Verse 2. - Hanani and Hananiah. This appointment of two municipal officers to have charge of Jerusalem recalls the mention of two "rulers" in Nehemiah 3:9, 12, each of whom had authority-over half the district dependent on Jerusalem, and amounts to an "undesigned coincidence." The ruler of the palace. Rather, "the commandant of the fort," i.e. the officer in charge of the temple fortress (see above, Nehemiah 2:8).

7:1-4 Nehemiah, having finished the wall, returned to the Persian court, and came to Jerusalem again with a new commission. The public safety depends on every one's care to guard himself and his family against sin.That I gave my brother Hanani,.... Who first brought him the melancholy account of the state of Jerusalem, Nehemiah 1:2,

and Hananiah the ruler of the palace; the king's palace, in which the viceroy of the king of Persia dwelt, and now Nehemiah; to these two men he gave

charge over Jerusalem; committed it to their care during his absence, who may be supposed now to return to Persia, as he had promised, Nehemiah 2:6,

for he was a faithful man; this is said of Hananiah, and given as a reason why such a trust was committed to him; Hanani's character was well known, and his journey from Jerusalem to Shushan was a full proof of his hearty concern for the interest of it:

and feared God above many; Hananiah was exemplary in his fear of God, few were equal to him, and none exceeded him; or of many days, as Jarchi; of a long time he had feared the Lord, and served him many years.