a Not now preſently after the Dedication of the Wall and Gates and Ciry, but upon a certain day, as that Phraſe is very common- ly uſed 1a Scripture without any relation to the time or things men- tioned next before it; to wit, when Nehemiah was returned again from the Perſian Court to Jeruſalem, from which he had been abſent for ſome conliderable time, in which ſome errours and abuſes had . crept in, which now he endeavours to remove. 6 Partly becauſe it was not only the Prieſts, but alſo the Peoples, duty to ſtudy } and underſtand God's Law and their own duty : and partly that the people hearing thar this was the expreſs mind and will of the great God,might the more willingly yield to the following Duties ſome of which were attended with difficulty, and required ſelf- denial. c 7.e; Not be incorporated into the Common-wealth of J/. rael nor be joyned with any 1/raelite in Marriage relation,as appears from werſe 3. That pra&ice being a plain Comment upon this Law, Bur ofthis and the next verſe ſee the Notes on Dent; 23. 3, 4.
2 Becauſe they met not the children of 1frael with bread and with water, but * hired Balaam againſt them * Nunb: that he hould curſe them : howbeit our God turned 22: 5- the curſe into a blefling. Joſh.:49,
2 Now it came to paſs when they heard the law, that
they ſeparated from 1rael all the mixed multitude d.
« i. e: All the heatheniſh people with whom they had contraQ- ed Alliances. Sce << 9: 2: and Ezra 10: 3,
4 And before f this Eliaſhib the prieſt e F having } jo. the overſight of the chamber f of the houſe ofour God, + Heb.is was allied unto 'Tobiah g: ing jecoun,
e The High-prieſt, chap.3:1: or ſome other prieft ſo called, there being divers E#/cashivs in or about this time, Ezr# 10:6, 24,27, 36. though the firſt ſeems moſt probable, by comparing this verſe with verſe 28. and with chap. 12. 10, 11- f 7. e. Of the Chambers, as ap- pears from the following verſe, and from wer: 9: where it is called chambers, and from the nature ofthe thing,the High-prieſt having the chief power over the houſe of God, and all the chambers be» longing to it- The ſingular number for the plural. g The Amme- niteand a violent Enemy toGod's people. So this isnoted as a great blemiſh to Eltashib,8& as the cauſe of his other miſcarriage noted »: 5,
5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber g ; where afore-time they laid the meat offerings, the fran- kincenſe, and the veſſels,and the tithes of the corn, the P new wine, and the oil, ( f which wascommanded to be t He 3
- 6 mm given to the Levices, and the ſingers, and the porters ) ,,4 q:#
. by os: law, prictts, and for the Levites + that waited 5. F A eb. for g Such as they had lately ingaged themſelves to give, or other | Tad of voluntary or preſcribed offerings, h 7: e; The foretaid firſt-fruits, | SH Bl and tithes, and other things which God by his Law appointed for - +P#7 them: # Partly for the eminent Gifrs and Graces which they obſer- | fo %. _. vedin many of them: and partly for the great benefit which they had now received by their Miniſcry ; and therefore for the compe- tent proviſion which hereby was made for them,that ſo they might wholly wait upon their Office, to the peoples edification & comforr. 45 And both the ſingers and the porters kept the | ward of their Godk, and the ward of the purification 1, ES. Chon _— to the commandment of David, and of So-
on.
- 25. & es, lomon his FT Chron., & ise. That Ward, or Charge, or buſineſs which God had pre- 25. r, &c. ſcribed to theme 1 And in partitealar the charge of purificatim. 1: e: of taking care that no unclean perſon or thing might enter into the Houſe or Courts of the Lord : which care did certainly belong to the porters, as is expreſſed, 2 Chron:23:19. and at this time,and in ſome ſort, as it ſeems to the ſingers who, beſides their proper im- ployment were alſo over the buſineſs of the houſe of God, as is affirmed
%,
and the offerings of the prieſts. Levitt g By removing the things which were in it, and uniting divers ſmall Chambers into one, and furniſhing it for the uſe of Tobiah when he came to Jeruſalem : whom he ſeems to have lodged there, that he might have more free and ſecret communication with him, this being 1n a place where the people might not come. . 6Bur in all this t5me was not] at Jeruſalem þ : for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Baby- lon, came I unto the king 5,and | after certain days &|| + Heb. « obtained T leave of the king : the end of h And Eliaſbib took the occaſion of my abſence to do theſe things, #2)” F ſuppoſing thar I would no more return thither. ; To wit, from lOr, _ Jerujalem ; where he had been once and again. & Heb. in the end of w—_— aays, or of a year, as that word ofc ſignifies, que/"ehs 7 And I came to Jeruſalem, and underſtood of the evil that Eliaſhib did for Tebiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the houſe of God; 8 And it grieved me ſore 1, therefore I caft forth all the houſhold ſtuffol Tobiah out of the chamber.
chap: 11: 22. Which being a general expreſſion, may well compre- hend, if-it doth not principally deſign this, that they ſhould take | Care to keep the Houle of God free fromall pollution. And poſſibly as the Porters were to take care that no unclean thing mighr enter there, ſo if it- ſhould through their inadvertency enter in;the ſingers were to remove it»
reſpets ought not to have come there, being no Prieſt, a ſtranger, an Ammonite, and one of the worſt of thar people ; and that all this ſhould be done by the permiſſion and order of the High-Prieſt, who by his office ſhould have puniſhed 2nd reformed theſe things
{Thar ſo ſacred a place ſhould be polluted by one who in many
+46 For in the days of David * and Aſaph »v, of old,
12 Others.
9 Then
Chap, Xl W
+ He
eral
[0r,f
Wy ur)
+Heb x thei
ind.
Ver 2: Meb.
Ruin: 10rgbſ
w;ong,
le, iT
, Xt)
That j. ' apart Numb , .26,
eb. he ” ' read, eb. A ut. 23,
ime. Jeb.bts
ſe;our,
eb. the mand t of tot 11140
eb. #t end of Je | i ly re | ed.
ball
Mal;1:8 tNumb.
WW/th
tHeb: i their Ind.
Mor 22, Meb. kuineſes,
won;
9 Then I commanded, and they cleanſed the cham: bers m2 ; and thither brought'T again the veſſels of the houſe of God with the meat, offering and the frankin- cenfſe.
m By ſuch means and rites as were then uſual in ſuch caſes. See Numb, «9. 9.
Io And T percei had not been given thers » : ſingers that did the work, field 0.