Matthew Poole and continuators on Nehemiah 7:5

5 And my God put into mine heart , to gather together the nobles and the rulers, and the people , that they might be reckoned by genealogy , and I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first , and found written therein;

This Action, though meerly prudential, he doth not ascribe to himself, or his own wit, but to the Gift, and Grace of God directing and inclining him to it.

Not only for the particular end here mentioned, but for divers other weighty purposes and matters, of which the following Chapters treat.

That so it might appear to what Families each person belonged, and where their ancient Habitations lay, which for a great number of them were in the City, the replenishing of which was now his design.

To wit, with Zerubbabel, as it follows, v. 7. But this following Catalogue differs in some particulars from that Ezra 2. of which see the notes there.