Nehemiah 11 Devotional

Moving Into the Holy City

“And the people blessed all the men who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.”Nehemiah 11:2 (BSB)

With the wall finished but the city short of residents, the leaders settle in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one in ten to live there (11:1). Some volunteer, and the people bless them (11:2). The chapter then lists who came: men of Judah and Benjamin, priests who did the work of the temple, Levites including one who led the thanksgiving and prayer (11:17), and gatekeepers (11:19). Everyone else settles in the towns of Judah and Benjamin, from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom (11:20, 11:30).

Twice the chapter calls Jerusalem the holy city (11:1, 11:18). God had promised to gather his people to the place he chose for his name (1:9), and now the city fills again with worship, watchfulness, and ordinary households. Yet this city was not the end of the story. Hebrews says that believers have no permanent city here, and they look for the city that is to come (Hebrews 13:14). That city will never need rebuilding, and you can live today as one who already belongs there.

To think about: How might living as a citizen of the city to come shape the way you treat the place where you live now?