9So all Israel were reckoned by genealogies; and, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel: and Judah was carried away captive to Babylon for their transgression. 2Now the first inhabitants that dwelt in their possessions in their cities were, Israel, the priests, the
Ch. IX. 1—17 (cp. Neh. xi. 1—19). The Heads of the Families
which dwelt in Jerusalem.
Verses 2—17 contain the lists of the heads of families of Judah (3—6), of Benjamin (7—9), of the priests (10—13), of the Levites (14—16), and of the porters (17), who dwelt in Jerusalem at some period after the Return (cp. note on ver. 2). A similar list (with some variations which are recorded in their places in the following notes) occurs in Neh. xi. 3—19. The partial agreement coupled with the partial divergence of the two lists may be explained by supposing that both are extracts independently made from the same document, and have been inserted, one in Chron., the other in Neh., lest the peculiarities of either list should be lost. We may conclude from Neh. xi. 1, 2 that both lists represent the population of Jerusalem, after Nehemiah had taken measures for increasing it. Another way of accounting for the divergences in the two lists is to suppose that the present list represents the Jerusalem of a later period than the list in Neh. See also ver. 17.
1. in the book of the kings of Israel] See Introd. § 5, B (3). The LXX., however, reads "in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah." With the LXX. reading, all Israel must be taken as subject of the verb was carried away, but of course the phrase must still be taken as meaning an "Israel" = Judah.
2. the first inhabitants] It has been thought that the word "first" here refers to pre-eminence (cp. Neh. xi. 3), and that the list which follows (vv. 4 ff.) is a list of chief men. It is better, however, to take "first" in a temporal sense, meaning "pre-exilic," and to suppose that the Chronicler or whoever placed this chapter here mistakenly imagined this list to be a pre-exilic register. That it is not really pre-exilic is certain by reason of its vital connection with the post-exilic list in Neh. xi. 3—19. The suggestion that the resemblances are due to the continuity of population in Jerusalem before and after the exile is utterly improbable.
in their cities] The phrase is apparently an abridgment of words in Neh. xi. 3, and is really meaningless in the present context. In Neh. it signifies "townships in Judah" where certain persons, who now elected to dwell in Jerusalem, had formerly resided.
Israel] i.e. laymen as distinguished from men of Levitical descent. According to ver. 3 Israel included at least Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh (cp. Ps. lxxx. 2, where Judah—the speaker—associates Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh with herself in her appeal to the
