As the two brothers met (presumably along with Hanani’s travelling companions), Nehemiah turned the discussion to circumstances back home. Specifically, he posited a general question in relation to the Jews who escaped.
The term asked
suggests a curiosity instead of a deliberate interrogation, as if Nehemiah sensed something was amiss among the brethren back home.
2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.