Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

Today we finished our 37th and 38th books of the Bible. When chapter 11 opens today,

we zoom in on some real estate details. The leaders live in Jerusalem,

but they need some other people to live there too. Otherwise, who's going to open all the Starbucks

on every street corner? Actually, it probably has more to do with keeping a strong military presence

in the city, but soldiers need coffee. Okay, moving on. So they have a lottery and 10% of the people

are chosen to move to the city while some others go

voluntarily. All in all, about 3,000 men are counted as living in Jerusalem at this point. But the total

population is probably around two to three times that amount, since Nehemiah's count doesn't appear

to include people who can't serve in the military. The other 90% of the population lives in the

surrounding towns and villages.

After everybody gets unpacked, Nehemiah holds a grand opening ceremony to dedicate the newly

finished wall. The Levites and priests and singers all gather for the huge event, singing and

praising God, and one of the seemingly insignificant details listed in this passage recently

served a huge purpose.

1237 says,

At the fountain gate, they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David,

at the ascent of the wall above the house of David, to the water gate on the east.

When we read that passage today, it's easy to be like, blah, blah, blah, get on to the good stuff.

But little things like this that our eyes and ears fly past have made significant impact on recovering the history of ancient Jerusalem.

That verse in particular helped archaeologists locate and unearthed King David's Palace less than two decades ago.

Discoveries like that help us understand scripture better and even

...