5. In respect to language and style, this book is very similar to the Chronicles of Ezra. Nehemiah has, it is true, quite his own manner, and, as De Wette has ob- served, certain phrases and modes of expression peculiar to himself. He has also some few words and forms not found elsewhere in Scripture; but the general Hebrew style is exactly that of the books purporting to be of the same age. Some words, as D']'Pl3 jjp, "cymbals," occur in Chron., Ezra, and Neh., but nowhere else, nisril oc- curs frequently in the same three books, but only twice (in Judg. v) besides. rnjX or Xn"ir>X, "a letter," is common only to Neh., Esth., Ezra, and Chron. iTl^a, and its Chaldee equivalent, X'^'^2, whether spoken of the palace at Susa or of the Temple at Jerusalem, are common only to Neh., Ezra, Esth., Dan., and Chron. : ?5'^ to Neh. and Dan., and Psa. xlv. The phrase ^?'?^"'!' ''TP^.i and its Chaldee equivalent, '■ the God of Heavens," are common to Ezra, Neh., and Dan. Tljlb^, " distinctly," is common to Ezra and Neh. Such words as "^D, ili'^'ip, O'l]"!?, and such Aramaisms as the use of b^ri, i, 7, ~?^'', v, 7, fT^'Q, v, 4, etc., are also evidences of the age when Nehemiah wrote. As exam- ples of peculiar words or meanings, used in this book alone, the following may be mentioned: 3 "!3b, "to inspect," ii, 13, 15; tlX^, in the sense of " interest," v, 11; ty^'j. (in Hiph.),"to shut," vii, 3; b^'173, "a lifting up," viii, 6; ni^H, "praises," or "choirs," xii, 8; tlS^bilPl, "a procession," xii, 32; N'^p'a, in the sense of " reading," viii, 8 ; tTl^X, for iTli^XX, xiii, 8, where both form and sense are alike unusual. The Aramtean form, n'lini', Hiph. of ITl^, for iTlT^, is very rare, only five other analogous examples occurring in the Heb. Scriptures, though it is very common in Biblical Chal- dee. The phrase ti'J'zri inV:3 diN, iv, 17 (which is omitted by the Sept.), is incapable of explanation. One •would have expected, instead of t;^53ll, IT^Sl, as in 2 Chron. xxiii, 10. Xn'iinri, "the Tirshatha," which only occurs in Ezra ii, 63 ; Neh, vii, 65, 70 ; viii, 9 ; x, 1, is of uncertain etymology and meaning. It is a term applied almost exclusively to Nehemiah, and seems to be more likely to mean "cupbearer" than "governor," though the latter interpretation is adopted by Gesenius {Thes.s.y.).
The text of Nehemiah is generally pure and free from corruption, except in the proper names, in which there is considerable fluctuation in the orthography, both as compared with other parts of the same book and with the same names in other parts of Scripture ; and
also in numerals. Of the latter we have seen several examples in the parallel passages of Ezra ii and Neh. vii; and tlie same lists give variations in names of men. So does xii, 1-7, compared with xii, 12, and with X, 1-8. A comparison of Neh. xi, 3, etc., with 1 Chron. ix, 2, etc., exhibits the following fluctuations : Neh. xi, 4, A thaiah of the chihhen of Perez = 1 Chron. ix, 4, Uthai of the children of Perez ; v, 5, jStaaseiah the sou of Shiloni = v, 5, of the Shilonites, A saiah ; v, 9, Judah the son of Senuah (Heb. Ha-senuah) = v, 7, Ilodaviah the son of Hasenuah ; v, 10, Jedaiah the son of Joiarib, Jachin = V, 10, Jedaiah, Jehoiarib, Jachin ; v, 13, A masai son of Azareel = v, 12, Maasai son of Jahzerah ; v, 17, Micah the son of Zabdi = v, 15, Micah the son ofZicfiri (comp. Neh. xii, 35). To these many others might be added (Smith).
6. Commentaries — The special exegetical helps on the Book of Nehemiah are not numerous: Bede, In Nehemim allegorica expositio (in Opjj. iv; and Works, by Giles, i, 1) ; Brenz, Comment, in Nehemim (in 0pp. ii) ; Wolphius, In Nehemice librum commentaria (Tigur, 1570, fol.); Stngel, A rgunmitum et Scholia (Lips. 1571, 1572, 8vo); VWkmgton, Expositio on certain chapters (Lond. 1585, 4to; also in Works, p. 275); Pempel, Ex- planatio [includ. Ezra and Dan.] (in Works, Lond. 1585); Rambach, Adnotationes (in his work on the O. T. iii, 107); Sanctius, Commentarii [includ. lUitli, etc.] (Lugd. 1628, fol.); Ferns, ErUdrung (]Maycnce. 1C.19, 8vo); Crommius, In hist. Nehemia;, etc. [includ. other books] (Lovan. 1632, 4to); Lombard, Con/nnntdi-i/is | in- clud. Ezra] (Par. 1643, fol.); Trapp, Cowmrnlm// [in- clud. Ezra, etc.] (Lond. 1656, fol.); Jackson, Explana- tion [includ. Ezra and Esth.] (Lond. 1657, 4to); De Oliva, Commentarii [includ. other books] (Lugd. 1664, 1679, 2 vols, fol.) ; Bcrtheau, Commentary [includ. Ezra and Esth.] (in the Exeg. Ilandb. Leips. 1862, 8vo) ; Barde, Etude critique et exegetique (Tubing. 1861, 8vo) ; also, Lange's and Keil and Delitzsch's Bible-works. See
COJIMKNTARY.
Neliemi'as (Nte^iac v. r. Naijui'ae), the Grsecized form (retained in the A. A'', of the Apocrypha) of the name Nkhkmiah (q. v.), namely, («) The contemporary of Zerubbabel and Jeshua (1 Esdr. v, 8); (b) The gov- ernor, son of Ilachaliah (1 Esdr. v, 40).
Ne'hiloth (Heb. A>cMo//«',ribin3, with the art.; the plur. of nb^nj, which, however, is not found), oc- curs only in the title of Psa. v, ;vherc the A. V. renders "upon Nehiloth" (nib'^nsn-^X). The Sept., Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion translate vTrtp ti'iq kXtj- poronovffT]^, and the Vulgate, "pro ea quae hceredita- tem cofisequitu?;" by which Augustine understands the Church, The origin of their error was a mistaken etymology, by which Nehiloth is derived from bn3, luwhdl, "to inherit." Hengstenberg maintains that the title with this derivation has a mystical or spiritual meaning, " for the inheritance," or " upon the lots," i. e, of the righteous and the wicked. Other etymologies have been proposed which are equally unsound. In Chaldee P'^HlJ, nechil, signifies "a swarm of bees," and hence Jarchi attributes to Nehiloth the notion of multi- tude, the psalm being sung by the whole people of Israel. II. Hai, quoted by Kimchi, adopting the same origin for the word, explains it as an instrument, the sound of which was like the hum of bees, a wind instru- ment, according to Sonntag {De tit. Psa. p. 430), which had a rough tone. Jlichaelis (Siippl. ad Lex. Heb. p. 1629) suggests, with not unreas(mable timidity, that the root is to be found in the Arab, nachala, " to winnow," and hence to separate and select the better part, indi- cating that the psalm, in the title of which Nehiloth occurs, was " an ode to be chanted by the purified and better portion of the people." It is most likely, as Gesenius and others explain, that it is derived (instead of n'snj) from the root >bn, chaldl, " to bore, perforate," whence ?^?n, chalil, a flute or pipe (1 Sam, x, 5; 1