Now the first inhabitants that [dwelt] in their possessions in their cities [were], the Israelites, the priests, Levites, and the Nethinims.
Ver. 2. Now the first inhabitants,] sc., After the return from captivity. Ezra 1:1,11 ; Ezr 2:1-60
That dwelt in their possessions.] The same they had before the captivity. A wonderful providence of God it was, that as the land kept her Sabbaths for those seventy years, so the country should be all that while kept empty, till the return of the natives: for we read not that any colonies were sent thither, nor any displaced to make room for these at their return.
And the Nethinims.] Dedititii; these were the posterity of those old Gibeonites. Jos 9:3-17 See Trapp on " Ezr 2:58 " Vocati ad vilia officia Deum respiciant, &c. a
a Lavat.