2:9, Neh. 7:13
Bani	Children	642	648	6	Ezra 2:10, Neh. 7:15	Called Binnui in Neh.
Bebai	Children	623	628	5	Ezra 2:11, Neh. 7:16
Azgad	Children	1222	2322	1100	Ezra 2:12, Neh. 7:17
Adonikam	Children	666	667	1	Ezra 2:13, Neh. 7:18
Bigvai	Children	256	2067	1811	Ezra 2:14, Neh. 7:19
Adin	Children	454	655	201	Ezra 2:15, Neh. 7:20
Ater	Children	98	98	-	Ezra 2:16, Neh. 7:21	Notable ancestor mentioned - Hezekiah
Hashum	Children	223	328	105	Ezra 2:19, Neh. 7:22	Different order
Bezai	Children	323	324	1	Ezra 2:17, Neh. 7:23
Jorah	Children	112	112	-	Ezra 2:18, Neh. 7:24	Called Hariph in Neh.
Gibbar	Children	95	95	-	Ezra 2:20, Neh. 7:25	Called Gibeon in Neh.
Bethlehem, Netophah	Men/Children	179	188	9	Ezra 2:21-22, Neh. 7:26	Separate accounts in Ezra but combined in Neh.
Anathoth	Men	128	128	-	Ezra 2:23, Neh. 7:27
Azmaveth	Men/Children	42	42	-	Ezra 2:24, Neh. 7:28	Called Bethazmaveth in Neh.
Kirjatharim, Chephirah, Beeroth	Men/Children	743	743	-	Ezra 2:25, Neh. 7:29
Rama, Gaba	Men/Children	621	621	-	Ezra 2:26, Neh. 7:30	Called Geba in Neh.
Michmas	Men	122	122	-	Ezra 2:27, Neh. 7:31
Bethel, Ai	Men	223	123	100	Ezra 2:28, Neh. 7:32
Nebo	Men/Children	52	52	-	Ezra 2:29, Neh. 7:33	Called "other Nebo" in Neh.
Magbish	Children	156	?	?	Ezra 2:30	Not listed in Neh.
other Elam	Children	1254	1254	-	Ezra 2:31, Neh. 7:34
Harim	Children	320	320	-	Ezra 2:32, Neh. 7:35
Lod, Hadid, Ono	Children	725	721	4	Ezra 2:33, Neh. 7:37	Different order in Neh.
Jericho	Children	345	345	-	Ezra 2:34, Neh. 7:36
Senaah	Children	3630	3930	300	Ezra 2:35, Neh. 7:38
Jedaiah	Children	973	973	-	Ezra 2:36, Neh. 7:39	Called Priests, notable ancestor mentioned - Jeshua
Immer	Children	1052	1052	-	Ezra 2:37, Neh. 7:40
Pashur	Children	1247	1247	-	Ezra 2:38, Neh. 7:41
Harim	Children	1017	1017	-	Ezra 2:39, Neh. 7:42
Jeshua, Kadmiel	Children	74	74	-	Ezra 2:40, Neh. 7:43	Called Levites, notable ancestor mentioned - Hodaviah
Asaph	Children	128	148	20	Ezra 2:41, Neh. 7:44	Called Singers
Shallum, Ater, et. al.	Children	139	138	1	Ezra 2:42, Neh. 7:45	Called Porters
Ziha, Hasupha, et. al.	Children	392	392	-	Ezra 2:43-58, Neh. 7:46-60	Called Nethinims and Solomon's servants
Delaiah, Tobiah, Nekoda	Children	652	642	10	Ezra 2:59-60, Neh. 7:61-62	Couldn't prove ancestry
Habaiah, Koz, Barzillai	Children	?	?	?	Ezra 2:61-63, Neh. 7:63-65	No number given in Ezra or Neh., couldn't prove genealogy and removed from priesthood
Total Named		28018	31089	3071

The totals given at the end of both accounts agree as follows:

Total
Congregation	42360
Servants and Maids	7330
Horses	736
Mules	245
Camels	435
Donkeys	6720

Who's Being Counted?

Whereas Ezra 2 identifies 28,018 individuals, Nehemiah 7 identifies only 31,089, a difference of 3,071. Much of this consists of the huge discrepancies for Azgad (1100) and Bigvai (1811). So why are these numbers so much lower than the total congregation numbers mentioned in Ezra 2:64-67 and Nehemiah 7:66-69? The following possibilities exist:

'1. Only Men Counted

As Will Kinney points out, both accounts begin by clearly saying it's only men being counted:

“ Ezra 2:2 Which came with Zerubbabel: Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:

Nehemiah 7:7 Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;

”

If only the men were being counted it would hardly be unusual as the Bible typically only names men in genealogies, though there are rare exceptions. Another possibility is that some tribes were counting only men specifically, whereas others were counting all persons (those mentioning 'children', i.e. all descendants of the tribe). A number of tribes in the Ezra 2 account noticeably say men were being counted instead of the generic term 'children', see vv. 22-23 and 27-28. Since these were low-populated tribes, it's possible the real numbers were somewhat higher.

At any rate, it's possible as Will Kinney says that the additional amount of 14,342 in Ezra 2 were the male children of the tribes that had not been mentioned.

2. Servants and Maids Included

If including servants and maids, the count would increase to 35,348 in Ezra 2 and to 38,419 in Nehemiah 7. If including the livestock as well, the count would actually be too high, 43,484 and 46,555 respectively (which seems unlikely anyway). At any rate, the inclusion of servants and maids raises the count, but still leaves one thousands short, too much even if including the last group (descendants of Habaiah, Koz, and Barzillai) whose number was unmentioned.

List Differences

What is also difficult to explain is why so many clear differences exist in the individual records mentioned, particularly in numbering. As also pointed out by Kinney, the Nehemiah 7 account appears to rely on a later discovery of a registry based on the Ezra 2 account.

“ Nehemiah 7:5 And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein,
6 These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city; ”

Whereas the Ezra 2 account presents the information as recorded firsthand, the Nehemiah 7 account speaks of finding an earlier registry. Perhaps the early chapters of Ezra (which again were one book with Nehemiah) were part of this early registry the book's author discovered, and he presented the account first before providing his own.

Solution: Two Censuses

Thus it appears there were two censuses taken, with the author trying to perform his own census similar to the original census by re-counting the tribes once again. The first census appears to have been taken in the empire of Babylon, the most powerful in the world at the time, for the children of Israel leaving captivity, around 538 B.C. The second, on the other hand, appears to be an account years later by the Jewish immigrants attempting to rebuild their destroyed homeland, around 444 B.C., nearly a century later.

“ Ezra 2:1 Now these are the children of the province that went up out of the captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem and Judah, every one unto his city;

Nehemiah 7:1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed,
2 That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

”

However, without the resources now of Babylon to aid in the counting like the original census-taker, the new attempt appears to have been more shabby, as evidenced by:

• The combining of the Bethlehem and Netopha accounts. (Neh. 7:26)
• Drastic inflation of the Azgad and Bigvai counts, possibly lumping in other families with them. (Neh. 7:17,19)
• Complete absence of Magbish.

My guess would be this was a poor attempt by a later scribe at retaking the earlier census by following the registry recovered. That would explain why the families are similar but numbers differ like they do. The scribe probably just kept some of the numbers including the totals, realizing the task could not be completed. Despite his original zeal to retake the early census conducted by the Babylonian empire, he realized without the resources of Babylon's educated scribes it was impracticable. Thus he just repeated the earlier counts and perhaps went with approximations.

Perhaps he knew he would die soon and the census was taking too long to complete, so he just adopted some of the earlier family counts instead of attempting to update them, including the final tally of the original census. At any rate, it would explain why there appears to be a slight increase in many of the Nehemiah 7 counts relative to the Ezra 2 ones (Pahathmoab, Bani, Bebai, Adonikam, Bezai, Bethlehem/Netophah, and Senaah). It would be explained by population increase during the time required to return to their homeland and rebuild Jerusalem's wall.

Ultimately, since these were part of the same book, it makes no sense for there to be two accounts at all unless such a scenario had happened. Why recount the same census in the same book, unless there were really two censuses being attempted?

Verse 32

The ReasonProject lists the following as a Bible contradiction with the headline "Did the city of Ai exist after Joshua destroyed it?"

“ Joshua 8:28 And Joshua burnt Ai, and made it an heap for ever, even a desolation unto this day.

Nehemiah 7:32 The men of Bethel and Ai, an hundred twenty and three.

”

The city of Ai was destroyed, but the land of Ai was reinhabited by the Israelites, as with other areas like Jericho and Bethel. God specifically stated that the land of Ai was being given to the Israelites, and it apparently kept that name afterward.

“ Joshua 8:1 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear not, neither be thou dismayed: take all the people of war with thee, and arise, go up to Ai: see, I have given into thy hand the king of Ai, and his people, and his city, and his land: ”

Thus Jeremiah spoke afterward about how Ai was to be spoiled. It had become inhabited by the Israelites and bore its former name of Ai. The original city of Ai was destroyed, but the name of Ai itself had not fallen out of us in referring to the land.

“ Jeremiah 49:3 Howl, O Heshbon, for Ai is spoiled: cry, ye daughters of Rabbah, gird you with sackcloth; lament, and run to and fro by the hedges; for their king shall go into captivity, and his priests and his princes together. ”