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Chapter 9 lists those who were the first to return and their Tribe affiliation. It suggests the use to which these genealogies were put. As the Jews returned from captivity and settled in and around Jerusalem, they started rebuilding the Temple. The genealogies were used to establish who were Israelites, who were Levites and who were Priests. Gate and Door Keepers were also assigned from these genealogies.
Notice reference is made in the first verse to the books of the Kings of Israel and Judah as the source of much of the information on the genealogies that are recorded here in Chronicles. Notice is made that these books were not the ones we have called First and Second Kings. Notice is also made of the Babylonian exile leading into the next information concerning those who returned from that exile, especially those who returned and dwelled in Jerusalem. It should be noted that while Judah and Benjamin were the main tribes that made up the Southern Kingdom of Judah, at the time of the exile many from the other 10 tribes had gone down into Judah and were part of the Babylonian exile.
Upon their release in Babylon, those who returned busied themselves in the erection of a Tabernacle and the assigning of duties to Levites for the services and maintenance of it. Those who could not find dwellings in Jerusalem settled in the villages around Jerusalem, however their energies and enthusiasm was channeled toward the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. Everyone had a job and they all worked in harmony toward that end.
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