Nehemiah 10

1 those that sealed. The name of the high priest Eliashib is wanting among those that sealed: see xiii. 4. The name of Ezra also is absent: his place as governor had been taken by Nehemiah.

29 clave to their brethren. That is, they publicly and solemnly ratified what their representatives had done.

31 and if the people, etc. The articles of the covenant into which the people entered show what portions of the law they had of late most neglected.

32 the third part of a shekel. About a shilling.

34 for the wood offering. In former times it had been the duty of the Nethinim (who were “hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation,” or servants of the Temple) to provide the wood necessary for the Temple service. But, after the return from the Captivity, this duty was undertaken by the priests and Levites, and the people at large; and they cast lots to determine the order in which the various classes and families should provide the needful supply. In later times, the Jews had an annual festival called Xylophoria, or “wood-carrying”; observed on the fourteenth day of the fifth month, Ab (July, Aug.), when they carried with some solemnity the wood for the use of the Temple.