Number of descendants of Zattu according to the census list in Nehemiah 7:13
The number 845 appears in the Bible in Nehemiah 7:13, where it indicates the number of descendants of Zattu among those who returned from the Babylonian exile to Judah. The figure is part of a detailed census that documents the returning families and their sizes. Such numbers in the genealogical lists in Ezra and Nehemiah primarily serve a historical-administrative function rather than a symbolic one. In classical biblical numerology and Jewish gematria, 845 carries no well-established independent symbolic meaning. Biblical symbolism typically focuses on numbers such as 3, 7, 12, and 40, while composite numbers like 845 are rarely interpreted symbolically. In Ezra 2:8, the number of Zattu's descendants is given as 945, that is, 100 more than in Nehemiah 7:13. Such discrepancies between the parallel census lists in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 are well known, and scholars have proposed various explanations—including scribal errors, different times of registration, or that the lists reflect different phases of the return from exile. Zattu (Hebrew: זַתּוּא) is the name of one of the Israelite clans that returned from Babylon. The name also appears among those who sealed the covenant with God in Nehemiah 10:15.*