Nehemiah sees that steps must be taken to put a stop to this state of things.  In order to bring about the end he had in view, he first took a census of the whole nation, and then he required each town and district to send a tenth of its people to live in Jerusalem.

But of whom was the tenth to consist?  How should the number of those who were to migrate to the capital be chosen?  It was done by lot; they drew lots who were to go and who were to stay.  This was probably done in the usual Jewish way, by means of pebbles.  The people of a village would be divided into tens, then a bag would be brought out containing nine dark-coloured pebbles and one white one.  The ten men would all draw from the bag, and the man who drew the white pebble would be the one who was to remove to Jerusalem.  By this means the capital would be provided with about 20,000 inhabitants, and would be in a condition to defend itself from attack.

No doubt there was much grumbling, and there were many groans and complaints when the lots were drawn, and those who drew the white stone found they must give up their little farms, their pretty country houses, the homes they had learnt to love so well and which they had built for themselves and their children, the vineyards which their own hands had planted, the olive yards and fig groves of which they had been so proud, and which had been so profitable to them, that they must give up all these which had been so dear to them and move at once into the city in which they would be in constant danger.

But there were certain brave volunteers.  Besides those on whom the lot fell, a certain number came forward and offered to go of their own free will and choice to live in the capital.  They would break up their country homes, and for love of their country and love of Jerusalem would move into the Holy City.  The post of danger was the post which most needed them, and they were not afraid to go to it.  Brave, noble men and women, no wonder that we read that blessings were called down upon them by the rest of their countrymen.  ’And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem,’ Neh. xi. 2.

But those brave Jews, who are mentioned here with so much honour, are not the only ones who of their own free will and choice have gone with open eyes to the point of danger.

Fourteen thousand pounds arrived in the course of a few days at a certain house in London, the office of the Church Missionary Society.  One person sent L5,000 with no name, only a day or two afterwards another sent a second L5,000, whilst L4,000 was contributed in smaller sums.