Moving into the Holy City: At last the time was ripe for the editor to pick up, from 7:4–5, the story of the repopulation of Jerusalem. First, the ideals in Nehemiah’s prayer had to be realized on a communal level: the new focus on the Torah as determinative for the life of the community in chapter 8, the prayer of repentance in chapter 9, and the pledge of commitment to the Torah and the temple in chapter 10. Now 11:1–2 gives the procedure for allocating settlers in Jerusalem, and verses 3–24 list the new settlers with their pedigrees. Finally, verses 25–36 list certain postexilic settlements outside Jerusalem. The geographical widening at the end of the chapter reflects the importance of the promise of the land in the prayer of chapter 9. The people regarded the communal move to Jerusale…