Ezra 9

9 : 1 Now when these things were done, the princes drew near unto me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons ; so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the peoples of the lands : yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonished. Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the trespass of them of the captivity ; and I sat astonished until the evening oblation. And at the evening oblation I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my mantle rent ; and I fell upon my knees, and spread out my hands unto the LORD my God ; and I said, O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to thee, my God : for our iniquities are increased over our head, and our guiltiness is grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty unto this day ; and for our iniquities have we, our kings, and our priests, been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, and to spoiling, and to confusion of face, as it is this day. And now for a little moment grace hath been shewed from the LORD our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are bondmen ; yet our God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair the ruins thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. And now, O our God, what shall we say after this ? for we have forsaken thy commandments, which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness. Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity for ever : that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such a remnant, shall we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations ? wouldst not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should

15 be no remnant, nor any to escape? O LORD, the God of Israel, thou art righteous; for we are left a remnant that is escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our guiltiness; for none can stand before thee because of this.

10:1 Now while Ezra prayed, and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore. And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have married strange women of the peoples of the land: yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law. Arise; for the matter belongeth unto thee, and we are with thee: be of good courage, and do it. Then arose Ezra, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they sware. Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Jehohanah the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the trespass of them of the captivity. And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem; and that whosoever came not within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of the captivity. Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within the three days; it was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month: and all the people sat in the broad place before the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain. And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have trespassed, and have married strange women, to increase the guilt of Israel. Now therefore make confession unto the LORD, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the strange women. Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said concerning us, so must we do. But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we have greatly transgressed in this matter. Let now our princes be appointed for all the congregation, and let all them that are in our cities which have married strange women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter be despatched. Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them. And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ houses, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were separated; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they made an end with all the men that had married strange women by the first day of the first month. And among the sons of the priests there were found that had married strange women: namely, of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brethren, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah. And they gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt. And of the sons of Immer; Hanani and Zebadiah. And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah. And of the sons of Pashhur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethane, Jozabad, and Elasah. And of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer. And of the singers; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri. And of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah. And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah. And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. And of the sons of Bebai; Jehohanah, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai. And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malhush, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth. And of the sons of Pahath-moab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh. And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon; Benjamin, Malch, Shemariah. Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, 35, Manasseh, Shimei. Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel; Benaiah, Bedeiah, 37, 38, Cheluhi; Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib; Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu; and Bani, 40 and Binnui, Shimei; and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah; Machnadebai, Shashai, 42, 43, Sharai; Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah; Shallum, Amariah, Joseph. Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah. All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children.

In the interval between Zerubbabel’s rule and the coming of Ezra from Babylon with a special commission appointing him governor of Judea, the Jews seem to have been left without any strong controlling authority. The civil administration devolved upon a certain number of chiefs or “princes,” who maintained order in Jerusalem, collected and remitted the tribute due to the Persian crown, and held courts to decide all causes, criminal and civil, in which only Jews were concerned. Tranquillity and order were sufficiently maintained in this way; but the governing power was weak, and in matters outside the range of the civil and criminal law men did pretty nearly “as it seemed good in their own eyes.” During this interval of governmental debility, it appears that a fusion had begun between the Jews and the neighboring nations. Although the law of Moses distinctly forbade intermarriage between the people of God and the idolatrous nations whose land they had inherited, and by implication forbade such unions with any neighboring idolaters, the newly returned Israelites, perhaps not fully provided with women of their own nation and religion, had taken to themselves wives freely from the idolatrous tribes and nations in their vicinity. They had intermarried with the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Amorites, the Egyptians, and even with the remnant of the Canaanites. Not only had this been done by the common people, but “the hand of the princes and rulers” had been “chief in this trespass” (chap. 9:2). Nor had even the sacerdotal order kept itself pure. Priests and Levites, nay, the actual sons and nephews of the high-priest Jeshua himself, were guilty in the matter (chap. 10:18), had taken to themselves wives of the accursed races, and “mingled themselves with the people of the lands” (chap. 9:2). The danger to purity of religion was great. Those who married idolatrous wives were tempted, like Solomon, to connive at their introducing unhallowed rites into the holy city; while the issue of such marriages, influenced by their mothers, were apt to prefer heathenism to Judaism, and to fall away from the faith altogether. A fusion of the Jews with the Gentiles in Palestine at this time would have meant a complete obliteration of the Jews, who would have been absorbed and swallowed up in the far larger mass of the heathen without materially affecting it. Thus God’s purpose in singling out a “peculiar people” would have been frustrated, and the world left without a regenerating element. Considerations of this kind help us to understand the horror of

Ezra when he understood what had taken place (chaps. 9:3-6; 10:1), and enable us to estimate at its right value the zeal that he displayed in putting down the existing practice and establishing a better order of things. His task was lightened to him by the fact that a large religious and patriotic party rallied to him, and associated itself with his reforms; a party including many of the princes and elders (chaps. 9:1; 10:8), and no doubt a certain number of the priests. He effected his reform by means of a commission of laymen (chap. 10:16), which in the space of little more than three months inquired into all the suspected cases, and compelled every person who had married an idolatrous wife to divorce her, and send her back, with any children that she had borne him, to her own people. Thus, for the time, the corruption was effectually checked, the evil rooted out and removed. We shall find, however, in Nehemiah, that it recurred (Neh. 13:23), in combination with various other abuses, and had to be once more resisted and repressed by the civil power (ibid., verse 30).

This section is divisible into ten parts: 1. The complaint made by the princes to Ezra concerning the mixed marriages (chap. 9:1, 2). 2. Ezra’s astonishment and horror (verses 3, 4). 3. His confession and prayer to God (verses 5-15). 4. Repentance of the people, and covenant sworn to, on the recommendation of Shechaniah (chap. 10:1-5). 5. Ezra’s fast (verse 6). 6. Proclamation summoning all the Jews to Jerusalem (verses 7-9). 7. Address of Ezra, and consent of the people to put away the strange wives (verses 10-14). 8. Opposition of Jonathan and others (verse 15). 9. Accomplishment of the work (verses 16, 17). 10. Names of those who had married strange wives (verses 18-44).

9:1, 2. Complaint of the princes to Ezra. It is remarkable that complaint on a matter of religious transgression should have come from the secular and not from the ecclesiastical authorities of the city. But sons and nephews of Jeshua the high-priest were among those who had married idolatrous wives (10:18). By God’s good providence, however, it often happens that when things have come to this pass, and the priestly order is hopelessly corrupt, godly princes are raised up to take in hand religious reforms and carry them to a successful issue.

3, 4. Ezra’s astonishment and horror. In Babylonia, whence Ezra had come, the inclination to intermarry with the heathen had not, it would seem, shown itself. Exiles in a foreign land naturally cling to each other under their adverse circumstances, and, moreover, being despised by those among whom they sojourn, are not readily accepted by them into social fellowship, much less into affinity and alliance. Thus the thing was to Ezra a new thing. His familiarity with the Law, and, perhaps we may add, his insight into the grounds upon which the Law upon this point was founded, caused him to view the matter as one of the gravest kind, and to feel shocked and horror-struck at what was told him respecting it. P. C.

This thing was ominous, because: 1. It betrayed want of faith in God, mistrust of His protection when His people sought to strengthen themselves by alliances with the heathen. 2. It transgressed an express command of God in De. 7: 3, 4. 3. It paved the way for a relapse into idolatry. In this manner was the wise King Solomon beguiled to folly; and by this familiarity with the worshippers, and then with the worship of strange gods, were the kingdoms of Israel and Judah corrupted and overthrown. So Ezra sat astonished. It seemed as if the nation had quite forgotten its history, and that all its affliction and captivity had left it no wiser than before. D. F.

5-15. Ezra’s confession and prayer to God.** The most remarkable feature of Ezra’s confession is the thoroughness with which he identifies himself with his erring countrymen, blushes for their transgressions, and is ashamed for their misconduct. All their sins he appears to consider as his sins, all their disobedience as his disobedience, all their perils as his perils. Another striking feature is his sense of the exceeding sinfulness of the particular sin of the time (see verses 6, 7, 10). He views it as a “great trespass”—one that “is grown up into the heavens”—which is equivalent to a complete forsaking of God’s commandments, and on account of which he and his people “cannot stand before” God. This feeling seems based partly on the nature of the sin itself (verse 14), but also, and in an especial way, on a strong sense of the ingratitude shown by the people in turning from God so soon after He had forgiven their former sins against Him, and allowed them to return from the Captivity, rebuild the Temple, and re-establish themselves as a nation. If after their deliverance they again fell away, the sin could not but be unpardonable; and the punishment to be expected was a final uprooting and destruction from which there could be no recovery (verses 13, 14). P. C.

The address itself is not properly to be called a prayer, for there is not a word of petition in it; but if we give prayer its full latitude it is the offering up of devout affections to God—and very devout are the affections which Ezra here expresses. His address is a penitent confession of sin, not his own (from a conscience burdened with its own guilt and apprehensive of its own danger), but the sin of his people, from a gracious concern for the honor of God and the welfare of Israel. Here is a lively picture of ingenuous repentance. H.—Sinning times have ever been the saints’ praying times; this sent Ezra with a heavy heart to confess the sin of his people, and to bewail their abominations before the Lord. And Jeremiah tells the wicked of his degenerate age that “his soul should weep in secret places for their pride” (13: 17). Indeed, sometimes sin comes to such a height that this is almost all the godly can do, to get into a corner and bewail the general pollutions of the age. When it is thus with a people, what can the righteous do? Yes, this they may and should do—“fast and pray.” There is yet a God in heaven to be sought to, when a people’s deliverance is thrown beyond the help of human policy or power. Now is the fit time to make their appeal to God. W. Gurnail.

7. Since the days of our fathers.** Very similar in tone to this are the confessions of Nehemiah (Neh. 9: 29-35) and of Daniel (Dan. 9: 5-11). The Captivity had done its work by deeply convincing of sin the nation that had been proud and self-righteous previously.

8. For a little space.** The “little space” was above sixty years, counting from the second of Darius (chap. 4: 24), or about eighty, counting from the first of Cyrus (chap. 1: 1). But this does not seem to Ezra much in the life of a nation. B. C.

13,14. After all that is come upon us.** After the punishments that we have suffered, the loss of our independence, of our temple and our city, the long and weary period of captivity and servitude in a foreign land, which should have bent our stubborn spirits to obedience; and after the mercy shown us in the fact that Thou hast punished us less than our iniquities deserved, and given us a deliverance, or, rather, a residue, such as this, which should have stirred us up to gratitude and love, should we again break Thy commandments, and fall away, what can we expect but final abandonment, complete and entire destruction? If neither severity nor kindness avail anything, what can God do more? Must He not view our case as hopeless, and so make an end of us altogether? P. C.

If we were all good in our carriage toward God, we might presume that God would be all good in His providence toward us; and that if our obedience were uniform, even and uninterrupted, that our prosperity would be so too. But, alas! it is quite otherwise. Many, very many, have been our days of sin, and therefore we have no reason at all to complain if we see some days of sorrow. And shall we grumble at a little sorrow that have so much sin? Rather let us bless God, who has spared us so much and punished us so little, and confess the truth with Ezra: “Thou, O Lord, hast punished us less, far less, than our iniquities deserve.” Bp. Bull.

10:1-5. Repentance of the people, and covenant sworn to, on the recommendation of Shechaniah. While Ezra was uttering his prayer aloud, upon his knees, in front of the Temple, where the evening sacrifice was being offered upon the great brazen altar, the people gathered about him, heard what he said, and had their feelings so stirred that numbers of them burst into tears and “wept very sore.” When he had ended, Shechaniah, the son of Jehiel (one of those who had married an idolatrous wife—verse 26), took the word, and suggested an immediate step toward reformation. This was that all present should at once enter into a special covenant with God that they would do their utmost to have the mixed marriages dissolved, and the idolatrous wives, with their children, sent out of the country. The proposition of Shechaniah approved itself to Ezra, who “arose, and made the chief priests and Levites” present and “all the people” present swear to this covenant. “And they swore.” An engagement of a most sacred character was thus entered into by a number of influential persons, and the way was prepared for the actual reformation which followed. P. C.

3. Let us make a covenant.** Voluntary covenants, explicit renewals of the standing covenant between God and His people, are frequent in the history of the Jews. (See 2 Chron. 15:12; 29:10; 34:31, 32; Neh. 10:29.) Men stirred themselves up by these means to a greater zeal and strictness than they would have been equal to otherwise. To put away all the wives. The facility of divorce among the Jews is well known. According to many of the rabbis, a bill of divorce might be given by the husband for the most trivial cause. Thus no legal difficulty stood in the way of Shechaniah’s proposition; and Ezra regarded it as necessary for the moral and religious welfare of the people. Let it

be done according to the Law—i.e., let a formal “bill of divorce” be given to each foreign wife, whereby she will be restored to the condition of an unmarried woman, and be free to wed another husband. (See De. 24:1, 2.) G. R.—This entire proposition of the layman Shechaniah indicates familiarity with the Law of Moses as of long standing and force, and furnishes one of many similar disproofs of a then recent origin of that law. And this testimony is confirmed by almost every detail of the history recorded in Ezra and Nehemiah. B.

7-9. Proclamation made, summoning all the Jews to Jerusalem. After due deliberation between Ezra, the princes and the elders, it was resolved first to summon all those who had returned from the Captivity—whether they were Jews or Israelites—to Jerusalem, in order that the decision come to with respect to the mixed marriages might be communicated to them. A limit of three days was fixed, and absentees were threatened with the heavy penalties of excommunication and forfeiture of all their possessions. Proclamation having been made to this effect “throughout Judah” (verse 7), there was a gathering of all the males of full age to Jerusalem within the prescribed time. The place of meeting was the great court of the Temple (verse 9). According to Hecateus, of Abdera (Fr. 14), this was “a stone-walled enclosure, about five hundred feet long and one hundred and fifty feet wide,” which might perhaps afford sitting room for twenty thousand men. Deducting the aged and infirm, the sick, and those between twelve and twenty years of age, the country Jews would scarcely have reached this number. P. C.

8. Within three days.** The limits of Judea at this time appear to have been Bethel on the north, Beersheba on the south, Jericho on the east, and the Mediterranean upon the west. As the frontier was nowhere much more than forty miles from Jerusalem, three days from the day that they heard the proclamation would be sufficient time to allow all the able-bodied men to reach the capital.

10-14. Address of Ezra, and consent of the people to put away the strange wives. Ezra came forward boldly, denouncing the sin committed, and as supreme governor commanding the repudiation of the strange wives. The assembled multitude consented, but urged that the matter required time; that the season was unsuitable for a prolonged stay of the whole body of country Jews at Jerusalem, and that the business would be most conveniently carried through by a standing commission consisting of the chief authorities of the city of Jerusalem, who should take the case of each country town separately, and, in conjunction with the elders and judges of each town, investigate the alleged mixed marriages of each locality, and adjudicate upon them.

16. 17. Settlement of the whole matter by the repudiation of the strange wives. The great assembly had been held on the twentieth day of the ninth month. On the first day of the tenth month, little more than a week later, the commission for examining into the matter met under the presidency of Ezra, and commenced proceedings. The case of each city was taken separately. Its male inhabitants of full age attended, and its “elders” and “judges” sat on the commission as assessors while the conjugal position of their townsfolk was being investigated. Where a “mixed marriage” was proved the wife was repudiated. In one hundred and twelve cases the necessity of repudiation was made out to the satisfaction of the commission, and this number of wives was put away. On the whole, the small extent to which the evil had prevailed is remarkable; for one hundred and twelve mixed marriages in a population where the adult males were about forty thousand would give only one such marriage to three hundred or three hundred and fifty legitimate ones. Ezra is to be commended for having perceived the greatness of the peril, and for having taken prompt and decided measures to check it, without waiting till it had got to a head, and so become uncontrollable.

17. “They sat down to examine this matter” as men who felt how long and arduous a task they had on their hands, and who wished, therefore, to give to it their undivided attention and care. We see the same spirit in the long continuance and perseverance of their work. It took them three months to “make an end” of the examination; but it was a full end when they did. And we see it also in the impartiality and thoroughness of their work. Whosoever had offended, whether priests (verses 20-22), or Levites (verse 23), or singers (verse 24), or porters (verse 24 again), or lay members of the house of Israel; and however difficult and painful in some cases the circumstances might be (end of verse 44), there was but one measure for all. This, indeed, is what makes this catalogue here a fit conclusion to the whole. This apparently unnecessary list of names had great value in its day. It was the formal “report,” so to speak, of Ezra and his brother “commissioners,” the final proof of their care. That “report” being presented, the “commission” ceased to exist.

18-44. The names of those who had married the strange wives. Aware of the danger that the nation might relapse into the sin which he was seeking to root out, Ezra punishes the wrong-doers by placing their names on record, that others might fear to do the like. He assigns the first place in his catalogue of offenders to the priests, doubtless because in them the sin was greatest; they, as the special custodians of the Law, were most bound to have observed the Law. Next to the priests he puts the Levites, on the same principle, because of their semi-sacerdotal character. He then concludes with the laymen, arranged under their several families. By the list of laymen it appears that ten only out of some thirty-six lay families were implicated in the sin. Three of the four priestly families, on the other hand, and even the near kindred of the high priest, were among the guilty. It is remarkable that it is Ezra, a priest, and one by many accused of over-sacerdotalism, who gives this testimony against his own order. P. C.

44. All these. The guilty persons were, it would seem, one hundred and thirteen in number. They comprised four members of the high priest’s family, thirteen other priests, ten Levites and eighty-six lay Israelites belonging to at least ten distinct families. B. C.

At this point the narrative stops, and the events of the next twelve years are passed over in silence, after which the story opens again with the first chapter of Nehemiah. W. J. B.—It seems probable that Ezra, soon after he had succeeded in effecting his reform, was either recalled by Artaxerxes to the court, or returned of his own accord to make the report, which he had been commissioned to make (chap. 7:14), on the general condition of the Palestinian province. G. R.

THIS is, with the exception of Malachi, the very latest book in the Old Testament. Ezra has told us of the restoration of the Temple and Divine worship after the return from captivity. Nehemiah relates the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem with its walls and gates, and the re-establishment of the Jews in their land. The throne of David was not set up again. Both as respects their liberty to worship in a temple, and as respects their civil condition and the restoration of their capital, the Jews continued under the power of the Gentiles. So were they destined to be, till the coming of the Messiah, separate from other nations, but dependent successively on the Persians, Macedonians, Egyptians, Syrians and Romans. D. F.

The Book of Nehemiah is, in the main, a personal narrative, containing an account of Nehemiah himself, and of certain proceedings in which he was engaged, between the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus (or B.C. 444) and his thirty-second or thirty-third year (B.C. 432-1). It is a natural sequel to the Book of Ezra, with which it has always been united in the Jewish canon, though recognized as a “second part” of the Book. The principal object of the writer is to describe the circumstances attending the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem in B.C. 444, and its dedication, some years later, with great pomp and ceremony. To explain the part which he himself took in these transactions, he has to preface his account with a purely personal sketch, descriptive of the circumstances under which he became engaged in the work as its director and superintendent. This sketch occupies the first two chapters. The main narrative then commences, and is carried on uninterruptedly to the fifth verse of chap. 7, when it is broken in upon by the introduction of a list, identical (or nearly so) with one given by Ezra in the second chapter of his Book—a list of the families which returned from the Babylonian captivity under Zerubbabel, with the number of each family, and the names of the principal chiefs. This occupies chap. 7 from verse 6 to the end. The narrative is then resumed, and continued through three chapters (chaps. 8-10), the principal subject-matter in this part being the religious instruction of the people, their celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles, and the voluntary covenant with Almighty God into which they entered, by the advice of the Levites. After this the sequence of the history is again interrupted—this time by the insertion of six distinct and independent lists, which occupy a chapter and a half (chaps. 11 and 12: 1-26). The dedication of the wall is then related (chap. 12: 27-43). In conclusion, an account is given of certain religious arrangements and reforms which Nehemiah effected (chaps. 12: 44-47, and chap. 13). P. C.

The whole narrative gives us a graphic and interesting account of the state of Jerusalem and the returned captives in the writer’s times, and incidentally, of the nature of the Persian government and the condition of its remote provinces. The documents appended to it also give some further information as to the times of Zerubbabel on the one hand, and as to the continuation of the genealogical registers and the succession of the high-priesthood to the close of the Persian empire on the other. The view given of the rise of two factions among the Jews—the one the strict religious party; the other, the gentiling party, sets before us the germ of much that we meet with in a more developed state in later Jewish history. Again, in this history, as well as in Ezra, we see the bitter enmity between the Jews and Samaritans acquiring strength and definitive form on both religious and political grounds. The book also throws much light upon the domestic institutions of the Jews. Some of its details give us incidentally information of great historical importance. The account of the building and dedication of the wall contains the most valuable materials for settling the topography of

Jerusalem to be found in Scripture. The list of returned captives who came under different leaders from the time of Zerubbabel to that of Nehemiah (amounting in all to only 42,360 adult males and 7337 servants), which is given in chap. 7, conveys a faithful picture of the political weakness of the Jewish nation as compared with the times when Judah alone numbered 470,000 fighting men (1 Chron. 21: 5). It is an important aid, too, in understanding the subsequent history and appreciating the patriotism and valor by which they attained their independence under the Maccabees. The lists of leaders, priests, Levites, and of those who signed the covenant, reveal incidentally much of the national spirit as well as of the social habits of the captives, derived from older times. Thus the fact that twelve leaders are named in Neh. 7: 7 indicates the feeling of the captives that they represented the twelve tribes, a feeling further evidenced in the expression, “the men of the people of Israel.” The enumeration of twenty-one and twenty-two, or, if Zidkijah stands for the head of the house of Zadok, twenty-three chief priests in 10: 1-8; 12: 1-7, of whom nine bear the names of those who were heads of courses in David’s time, shows how, even in their wasted and reduced numbers, they struggled to preserve these ancient institutions, and also supplies the reason of the mention of these particular twenty-two or twenty-three names. But it does more than this. Taken in conjunction with the list of those who sealed (Neh. 10: 1-27), it proves the existence of a social custom of calling chiefs by the name of the clan or house of which they were chiefs. Other miscellaneous information contained in this Book embraces the hereditary crafts practised by certain priestly families—e.g., the apothecaries or makers of the sacred ointments and incense, and the goldsmiths, whose business it probably was to repair the sacred vessels (3: 8); the situation of the garden of the kings of Judah by which Zedekiah escaped, as seen Neh. 3: 15; statistics, etc. The only real historical difficulty in the narrative is to determine the time of the dedication of the wall, whether in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes or before. Dic. B.

We may fairly regard the Book of Nehemiah as a substantive work, a work having a real, and not merely an artificial, separateness; though perhaps the same hand which constructed it may have attached it to the previously existing Book of Ezra, which treated of nearly the same period.

The book comprises four portions:

The first seven chapters contain a consecutive narrative, written in a uniform style by Nehemiah himself, as even the most sceptical critics allow. The first person singular is used, when Nehemiah is spoken of, throughout. The events related cover a space of (probably) less than a year. The record, however, does not belong to the exact time of the events, but has been composed at least twelve years later, since, while the general narrative falls into the twentieth year of Artaxerxes (or B.C. 445-444), in one place (chap. 5: 14), the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes (or B.C. 433-432) is mentioned.

The second portion of the work consists of three chapters (chaps. 8-10), and contains a narrative of some events belonging to the autumn of B.C. 444. In this portion Nehemiah is spoken of in the third person; he is called “the Tirshatha,” whereas in the earlier chapters his title is always pechah; moreover he is thrown, comparatively speaking, into the background, his place being taken by Ezra, who holds the first and most prominent position. From the general character of the language employed, from the minuteness of the descriptions, and especially from the use of the first person in chap. 10: 29-39, we are justified in regarding this portion as the work of an eyewitness, a contemporary of Ezra and Nehemiah.

The third portion of the work extends from the beginning of chap. 11 to the 26th verse of chap. 12. This consists of six important lists: (1) a list of the dwellers in Jerusalem and of their chief officers in Nehemiah’s time (chap. 11: 1-24); (2) a list of the country towns occupied by the returned Israelites at the same period (25-36); (3) a list of the priestly and Levitical families that returned to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel (chap. 12: 1-9); (4) a list of high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua, or from B.C. 538 to B.C. 336 (10, 11); (5) a list of the actual heads of the priestly families under the high-priest Joiakim (verses 12-21); (6) chief families of Levites (verses 24-26).

The fourth and last section of the book comprises chap. 12, from verse 27 to the end, and the whole of chap. 13. This section contains an account of the dedication of the wall, and of certain reforms which Nehemiah effected after his return from Babylon in B.C. 432-431. It is allowed on all hands to be, in the main, the work of Nehemiah; and there are no valid grounds for questioning his authorship of the entire section. The first person is used in chap. 11: 31 and 40, and in chap. 13: 6 sqq. The entire passage possesses the characteristics of

Nehemiah’s style and manner; the nexus of the whole is satisfactory; and it is a pedantic hypercriticism which thinks to discover in this short and consecutive narrative the intrusion of “pieces” by a later hand, or the “over-writing” of a reviser. There is every reason to believe that the last section of “Nehemiah” is, like the first, a memoir from the hand of that personage—a memoir written soon after the events—probably in n.c. 431 or 430.

The moderate tone of the entire account, the admission of a state of weakness which stands in remarkable contrast with both the earlier and the later glories of the nation, and the record of sins and shortcomings, which an uncandid narrator would have concealed, have induced even the most captious of commentators to allow that, in this book, as in that of Ezra, we have a plain unvarnished narrative. The fact that the bulk of the history is from the pen of an eye-witness, and of one especially qualified to narrate the events of his time, being beyond dispute, it is impossible to deny that the highest degree of historical credibility attaches to the work, considered even under its merely human aspect. Thus it is unnecessary to enlarge on the authenticity of this book, which no writer entitled to consideration has called in question. B. C.

The main work which Nehemiah had set himself to do was accomplished within six months of the day that he obtained his commission from Artaxerxes. His administration during the remainder of the time that he governed Judea, which was certainly not less than thirteen years, was characterized by the same vigor, promptness, and energy which had marked its opening months. It was also remarkable for the consideration which he showed for those under his rule, and for the noble hospitality which he dispensed both toward natives and toward foreigners (5:14-18). He augmented the population of Jerusalem, too scanty for the size of its walls, by bringing men in from the country districts (11:1); redeemed large numbers of Jews, who had been sold into slavery among the heathen, and restored them to their native land (5:8); put an end to a system of borrowing money upon mortgage, or raising it by selling sons and daughters into servitude, which was reducing the lower class of Jews to the condition of the poor Roman plebeians of the early commonwealth (5:1-13; 10:31); restored the strict observance of the Sabbath, and of the sabbatical year (10:31; 13:15-22); established the annual payment of one third of a shekel by each adult male toward the Temple service and fabric (10:32), together with a system for supplying the wood necessary for the sacrifices (verse 34); prevented the Temple from being polluted by the heathen, and profaned by being used for secular purposes (13:4-9); enforced the payment of tithes, which was falling into disuse (10:37; 13:10-13); and, like Ezra, compelled all those who had married foreign wives to divorce them, and send them back, with their children, to their own people (13:1-3 and 23-28). His efforts to effect these reforms were thwarted and resisted by an important party among the priests and nobles, which leaned toward secularism, was addicted to intermarriage with the heathen, and desirous of fusion with the surrounding nations. An ordinary man might have shrunk from affronting the views of a party so strong and so powerful, one supported by neighboring princes, and upheld at Jerusalem by the high-priest of the time, Eliashib. Nehemiah set himself to “contend with the rulers” (13:11) and the “nobles” (verse 17); “chased from him” the grandson of the high-priest (verse 28); “cursed,” or at any rate “reviled,” those who had married the foreign wives, and even “smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair” (verse 25). When Eliashib himself, the natural guardian of the Temple, disregarding its sacredness, assigned one of the chambers within its precincts to Tobiah, the Ammonite, who furnished it and made it into a residence, Nehemiah of his own authority turned all the furniture out of doors (verse 8). Strict, zealous, prompt, uncompromising, he would allow no relaxation of the old law, no departure from primitive custom, no consorting with foreigners. Not only did he re-establish the walls of Jerusalem on their ancient foundations, but he built up the state too on the old lines, “supplementing and completing the work of Ezra,” and giving it “internal cohesion and permanence.” P. C.

A minor point, which lends a peculiar interest to Nehemiah, is its fulness of topographical detail. In inquiries concerning the ancient city, its site, walls, towers, gates, and principal buildings, the third and twelfth chapters are simply invaluable. For copiousness, for exactness, for authority these chapters transcend all the other notices that have come down to us with respect to ancient Jerusalem; and the possibility of recovering the general plan of the place rests almost entirely upon Nehemiah’s descriptions.

The Book of Nehemiah is invaluable for the lesson it teaches, that when the Church of God is at the lowest, it will still be protected by His Almighty hand, will be enabled to triumph over the malice of its external enemies, and will be purged and purified from the internal corruptions which endanger it far more than any hostility ab extra. It must have greatly helped to encourage and sustain the nation during the terrible times of the Ptolemaic and Syrian persecutions; and it may with advantage be read and pondered on by Christians, at all periods when the power of the world is put forth to crush or overlay the faith. That Judaism rallied from the weak and seemingly moribund condition described by Nehemiah, became once more a power in the world, strong enough to confront heathen Rome and wage a desperate struggle with the entire force of the empire, is one of the most remarkable of the facts of history, and should never be forgotten by the Christian community in times of depression and danger. G. R.

The probable birthplace and almost certainly the scene of the early life of Nehemiah, was the great Persian, or rather, Elamitic, city of Susa (see Esther, chap. 1). The circumstances of his birth and bringing up we do not know; but we may assume perhaps from the high position whereto he ultimately attained, and from his evident fitness for it, that he belonged to the upper class of the community, received the ordinary education of a Jew of that class, and even before he became attached to the Persian court held an honorable place among his countrymen. G. R.

He was no prophet—he was no priest—he made no pretension to possessing a Divine commission, but he was a devout, resolute, sagacious man, with the fear of God in his soul and Jerusalem graven on his inmost heart! Prompt and practical and with a strong dash of organizing, governmental instinct, there was yet a vein of poetry in him. He was bold and cautious, prudent yet daring, full of ready resource, able to hold his tongue and bide his time; and deep down below all this there was a great fountain of enthusiasm, which was called forth by the thoughts of God and of His land lying in desolation and ruin. A. M.

His sagacity and courage were markedly shown in the arrangements by which he carried through the rebuilding of the wall, and balked the cunning plans of the “adversaries.” His deeply religious spirit and constant sense of communion with and absolute dependence upon God are strikingly exhibited, first, in the long prayer recorded in chap. 1:5-11; and secondly, and most remarkably, in what have been called his “interjectional prayers”—those short but moving addresses to Almighty God which occur so frequently in his writings—the instinctive outpouring of a heart deeply moved, but ever resting itself upon God, and looking to God alone for aid in trouble, for the frustration of evil designs, and for final reward and acceptance. At the same time, there is no fanaticism in his religion; while trusting in God for the issue, he omits no necessary precaution. “Nevertheless,” he says, “we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night” (chap. 4:9). Nor does he trust to faith alone, without works. He is self-denying, hospitable, active in deeds of mercy, unresting, indefatigable. P. C.

Nehemiah was a man of the good old stamp of Joshua and Caleb—faithful, pious, patriotic, brave. But he raised no standard against the Gentiles. Having understanding of the times, he was content to re-establish the Jews on their own soil, under the protection of the great Persian empire; and he did secure for them that position which, under one or another Gentile protector, they were to hold till the coming of Christ. He grew up with reverence for Jehovah, Israel’s God, musing on His promises, grieving over the unfaithfulness that had incurred the Captivity, hearing with eagerness of the progress of those Jews who returned under Zerubbabel and Joshua, and longing to take some part in the restoration of the holy city. As a young man, he was exposed to temptation, for he held a place of honor in the Persian court, at the magnificent palace of Shushan. But God kept him in the hour and place of temptation, and nursed within him a heroic national spirit. Like Moses in the court of Pharaoh, he never forgot that he was of the stock of Israel, and he was deeply affected when he heard of the depressed condition of the settlement at Jerusalem. D. F.

On reviewing the character of Nehemiah, we seem unable to find a single fault to counterbalance his many and great virtues. For pure and disinterested patriotism he stands unrivalled. Every act of his during his government bespeaks one who had no selfishness in his nature. All he did was noble, generous, high-minded, courageous and to the highest degree upright. But to stern integrity he united great humility and kindness and a princely hospitality. As a statesman, he combined forethought, prudence and sagacity in counsel, with vigor, promptitude and decision in action. In dealing with the enemies of his country, he was wary, penetrating and bold. In directing the internal economy of the state he took a comprehensive view of the real welfare of the people, and adopted the measures best calculated to promote it. In dealing, whether with friend or foe, he was utterly free from favor or fear, conspicuous for the simplicity with which he aimed only at doing what was right, without respect of persons. But in nothing was he more remarkable than for his piety, and the singleness of eye with which he walked before God. He seems to have undertaken everything in dependence upon God, with prayer for His guidance and blessing, and to have sought his reward only from God. Bp. Hervey.

His Pure, Broad, Intense, Exalted Patriotism. Because his people were down-trodden, because the were “in great affliction and reproach,” with the wall of their city “broken down,” and the gates “burned with fire,” because they were “feeble,” and despised, and poor, and ground-down, and oppressed, therefore his heart clave to them, and he was drawn by the cords of love to cast in his lot with theirs, to throw up a position of ease, wealth and dignity, and exchange it for one of ceaseless toil, of no small danger, and of exposure to scorn and reproach. The deep sympathy with the men of his race which inspires the true patriot is unmistakably shown in the mourning and weeping and fasting for days and weeks, when he first heard of their distress; in the earnest prayer in which he associated himself, and “His father’s house,” with the transgressors who had brought down God’s judgments upon the nation; in the “sorrow of heart” which made his countenance sad, and could not be concealed from the great king; in the silent, almost solitary, ride for the purpose of exploring the ruins; in the mournful words to the nobles, “Ye see the distress we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste;” and again in the indignant address to the enemies of Judah—“We, His servants, will arise and build; but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.” What a patriotic fire burns in the prayer—“Hear, O our God, for we are despised; and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before Thee, for they have provoked Thee to anger before the builders” (4:4, 5). How deep the fellow-feeling which resounds in the battle-cry—“Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord which is great and terrible; and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives, and your houses” (verse 14). Well does Nehemiah, in one of his short characteristic prayers, exclaim—“Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people” (5:19). What had he not done for them? Bold to intercede for them with the king, prompt to hasten to their aid across a vast stretch of arid and dangerous country, clever to design and bold to execute the first great necessary work—the building of the city walls, stern to repel unauthorized intermeddlers with his doings, indefatigable in labor, skilful in organization, quite ready to meet force with force, and at the same time tender-hearted, deeply touched by the sufferings of the poor (5:1-13) and bent on alleviating them, within a few months of his arrival in the city he had secured the capital against sudden assault, removed the nation’s “reproach,” baffled and outwitted its enemies, and at the same time found a remedy for the worst internal troubles, put down the oppression of the rich, and relieved the misery of the indigent. Few patriots have ever succeeded in doing so much in so short a time. And as his course began, so it continued. A single-eyed, unselfish regard for his people’s best interests actuated him from first to last, whether the immediate danger to be met was defencelessness, or alienation of class from class, or general poverty, or the casting aside of wholesome restraints, or the insidious peril of gradual amalgamation with the heathen.

Very conspicuous and very admirable are his activity and energy. Considering how most men love their ease, and how prone the Oriental man is, above all others, to be sluggish and apathetic, remembering, moreover, that Nehemiah was brought up in the purlieus of a court characterized by a luxury and self-indulgence rarely equalled elsewhere, and never surpassed, it is most remarkable that he should have shown himself so notable an example of activity and devotion to work. His physical courage, too, is strongly marked in the entire account which he gives (chap. 4) of the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem. In the position which he occupied, as a civilian and not a professional soldier, and as the governor of a province not a military commandant, there was no call upon him to expose his person when an attack was threatened, much less to be ever placing himself in the forefront of peril. But he will allow himself no such immunity. He takes his position with the armed force, wherever there seems to be the greatest danger; he marshals the men at his disposal personally (verse 13); he moves from place to place, and takes his trumpeter with him, to summon aid where it may be most wanted (verses 18-20); he is there, watching, commanding, encouraging, overseeing, night and day, and scarcely takes off his clothes while the peril continues (verse 23). Such courage is unusual even in a commander who is a trained soldier; in Nehemiah, the royal favorite, the dainty courtier, the “cup-bearer,” it is astonishing.

Nor does his moral courage fall short of his physical. Considerable moral courage was shown when, notwithstanding that he “was sore afraid” (2:2), he made his request for leave of absence of the king (ibid., verse 5). Still more was exhibited, when to the scornful and spiteful words of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem—“What is this thing that ye do? Will ye rebel against the king?” (verse 19), he answered, “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem” (verse 20). As bold and fearless was the rejoinder, when for the second time the same Sanballat brought forward the same accusation—“There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart” (6:8). To beard the high-priest within his own stronghold, the Temple, was a most daring and hazardous act (13:7, 8); to banish his grandson, and “chase” him out of the country, required almost as much firmness and resolution (ibid., verse 28). “In enforcing the observance of the Sabbath, and dissolving the mixed marriages, and ejecting the heathen wives, perhaps even more moral courage was shown (verses 3, 17-22, 25-28), inasmuch as those acts ran counter to a spurious sentimentalism, which had taken a strong hold of some sections of the community.

Nehemiah’s unselfishness, liberality and generous hospitality stand out in strong relief when we compare him with the general run of Oriental governors. For twelve years at least, perhaps for many more, he ruled his province without exacting a farthing of revenue for his own use from those who were under his government. He collected and remitted the royal tribute, but he took nothing for himself, whether in money or kind (5:14, 15). He must have supported his court entirely out of his own private means. When we consider what enormous gains governors commonly made under the Persian system, how lavish was their expenditure, and yet what fortunes they accumulated, we cannot but view with astonishment and admiration the one man who, occupying this position, declines to get any advantage from it, and impoverishes, instead of enriching, himself by his office. G. R.

In my esteem, Ezra, the scribe, and Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, though neither of them ever wore a crown, commanded an army, conquered any country or were famed for philosophy or oratory, yet both of them, being pious, praying men and very serviceable in their day to the Church of God and the interests of religion, were really greater men and more honorable, not only than any of the Roman consuls or dictators, but than Xenophon, or Demosthenes, or Plato himself, who lived at the same time, the bright ornaments of Greece. H.