Nehemiah 10
PATEzra), which was a great privilege, yet they lay under those public burdens, and were compelled to bear them. By which we may learn how vain their proud boasts were in John viii. 33. that they were never in bondage to any man; when they had long been slaves in Egypt, and lately in Babylon, and after they came from thence, as they here complain; and even they paid tribute to the Romans when they made those brags to our Saviour.
Nehemiah 10:1
jCm„ND the rulers of the people dwelt at Jerusalem. Their neighbours were so enraged to see the walls at JeruV salem built again, and were so restless in their designs to keep this city from rising to its former splendour, that it terrified many of the Jews from coming to dwell there, thinking themselves more safe in the country, where their enemies had no pretence to disturb them. The rulers^ therefore, of the people came and settled themselves at Jerusalem, that they might invite and encourage others to come and inhabit it; and several persons, as the next verse intimates, did come and offer themselves freely to dwell with them there. Therest of the people also cast lots, to bring one often t to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts to dwelhtn other cities.] But thongh the rulers were settled here, and some followed their example, and all that formerly belonged to Jerusalem were ordered to return, (chap. vii. 4, 5.) yet still there was room for more citizens; and the city, considering how large it was, being very empty, they consulted to make it populous, by compelling every tenth man in Judah and Benjamin to quit his present habitation in the
Nehemiah 10:2
Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah. I need not transcribe the rest of the names to the eighth verse, at the end of which it is said these were the priests, that is, the chief of them, for there are but twenty and one of them in all; and there is no mention of Ezra the priest among them; of which itis hard to give an account, unless we suppose him to be now gone to Babylon: which must be very lately; for lie was at Jerusalem in the beginning of the seventh month;. (chap. viii. 2.) though on the twenty-fourth day of it, when they fasted and prayed, we do’ not find him named throughout the whole ninth chapter; yet at the feast of the dedication he was come to Jerusalem again, (chap. xii. 3G.) Some therefore think he was now hindered by sickness from being present at this sealing.
Nehemiah 10:9
And the Levites: both Jeshna the son of Azaniah; Binnui of the sons of Henadad; Kadmiel. i
Nehemiah 10:10
And their brethren, &c. There are fourteen Levites mentioned in these and the following verses, to ver. 14. which, perhaps, were all the Levites that were then present; or rather were the principal Levites, who were not priests: for some of these are mentioned before, as chosen to expound the law to the people, and to make public prayers to God, (chap. viii. 7. ix. 4, 5.)
Nehemiah 10:14
The chief of the people; Parosh, &c. It had been tedious to make all the people subscribe and seal the ^Yriting; therefore the principal persons did it in the name of the rest, whose names, in number forty and three, arc here recorded till ver. 28.
Nehemiah 10:28
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, evtry one having knowledge, and having understanding.] All that did Hot subscribe and seal, because they were too many, yet gave their consent to what the forenamed persons did. And not only the men, but their wives, and their children who were arrived at years of discretion, engaged themselves, as follows in the next verse. Vcr. 29. They clave to their brethren, their nobles.] They, declared they were of the same mind with those that had sealed, and owned byword of month what they had set their hands unto; and said, it was their act, as much as their nobles’ and brethren’s, from whom they would not depart. And entered into a curse, and into an oath, to ivalk t in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God, and his judgments and his statutes.] And more than that, they added an oath, whereby they obliged themselves to observe the law; and an imprecation upon themselves, wishing all the curses written in the law might fall upon them, if they did not do as the law required in all things.
Nehemiah 10:30
And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons. Besides their general promise, they specify those things that were most difficult; as, not marrying with strangers, observing the sabbath, bringing oblations for the use of the temple, &c. The first thing here specified was of great importance; and they solemnly engaged to perform it: for though both Ezra and Nchemiah had found them guilty of breaking this law, yet they were so prone to offend in this thing, that it seems, notwithstanding all they could do, some continued to violate it.
Nehemiah 10:31
And if the people of the land. That is, their heathen neighbours. Bring ware, or any victuals, on the sabbath-day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath.].We do not find any express law forbidding them to buy what was offered to be sold on the sabbath-day; but they obliged themselves not to do it, that the rest might be better observed. For none would come to sell, when there were no chapmen for their commodities. Or on the holy-day.] That is, on all days of rest from their labours, such as the Passover, the feast of tabernacles, and others. And that we would leave the seventh year.] That is, let their land rest every seventh year, and leave the fruit of it, which grew up of itself, for the poor, as the law required, (Lev.Xxv. 4, &c.) And the exaction of every debt.] That is, remit in that year the debts which the poor owed them, (Deut. xv.2, &c.)
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. We do uot find this enjoined any where by an express law; but reason required it at this time; and therefore they obliged themselves to it by an ordinance of the elders, that the service of God at the temple might be maintained by this small duty, which was laid upon every one.
Nehemiah 10:33
For the shew-bread, and for the continual meatoffering, and for the continual burnt-offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin-offerings, to make an atonement for Israely and for all the work of the house of our God.] There was a treasury formerly in the house of God, out of which all these things were supplied: and when it was exhausted by the many, great sums which were sent out of it to foreign princes in the days of Hezekiah, that prince maintained the burnt-offerings at his own charge, (2 Chron. xxxi. 3.) But both these failing for the present, there was this oblation • made to furnish all the things here mentioned, and every thing else that was necessary for the service of God. And, no doubt, many good people dedicated things to the same use; whereby the expenses were well maintained..
Nehemiah 10:34
And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the hottse of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.] They determined, by casting of lots, how much wood every one should bring in for his share, to maintain their fire continually upon the altar to burn the sacrifices; and in what order it should be brought (what family, that is, should begin first, and what should follow next), and at what times of the year. For there was another solemn feast (beside those I mentioned before), called the feast of the wood-offering, which took its original from hence; and, as Scaliger observes, was kept on the twenty-second day of the month Ab. But Mr*. Thorndike observes, out of the Mischna, (in his Religious Assemblies, p. 269.) that it was held nine days in several months, whereof a great part fell in that month; and is meant by these words, at times appointed, year by year. The Talmudists also say, that every family, on the day when they brought in the wood, sacrificed a voluntary’burnt-offering, called the korban of wood, as Pctrus Cunaeus observes, in his book de Republica Hebrseorum, lib. ii. cap. 13. where he notes also, that herein Josephus differs from the Talmudists; that he mentions but one day of the feasts, which he calls %v\o<fopia: which was suqh a solemn festival, (as Maimonides saitli, in his Furniture of the Temple, chap. 6.) that none might mourn on this day, nor fast, nor do any work.
Nehemiah 10:35
And to bring the first-fruits of our ground, and tlie first-fruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the Lord. According to the command, Exod. xxiii. 19. Lev. xix. 23. (Sec below, ver. 39.) Ver. 3G. Also the first-born of our sons, and of our cattle (as it is written in the law), and the firstlings of our herds, and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God.] The law which gave all the firstlings to God is in Exod.xiii. the beginning, and ver. 11, 12. and God gave them all to Aaron the priest, in Numb, xviii. 15, 16.
Nehemiah 10:37
And that we should bring the first-fruits of our dough, and our offerings. Sec Lev. xxiii. 17. Numb. xv. 19, 20. It was to be so large, that it is called a gift in Dcut. xviii. 4. And the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine, and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God.] Sec Numb, xviii. 12, &c. And the tithes of our ground unto the Levites,’ that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage.] Sec Lev. xxvii. 30. Numb, xviii. 21.
Nehemiah 10:38
And because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, seal unto it. In consideration of w T hich, they resolved to renew their covenant with God of better obedience; which they promised under their hands and seals, as the only remedy to procure perfect deliverance. And, to make it more effectual, they seem to declare this in the presence of God, at the conclusion of the foregoing confession and prayer. It signified little, indeed, as Pellicanus observes, what such an untoward people promised; for what regard would they have to their own hand-writing, who regarded not (he ten commandments, written on tables of stone by the finger of God? But it was very useful, that there should be a public instrument to convince them of their impiety, and that they might be publicly confounded when they proved perfidious deserters, by shewing them their engagements, under their own hands, to future fidelity. CHAP. X. \ Vcr. 1. jy OW those that sealed wereNehemiah the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah.] Neheraiah was the governor of “the country under the king of Persia, and therefore the principal prince among them, who led the way to the rest;’ who &re not mentioned, unless we suppose Zidkijah to have been a prince; for they that followed were priests. And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the, Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers’, into the treasure-house.] As the people gave the tithes of their land to the Levites, so the Levites gave a tithe to the priests. And when the people brought them to the Levites, one of the priests was appointed to be present to inspect them, and to see that, without fraud, they tithed the tithes; that is, set out the tenth part of the tithes they had received for the priests, which was brought to the. chambers, wherein it was deposited for the priests in God’s. house.
Nehemiah 10:39
For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil. Sec Deut. xii. 6. 11. Unto the chambers,. where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers.] Where other holy things were kept, and where God’s ministers attended, for whose use they were designed, and were to be brought thither at their own charge. These chambers were in the court of the priests: but L’Empereur thinks the court of the people likewise might have such places in it, wherein these things were bestowed, being more than the other could contain. For (as the Jews observe) though the priests had a court proper to themselves, into which none might come but they alone, yet they were not excluded from the court of Israel; and if there was not room enough to receive all the things forementioned, there were receptacles under ground, besides the. upper room mentioned Jer. xSxv. 4.’’ And we will not forsake the house of our God.] They promise, according to their covenant and oath, to be no more so negligent in these matters as they had been; and accordingly they did fulfil this promise, as we read chap. xii. 44, 45. unto die end. CHAP. XI..