Charles Ellicott Commentary Nehemiah 13
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nehemiah 13
Charles Ellicott Commentary
Nehemiah 13
"On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God for ever, because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude." — Nehemiah 13:1-3 (ASV)
Reform as to mixed marriages.
On that day. —Probably the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, as before. But portions were selected to be read.
They read in the book of Moses. —“It was read” in the Pentateuch, and especially Deuteronomy 23:0. This is introduced for the sake of the action taken, and the history is given in brief, with a striking and characteristic parenthesis of Nehemiah’s own concerning the curse turned into a blessing.
In it was found written. —What was generally not known to the people.
For ever. —No Ammonite or Ammonite family could have legal standing in the congregation, even to their tenth generation; and this interdict was to last for ever. It virtually though not actually amounted to absolute exclusion.
The mixed multitude. —For the “mixed multitude,” or Ereb, which plays such a prominent part in Jewish history, see Exodus 12:38. The process here was that of shutting out heathens who were in the habit of mingling with the people in the services. In Nehemiah 9:0 it was, as we saw, the people’s separation from the practices and spirit of the heathen.
"Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being allied unto Tobiah," — Nehemiah 13:4 (ASV)
Eliashib the priest, having the oversight. —Probably the high priest of Nehemiah 3:1, whose office alone would not have given him control over “the chamber”: that is, the series of chambers running around three walls of the Temple. He “was allied unto Tobiah,” but in what way is not stated.
Before this. —That is, before the return of Nehemiah; indeed, there is a suspicious absence of Eliashib’s name throughout the high religious festivities of the preceding chapters.
"Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, being allied unto Tobiah, had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests. But in all this [time] I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king: and after certain days asked I leave of the king, and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal-offerings and the frankincense." — Nehemiah 13:4-9 (ASV)
The scandal of the high priest.
"had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests." — Nehemiah 13:5 (ASV)
A great chamber. —The following account shows that many small chambers had been combined into one.
"But in all this [time] I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king: and after certain days asked I leave of the king," — Nehemiah 13:6 (ASV)
Was not I at Jerusalem. — Parenthetical explanation of this disorderly state of things.
King of Babylon. — Probably it was at Babylon that Nehemiah found the court, and therefore he does not say “King of Persia.”
After certain days. — The time is left indefinite. But the “two and thirtieth year” shows that he had been in Jerusalem twelve years before his return to the king.
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