Charles Ellicott Commentary Nehemiah 13:1-3

"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.