Nehemiah 13:28

_DID NOT SOLOMON KING OF ISRAEL SIN BY THESE THINGS? YET AMONG MANY NATIONS WAS THERE NO KING LIKE HIM, WHO WAS BELOVED OF HIS GOD, AND GOD MADE HIM KING OVER ALL ISRAEL: NEVERTHELESS EVEN HIM DID OUTLANDISH WOMEN CAUSE TO SIN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

23-31 If either parent be ungodly, corrupt nature will incline the children to take after that one; which is a strong reason why Christians should not be unequally yoked. In the education of children, great care should be taken about the government of their tongues; that they learn not the language of Ashdod, no impious or impure talk, no corrupt communication. Nehemiah showed the evil of these marriages. Some, more obstinate than the rest, he smote, that is, ordered them to be beaten by the officers according to the law, Deuteronomy 25:2; Deuteronomy 25:3. Here are Nehemiah's prayers on this occasion He prays, "Remember them, O my God." Lord, convince and convert them; put them in mind of what they should be and do. The best services to the public have been forgotten by those for whom they were done,...

Verse 28. _ONE OF THE SONS OF JOIADA_] This was _Manasseh_, brother of _Jaddua_, son of _Joiada_, and grandson of _Eliashib_ the high priest. _I CHASED HIM FROM ME._] Struck him off the list of the priests, and deemed him utterly unworthy of all connection and intercourse with truly religious people....

EXPOSITION NEHEMIAH'S EFFORTS FOR THE REFORM OF RELIGION (Nehemiah 13:1). After having exercised the office of governor for twelve years, from B.C. 444 to B.C. 432, Nehemiah had had occasion to visit the Persian court, either to consult Artaxerxes personally on certain matters connected with his province, or for some other reason unknown to us. During his absence various evil practices, to which some reference has been already made in connection with the renewal of the covenant (Nehemiah 10:30-16), acquired so much strength, and came to such a head, that, on Nehemiah's return to Jerusalem at the expiration of a year (verse 6),

CHAPTER 13 _ 1. The separation of the mixed multitude (Nehemiah 13:1)_ 2. The unholy alliance repudiated (Nehemiah 13:4) 3. Nehemiah's action in behalf of the Levites and singers (Nehemiah 13:10) 4. Provision for Sabbath observance (Nehemiah 13:15) 5. Nehemiah's protest (Nehemiah 13:23) 6. His own testimony as to his work (Nehemiah 13:30)...

SOME DETAILS OF NEHEMIAH'S RULE. This section, taken for the most part from Nehemiah's memoirs, deals with his zeal for the sanctity of the Temple (Nehemiah 13:4), his organisation for the maintenance of the Levites (Nehemiah 13:10), his reform regarding Sabbath observance (Nehemiah 13:15), and his measures against those who had contracted marriages with aliens (Nehemiah 13:23). Nehemiah 13:28 f. contains some concluding words of Nehemiah. When it is remembered that for twelve years he had been working among the people, enforc

ONE OF THE SONS, &C. Joiada the son of Eliashbi was led astray by the degeneracy of his father ( ONLY THE WORD. Permission limited....

Nehemiah's protest against mixed marriages, cf. Nehemiah 9:2; Nehemiah 10:28; Nehemiah 10:30; Ezra 9:1 ff; Ezra 10:1 ff....

THEREFORE I CHASED HIM FROM ME— Ordered him immediately to depart the country, as he refused to quit his wife. Josephus relates the matter as if this expulsion had been effected by the power of the great Sanhedrin; but, whether the Sanhedrin was at this time in being or not, as we have no clear footsteps of it till the time of Judas Maccabeus, there was no occasion for their interposing, since Nehemiah, no doubt, as governor of the province, had authority enough to banish him out of Judaea. See Bertram, de Repub. Jude 1:13....

5. Nehemiah deals with the problem of mixed marriages. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 13:23-29 23 In those days I also saw that the Jews had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 As for their children, half spoke in the language of Ashdod, and none of them was able to speak the language of Judah, but the language of his own people. 25 So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin regarding these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel; nevertheless the foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 Do we then hear about