64 These sought their genealogical register, but it was not found; therefore were they, as polluted, removed from the priesthood.
if the priest that is anointed sin according to the trespass of the people; then for his sin which he hath sinned shall he present a young bullock without blemish to Jehovah for a sin-offering.
And all Israel were registered by genealogy; and behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Israel. And Judah was carried away to Babylon because of their transgression.
Remember them, my God, for they are polluters of the priesthood, and of the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites!
And the king, having gone in to see the guests, beheld there a man not clothed with a wedding garment. And he says to him, [My] friend, how camest thou in here not having on a wedding garment? But he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him feet and hands, and take him away, and cast him out into the outer darkness: there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
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Commentary on Nehemiah 7 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 7
The success of one good design for God and our generation should encourage us to proceed and form some other; Nehemiah did so, having fortified Jerusalem with gates and walls, his next care is,
Neh 7:1-4
God saith concerning his church (Isa. 62:6), I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem! This is Nehemiah's care here; for dead walls, without living watchmen, are but a poor defence to a city.
Neh 7:5-73
We have here another good project of Nehemiah's; for wise and zealous men will be always contriving something or other for the glory of God and the edification of his church. He knew very well that the safety of a city, under God, depends more upon the number and valour of the inhabitants than upon the height or strength of its walls; and therefore, observing that the people were few that dwelt in it, he thought fit to take an account of the people, that he might find what families had formerly had their settlement in Jerusalem, but were now removed into the country, that he might bring them back, and what families could in any other way be influenced by their religion, or by their business, to come and rebuild the houses in Jerusalem and dwell in them. So little reason have we to wish that we may be placed alone in the earth, or in Jerusalem itself, that much of our safety and comfort depends upon our neighbours and friends; the more the stronger, the more the merrier. It is the wisdom of the governors of a nation to keep the balance even between the city and country, that the metropolis be not so extravagantly large as to drain and impoverish the country, nor yet so weak as not to be able to protect it. Now observe,