Bible Commentaries

A covenant made (vv. 1-32), and an engagement entered into, to furnish whatwas needed for the maintenance of the temple, its services, and ministers(Nehemiah 10:33-39). - Vv. 1-28. For the purpose of giving a lasting influence to thisday of prayer and fasting, the assembled people, after the confession ofsin (given in Neh 9), entered into a written agreement, by which they boundthemselves by an oath to separate from the heathen, and to keep thecommandments and ordinances of God, - a document being prepared for thispurpose, and sealed by the heads of their different houses.

And because of all this we make and write a sure covenant; andour princes, Levites, and priests sign the sealed (document). בּכל־זאת does not mean post omne hoc, after all that we have done this day(Schmid, Bertheau, and others); still less, in omni hoc malo, quod nobisobtigerat (Rashi, Aben Ezra), but upon all this, i.e., upon the foundation ofthe preceding act of prayer and penitence, we made אמנה, i.e.,a settlement, a sure agreement (the word recurs Nehemiah 11:23); hence כּרת is used as with בּרית, Nehemiah 9:8. אמנה may again betaken as the object of כּתבים, we write it; החתוּם ועל be understood as “our princes sealed.” החתוּם isthe sealed document; comp. Jeremiah 22:11, Jeremiah 22:14. החתוּם על means literally, Upon the sealed document were our princes, etc.; that is,our princes sealed or signed it. Signing was effected by making animpression with a seal bearing a name; hence originated the idiomהחתוּם על אשׁר, “he who was upon the sealeddocument,” meaning he who had signed the document by sealing it. By thisderived signification is the plural חחתוּמים על (Nehemiah 10:2), “they whowere upon the document,” explained: they who had signed or sealed thedocument.

At the head of the signatures stood Nehemiah the Tirshatha, as governorof the country, and Zidkijah, a high official, of whom nothing further isknown, perhaps (after the analogy of Ezra 4:9, Ezra 4:17) secretary to thegovernor. Then follow (in vv. 3-9) twenty-one names, with the addition:these, the priests. Of these twenty-one names, fifteen occur in Nehemiah 12:2-7 as chiefs of the priests who came up with Joshua and Zerubbabel fromBabylon, and in Nehemiah 12:11-20 as heads of priestly houses. Hence it isobvious that all the twenty-one names are those of heads of priestlyclasses, who signed the agreement in the names of the houses and familiesof their respective classes. Seraiah is probably the prince of the house ofGod dwelling at Jerusalem, mentioned Nehemiah 11:11, who signed in place ofthe high priest. For further remarks on the orders of priests and theirheads, see Nehemiah 12:1.

The Levites who sealed were: Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of thesons of Henadad, Kadmiel, and their brethren, fourteen names. Sons ofJeshua and Kadmiel returned, together with seventy-four other Levites,with Zerubbabel and Jeshua; Ezra 2:4; Nehemiah 7:42. Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel,and Sherebiah are also named in Nehemiah 12:8 as heads of orders of Levites. Of therest nothing further is known, but we may regard them as heads ofLevitical houses.

The heads of the people. Forty-four names, thirteen of which are found inthe list (Ezra 2) of the kindreds who returned with Zerubbabel; see Ezra 2. The rest are names either of the heads of the different houses into whichthese kindreds were divided, or of the elders of the smaller towns ofBenjamin and Judah. The fact that, while only thirty-three kindreds andplaced are enumerated in Ezra 2, forty-four occur here, - although names ofkindreds mentioned in Ezra 2, e.g., Shephatiah, Arah, Zaccai, etc., arewanting here, - is to be explained partly by the circumstance that thesekindreds included several houses whose different heads all subscribed, andpartly by fresh accessions during the course of years to the number ofhouses.

All the members of the community acceded to the agreement thus signedby the princes of the people, and the heads of the priests and Levites, andbound themselves by an oath to walk in the law of the Lord, and toseparate themselves from the heathen.

Nehemiah 10:29

And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the door-keepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all that had separated themselvesfrom the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons,and their daughters, all who had knowledge and understanding, held withtheir brethren, their nobles, and entered into an oath and curse, etc. מצזיקים is the predicate of the subjects in Nehemiah 10:29: they wereholding with their brethren, i.e., uniting with them in this matter. “The restof the people, the priests,” etc., are the members of the community,exclusive of the princes and heads of the priestly and Levitical orders. TheNethinim, to whom belonged the servants of Solomon (see rem. on Ezra 2:43.), were probably also represented in the assembly by the heads ofthe Levites. To these are added all who had separated themselves, etc., i.e.,the descendants of those Israelites who had been left in the land, and whonow joined the new community; see rem. on Ezra 6:21. The connection of נבדּל with אל־תּורת is significant: separatedfrom the heathen to the law of God, i.e., to live according thereto; comp. Ezra 6:21. Not, however, the men only, but also women and children ofriper years, acceded to the covenant. כּל־יודע מבין, every oneknowing, understanding (מבין and יודע beingconnected as an asyndeton, to strengthen the meaning), refers to sons anddaughters of an age sufficient to enable them to understand the matter. אדּרריהם, their nobles, is connected in the form of anapposition with אחיהם, instead of the adjective האדּירים. The princes and the heads of the community and priesthood areintended. באלה בּוא, to enter into an oath, comp. Ezekiel 17:13. אלה is an oath of self-imprecation, grievous punishmentsbeing imprecated in case of transgression; שׁבוּעה, a promissoryoath to live conformably with the law. We hence perceive the tenor of the agreement entered into and sealed bythe princes. Non subscripsit quidem populus, remarks Clericus, sed ratum habuit, quid-quid nomine totius populi a proceribus factum erat, juravitque id a se observatum iri. Besides the general obligation to observe all thecommandments, judgments, and statutes of God, two points, thenfrequently transgressed, are specially mentioned in Nehemiah 10:31 and Nehemiah 10:23. In Nehemiah 10:31:that we would not give our daughters to the people of the lands, etc.; seerem. on Ezra 9:2. In Nehemiah 10:32: that if the people of the land brought wares orany victuals on the Sabbath-day to sell, we would not buy if of them onthe Sabbath, or on a holy day; and would let the seventh year lie, and theloan of every hand. The words וגו הארץ עמּי areprefixed absolutely, and are afterwards subordinated to the predicate ofthe sentence by מהם. מקּחות, wares for sale, fromלקח, to take, in the sense of to buy, occurs only here. מהם נקּח, to take from them, i.e., to buy. קדשׁ יום beside שׁבּת means the other holy days, the annualfestivals, on which, according to the law, Num 28 and 29, no work was tobe done. To the sanctification of the Sabbath pertained the celebration of thesabbatical year, which is therefore named immediately afterwards. Thewords השׁ את־השּׁנה נטשׁ, to let the seventh year lie, i.e., in theseventh year to let the land lie untilled and unsown, is an abbreviationtaken from the language of the law, Exodus 28:10. כל־יד משּׁא alsodepends upon נטּשׁ. This expression (משּׁא, not משּׂא,being the reading of the best editions) is to be explained from Deuteronomy 15:2,and means the loan, that which the hand has lent to another; see rem. onDeuteronomy 15:2.

Agreement to provide for the expenses of the temple and its ministers. - Ifthe community seriously intended to walk by the rule of God's law, theymust take care that the temple service, as the public worship of thecommunity, should be provided for according to the law and a firm footingand due solemnity thus given to religion. For this purpose, it wasindispensable to guarantee the contributions prescribed for the necessaryexpenses of the temple worship, and the support of its ministers. Hencethis entering into a solemn agreement to observe the law was regarded as asuitable occasion for regulating the services prescribed by the law withrespect to the temple and its ministers, and mutually binding themselvesto their observance.

Nehemiah 10:33-34

We ordained for ourselves (עלינוּ, upon us,inasmuch as such things are spoken of as are taken upon one). עלינוּ לתת, to lay upon ourselves the third part of a shekelyearly for the service of the house of our God. It is not said who were tobe bound to furnish this contribution, but it is assumed that it was a well-known custom. This appointed payment is evidently only a revival of theMosaic precept, Exodus 30:13, that every man of twenty years of age andupwards should give half a shekel as a תּרוּמה to the Lord, - atribute which was still paid in Christ's days, Matthew 17:24. In consideration,however, of the poverty of the greater portion of the community, it wasnow lowered to a third of a shekel. The view of Aben Ezra, that a third ofa shekel was to be paid in addition to the half shekel levied in conformitywith the law, is unsupported by the text. העבודה, the serviceof the house of God, is not the building and repairs of the temple, but theregular worship. For, according to Nehemiah 10:34, the tax was to be applied to defraying the expensesof worship, to supplying the shew-bread, the continual meat and burntofferings (Numbers 28:3-8), the sacrifices for the Sabbaths, new moons (Numbers 28:9-15), and festivals (Numbers 28:16-29, 38), - for the קדשׁים,holy gifts, by which, from their position between the burnt-offering andthe sin-offering, we may understand the thank-offerings, which wereoffered in the name of the congregation, as e.g., the two lambs atPentecost, Leviticus 23:19, and the offerings brought at feasts of dedication,comp. Exodus 24:5; Ezra 6:17, - for the sin-offerings which were sacrificed atevery great festival; and finally for all the work of the house of our God,i.e., whatever else was needful for worship (ל must be supplied from thecontext before כּל־מלאכת). The establishment of such a tax for theexpenses of worship, does not justify the view that the contributionspromised by Artaxerxes in his edict, Ezra 7:20., of things necessary toworship had ceased, and that the congregation had now to defray theexpenses from their own resources. For it may readily be supposed, thatbesides the assistance afforded by the king, the congregation might alsoesteem it needful to furnish a contribution, to meet the increasedrequirements of worship, and thus to augment the revenues of the temple, - the royal alms being limited to a certain amount (see Ezra 7:22).

Nehemiah 10:35

“And we cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the peoplefor the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after ourhouses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of theLord our God, as it is written in the law.” In the law we merely find itprescribed that wood should be constantly burning on the altar, and thatthe priest should burn wood on it every morning, and burn thereon theburnt-offering (Leviticus 6:12.). The law gave no directions concerning theprocuring of the wood; yet the rulers of the people must, at all events,have always provided for the regular delivery of the necessary quantity. Nehemiah now gives orders, as he himself tells us, Nehemiah 13:31, which makethis matter the business of the congregation, and the several houses havesuccessively to furnish a contribution, in the order decided by casting lots. The words, “at times appointed, year by year,” justify the conclusion thatthe order was settled for several years, and not that all the different housescontributed in each year.

(Note: Josephus (bello Jud. ii. 17. 6) speaks of a τῶν ξυλοφορίων ἑορτή , which he places on the fourteenth day of the month Λῶος ,i.e., Ab, the fifth month of the Jewish year. From this Bertheau infersthat the plural מזמּנים עתּים, here and Nehemiah 13:31, denotes the one season or day of delivery in each year. Butthough the name of this festival is derived from the present verse, thelxx translating העצים קרבּן העצי על, πιρὶ κλήρον ξυλοφορίας , it appears even from what Josephus says of thisfeast, ἐν ᾗ πᾶσιν ἕθος ὕλην τῷ βωμῷ προσφέρειν , that thefeast of wood-carrying does not designate that one day of the year onwhich the wood was delivered for the service of the altar. Accordingto Mishna Taanit, ch. 4 (in Lightfoot's horae hebraicae in Matth. i. 1), nine days in the year were appointed for the delivery of wood,viz., 1st Nisan, 20th Tammuz, 5th, 7th, and 10th Ab, etc. Furtherparticulars are given in Lundius, jüd. Heiligtümer, p. 1067f. The feastof wood-carrying may be compared with our harvest festival; andBertheau's inference is not more conclusive than would be theinference that our harvest festival denotes the one day in the year onwhich the harvest is gathered in.)

Nehemiah 10:36-38

It was also arranged to contribute the first-fruits prescribedin the law. The infinitive להביא depends on העמדנוּ,and is co-ordinate with לתת, Nehemiah 10:33. The first-fruits of the ground,comp. Exodus 23:19; Exodus 34:26; Deuteronomy 26:2; the first-fruits of all fruit trees, comp. Numbers 18:13; Leviticus 19:23; the first-born of our sons who were redeemedaccording to the estimation of the priest, Numbers 18:16, and of our cattle (i.e.,in the case of the unclean, the required redemption, Exodus 13:12., Numbers 18:15), and the firstlings of the herds and of the flocks, the fat of whichwas consumed on the altar, the flesh becoming the share of the priests,Numbers 18:17. In Nehemiah 10:38 the construction is altered, the first person of theimperfect taking the place of the infinitive: and we will bring the first-fruits. ערסות, probably groats or ground flour; see rem. on Numbers 15:20,etc. תרוּמות, heave-offerings, the offering in this connection, isprobably that of wheat and barley, Ezekiel 45:13, or of the fruits of the field,which are suitably followed by the “fruit of all manner of trees.”On “the first of the wine and oil,” comp. Numbers 18:12. These offerings offirst-fruits were to be brought into the chambers of the house of God,where they were to be kept in store, and distributed to the priests for theirsupport. “And the tithes of our ground (will we bring) to the Levites; andthey, the Levites, receive the tithes in all our country towns. (Nehemiah 10:39) And apriest, a son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites taketithes; and the Levites shall bring the tithe of the tithes to the house of ourGod, into the chambers of the treasury.” The parenthetical sentences inthese verses, המעשׂרים הלויּם והם andהלויּם בּעשׂר, have been variously understood. עשׂר in the Piel and Hiphil meaning elsewhere to pay tithe, comp. Deuteronomy 14:22; Deuteronomy 26:12; Genesis 28:22, many expositors adhere to this meaning in thesepassages also, and translate Nehemiah 10:38: for they, the Levites, must give again thetenth (to the priests); and Nehemiah 10:39: when the Levites give the tenth; while thelxx, Vulgate, Syriac, Rashi, Aben Ezra, Clericus, Bertheau, and others,take עשּׂר and העשׂיר in these sentences as signifying to collect tithe. We prefer the latter view, as giving a more suitable sense. For the remarkthat the Levites must give back the tenth (Nehemiah 10:38) does not present soappropriate a motive for the demand that the tithes should be paid, as thatthe tithes are due to the Levites. Still less does the addition, in ouragricultural towns, suit the sentence: the Levites must give back the titheto the priests. Again, the fact that it is not said till Nehemiah 10:39 that the Leviteshave to give the tenth of the tenth to the priests, speaks still more againstthis view. A priest is to be present when the Levites take the tenth, sothat the share of the priests may not be lessened. On “the tenth of thetenth,” comp. Numbers 18:26. Hezekiah had provided store-chambers in thetemple, in which to deposit the tithes, 2 Chronicles 31:11.

Nehemiah 10:39

Nehemiah 10:39 is confirmatory of the preceding clause: the Levites were tobring the tithe of the tithes for the priests into the chambers of the temple;for thither are both the children of Israel and the Levites, to bring all heave-offerings of corn, new wine, and oil: for there are the holy vessels for theservice of the altar (comp. Numbers 4:15), and the priests that minister, andthe doorkeepers and the singers, for whose maintenance these giftsprovide. “And we will not forsake the house of our God,” i.e., we will takecare that the service of God's house shall be provided for; comp. Nehemiah 13:11-14.