31 The children of Benjamin also [lived] from Geba [onward], at Michmash and Aija, and at Bethel and the towns of it,
He left from there to the mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west, and Ai on the east. There he built an altar to Yahweh, and called on the name of Yahweh.
He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first.
The border passed along from there to Luz, to the side of Luz (the same is Bethel), southward; and the border went down to Ataroth Addar, by the mountain that lies on the south of Beth Horon the lower.
and Chephar Ammoni, and Ophni, and Geba; twelve cities with their villages:
The men of Ramah and Geba, six hundred twenty-one. The men of Michmas, one hundred and twenty-two. The men of Bethel and Ai, a hundred twenty-three.
He is come to Aiath, he is passed through Migron; at Michmash he lays 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.