Today's reading from the One Year Bible Chronological Reading Plan is Nehemiah 11-12:26; 1 Chronicles 9:1-34.

So I had several thoughts as I read today's passage - pretty short thoughts, considering the nature of today's passage.

First of all, briefly, I realize that culture being different, etc. will affect one's perception of what is a nice or acceptable name, but I just had to shake my head at some of the names in the passage today.  Zerubbabel?  Bakbukiah?

Anyway, one of the things that struck me as I read the passage was how well they were organized.  Nehemiah 11:1 - Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. 
Nehemiah 11:20 - The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on his ancestral property. 
Most people knew from whom they were descended (thanks probably at least in part to the genealogies we find so dry to read now) and where their inherited land was.  They recorded how many returned to Jerusalem according to each group - from Judah, Benjamin, priests, Levites, gatekeepers, etc.

I find it interesting that people generally inherited not only their eye colour, height, male-pattern baldness, and so on from their parents, but their vocation as well.  The gatekeepers were descended from gatekeepers.  The singers were descended from singers.  Nowadays we're very far removed from that.  Of course, I suppose if an ancestor of mine and his descendants had been put in charge of something so important it would follow that someone or several someones from each generation would either volunteer or be chosen to fulfill that duty, especially if charged to do so by a king on behalf of the Lord.  See the reference below:

1 Chronicles 9:22-27 - Altogether, those chosen to be gatekeepers at the thresholds numbered 212. They were registered by genealogy in their villages. The gatekeepers had been assigned to their positions of trust by David and Samuel the seer. They and their descendants were in charge of guarding the gates of the house of the LORD -the house called the Tent. The gatekeepers were on the four sides: east, west, north and south. Their brothers in their villages had to come from time to time and share their duties for seven-day periods. But the four principal gatekeepers, who were Levites, were entrusted with the responsibility for the rooms and treasuries in the house of God. They would spend the night stationed around the house of God, because they had to guard it; and they had charge of the key for opening it each morning.  (emphasis mine)

Back to organization for a minute - look at the brief description for the duties above.  I don't know about you, but I sometimes assume (even though when I think about it, I know better) that because they didn't have the technological advances that we have now, that they wouldn't have been so well organized administratively, and yet we see that they had things organized and scheduled well, if the glimpses in this passage are anything to go by.  They had arrangements made even for the villagers to come and "share their duties for seven-day periods".  How smart is that?  This is just one example - I'm sure if we were to look for them there would be more. 

I think this hearkens back to a previous post where it talked about the fact that, yes, it is important to follow God's will, but we must do our best with what we've been given at the same time and not expect Him to do it for us.  I know that many of the rules they lived by were set down by God, but how to effectively organize and administrate that was up to the people.  In the same way, it is up to us to use our abilities and talents to the best of our abilities, and organize and administrate our resources - be it budgeting our time or our finances in our homes, or the resources of the people in our workplace or church, and so on.  Align your purposes with God's will, and make the best use of whatever is available to you that you can.
Tomorrow's passage:  Nehemiah 12:27-13:6; Nehemiah 5:14-19; Nehemiah 13:7-31; Malachi 1-2:9