Nehemiah 7:2

2 I put two men in charge of governing the city of Jerusalem: my brother Hanani and Hananiah, commanding officer of the fortress. Hananiah was a reliable and God-fearing man without equal.

Nehemiah 7:2 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 7:2

That I gave my brother Hanani
Who first brought him the melancholy account of the state of Jerusalem, ( Nehemiah 1:2 Nehemiah 1:3 ) ,

and Hananiah the ruler of the palace;
the king's palace, in which the viceroy of the king of Persia dwelt, and now Nehemiah; to these two men he gave

charge over Jerusalem;
committed it to their care during his absence, who may be supposed now to return to Persia, as he had promised, ( Nehemiah 2:6 ) ,

for he was a faithful man;
this is said of Hananiah, and given as a reason why such a trust was committed to him; Hanani's character was well known, and his journey from Jerusalem to Shushan was a full proof of his hearty concern for the interest of it:

and feared God above many;
Hananiah was exemplary in his fear of God, few were equal to him, and none exceeded him; or of many days, as Jarchi; of a long time he had feared the Lord, and served him many years.

Nehemiah 7:2 In-Context

1 And now the wall had been rebuilt, the gates had all been put in place, and the Temple guards, the members of the sacred choir, and the other Levites had been assigned their work.

2 I put two men in charge of governing the city of Jerusalem: my brother Hanani and Hananiah, commanding officer of the fortress. Hananiah was a reliable and God-fearing man without equal.

3 I told them not to have the gates of Jerusalem opened in the morning until well after sunrise and to have them closed and barred before the guards went off duty at sunset. I also told them to appoint guards from among the people who lived in Jerusalem and to assign some of them to specific posts and others to patrol the area around their own houses.

4 Jerusalem was a large city, but not many people were living in it, and not many houses had been built yet.

5 God inspired me to assemble the people and their leaders and officials and to check their family records. I located the records of those who had first returned from captivity, and this is the information I found: