31 And the children of Benjamin from Geba [dwelt] in Michmash and Aija and Bethel, and their dependent villages,
And he removed thence towards the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, [having] Bethel toward the west, and Ai toward the east; and there he built an altar to Jehovah, and called on the name of Jehovah.
And he called the name of that place Beth-el; but the name of that city was Luz at the first.
and the border passed on from thence toward Luz, to the south side of Luz, which is Bethel: and the border went down to Ataroth-Addar, near the hill that is on the south of the lower Beth-horon.
and Chephar-haammonai, and Ophni, and Geba: twelve cities and their hamlets;
The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred and twenty-one. The men of Michmas, a hundred and twenty-two. The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred and twenty-three.
He is come to Aiath, he hath passed through Migron; at Michmash he layeth up his baggage.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Nehemiah 11
Commentary on Nehemiah 11 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 11
Jerusalem was walled round, but it was not as yet fully inhabited, and therefore was weak and despicable. Nehemiah's next care is to bring people into it; of that we have here an account.
Neh 11:1-19
Jerusalem is called here the holy city (v. 1), because there the temple was, and that was the place God had chosen to put his name there; upon this account, one would think, the holy seed should all have chosen to dwell there and have striven for a habitation there; but, on the contrary, it seems they declined dwelling there,
Neh 11:20-36
Having given an account of the principal persons that dwelt in Jerusalem (a larger account of whom he had before, 1 Chr. 9:2, etc.), Nehemiah, in these verses, gives us some account of the other cities, in which dwelt the residue of Israel, v. 20. It was requisite that Jerusalem should be replenished, yet not so as to drain the country. The king himself is served of the field, which will do little service if there be not hands to manage it. Let there therefore be no strife, no envy, no contempt, no ill will, between the inhabitants of the cities and those of the villages; both are needful, both useful, and neither can be spared.