Synopsis of the Chapter
Nehemiah, in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes, returning to Jerusalem, corrects various abuses which had crept in during his absence and after the death of Ezra: namely, first, the admission of Moabites and Ammonites to offices of magistracy in Israel, verse 1; second, he restores to the temple's use the storeroom that had been given to Tobiah, verse 4; third, he recalls the Levites who had fled because their stipends had been denied, by giving them their dues, verse 10; fourth, he puts an end to the profanation of the Sabbath through servile works, verse 15; fifth, he abolishes marriages with foreigners, and removes the children who spoke the language of Ashdod, verse 23.
Verse 1: No Ammonite or Moabite Shall Enter ¶
1. IT WAS FOUND WRITTEN IN IT THAT NO AMMONITE OR MOABITE SHOULD ENTER THE ASSEMBLY OF GOD. — This law is written in Deuteronomy chapter XXIII, verse 3, where I explained it and taught what is meant by "assembly of God," namely, understand it as the dignity, eminence, and magistracy in the congregation of the Israelite people: for to this the Ammonites and Moabites could not be admitted; nevertheless, they could become proselytes; and so enter the temple with the Jews and take part in the sacred rites, as Ruth the Moabitess did when she married Boaz the Israelite. So also among the Spaniards, the Moors can become Christians, but are not admitted to magistracies.
Verse 4: Eliashib and the Storeroom of Tobiah ¶
4. AND OVER THIS MATTER WAS ELIASHIB THE PRIEST (that is, Eliashib the High Priest had been placed in charge of the custody of the law cited above in verse 1, whose duty it was to ensure that no Ammonite was admitted to public offices in Israel: but he so little attended to this that he made Tobiah the Ammonite his relative by marriage, and therefore placed him in charge of the storeroom. Hence what follows:) WHO (Eliashib) HAD BEEN PLACED IN CHARGE OF THE STOREROOM OF THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD, AND WAS ALLIED TO TOBIAH, etc. — This Tobiah was a "servant, an Ammonite," as was said in chapter II, verse 10. And therefore a bitter enemy of the Jews, but wealthy and powerful, and for this reason Eliashib the High Priest had contracted an alliance with him through marriage: for which reason he had placed him, as his relative, in charge of the storeroom of the temple, which was a great honor for Tobiah, as well as a benefit, but a greater disgrace and harm to Israel — namely, that an Ammonite servant should be elevated to such a position in Israel, contrary to the law of Deuteronomy XXIII, 3, cited in verse 1. It was also harmful because Tobiah diverted the storeroom from the use of the priests and the temple, for which it was established, to his own purposes, storing all his own goods in it. Nehemiah, considering this most unworthy, expelled him from the storeroom and restored it to Israel.
Verse 5: A Large Storeroom ¶
5. He therefore made for himself (the Hebrew and Septuagint say: made for him, namely for Tobiah, as is clear from verse 7) A LARGE STOREROOM, AND THERE HAD BEEN PLACED BEFORE HIM OFFERINGS, AND FRANKINCENSE, AND VESSELS, etc. — that is, Eliashib put Tobiah the Ammonite in charge of all the treasury of the temple, namely the firstfruits and tithes and other things that were brought for the Levites and priests.
Verse 7: The Treasury of Tobiah ¶
7. TO MAKE HIM A TREASURY — namely the storeroom just mentioned, as the Septuagint has it, in which the treasures of the temple were kept. This is clear from the Hebrew.
Verse 8: I Cast Out the Goods ¶
8. I cast out the goods — that is, the furnishings of Tobiah.
Verse 9: I Brought Back the Vessels ¶
9. AND I BROUGHT BACK THERE THE VESSELS OF THE HOUSE OF GOD AND THE SACRIFICE — that is, the things pertaining to sacrifice, namely oil, wine, fine flour, salt, etc.
Verse 11: I Stationed Them at Their Posts ¶
11. I STATIONED THEM AT THEIR POSTS — that is, I restored the Levites and singers to their proper places and offices.
Verse 19: The Gates Were Quiet on the Sabbath ¶
19. WHEN THE GATES OF JERUSALEM BEGAN TO BE QUIET ON THE SABBATH DAY — that is, when they ceased their function of sending out and admitting those entering. The Hebrew says: when the gates were darkened, that is, when the evening of the sixth day (Friday) arrived: for then the Sabbath began, as I have already said. Hence the Septuagint translates: before the day, namely the artificial (civil) day, of the Sabbath. Therefore Nehemiah ordered the gates to be closed for the entire natural day of the Sabbath, for 24 hours, lest anyone should violate the Sabbath by carrying burdens through them.
THAT NO ONE SHOULD BRING IN A BURDEN — through the gates. Hence the gate (porta) is so called because through it burdens are imported and exported, says Cato, and Isidore after him (Etymologies XV, chapter II); although Donatus would say that the gate is called from the carrying (portatio) of the plow: because, he says, in the marking out of cities, with a cow and a bull yoked together, the one who was marking out the city would lift the plow by hand at the gate, so as not to make a furrow where the entrances of the city were to be left.
Verse 21: I Will Lay Hands on You ¶
21. I WILL LAY HANDS ON YOU — that is, I will seize and punish you, and confiscate the burdens of merchandise that you bring in.
Verse 24: Their Children Spoke in the Language of Ashdod ¶
24. AND THEIR CHILDREN, HALF OF THEM (the Hebrew says: half, or half of the children) SPOKE IN THE LANGUAGE OF ASHDOD (for the Ashdodite language smelled of exotic and Ashdodite religion. For the other half spoke Moabite, or Ammonite, or Midianite) ACCORDING TO THE LANGUAGE OF EACH PEOPLE — that is, of the various peoples from which their mothers had come; for the children, raised by their mothers, drank in their language with their mother's milk.
Verse 25: I Cursed Them and Pulled Out Their Hair ¶
25. And I cursed them (that is, I anathematized and excommunicated the parents of such children, indeed them themselves), I STRUCK THEM (with scourges) AND PULLED OUT THEIR HAIR — (the Complutensian edition incorrectly has decalcavi ["I unshod them"]), that is, I depilated them and pulled out their hair, which is a great disgrace. Among these the chief was a son of Joiada the High Priest, of whom see verse 28.
Verse 28: Son-in-Law of Sanballat ¶
28. AND OF THE SONS OF JOIADA, THE SON OF ELIASHIB THE HIGH PRIEST, ONE WAS SON-IN-LAW OF SANBALLAT THE HORONITE. — So the Roman edition, although the Complutensian and ancient Bibles have Horonitis in the genitive; and so it seems it should be read; for so the Hebrew, the Septuagint, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others have it, so that the meaning is: One of the sons of Joiada had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, and therefore was his son-in-law. WHOM I DROVE AWAY FROM ME — and from the assembly of Israel, considering it unworthy that Sanballat, a Samaritan and an unbeliever, should mix marriages with Israel, indeed with the High Priest.
Moreover, this Sanballat is different from Sanballat the Prefect of Samaria, who, according to Josephus (Book XI, chapters VII and VIII), gave his daughter as wife to Manasseh, the brother of Jaddus the High Priest under Alexander the Great, and therefore made Manasseh the High Priest of the schismatic temple built by the schismatics in Samaria on Mount Gerizim, concerning which temple there was a perpetual dispute between the Jews and the Samaritans, even in the time of Christ, as is clear from John chapter IV, verse 24. That this was a different person is clear from the fact that this Sanballat the Horonite was father-in-law of a son of Joiada: but the Sanballat of Josephus was father-in-law of Manasseh, the brother of Jaddus the High Priest; therefore this is not the same person: for Joiada was the grandfather of Jaddus — Joiada begot Jonathan, Jonathan begot Jaddua, and Manasseh, the brother of Jaddus, was the son-in-law of this later Sanballat. Perhaps this later Sanballat was the son or grandson of the earlier one.
WHOM I DROVE AWAY FROM ME. — By "whom" understand not so much Sanballat himself, as Sanballat's son-in-law, namely the son of Joiada the High Priest, who had married the daughter of Sanballat; for Nehemiah expelled him and deprived him of the priesthood, on account of having married a foreigner. So Sanchez. For Sanballat was not present, much less subject to Nehemiah; but the son of Joiada was present and subject to him: hence Nehemiah expelled him.