Nehemiah 4
DOYLYwatch] We are here supplied with a striking example that in all our dangers we should have recourse to the
Lord, without neglecting our own labours and application, and all lawful means of warding off the evils which
threaten us. Nehemiah, in the instance before us, made his prayer to God, exhorted the people to fear nothing,
and shewed by all he said that he put his whole confidence in God; but at the same time he gave necessary
orders to prevent being surprised by his enemies, and used every precaution which prudence required. Ostervald. Nehemiah did not order the people to go to prayers only, and to confess their sins, and to commit their cause
to Heaven; but, like a pious and brave man, he exhorted them to join with him in supplication to God,
and at the same time to put themselves in a posture of defence. Dr. Jortin. said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, 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.
Nehemiah 4:5
- Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren,] There is no difference in nature, in flesh or blood, between us and the rest of Israel; why then should we, without any fault on our part, be placed in a condition so much worse than they? Bp. Hall. They represent very pathetically that no difference subsisted between them and their brethren, except that the one were poor, the other rich; for all were Jews of the same stock, the same by nature and the favour of God, and therefore entitled to the enjoyment of the same freedom. Bp. Patrick.
— we bring into bondage our sons &c.] It was lawful so to do in cases of extreme necessity, Exod. xxi. 1, &c. but those persons were very destitute of compassion who forced their brethren to do what was so much against nature. Thus the condition of these poor Jews was truly lamentable: none would lend them money freely; and to pay their usury they were forced to sell
Nehemiah 4:7
- — and I rebuked the nobles, &c.] Good Nehemiah could not but be moved at the barbarous extortion practised on the people: and now, like an impartial governor, he rebukes the rulers and nobles, whose hands were thus bloody with oppression. It is indeed an ill use of power when the weight of it serves only to crush the weak; but, when nobility does debase itself by any foul act, it is so much more worthy of rebuke, as the person is of higher mark, and more extensive example. Bp. Hall.
— Ye exact usury,] This was a manifest breach of the law of God, given by Moses, which forbade all the race of Israel to take usury of their brethren, Exod. xxii. 25; Levit. xxv. 36, 37; Deut. xxiii. 19. Dean Prideaux.
— I set a great assembly against them.] I resolved to shame them out of their scandalous proceeding in an open assembly of magistrates and people, which I immediately called for that purpose. Pyle.
Nehemiah 4:8
- — We after our ability &c.] He speaks either of himself in the plural number, which is a form often used by governours and great men, or of himself together with Ezra and other lovers of their country, and says, that they had redeemed their brethren the Jews; that is, had done their utmost to deliver them out of the captivity of Babylon, by which they were restored to their country and their liberty. Bp. Patrick.
Nehemiah 4:9
- — ought ye not to walk &c.] He means to say, If we had been dwelling alone on the earth, yet the fear of God ought to overawe our ways; but, now that we dwell in the midst of our enemies, whose eyes are bent on all our
Nehemiah 4:10
- And Judah said,] That is, some of the Jews represented to him, that, from the length and severity of
the work, the labourers were quite exhausted; and that, from the quantity of rubbish remaining, more than they were able to remove, it would be necessary to desist, for
the present at least, from building the wall: they professed besides to have intelligence that their enemies
were meditating a secret attack, so that there would be no notice of their approach till they were actually in the midst of them. Bp. Patrick.
Nehemiah 4:12
- — they said unto us ten times,] “Ten times” used for a great many times.
Nehemiah 4:14
- — remember the Lord, &c.] Nothing can so bearten us to the encountering of any evil, as the remembrance of that infinite power and wisdom, which can either avert it, or mitigate it, or turn it to our good. We could never faint under calamity, if we were not forgetful of God. Bp. Hall.
Nehemiah 4:17
- — every one with one of his hands &c.] Meaning, that every workman was prepared to work or to fight, as occasion might serve. Pyle. Before CHRIST. 445. his loins. The Jews complain of their debt, &c. NEHEMIAH. Nehemiah rebuketh the usurers, the rising of the morning till the stars appeared.
Nehemiah 4:23
- — none of us put off our clothes, &c.] The description here given affords a striking picture of the calamitous and unsettled state of the country, and of their continual apprehension of immediate attack, arising from the ill-will of their neighbours.
Chap. V. ver. 1. — there was a great cry of the people] That is, of the poor people and their wives, against their rich brethren, the Jews. It appears that they were by no means cured of all their sins by their long captivity; for they married strange women, as we read in the book of Ezra, chap. ix. x; and, as is here related, they oppressed the poor and needy, and that at a time when their enemies were threatening the destruction of them all. Bp. Patrick.