Nehemiah 5:18

14-19 Those who truly fear God, will not dare to do any thing cruel or unjust. Let all who are in public places remember that they are so placed to do good, not to enrich themselves. Nehemiah mentions it to God in prayer, not as if he had merited any favour from God, but to show that he depended upon God only, to make up to him what he had lost and laid out for his honour. Nehemiah evidently spake and acted as one that knew himself to be a sinner. He did not mean to claim a reward as of debt, but in the manner that the Lord rewards a cup of cold water given to a disciple for his sake. The fear and love of God in the heart, and true love of the brethren, will lead to every good work. These are proper evidences of justifying faith; and our reconciled God will look upon persons of this character for good, according to all they have done for his people....

Verse 18. _ONE OX_, AND _SIX CHOICE SHEEP_] This was food sufficient for more than _two hundred_ men. _ONCE IN TEN DAYS STORE OF ALL SORTS OF WINE_] It is supposed that every _tenth_ day they drank wine; at all other times they drank _water_; unless we suppose the meaning of the phrase to be, that his servants laid _in a stock_ of wine every ten days. Though the Asiatics drank sparingly of wine, yet it is not very likely that, in a case such as that above, _wine_ was tasted only _thrice_ in each month. Bishop _Pococke_ mentions the manner in which the _bey_ of _Tunis_ lived. He had daily _twelve sheep_, with _fish, fowls, soups_, _oranges, eggs, onions, boiled rice_, c., c., His _nobles_ dined with him after they had done, the _servants_ sat down and, when they had finished, the _poor_ took what was left. Here is no mention

Compare the far grander provision for Solomon’s table (see the marginal reference)....

EXPOSITION GENERAL ACCOUNT OF NEHEMIAH'S GOVERNMENT (Nehemiah 5:14). Having given this account of the internal difficulties which threatened to put a stop to the building of the wall before it was well begun, and been led in the course of it to speak of the poverty and sufferings of the common people, Nehemiah not unnaturally goes on to inform us of the methods by which in his general government he endeavoured to alleviate the distress, or at any rate to avoid adding to the burthens which pressed upon the poorer classes. From the time that he entered upon his office, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, B.C. 444, to the time of his writing this portion of his Book, in the thirty-second year of the same king, B.C. 432, he had lived entirely at his own expe

CHAPTER 5 _ 1. The complaint of oppression (Nehemiah 5:1)_ 2. Nehemiah's rebuke and demands (Nehemiah 5:6) 3. Nehemiah's generosity (Nehemiah 5:14) Nehemiah 5:1. The internal conditions among the toiling people were serious. The work which was done in rebuilding the walls was a labor of love; no wages were paid. As the people were thus engaged their other occupations, including agriculture, had to be neglected. As a result the poor had been driven to mortgage their lands, vineyards and houses in order to buy corn, because of the dearth. The rich had taken advantage of this and had enslaved their sons an

NEHEMIAH ENUMERATES THE OUTSTANDING FEATURES OF HIS BENEFICENT RULE. The main points here are that Nehemiah and his subordinate officials had not taken advantage of their undoubted right of exacting provisions from the people (I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor, i.e. the sustenance which he, as the governor, had a right to claim); secondly, he recalls how tenaciously he clung to his purpose of the rebuilding of the walls (Nehemiah 5:16); and thirdly, he reminds the people of the way in which he had supported the poor (Nehemiah 5:17 f.). Nehemiah 5:14. from the twentieth. the king: _i.e._ 445- 433 B.C.; in the latter year he went back to Babylon for a short visit ...

See Nehemiah 5:14 for. longer note that applies to this verse. PREPARED. At Nehemiah's own cost. WINE. Hebrew. _yayin._ App-27....

for me _daily_ R.V. FOR ONE DAY. Compare Solomon's daily provision, 1 Kings 4:22-23. _choice_ i.e. picked or chosen for their fatness and good condition. The word in the Hebrew is used of men chosen for a purpose, 1 Chronicles 7:40; 1Ch 9:22; 1 Chronicles 16:41. In 1 Samuel 9:2 Saul is called a -choice" (R.V. marg.) man. _once in ten days store of all_sorts of _wine_ Literally -within the interval of ten days, of every wine in abundance." The construction is peculiar. The specification of 10 days and the preposition before -sorts of wine" lead us to expect the mention of some parti

NOW THAT WHICH WAS PREPARED FOR ME, &C.— Bishop Pococke, in his Travels, vol. 1: p. 266, &c. has given us an account of the way in which the Bey of Tunis lived in 1733; not that his way of living differed from that of other Beys, it should seem; but merely as a curiosity for his readers. After describing some soups taken by him in the morning, he tells us, that he was wont to dine at eleven; that his grandees sat near him; that when they had eaten, others sat down, and the poor took away what was left. His provisions were twelve sheep every day, dressed in three different manners; with a rice pilaw,—with oranges and eggs,—and with onions and butter. Besides the mutton, there was wont to be _cuscowsoe,_ which they ate with the broth; and also boiled fish or fowls, with lemon or orange sauce. An hour before sun-set they ate as before. But this account, beside the curiosity of it, may serve...

3. Nehemiah vindicates his own conduct. TEXT, NEHEMIAH 5:14-19 14 Moreover, from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year to the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, for twelve years, neither I nor my kinsmen have eaten the governor's food allowance. 15 But the former governors who were before me laid burdens on the people and took from them bread and wine besides forty shekels of silver; even their servants domineered the people, But I did not do so because of the fear of God. 16 And I also applied myself to the work on this wall; we did not buy any land, and all my servants were gathered there for the work. 17 Moreover, there were at my table one hundred and fifty Jews and officials, besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us. 18 Now th