Nehemiah 10:32

Also we made ordinance, for us,.... Laws among themselves, binding them to that which the laws of God did not: to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel, for the service of the house

Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; The third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God.

To charge ourselves, i.e. every particular head or person among us; which they had warrant to do, both from the nature of the thing, because this was necessary to be done for the upholding of God’ s worship, and from the warrant of former examples in the like case, .

Nehemiah 10:32 Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God;Ver. 32. To charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel] Beside the poll money, the half shekel required, Exodus 38:26. The third part of a shekel was no great sum, yet somewhat more than what Saul and his servant presented the seer with, whom they could not but know to be the judge of Israel, 1 Samuel 9:8. These had learned that thankfulness was measured, both by God and good men, not by the weight, but by the will of the retributor. God doth highly accept the small offerings of his weak servants when he seeth them to proceed from great love.

(32) Also we made ordinances for us.—The covenant proceeds now to certain new regulations and resumption of neglected duties. To charge ourselves.—Origin of that annual rate for the general service of the Temple which afterwards was raised to a half shekel (Matthew 17:24). The more ancient half shekel of the law was only an occasional tax (Exodus 30:13).

Verse 32. Charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel] According to the law, every one above twenty years of age was to give half a shekel to the sanctuary, which was called a ransom for their souls. See Exodus 30:11-16. But why is one third of a shekel now promised instead of the half shekel, which the law required? To this question no better answer can be given than this: the general poverty of the people, occasioned by their wars, overthrows, heavy tributes, c., in the land of their captivity: and now on their return, having little property, it was impossible for them to give more and we know, from the terms of the law in this case, that the poor and the rich were obliged to give alike, because it was a ransom for their souls; and the souls of the poor and the rich were of like value, and stood equally in need of redemption; for all were equally fallen, and all had come equally short of the glory of God. Though only a third part of a shekel was given at this time, and probably for the reason above assigned, yet when the people got into a state of greater prosperity, the half shekel was resumed: for it is clear that this sum was paid in the time of our Lord, though not to the temple, but to the Roman government. Hence when those who collected this as a tribute came to our Lord, it was for the διδραχμα, didrachma, which was half a shekel; and the coin with which our Lord paid for himself and Peter was a stater, which contained exactly two half shekels. See Matthew 17:24-27.

32. A poll-tax of ⅓ ? of a shekel imposed for the maintenance of the service of the Temple32. we made ordinances for us] The verse shows that Ezra and his colleagues, although establishing the authority of the written law, were ready to expand or modify it according to the requirements of the time—a significant indication of the way in which the numerous instances of minor variation in the laws of the Pentateuch may reflect changes and qualifications required at different epochs. ‘Ordinances.’ The plural shows that the reference is not to be limited to the Temple tax. the third part of a shekel] See Exodus 30:11-16; in which passage every Israelite, ‘from twenty years old and upward,’ is required to give ‘the offering of the Lord,’ i.e. ‘half-a-shekel after the shekel of the sanctuary:’ ‘the rich shall not give more and the poor shall not give less than the half shekel, when they give the offering of the Lord, to make atonement for your souls.’ The sum of ‘half a shekel,’ or two drachmæ, is mentioned as the regulation tax in Matthew 17:24, ‘Doth not your master pay the half-shekel?’ (didrachma). Cf. Josephus B. J. vii. 6. 6, ‘The emperor commanded every Jew to pay the two drachmæ annually to the Capitol which they had before been accustomed to pay to the Temple at Jerusalem.’ A poll-tax of ⅓ ? shekel for the services of the Temple differs both from the regulation of Exodus 30 and from the later Jewish custom. In Exodus 30:11-16 a tribute of ½ shekel is to be levied, not annually, but on the occasions when the census of the people was taken. From Josephus we learn that the contribution of ½ shekel was annually levied from every Jew. Here the Jews charge themselves with an annual tribute of ⅓ ? shekel. In order to explain this apparent discrepancy, some scholars maintain that the tax mentioned in Exodus, being only occasional, has no connexion with the annual poll-tax, and that the ⅓ ? shekel was in later days raised to ½ shekel when the Jews were wealthier, in order to assimilate the annual tax to the sum of the occasional ransom tax mentioned in the Pentateuch. It is an objection to this view that (1) there is no reference here to the occasional tax, (2) we have no mention anywhere of the coexistence of two taxes, one occasional and the other annual, for the maintenance of the Temple, (3) the reference in 2 Chronicles 24:5-9 to the Mosaic law seems to contemplate a regular and not an occasional tax. Others have conjectured that the requirement of the ½ shekel in Exodus 30 is an interpolation later than the time of Nehemiah, made in the interest of the priests. To this it may be replied that, if such an interpolation had been made, it would surely also have been directed towards securing an annual tribute, instead of a payment to be made only at the time when the people were numbered.

The third part of a sheckel - This appears to have been the first occasion on which an annual payment toward the maintenance of the temple service and fabric was established.

FOR THE TEMPLE SERVICE, Nehemiah 10:32-39.Having entered into a solemn covenant to keep the law, it was necessary that the people make provision for the support and regular observance of the holy service at the house of God.