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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Nehemiah 10:29 - 10:29
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
(10:30-33)
All the members of the community acceded to the agreement thus signed by the princes of the people, and the heads of the priests and Levites, and bound themselves by an oath to walk in the law of the Lord, and to separate themselves from the heathen.
Neh 10:29
And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the door-keepers, the singers, the Nethinim, and all that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, all who had knowledge and understanding, held with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into an oath and curse, etc. מַצֲזִיקִים is the predicate of the subjects in Neh 10:29 : they were holding with their brethren, i.e., uniting with them in this matter. “The rest of the people, the priests,” etc., are the members of the community, exclusive of the princes and heads of the priestly and Levitical orders. The Nethinim, to whom belonged the servants of Solomon (see rem. on Ezr 2:43.), were probably also represented in the assembly by the heads of the 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 who now joined the new community; see rem. on Ezr 6:21. The connection of נִבְדָּל with אֶל־תֹּורַת is significant: separated from the heathen to the law of God, i.e., to live according thereto; comp. Ezr 6:21. Not, however, the men only, but also women and children of riper years, acceded to the covenant. כָּל־יֹודֵעַ מֵבִין, every one knowing, understanding (מֵבִין and יֹודֵעַ being connected as an asyndeton, to strengthen the meaning), refers to sons and daughters of an age sufficient to enable them to understand the matter. אַדִּררֵיהֶם, their nobles, is connected in the form of an apposition with אֲחֵיהֶם, instead of the adjective הָאַדִּירִים. The princes and the heads of the community and priesthood are intended. בְאָלָה בֹּוא, to enter into an oath, comp. Eze 17:13. אָלָה is an oath of self-imprecation, grievous punishments being imprecated in case of transgression; שְׁבוּעָה, a promissory oath to live conformably with the law. We hence perceive the tenor of the agreement entered into and sealed by the 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 the commandments, judgments, and statutes of God, two points, then frequently transgressed, are specially mentioned in Neh 10:31 and Neh 10:23. In Neh 10:31 : that we would not give our daughters to the people of the lands, etc.; see rem. on Ezr 9:2. In Neh 10:32 : that if the people of the land brought wares or any victuals on the Sabbath-day to sell, we would not buy if of them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and would let the seventh year lie, and the loan of every hand. The words וגו הָאָרֶץ עַמֵּי are prefixed absolutely, and are afterwards subordinated to the predicate of the sentence by מֵהֶם. מַקָּחֹות, wares for sale, from לָקַח, to take, in the sense of to buy, occurs only here. מֵהֶם נִקַּח, to take from them, i.e., to buy. קֹדֶשׁ יֹום beside שַׁבָּת means the other holy days, the annual festivals, on which, according to the law, Num 28 and 29, no work was to be done. To the sanctification of the Sabbath pertained the celebration of the sabbatical year, which is therefore named immediately afterwards. The words השׁ אֶת־הַשָּׁנָה נָטַשׁ, to let the seventh year lie, i.e., in the seventh year to let the land lie untilled and unsown, is an abbreviation taken from the language of the law, Exo 28:10. כָל־יָד מַשָּׁא also depends upon נִטַּשׁ. This expression (מַשָּׁא, not מַשָּׂא, being the reading of the best editions) is to be explained from Deu 15:2, and means the loan, that which the hand has lent to another; see rem. on Deu 15:2.