Nehemiah 11:3–9

The lay leaders who lived in Jerusalem

These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon’s servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on his own property in the various towns, 4 while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem):

From the descendants of Judah:

Athaiah son of Uzziah, the son of Zechariah, the son of Amariah, the son of Shephatiah, the son of Mahalalel, a descendant of Perez; 5 and Maaseiah son of Baruch, the son of Col-Hozeh, the son of Hazaiah, the son of Adaiah, the son of Joiarib, the son of Zechariah, a descendant of Shelah. 6 The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 able men.

7 From the descendants of Benjamin:

Sallu son of Meshullam, the son of Joed, the son of Pedaiah, the son of Kolaiah, the son of Maaseiah, the son of Ithiel, the son of Jeshaiah, 8 and his followers, Gabbai and Sallai—928 men. 9 Joel son of Zicri was their chief officer, and Judah son of Hassenuah was over the Second District of the city.

These lists are very brief summaries. Their purpose was not to list all the settlers, but to establish the credentials ofthe settlers as people who could establish a clear genealogy as descendants of Israel. Only two leaders—Athaiah and Maaseiah—were named for the tribe of Judah, but their origins were traced back to Perez and Shelah, the sons of Jacob’s son Judah (Genesis 46:12). Likewise, only three leaders—Sallu, Gabbai, Sallai—were named for Benjamin. In this case the genealogy is not traced back to the first generation of the tribe of Benjamin, perhaps because of the near destruction this tribe had suffered in its early history (Judges 20,21). The term followers is applied to Gabbai and Sallai. The expression literally means “after him” and most likely means after Sallu in the listing.

Joel and Judah may have been leaders of the Benjamites. But it seems more likely that they were lay leaders for the city and not for a particular tribal group. Their names appear after the total number of Benjamites.