Nehemiah 10:28

_AND THE REST OF THE PEOPLE, THE PRIESTS, THE LEVITES, THE PORTERS, THE SINGERS, THE NETHINIMS, AND ALL THEY THAT HAD SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM THE PEOPLE OF THE LANDS UNTO THE LAW OF GOD, THEIR WIVES, THEIR SONS, AND THEIR DAUGHTERS, EVERY ONE HAVING KNOWLEDGE, AND HAVING UNDERSTANDING;_ Those who were not present at the sealing ratified the covenant by giving their assent, either in words or by lifting up their hands, and bound themselves by a solemn oath to walk in God's law, imprecating a curse upon themselves in the event of their violating it....

1-31 Conversion is separating from the course and custom of this world, devoting ourselves to the conduct directed by the word of God. When we bind ourselves to do the commandments of God, it is to do all his commandments, and to look to him as the Lord, and our Lord....

Verse 28. _AND THE REST OF THE PEOPLE_] All had, in one or other of the classes which sealed, their _representatives_; and by their sealing they considered themselves bound....

EXPOSITION THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO SEALED, AND THE TERMS OF THE COVENANT (Nehemiah 10:1.). The covenant which the Levites had recommended, probably at the suggestion of Nehemiah and Ezra, whose hand may perhaps be traced in the long address of the preceding chapter (verses 6-38), was at once accepted by the heads of the nation in Church and State, and was "sealed to" by Nehemiah, by his secretary, by the heads of the priestly and Levitical families, each sealing for his house, by the heads of various lay families or communities, and by a certain number of individual laymen, sealing (as it would seem) for themselves only. The rest of the people, those who did not actually s

CHAPTER 10 _ 1. Those who sealed the covenant (Nehemiah 10:1)_ 2. The obligations of the covenant (Nehemiah 10:28) Nehemiah 10:1. The last verse of the preceding chapter mentions a covenant. “And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal unto it.” In this chapter we find the names of the heads of the different houses who sealed the covenant, which means they put their signature to it. According to talmudical tradition these signers constituted “the Great Synagogue.” Originally it consisted of 120 members, but later only 70 belonged to it. Its covenants were as follows: _ (1) Not to marry heathen women;_...

NEHEMIAH 9:38 TO NEHEMIAH 10:39. THE COVENANT. This section is probably originally from Ezra's memoirs, though it has been considerably worked over, presumably not by the Chronicler, since he writes in the third person. It is, in the main, written in the first person plural, and may in its present form have come from some loyal follower of Ezra or Nehemiah who writes as representing one of the people. The special points of the covenant are the undertaking not to marry foreigners, to observe the Sabbath more strictly, to remit debts in the seventh year, to pay a third of a shekel to the Temple, to supply wood for burning the sacrifices, to offer all the first-fruits, and to give tithes; with all this _cf._ ch. 13....

NETHINIMS. See note on Ezra 2:43. PEOPLE. peoples. THE LAW OF GOD. See Exodus 17:14 and App-47. GOD. Hebrew. _Elohim._ (with Art.). the [true] God. App-4. I...

_And the rest of the people_ This may be understood in two different ways: (_a_) according to some it denotes the mass of the laity, as distinguished from their princes and elders, like -the people" (Nehemiah 10:35), -the residue of Israel" (Nehemiah 11:20), and -Israel" (1 Chronicles 9:2); (_b_) according to others under this head are included the various classes of the community mentioned in the present verse, but distinct from the representative names which have occupied the previous lists. It is not another group, but stands at the head of the verse in apposition to the groups to be mentioned. -The priests" are the individual members of the great houses whose representatives had taken part -in the

_OTHERS WHO JOINED IN THIS COVENANT -- NEHEMIAH 10:28-29:_ _ THE COVENANT PROMISES THAT THEY MADE -- NEHEMIAH 10:30-31:_ In their covenant with God they promised that would not intermarry with the hearten nations. Many of the Jews had done that but they promised that it would not happen again. As we remember some of them had even divorced their good, faithful Jewish wives to marry foreign women! The Jews also promised to observe the Sabbath and to keep the Sabbatical year. Let us remember that the Jewish Sabbath Day was actually on Saturday. They promised to cease the practice of buying and selling on the Sabbath Day. They also covenanted not to be as harsh in the exacting of their debts as they had been in the past. (Nehemiah 5) People would be released from

2. The content of the document is a vow of purity from the heathen. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 10:28-31 28 Now the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons and their daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding. 29 are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God's law, which was given through Moses, God's servant, and to keep and to observe all the commandments of GOD our LORD, and His ordinances and His statutes: 30 and that we will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons. 31 As for the peoples of the land who bring wares or any grain on the sabbath