Enumeration Of Their Slaves (Nehemiah 7:67).
‘Besides their male slaves and their female slaves, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty seven, and they had two hundred and forty five singing men and singing women.'
The only difference from Ezra 2 lies in the fact that Ezra 2 gives a round number of two hundred singing men and women. This again confirms that the list in Ezra was prior to that in Nehemiah. By the time of the second list, either more singing men and women had arrived, or they had been more accurately numbered. Another alternative is that the two hundred in the first list refers to men singers, the women singers not being numbered until the second list.
These male and female slaves were additional to the assembly of Israel. This very much points then to the fact that these were foreign slaves. Israelite servants would have been counted as part of the assembly. The singing men and women would not be Temple singers, already counted in Nehemiah 7:44, but singers for the purpose of entertainment in wealthy households and for purposes of mourning (compare 2 Samuel 19:35; Ecclesiastes 2:8; 2 Chronicles 35:25). They were presumably also slaves. Thus the total number of slaves was by this time approximately seven thousand, five hundred and eighty two. These would not be Israelite slaves. Such were forbidden in Israel (Leviticus 25:39-41). The ownership of these slaves points to a certain initial level of wealth in the restored community, although this would soon be depleted by famine and robbery (Ezra 4:4; Ezra 4:23; Haggai 1:6; Haggai 1:9-12; Haggai 2:16-17).