The number of Benjaminites who settled in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile (Neh 11:8)
The number 928 appears in Nehemiah 11:8 as the total count of men from the tribe of Benjamin who settled in Jerusalem after returning from the Babylonian exile. In the context of Nehemiah 11, this is part of the large-scale resettlement of Jerusalem, where leaders and one-tenth of the people were chosen to live in the holy city. The number 928 testifies to the significant contribution of the tribe of Benjamin to rebuilding Jerusalem's population. Beyond this specific occurrence, 928 is not a number traditionally assigned a prominent symbolic role in biblical numerology or classical gematria. Nehemiah 11 describes the repopulation of Jerusalem after the exile, where it was decided that one out of every ten Israelites would live in the city. The chapter provides detailed lists of families from Judah and Benjamin who settled there, highlighting the administrative and demographic reorganization of the Jewish community during Persian times. The tribe of Benjamin had a special connection to Jerusalem, since the city lay on the border between the territories of Judah and Benjamin. After the kingdom was divided, Benjamin remained loyal to Judah and the house of David, and the presence of the tribe in Jerusalem after the exile confirms this historical link.*