The number of descendants of Bebai who returned from exile in Babylon, mentioned in Nehemiah's census.
The number 628 appears in Nehemiah 7:16, where it is given as the count of descendants of Bebai who returned to Judah after the Babylonian exile. This census was carried out under Nehemiah's leadership to record those who had come back and forms an important part of rebuilding the Jewish community in their homeland. The family of Bebai is also mentioned in Ezra 2:11, but there the number given is 623, which may be due to different times of counting or textual transmission. Beyond this specific use in the census, the number 628 has no well-established symbolic meaning in biblical or rabbinic tradition. The difference between 628 in Nehemiah 7:16 and 623 in Ezra 2:11 for the descendants of Bebai is an example of the small numerical variations found between the two parallel lists of returned exiles. Such discrepancies are often explained by different times of registration, copying errors, or that the lists were compiled using slightly different criteria. The family of Bebai is also mentioned in Ezra 8:11 and Ezra 10:28, where members of the clan are involved respectively in the journey back to Jerusalem and the issue of foreign wives, showing the family's continued role in the restored community.*