1:1 THE words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it came to pass in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan 2 the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, 3 and concerning Jerusalem. And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also 4 is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and 5 prayed before the God of heaven, and said, I beseech thee, O LORD, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments: let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hearken unto the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: yea, I and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgements, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples: but if ye return unto me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to cause my name to dwell there. Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (Now I was cupbearer to the king.) 2:1 And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence. And the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid. And I said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may let me pass through till I come unto Judah; and a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the castle which appertaineth to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen. And when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, for that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. Chaps. 1, 2:1-8. Circumstances under which Nehemiah obtained his commission to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Living at the Persian court, far from the land which he looked on as his true country, Nehemiah seems to have known but little of its condition and circumstances. Some event called his brother Hanani to Jerusalem; and on his return to Susa this brother gave him a description of the dismantled state of the holy city, and the "affliction and reproach" of the inhabitants consequent thereupon, which threw him into a paroxysm of grief. In his own words, he "sat down and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven" (chap. 1:4). It was the month Nisan, which followed the vernal equinox, the first of the Jewish year, when Artaxerxes, observing the sadness of his attendant, inquired its cause. Nehemiah revealed it, and the king further inquired, "For what dost thou make request?" This was the origin of Nehemiah's commission. He asked and obtained permission to quit the court for a definite time (verse 6), and to go to Jerusalem with authority to "build" the city. This was understood to include the repair of the governor's house, of the fortress which commanded the Temple area, and of the city wall (verse 8). It necessarily involved Nehemiah's appointment as governor, and the notification of this appointment to the existing satraps and pashas. Leave was also given him to cut such timber as was needed for the work in the "king's forest" or "park" a royal domain situated in the neighborhood of Jerusalem. Nehemiah, having obtained this firman, left Susa early in the spring of n.c. 444, accompanied by an escort of Persian troops (verse 9), and reached Jerusalem in safety, having on his way communicated his appointment to the officials of the Syrian province. P. C. 1: 1-11. We may notice here four things: The state of the Jews that had escaped who were left of the Captivity. The position and character of Nehemiah. The prayer which was mingled with the lamentation. The practical aim and purpose which followed the prayer. All are based upon the one foundation of the special gracious relation of God to His covenant people. P. C. 1. The words of Nehemiah.** Whether you translate by "words," by "history," or by "acts," in any case this is a title, attributing authorship to Nehemiah; either the authorship of the book or that of the narrative in the first person with which the book begins. Nehemiah was at this time a "cupbearer to the king" (verse 11). From the statements made in chap. 5—for example, verses 16-18—it appears that he had large inherited wealth. We must think of him as a young man, well-bred, a favorite, highly gifted, with a position at court, opportunity to make his way, and such examples of possible success before him as Daniel and Mordecai and Esther. W. J. B. 3. They inform him that, the walls being still in many instances broken down and the gates in the same demolished state as when burned by the Chaldeans, those children of the Captivity who dwelt there lay open not only to the incursions and insults of their enemies, but also to the reproach and contempt of their neighbors as a weak and despicable people, and that on both these accounts they were in great affliction and grief of heart. Prideaux. 4. Nehemiah wept and mourned, and that was well. But between his weeping and mourning and his practical work there had to be still another link of connection. "He wept and mourned," and because he was sad he turned to God, "and I fasted and prayed certain days." There he got at once comfort for his sorrows, his sympathies, and deepening of his sympathies, and thence he drew inspiration that made him a hero and a martyr. So all true service for the world must begin with close communion with God. A. M.—He had no power to aid or help; no resources in his hand, no armies to command, no friends to combine with him. One path was open to him, and that was the path to the throne of grace: and he availed himself against hope of the last resource of the faithful. He mourned, and wept, and fasted, and prayed. This shows the habitual piety of his disposition. Though he lived in the corrupt atmosphere of a court, and in a far and foreign land, he had neither forgotten his religion nor sacrificed it at the shrine of worldly ambition. Anon.—Note the grand and apparently immediate resolution to throw up brilliant prospects and face a life of danger and suffering and toil. Nehemiah was evidently a favorite with the king, and had the ball at his foot. But the ruins on Zion were more attractive to him than the splendors of Shushan, and he willingly flung away his chances of a great career to take his share of "affliction and reproach." He has never had justice done him in popular estimation. He is not one of the well-known biblical examples of heroic self-abandonment; but he did just what Moses did, and the eulogium of the Epistle to the Hebrews fits him as well as the lawgiver; for he too chose rather to suffer with the people of God than to enjoy pleasures for a season. So must we all, in our several ways, do, if we would have a share in building the walls of the city of God. 5-11. The prayer. The course of thought in this prayer is very instructive. It begins with solemnly laying before God His own great name, as the mightiest plea with Him and the strongest encouragement to the suppliant. That commencement is no mere proper invocation, conventionally regarded as the right way of beginning, but it expresses the petitioner's effort to lay hold on God's character as the ground of his hope of answer. The prayer throughout is full of allusions and quotations, and shows how this cupbearer of Artaxerxes had fed his young soul on God's word, and drawn thence the true nourishment of high and holy thoughts and strenuous resolutions and self-sacrificing deeds. Prayers which are cast in the mould of God's own revelation of Himself will not fail of answer. True prayer catches up the promises that flutter down to us, and flings them up again like arrows. The prayer here is all built, then, on that name of Jehovah, and on what the name involves, chiefly on the thought of God as keeping covenant and mercy. He has bound Himself in solemn, irrefragable compact, to a certain line of action. Men "know where to have Him," if we may venture on the familiar expression. He has given us a chart of His course, and He will adhere to it. Therefore we can go to Him with our prayers so long as we keep these within the ample space of His covenant and ourselves within its terms, by loving obedience. The prayer is "for Thy servants the children of Israel," in which designation, as the next clauses show, the relation established by God, and not the conduct of men, is pleaded as a reason for an answer. The mention of that relation brings at once to Nehemiah's mind the terrible unfaithfulness to it which had marked, and still continued to mark, the whole nation. So lowly confession follows (verses 6, 7). Unprofitable servants they had indeed been. The more loftily we think of our privileges, the more clearly should we discern our sins. Nothing leads a true heart to such self-ashamed penitence as reflection on God's mercy. If a man thinks that God has taken him for a servant, the thought should bow him with conscious unworthiness, not lift him in self-satisfaction. Nehemiah's confession not only sprung from the thought of Israel's vocation so poorly fulfilled, but it also laid the groundwork for his further petitions. The beginning of all true healing of sorrow is confession of sins. Many promising schemes for the alleviation of national and other distresses have come to nothing because their Nehemiahs did not begin with prayer, or prayed for help without acknowledging sin. The prayer next reminds God of His own words of promise (verses 8, 9), freely quoted and combined from several passages (Lev. 26: 33-45; De. 4: 25-31, etc.). The reminder of the promise is clinched (verse 10) by the same appeal as formerly to the relation to Himself into which God had been pleased to bring the nation, with an added reference to former deeds, such as the Exodus, in which His strong hand had delivered them. We are always sure of an answer if we ask God not to contradict Himself. Since He has begun He will make an end. It will never be said of Him that He began to build and was not able to finish. The return from Babylon is implied in the Exodus. Nehemiah now binds (verse 11) his single prayer in a bundle with those of the like-minded in Israel. He gathers single ears into a sheaf, which he brings as a "wave offering." And then, in one humble little sentence at the end, he puts his only personal request. The modesty of the man is lovely. His prayer has been all for the people. But now he asks that the capricious and potent will of the king may be inclined to grant his request. If our morning supplication is "Prosper Thy servant this day," and our purposes are for God's glory, we need not fear facing anybody. However powerful Artaxerxes was, he was but "this man," not God. The phrase does not indicate contempt or undervaluing of the solid reality of his absolute power over Nehemiah, but simply expresses the conviction that the king, too, was a subject of God's, and that his heart was in the hand of Jehovah, to mould as He would. A. M. The facts as to the scriptural phraseology of this prayer are important, both from the practical religious point of view and from that of criticism. It is as true now as it was in Nehemiah's time, that familiarity with Scripture language is a great help to praying well. And as to critical matters, this is one of many passages which show that the post-exilian Jews recognized as sacred a large proportion of our present Old Testament books without drawing any sharp line of distinction between the five books of the Pentateuch and the others. 11. The thing he prayed for. "Grant him compassion in the sight of this man." The meaning of these words may be gathered from the account in chap. 2. His request was perfectly specific. There was nothing vague or uncertain about it. He did not ask that somehow, from some quarter, God would bring help to the Palestine Jews. He proposed himself to make an effort, and he asked God to bless that. The "compassion" he sought from the king was not that the king would interfere in behalf of Jerusalem, or send somebody to interfere; it was not that the king would permit him to give half his fortune to hire help for his people; it was, in effect, that he might be permitted to surrender his brilliant position and prospects and sacrifice himself for his people. His prayer is throughout the prayer of one who is consciously unworthy, in behalf of the unworthy, looking to the unmerited grace of God. W. J. B. Now I was cupbearer to the king. The cupbearer's was an office, not only of trust, but also of dignity, in all Eastern courts, as it is to this day with the Shah of Persia. It was an office of trust; for the king's life might be said to be often in his keeping, poisoning his wine being a common mode of removing an Oriental monarch, and everything which he drank had first to be tasted by the cupbearer. It was an office of dignity. Tristram.—Nehemiah was cupbearer to the Persian king, which was a place of great honor and of no less profit. He was highly in the favor of that prince, and as to this world had all that he could hope and wish. It was scarcely to be expected that one in his situation would bestow a thought upon his remote and poor and desolate country; and not one of ten thousand in his circumstances would have concerned himself about it. If at that distance he had sent a generous relief to his brethren in Judea, and performed such kind offices toward them as he conveniently could, even this would have been a friendly and liberal behavior; but he proposed to himself to do much more than this. Jortin. Chap. 2:1-8. Prayer answered. Three or four months had passed since Nehemiah first heard of the distressed condition of his brethren at Jerusalem, and began to pray for them and that he might be permitted to visit and relieve them. So long the answer to his prayer was delayed. But he doubtless continued to pray, and at length the answer came. Meanwhile, he would be able to ripen his plans and prepare himself for his enterprise. P. C. 4. Then the king said unto me, "For what dost thou make request?" An opening was thus given him to present his suit. And, agitated as he was, it would have been natural for him to have at once stammered forth his application. But mark his irrepressible spirit of devotion! Though not always in the act, he was always in the attitude of supplication. He was not, therefore, thrown off his guard; he paused; he was silent; and so, says he, "I prayed to the God of heaven." Then, having first made known his request to Him in whose hand are the hearts of kings, he next presented his petition to his earthly sovereign. Is it possible to conceive of a more expressive evidence of the constancy with which this great man waited upon God than the evidence furnished in this simple incident? H. Stovell.—Nehemiah dares not open his mouth to the king till his heart hath opened itself by a sudden ejaculation to his God. No business can be so hasty but our prayer may fly up to heaven and solicit God, and bring down an answer before ever our words need to come forth of our lips. In vain shall we hope that any design of ours can prosper if we have not first sent this messenger on our errand. Bp. H. This is one of the most striking instances recorded in the Bible of what is commonly termed ejaculatory prayer—an example of the way in which good men, in the intercourse and business of daily life, especially when brought into circumstances of unexpected difficulty, even when there is no motion of the lips, scarcely more, indeed, than an "upward glancing of the eye," may yet send up such a quick and compacted supplication to God as shall bring down all heaven to their aid. "When we are time-bound," says Thomas Fuller in his "Good Thoughts," "place-bound, or person-bound, so that we cannot compose ourselves to make a large, solemn prayer, this is the right instant for ejaculations, whether orally uttered or only poured forth inwardly in the heart. Ejaculations take not up any room in the soul. They give liberty of callings, so that, at the same time, one may follow his proper vocation." Oh, what a blessed resource to the Christian merchant amid the fretting annoyances and the thousand perplexities of business! And what a benefit to all thus to fill up the intervals between their more prolonged devotions by brief ejaculatory prayers which go to make the whole life devout! A. Thompson. Sitting down at your desk and taking up your pen, if that be your work, how much better you may do it for just covering your eyes with your hands for a minute and asking God's blessing in prayer. Or, dealing with your fellow-men, some of them impracticable and wrong-headed enough, some of them sharp-set and low-principled enough, some of them provoking and stupid enough—how much better you will keep your temper amid the provocations of business; with how much clearer head and kinder heart you will treat with your fellow-sinners, for a word of silent prayer! If you desire to influence any for good, remember how wisely it has been said that the shortest road to any human heart is found by God; and explain to your Heavenly Father all you wish to do. Every little pain will be better borne and every little joy enhanced by a moment's silent mention of them to God. You can alone with Him speak of a host of little things which really make a great part in your thoughts and in your life, yet which are less suitable for speaking of in united prayer with other people. Anon. 8. Success ascribed to God. "And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me." Nehemiah, like Ezra before him (Ezra 7:6), ascribes the success of his application to the king to the "good hand of God;" which had, indeed, been conspicuous. The circumstances which had paved the way for the presentation of his petition, the readiness of the king's consent to his requests, the largeness of the facilities granted him—all indicated that his God, whose aid he had sought, had ordered events and influenced the monarch's heart. P. C.—God endorsed the patriotic prayers of Nehemiah, and sent him back with money and much timber to rebuild the city. If we think that all things secular are too common for God's care, we dishonor both ourselves and Him. God helps nothing wrong, and omits to help nothing right. All right employments are callings into which He puts His servants for their good; and what will He more surely do than help them to find their good? Bushnell. Here is the beginning and end of the whole matter. God has an eye to see us, an ear to hear us, a face to shine on us, and a hand to succor us. The man who can claim God for his own, as Nehemiah could, is sure to prosper. Any one will admit that if the favor of the God of heaven can be secured, there is no doubt about the success; but the "if" seems a great one. How is the favor of the God of heaven to be secured? As Nehemiah secured it. Remember the long prayers of the closet and the short, swift ejaculation in the court. We have God's will to do and a dangerous world to walk through. Praying in our secret places, we may pray also in crowded streets, in the midst of work, on encountering sudden temptation, to our Father who seeth in secret; and He will reward us openly. But Nehemiah had much sore labor before the open reward came; so shall we have if the reward is to be true and lasting. A. Symington. Common history deals mainly with material forces; inspired history lifts the veil, and shows us those more subtle and spiritual forces in operation which do so much to shape the destiny alike of individuals and of communities. As this one Hebrew, for example, retired to some quiet chamber in the palace of Shushan, or to the deep shade of some tree in the gardens around the palace, to "pray his prayer day and night," what an influence was he thereby putting forth upon the counsels of Artaxerxes, upon the distant Jerusalem, and upon the future history of the kingdom of God—touching the first link in the chain on which all others depended, moving the hand that was moving the universe! A. Thompson. 9-11. Nehemiah's journey to Jerusalem. On his way to Jerusalem, Nehemiah would pass through the provinces of various Persian satraps and governors. To those beyond the Euphrates he carried letters, which he took care to deliver, though by doing so he aroused the hostility of Sanballat. Being accompanied by an escort of Persian soldiers, he experienced neither difficulty nor danger by the way, but effected his journey in about three months. The Samaritans seemingly heard of his advance, and were "grieved exceedingly;" but no attempt was made to obstruct his journey or even to delay his arrival at his destination. The knot of desperate men collected in the old Israelite capital, and animated with a bitter hatred of the neighboring Jewish community, which had rejected their offers of friendship (Ezra 4:3) and declined to allow them to help in the rebuilding of the Temple, saw with sullen disappointment the coming of a man who was likely to advance the welfare of their detested neighbors, but did not venture on making any open display of hostility. Probably they feared to come into collision with the Persian escort, an attack on which would have been a flagrant act of rebellion, and have drawn down upon them the vengeance of the great king. Nehemiah therefore entered Jerusalem without encountering any opposition. G. R. NIGHT EXAMINATION. CONFERENCE. DETERMINATION TO BUILD. NAMES OF BUILDERS AND DETAIL OF POINTS. CONFRONTING ADVERSARIES. 2:12 AND I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the dragon's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, 16 and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also of the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they 19 strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Ham- 2 mesh they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hannel. And next unto him builded the men 3 of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri. And the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the 4 bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, 5 the son of Meshezabel. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Baana. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their 6 lord. And the old gate repaired Joinda the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Beso- deiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the bolts thereof, and the 7 bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Merono- thite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, which appertained to the throne of the governor 8 beyond the river. Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. And next unto him repaired Hananiah one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem even 9 unto the broad wall. And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of 10 half the district of Jerusalem. And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, 12 and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, 13 the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts 14 thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits of the wall unto the dung gate. And the dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth- haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. 15 And the fountain gate repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, even unto the stairs 16 that go down from the city of David. After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, 17 and unto the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty men. After him re- 18 paired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler 19 of half the district of Keilah, for his district. After him repaired their brethren, Bavvai the 20 son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah. And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another portion, over against the going up to the 21 armoury at the turning of the wall. After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high 22 priest. After him repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz another portion, 23 from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. And after 24 him repaired the priests, the men of the Plain. After them repaired Benjamin and Hasshub over against their house. After them repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of 25 Ananiah beside his own house. After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another por- 26 tion, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, and unto the corner. Palai the son of Uzai repaired over against the turning of the wall, and the tower that standeth out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah 27 the son of Parosh repaired. (Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against 28 the water gate toward the east, and the tower that standeth out.) After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, over against the great tower that standeth out, and unto the wall 29 of Ophel. Above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his own house. 30 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his own house. And after him 31 repaired Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate. After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another portion. After 32 him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber. After him repaired Malchijah one of the goldsmiths unto the house of the Nethinim, and of the merchants, over 33 against the gate of Hammihkad, and to the ascent of the corner. And between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants. 4:1 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was 2 wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify them- selves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out 3 of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, 5 and give them up to spoiling in a land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the 6 builders. So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work. 7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Am- monites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went 8 forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause 9 confusion therein. But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against 10 them day and night, because of them. And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the 11 wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the 12 midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass that, when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times from all places, Ye must 13 return unto us. Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their 14 bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. 15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his 16 work. And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and 17 the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They that builded the wall and they that bare burdens laded themselves, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and 18 with the other held his weapon; and the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, 19 and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are sep- 20 arated upon the wall, one far from another: in what place soever ye hear the sound of the 21 trumpet, resort ye thither unto us; our God shall fight for us. So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within 23 Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labour in the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, every one went with his weapon to the water. 2:12-20. Steps taken by Nehemiah prelim- inary to his building of the wall, and first ap- pearance of opposition. Nehemiah expected opposition, and as long as possible concealed his designs. He made his survey of the wall by night, that it might escape observation. The time for action being come, he laid the matter before the head men of the city (verse 17), whom he easily persuaded when he assured them of Artaxerxes' consent and goodwill. Preparations then began to be made; and im- mediately murmurs of opposition arose. Three opponents are now spoken of—Sanballat, Tobiah and an Arabian, Geshem or Gashmu, not previously mentioned. These persons ap- pear to have sent a formal message to the authorities of Jerusalem (verse 19), taxing them with an intention to rebel. Nehemiah made no direct reply to this charge, but boldly stated his resolve to "arise and build," and denied Sanballat's right to interfere with him. P. C. 12-16. Having rested after his long journey three days, he "arose in the night, he, and some few men with him." To none, even of these few, had he "told what God had put in his heart to do at Jerusalem." For resolutions which affect the Church's life are formed by men whom the Spirit teaches to be silent until the time has come for action. So Nehemiah rode out by night, while the stars were shining into the well of Gihon and Solomon's Pool. Then, after ascending the Valley of Kedron, he re-entered by the valley gate and returned home. During his ride he had seen by fitful gleams the tumbled masses of masonry close beside the course carefully trodden by his horse—for the rubbish choked the path, “so that there was no place for the beast under him to pass.” Again and again he came to gates consumed with fire, which, as the Assyrian sculptures show us, was invariably done with captured cities. What his thoughts were we are not fully told. But of one thing we may be sure. It was not only as a patriot that he felt bitter sorrow. As long as those walls were broken down the purposes of God must be unfulfilled and the footsteps of His Anointed must linger. For the mysterious weeks were to be counted from “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince.” Haunted by this voice of prophecy—by that other oracle of the Book of Jeremiah, which was so evidently familiar to him, “The city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner”—he announces his purpose: “Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.” Bp. W. Alexander. 17,18. It was necessary, first of all, to take the other authorities of the place into council. So—on the next day probably—Nehemiah summoned to his presence “the priests, the nobles, and the rulers”—Eliashib doubtless, the head of the priestly order, the elders of Jerusalem, and the head men of such villages as lay near at hand—and opened to them the extent of his powers and the nature of his designs. Artaxerxes, he said, had empowered him to rebuild the entire circuit of the walls, and to place the city in a state of complete defence. The thing must be done as quickly as possible. Preparations must be quietly made, and on a given day workmen must present themselves along the whole line of the defences, ready all of them to set to the work simultaneously, and build the portion allotted to them. New materials would not be needed, unless it were for the gates and the gate towers; the walls might be rebuilt out of the ruins and rubbish which marked their former site. The inhabitants of each quarter should repair the part of the wall nearest to where they dwelt. All classes should take part in the work—priests, nobles, tradesmen, merchants, and artisans. As the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not sufficiently numerous to acaccomplish the entire task in the short time that was needful, other workers must be called in from the country towns and villages, who might gather themselves together at the part of the wall which was nearest to them. Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpeh, Zanoah, Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, Keilah, could easily send a portion of their population to share the labors of those who dwelt in Jerusalem, since none of these places lay at any great distance from the capital. A general willingness to give their services seems to have been displayed alike by the men of Jerusalem and the dwellers in the country districts, since only one abstention is noticed—that of the “nobles of Tekoah.” G. R. 20. “Then answered I them,” says Nehemiah, with noble reliance upon God—“Then answered I them”—not that the king had given me a decree to undertake the work; not that I was in reality obeying, instead of resisting him; but this heavenly hero’s sublime and magnanimous answer was, “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we, His servants, will arise and build.” And in the might of that confidence they prosecuted their task, spite of every discouragement; spite of contempt and fraud and treachery; spite of false friends and open enemies, till, in fifty-two days, this handful of feeble men brought the mighty work to a happy issue; the walls of the city were finished, and the gates were again set up, because the good hand of their God was upon them. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Stowell. Chap. 3. The third chapter contains an honorable register of those who despaired not of their country, but uprose, in a time of feebleness and depression, to rebuild their capital. They were of all ranks and classes. First rose up, as became him, the high priest, with his brethren the priests. The Levites, too, put their hands to the work. Then came the rulers, merchants, “goldsmiths and apothecaries”—indeed, all the well-doing population of the city. Some of the ladies of high rank showed a fine example at this emergency. The daughters of Shallum, who was “ruler of the half part of Jerusalem,” helped their father in the work. Helpers also came in from the small towns of Judea, rising superior to all petty jealousies, and preferring Jerusalem above their chief joy. There were a few half-hearted in the enterprise, such as the nobles of Tekoa, who “put not their necks to the work of their Lord.” They seem to have been the magnates of a little town; and, like petty great people in all times, thought it enough to give their patronage. They were exceptions, however, to the general rule. The builders worked with a will and on a plan which gave exercise to both public zeal and private interest. Every man built over against his own house or his own chamber if he were not a separate householder. At the same time, every one was inspired by the thought that he was filling up his part of a great design for the common good, and for the welfare, not of a gate, or street, or quarter of the city, but of all Jerusalem. D. F. With the general purpose of doing honor to the deserving is combined the wish graphically to place the whole scene before the reader. This is done by means of a profusion of topographical details. Nehemiah takes us along the entire circuit of the wall—shows us “the tower of Meah,” “the tower of Hananeel,” “the fish gate,” “the old gate,” “the throne of the governor,” “the broad wall,” “the tower of the furnaces,” “the valley gate,” “the dung gate,” “the gate of the fountain,” “the pool of Siloam,” “the king’s garden,” “the stairs,” “the sepulchres of David,” “the pool that was made,” “the armory,” “the tower that lay out,” “Ophel,” “the horse gate,” “the gate Miphkad,” “the sheep gate,” and “the ascent of the corner”—exhibits to us the party at work in each place, repairing a portion of the wall, or rebuilding a gateway—notes the zeal of those who, completing the piece first assigned to them rapidly, then undertook a second piece (verses 11, 19, 21, 24, etc.), and altogether gives us a description which is full of life and activity. The passage is invaluable to the topographer, and though not resolving all the difficulties with which he meets in his attempts to reproduce the plan of the ancient city, furnishes more effectual help than all other existing notices on the subject put together. P. C. The wall was parcelled out among forty-four working parties, who, on a given day, all mustered in their several places, and began the tasks allotted to them. On the eastern side of the city, in the neighborhood of the Temple, labored the priests, the Nethinim, the goldsmiths and the merchants; about the northeast corner the work was done by the men of Jericho; along the north wall were employed the Tekoites, the men of Gibeon, and the men of Mizpeh; toward the west, the inhabitants of Zanoah; toward the south, a portion of the men of Mizpeh, together with the inhabitants of Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, and Keilah. The Levites worked at portions of the wall of Ophel. Small parcels of the wall seem to have been assigned to individuals, either singly or in pairs, who exercised a superinterdependence over the men of their trade or of their neighborhood. Particular attention appears to have been paid to the gate towers—eleven in number—which broke the line of the walls at irregular intervals. These had to be provided with guard-rooms, heavy wooden doors, solid bars, and other fastenings, as the security of the town would greatly depend upon them. So far as can be gathered from Nehemiah’s account, there were at this time five gates in the eastern wall, three in the northern wall, two in the southern wall, and one in the western wall—the “valley gate.” There were also, in the spaces between the gates, and especially at any angle formed by the walls, or at any weak point, protecting towers or bastions, which projected beyond the general line of the walls. G. R. 10,23,28. Every one over against his house.** The priests and others, whose houses were near the wall, repaired that part of the wall which was opposite each of their dwellings. This suggests the order to be observed in seeking the good of others. Let every one do the work which lies nearest to him. Let him begin with his own family. No amount of good work elsewhere will compensate for neglect there. Christian parents can do most good to the community by training well their children. Then, as ability and opportunity permit, let each seek the good of his dependents, friends, neighbors, the congregation with which he worships, the city or town, the country, the Church at large, the world. P. C. When the Hebrews set about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, each man was instructed to build over against his own house. That was better economy than for each man to do a little everywhere, and by that means not do much of anything anywhere. The results are a good deal of the latter sort when a man stops with being simply a member of the Church universal; he neither denotes much to the Church nor the Church much to him. We get affected by close contacts with live things at specific points. It is a great thing to love all mankind. But it is better to say a single word of cheer and comfort to the man who stands next you than merely to love the whole race with a thin dilute of affection that never reaches the point of doing anything for anybody. The best way really to know how to love the man that is farthest from you is to begin by loving and blessing the man that is next you. It is a small matter, I confess, to love your neighbor, but the slumbering potencies of universal love are all in it. C. H. P. Consider how the greatest things ever done on earth have been done by little and little—little agents, little persons, and little things. How was the wall restored around Jerusalem? By each man building the breach before his own door. How was the soil of the New World redeemed from gloomy forests? By each sturdy emigrant cultivating the patch round his own log hut. How have the greatest battles been won? Not by the generals, but by the rank and file—every man holding his own post, and ready to die on the battlefield. The victory was achieved by the blood and courage of the many. So, if the world is ever to be conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, but by every member of Christ's body being a working member; doing his own work; filling his own sphere; holding his own post; and saying to Jesus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Guthrie. So it is by every one building the part of the wall which lies opposite to himself; by each one, like the Baptist of old, fulfilling his course; by each one doing the duty which devolves on him as a soldier fighting under Christ in the great army of the faithful, that the whole work is to be carried on and completed; this one taking up this field, and another that field, at home or abroad—going himself, or contributing to make others go. McCosh. At whatever point we touch the moral desolation of society, there is our place of building. At whatever spot we touch sin, there is our place of fighting. The place where our vocation plants us, and our usual duties and relations engage us, is the one where we shall wear and use God's armor to best effect. It probably seemed to each builder on the wall a very arduous undertaking to rebuild the whole city wall; and so it might have done if he had had it all to do. But each one did his little, and worked over against his own door, and the work was completed in two months. C. H. P. Chap. 4. Open opposition offered to the work by Sanballat and Tobiah, and arrangements made by Nehemiah to meet it. Sanballat and his friends, when they first heard that the wall was actually being restored, the working parties formed, and the work taken in hand, could scarcely believe it. What? These feeble Jews undertake so heavy a task, attempt a work that must occupy so long a time, and for which they had not even the necessary materials? (verse 2). Impossible! Such a wall as they could build would be so weak that if a fox tried to get over it he would break it down (verse 3). But when, despite their scoffs, the working parties labored steadily, and the whole wall was brought to half the intended height (verse 6), and the gaps made in it by the Babylonians were filled up (verse 7), they changed their tone, admitted the seriousness of the undertaking, and the probability that it would succeed unless steps were taken to prevent it. Nehemiah's work would be accomplished before the court could be communicated with. Accordingly, it was resolved to stop the building by main force. Sanballat and Tobiah, his Ammonite hanger-on, entered into a league with the neighboring peoples—the Philistines of Ashdod, the Ammonites, and some Arab tribe or tribes—and agreed with them that a conjoint attack should be made upon Jerusalem by a confederate army (chap. 3:7, 8). But Nehemiah, having learned what was intended, made preparations to meet and repulse the assailants. He began by setting a watch day and night (verse 9) on the side on which the attack was expected. When an assault seemed imminent, he stopped the work and drew up the whole people in battle array, with swords, spears, and bows, behind the wall, but in conspicuous places, so that they could be seen from a distance, and in this attitude awaited the enemy (verse 13). The result was that no actual assault was delivered. The work was then resumed, but under additional precautions. The laborers were compelled to work either with a weapon in one hand, or at the least with a sword at their side (verses 17, 18). Nehemiah's private attendants were armed and formed into two bands, one of which worked on the wall, while the other kept guard, and held the arms, offensive and defensive, of their fellow-servants (verse 16). At night the working parties retired to rest within the city, but Nehemiah himself, his brothers, his servants, and his bodyguard, remained outside, keeping watch by turns, and sleeping in their clothes, until the wall was finished (verses 22, 23). P. C. 9. We made our prayer and set a watch. There are times when we must pray with our eyes open; when it is hardly safe to wink lest we lose sight of our danger. Praying against danger is but a sham when it takes the place of watching against danger. If we pray that we may not be surprised by the enemy, we must watch lest the enemy surprise us. If we pray for strength to resist the enemy, we must watch for the enemy's coming, that we may use our God-given strength effectively. If we pray that the enemy may not approach us, we ought to watch for an answer to our prayers, that we may be sure that the coast is clear on every side. There is no duty of calling on God for help that doesn't include the idea of doing something ourselves. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." "Stand, therefore; praying at all seasons in the spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance." H. C. T.—The true way to meet opposition is twofold—prayer and prudent watchfulness. "Pray to God, and keep your powder dry" is not a bad compendium of the duty of a Christian soldier. The union of appeal to God with the full use of common sense, watchfulness, and prudence would dissipate many hindrances to successful service. A. M. What doth Nehemiah, with his Jews, for their common safety? They pray and watch; they pray unto God; they watch against the enemy. And thus shall we happily prevail against those spiritual wickednesses which war against our souls. No evil can surprise us if we watch; no evil can hurt us if we pray. Bp. II.—That was the way of this good man, and should be our way; all his cares, all his griefs, all his fears he spread before God, and thereby made himself easy. This was the first thing he did: before he used any means he made his prayer to God, for with Him we must always begin. Having prayed, he set a watch against them. The instructions Christ has given us in our spiritual warfare agree with this example (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray." If we think to secure ourselves by prayer only without watchfulness, we are slothful and tempt God. If by watchfulness without prayer, we are proud and slight God; and either way we forfeit His protection. H.—We are to watch and keep our garments. We are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which He has overcome the world. We are to commend ourselves to God in prayer that He may "keep and present us before the presence of His glory." We are to think upon the promises, and to work them into our hearts by spiritual reasoning, and so "escape the corruption that is in the world through lust." All these things are to be done. It is folly and presumption to think that because power is with God and from God, effort should not be in ourselves! T. Manton. 10. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed.** The complaint seems to be that by the drawing off of men from the working parties to act as guards, those parties were so weakened that they could not continue the work, the quantity of rubbish being so great. P. C.—The state of Jerusalem today illustrates his difficulties from the "much rubbish." Except on the area of the Mosque of Omar, ancient Jerusalem lies many feet below the present surface. Eleven times has the city been captured and dismantled, and after each siege the materials have been thrown down till we may sink a shaft from twenty to even a hundred feet before we reach the natural surface. Tristram. 10-13. Nehemiah enumerates his discouragements: 1. The Jews engaged in the work grew weary of it, and despaired of its completion. 2. The adversaries boasted and threatened. 3. The provincial Jews declared the danger of continuing the work to be great. B. C.—In these verses Nehemiah tells, in his simple way, of the difficulties from three several quarters which threatened to stop his work. He had trouble from the workmen, from the enemies, and from the mass of Jews not resident in Jerusalem. The enthusiasm of the builders had cooled, and the magnitude of their task began to frighten them. It is a great piece of Christian duty to recognize difficulties, and not be cowed by them. The true inference from the facts would have been, "so that we must put all our strength into the work, and trust in our God to help us." We may not be responsible for discouragements suggesting themselves, but we are responsible for letting them become dissuasives. Our one question should be, Has God appointed the work? If so, it has to be done, however little our strength and however mountainous the accumulations of rubbish. The second part in the trio was taken by the enemies—Sanballat and Tobiah and the rest. They laid their plans for a sudden swoop down on Jerusalem, and calculated that if they could surprise the builders at their work they would have no weapons to show fight with, and so would be easily dispatched. Killing the builders was but a means; the desired end is significantly put last (verse 11), as being the stopping of the abhorred work. But killing the workmen does not cause the work to cease when it is God's work, as the history of the Church in all ages shows. Conspirators should hold their tongues. It was not a hopeful way of beginning an attack, of which the essence was secrecy and suddenness, to talk about it. A bird of the air carries the matter. The third voice is that of the Jews in other parts of the land, and especially those living on the borders of Samaria, next door to Sanballat. Verse 12 is probably best taken as in the Revised Version, which makes "Ye must return to us" the imperative and often-repeated summons from these to the contingents from their respective places of abode, who had gone up to Jerusalem to help in building. Alarms of invasion made the scattered villagers wish to have all their men capable of bearing arms back again to defend their own homes. It was a most natural demand; but in this case, as so often, audacity is truest prudence; and in all high causes there come times when men have to trust their homes and dear ones to God's protection. The necessity is heart-rending, and we may well pray that we may not be exposed to it; but if it clearly arises, a devout man can have no doubt of his duty. And how character is ennobled by so severe a sacrifice! A. M. 14. And I looked. He saw the enemy coming. Rose up. To take command and give orders. And said.** He spoke a few words to encourage his men, telling them to remember whom they fought under—viz., the Lord; and what they had to fight for—viz., their homes and all they held dear. The attack was not made, however. Perhaps the attacking party received word from their allies within the walls; perhaps they saw for themselves that the surprise had failed and the Jews were prepared. This was not the first nor the last time when thorough preparation for fighting removed the necessity of fighting. W. J. B. Now doth Nehemiah arm his people; and for the time changes their trowels into swords and spears and bows; raising up their courage with a vehement exhortation "to remember the Lord, which is great and terrible; and to fight for their brethren, their sons, their daughters, their wives, and their houses." Nothing can so hearten us to the encountering of any evil as the remembrance of that infinite power and wisdom, which can either avert, or mitigate, or sanctify it. We could not faint if we did not forget God. Bp. H. Remember the Lord, and fight. Trust in God quickens activity, not slackens it. It nerves the strong arm, not paralyzes it. It is while we remember God's readiness to make our honest labor effective that we work with a will for our daily bread, that we push forward in business, that we study and write and preach in the conviction that our toil will tell on ages, tell for God. The men who remember the Lord in His power and goodness are the men who rise up against all odds, and battle evil in high places and low, with never a thought of being overborne and defeated. It is those who back up against the Rock of Ages and defy the universe who have true faith in God and prove it as courageous soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. A readiness to fight for God's cause is a test of loving, faith-filled remembrance of God. H. C. T. "Remember the Lord," said Nehemiah, when he wanted to arouse the courage of the languid people. To a man in discouragement the very thought of God is like a cool wind after a day of oppressive heat. It refreshes him, and gives him renewed courage to bear and to do. It adds somehow to the totality of his being something that gives to all the rest an invincible pluck, and so doubles his force. A man who knows that God is on his side will watch and fight and work all the better for keeping this truth uppermost. It takes away from him the fear of man "that bringeth a snare," and puts the fear of God so high that all other fear disappears. Such a man is hard to beat, for he never knows when he is beaten. He always picks up his weapons again and renews the fight. Schaupffer. The calm heroism of Nehemiah and his wise action in the emergency are told in verses 13-15. He made a demonstration in force, which at once showed that the scheme of a surprise was blown to pieces. The walls were manned, and the enemy would have to deal not with unarmed laborers, but with prepared soldiers. The work was stopped, and trowel and spade exchanged for sword and spear. "And I looked," says Nehemiah. His careful eye travelled over the lines, and, seeing all in order, he cheered the little army with ringing words. He had prayed (Neh. 1:5) to "the great and terrible God," and now he bids his men remember Him, and thence draw strength and courage. The only real antagonist of fear is faith. If we can grasp God we shall not dread Sanballat and his crew. Unless we do, the world is full of dangers which it is not folly to fear. Note, too, that the people are animated for the fight by reminding them of the dear ones whose lives and honor hung on the issue. Nothing is said about fighting for God and His temple and city; but the motives adduced are not less sacred. Family love is God's best of earthly gifts; and though it is sometimes duty to "forget thine own people and thy father's house," as we have just seen, nothing short of these highest obligations can supersede the sweet one of straining every nerve for the well-being of dear ones in the hallowed circle of home. So the plan of a sudden rush came to nothing. It does not appear that the enemy was in sight; but the news of the demonstration soon reached them, and was effectual. Prompt preparation against possible dangers is often the means of turning them aside. Watchfulness is indispensable to vigor of Christian character and efficiency of work. Suspicion is hateful and weakening; but a man who tries to serve God in such a world as this had need to be like the living creatures in the Revelation, having “eyes all over.” “Blessed is the man that (in that sense) feareth always.” The upshot of the alarm is very beautifully told: “We returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.” No time was wasted in jubilation. The work was the main thing, and the moment the interruption was ended, back to it they all went. It is a fine illustration of persistent discharge of duty, and of that most valuable quality, the ability and inclination to keep up the main purpose of a life continuous through interruptions, like a stream of sweet water running through a bog. A. M. 15. Three things go well together in work for God—prayer, promptitude and perseverance. Had the builders ceased until they should go out and attack Sanballat or Geshem, it would have been long ere their task was finished. But no, attack was not for them, only defence; and the moment that the display of readiness to defend themselves has caused the enemy to retire, they turn eagerly to finish the wall. Every course of masonry laid was better than a hundred victories. Having arms in their hands did not tempt them to fight; success did not uplift them; they knew that it was God who had brought to naught the counsel of Sanballat, and they went on doing His work with all their might. A. Symington. 16-20. Nehemiah’s precautions concerned six classes of men—viz., his personal retainers, two classes of workmen, the officers, the trumpeter, and the general. My servants (cf. verse 23 and chaps. 5:10, 16; 13:19). These were trained men, who could be depended upon. Half of them wrought in the work, while the other half, themselves armed doubtless, had armor in readiness for the working half. It was impossible for a man to wear armor while working on the wall; but by this arrangement there was always a little effective band of armed men ready to take the initiative in resisting an attack from foes without or traitors within; and their number would be doubled with no delay except while their comrades were putting on their armor. W. J. B. God’s workers must be prepared for warfare as well as building. There have been epochs in which that necessity was realized in a very sad manner; and the Church on earth will always have to be the Church militant. But it is well to remember that building is the end, and fighting is but the means. The trowel, not the sword, is the natural instrument. Controversy is second best—a necessity, no doubt, but an unwelcome one, and only permissible as a subsidiary help to doing the true work, rearing the walls of the city of God. “He that sounded the trumpet was by me.” The gallant leader was everywhere, animating by his presence. He meant to be in the thick of the fight if it should come. And so he kept the trumpeter by his side, and gave orders that when he sounded all should hurry to the place; for there the enemy would be, and Nehemiah would be where they were. “The work is great and large, and we are separated . . . one far from another.” How naturally the words lend themselves to the old lesson so often drawn from them! God’s servants are widely parted, by distance, by time, and, alas! by less justifiable causes. Unless they draw together they will be overwhelmed, taken in detail and crushed. They must rally to help each other against the common foe. Thank God, the longing for manifest Christian unity is deeper today than ever it was. But much remains to be done before it is adequately fulfilled in the recognition of the common bond of brotherhood, which binds us all in one family if we have one Father. American and English Christians are bound to seek the tightening of the bonds between them and to set themselves against politicians who may seek to keep apart those who both in the flesh and in the spirit are brothers. All Christians have one great Captain; and He will be in the forefront of every battle. His clear trumpet call should gather all His servants to His side. A. M. There are pressing difficulties in the believer’s way while he is engaged in the prosecution of his work. The Christian life is a scene of perpetual conflict. Heart corruption is the greatest foe of the Christian. From that he cannot flee. And had he nothing else than this corruption to fear while he strives to rear up the spiritual edifice—i.e., to advance in grace and in godliness—he would yet require to be furnished, as the people were under Nehemiah, with the weapon to defend as well as with the implement to build. When we consider the very dangerous position which the Christian occupies, with a crafty adversary on the one side—viz., Satan—an alluring and sometimes a threatening foe on the other side—viz., the world—and a treacherous heart within, his proper attitude is that which was assumed by the people spoken of in the text, every one of whom, while with one of his hands he wrought in the work, with the other hand held a weapon. These Jews were in the exercise of constant watchfulness. They knew that there was evil meditated against them; but they knew not the moment when the onset might be, and therefore, like wise men, they stood prepared for it. Christian watchfulness is one of the most indispensable, and, at the same time, one of the most comprehensive duties to which the disciples of Jesus are called. The Jews were careful to furnish themselves with the means of defence. The Christian has the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The attitude of the Jews indicates the firmest determination to make progress in their work. Advancement is the watchword of the Christian. A. D. Davidson. 21. So we labored; and half of them held the spears. This is a summary of the main points previously related: "So we continued to work; and one half of my personal followers continued to keep watch and to hold the spears" (verse 16). From the rising of the morning, etc.** This is additional, and shows how early the work commenced each morning, and how late it continued. P. C. The closing verse tells again how Nehemiah's immediate dependents divided work and watching, and adds to the picture the continuousness of their toil from the first gray of morning till darkness showed the stars and ended another day of toil. Happy they who thus "from morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve," labor in the work of the Lord! For them, every new morning will dawn with new strength, and every evening be calm with the consciousness of "something attempted, something done." A. M. The section is rich in analogies for spiritual things. As believers, we have an important building work to do, and we have to do it in the presence of spiritual enemies without and within. There are few Bible characters from whom the practical worker can get so many points as from Nehemiah. And, among other things, he is especially characterized by this: the more utterly he feels his dependence upon God ("our God shall fight for us," verse 20), the more carefully does he attend to every minute detail which may insure success. W. J. B. Cultivated, scientific man is fast becoming passionless intellect. Religion resides in the affections, imagination, emotions, conscience. These are to be utterly extirpated; and religion must wither away in its very roots before the positive philosophy. Yes; in many a tone the epigram is uttered that burns and stings. "What of these feeble Jews, these clerics and clerically minded laymen? Will they revive the stones which modern thought has overthrown or pulverized? Not to speak of the colossal strength of organized German science, the light brush of the fox of French criticism shall even break down their miserable walls of dogma!" Yet, for all that, God's people "have a mind to work." The Church will be repaired. One day God's summer light shall strike upon the topmost row. Christ, the Divine Healer, will own the work of restoration by miracles of love at the "sheep gate" and the "pool of Siloam." The wall shall stand, uncrumbled by the assaults of unbelief, unscathed by the fires of criticism, untouched by the tooth of time. The songs that were murmured in the night among the ruins by voices half choked with sobs shall be exchanged for hymns, wafted upward by the music of silver trumpets, and chanted by the long processions circling round the walls. No miracle is recorded of Nehemiah's restoration; and it is all the more precious for us. Yet how marvellous was the rapidity with which the renewal was accomplished. So with that other and greater work of building up God's temple of restored humanity from the ruins of the fall, wrought out between Good Friday and Whitsuntide. "The work was finished in fifty and two days." Give us a year for a day, and who shall say what God may have wrought? Yes; Nehemiah's journey in darkness and sorrow was not more different from the festal processions, sweeping on with light and song, when the visionary's dream among the moonlit ruins stood palpably in majestic stone, than the beginnings of our work here and now from the joy that waits us—perhaps even here—certainly in the city that is above. 'Tis a book where all spiritual restorers may have their names written. There is a work that does not end when the worker's weary hands are folded and the thinker's busy brain is still. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each to profit others. Woman has her honored place in our restoration. Is it not written, "Shallum repaired, he and his daughters?" Sister, deaconess, district visitor, parish helper—all are wanted. Let it not be said of our men of intellectual culture, "Their nobles put not their neck to the work of the Lord." Thoughtful Christians, laymen especially, are called upon to grapple with social and economical questions, which are as urgent for us as the question of "the hundredth part" (or twelve per cent interest) was for Nehemiah's contemporaries—such as the Church's duty in relation to strikes and labor, to the organization of charity, to the temperance movement. Educated Christian men are specially needed to repair the part of the wall "over against their house." Some of them are required to adjust the boundary lines between science and faith; to show us that law is not a chain coiled round the living God, but rather a thread which He holds. Others are needed to quicken interest in theological thought by helping men to a more living knowledge of the Bible. Others should devote themselves to the centre of all Christian thought—the theology of the incarnation—the dogma enshrined in the transparent depths of the angel's word, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The age is impatient of miracle; it is patient of fact. To minds impatient of isolated miracles such a theology will show the central, unquestionable miracle, Jesus Himself—that is, one from the cradle to the grave, walking in a spotless purity, through all temptation wearing a conscience without a scar; treading the great deep of human life, and never wetting His feet with the spray; equally at home with saints in the glory of the Mount, and with men writhing in misery at its base; elect to wipe away the tears of humanity, to bear it undwarfed and undimmed to the heavenly places—yet to whom we can go when the shame burns in the cheek and the sweat stands upon the brow. Men will recognize in this a new humanity formed by a new contact with the creative power. The theology of the incarnation will prove itself by enabling men to understand what is otherwise a tangled mass of contradictions—the life and character of Jesus. To our age, which appeals to fact, such a theology will go on to unfold the fact of the spiritual life, of which faith tells us that its light is the written Word, its breath prayer, its food the [ineffably precious promises]. Away with the cant which would make theology destructive of the beauty of religion. As well assert that a knowledge of botany destroys the beauty of a flower. Listen not to those who speak of it as if it were like the bent grass fastened to its place, describing forever the same monotonous segments of circles, according to the wind. The words of the God Man have illimitable applications. Talk not of the obscurity of Christian dogma. If such there be, it is not the vulgar and deceitful obscurity of the fog; it is the glorious obscurity of the long, deep distances of the lustrous sky. Others, again, are wanted to teach the ignorant; to waft some notes of Gospel pardon and peace beyond their present limits; to tell metallic natures, as hard as the gold which their fingers clutch, that "it shall not profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul." All the children of the Church are bound to show something in word or work of the beauty of Christ; to develop in themselves and others "the life of godliness, intellectual, devotional, practical," and so to "build up the wall of Jerusalem." One part of Jeremiah's prophecy has been fulfilled in Nehemiah's restoration. "Behold the days come that the city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner." The other sweeter and higher music shall not be lost forever. Not only shall the desolation and stagnation of some neglected parish; the sin and misery of some squalid alley, where men do the works of Satan, with a beast's heart or a devil's, pass away. The very type of leprosy; the very image of death and hell; the very spot where the carcasses rot, defiling God's earth; the very emblem of the obstinate clinging sin, that even the altar fires cannot purge away; the very fields whose name teaches that they are outside, Gareb and Goath and the rest shall be taken into the broadening circuit of the holy city. The joy that quivers faintly in the pages of Nehemiah throbs to the music of the Gospel. Faint chimes, struck before the time, and dying away upon the breeze, waken again and clash out upon the bells of the Apocalypse. The sealing of the covenant passes into the sealing of God's servants upon the forehead. The joy of which Nehemiah speaks is transformed into the higher joy, when all those who have worked for "the Jerusalem which now is" shall be gathered into "the Jerusalem which is above;" when after the deceits of time all builders and restorers—from apostles on—having cried on earth, "Remember me, O God, and spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy," shall enter into the joy of their Lord, and keep the Eternal Feast of Tabernacles in "Jerusalem the Golden." Bp. W. Alexander. 2:12 AND I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the dragon's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, 16 and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also of the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they 19 strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Ham- 2 mesh they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hannel. And next unto him builded the men 3 of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri. And the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the 4 bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, 5 the son of Meshezabel. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Baana. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their 6 lord. And the old gate repaired Joinda the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Beso- deiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the bolts thereof, and the 7 bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Merono- thite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, which appertained to the throne of the governor 8 beyond the river. Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. And next unto him repaired Hananiah one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem even 9 unto the broad wall. And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of 10 half the district of Jerusalem. And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, 12 and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, 13 the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts 14 thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits of the wall unto the dung gate. And the dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth- haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. 15 And the fountain gate repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, even unto the stairs 16 that go down from the city of David. After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, 17 and unto the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty men. After him re- 18 paired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler 19 of half the district of Keilah, for his district. After him repaired their brethren, Bavvai the 20 son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah. And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another portion, over against the going up to the 21 armoury at the turning of the wall. After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high 22 priest. After him repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz another portion, 23 from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. And after 24 him repaired the priests, the men of the Plain. After them repaired Benjamin and Hasshub over against their house. After them repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of 25 Ananiah beside his own house. After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another por- 26 tion, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, and unto the corner. Palai the son of Uzai repaired over against the turning of the wall, and the tower that standeth out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah 27 the son of Parosh repaired. (Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against 28 the water gate toward the east, and the tower that standeth out.) After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, over against the great tower that standeth out, and unto the wall 29 of Ophel. Above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his own house. 30 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his own house. And after him 31 repaired Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate. After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another portion. After 32 him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber. After him repaired Malchijah one of the goldsmiths unto the house of the Nethinim, and of the merchants, over 33 against the gate of Hammihkad, and to the ascent of the corner. And between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants. 4:1 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was 2 wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify them- selves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out 3 of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, 5 and give them up to spoiling in a land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the 6 builders. So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work. 7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Am- monites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went 8 forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause 9 confusion therein. But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against 10 them day and night, because of them. And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the 11 wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the 12 midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass that, when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times from all places, Ye must 13 return unto us. Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their 14 bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. 15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his 16 work. And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and 17 the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They that builded the wall and they that bare burdens laded themselves, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and 18 with the other held his weapon; and the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, 19 and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are sep- 20 arated upon the wall, one far from another: in what place soever ye hear the sound of the 21 trumpet, resort ye thither unto us; our God shall fight for us. So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within 23 Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labour in the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, every one went with his weapon to the water. 2:12-20. Steps taken by Nehemiah prelim- inary to his building of the wall, and first ap- pearance of opposition. Nehemiah expected opposition, and as long as possible concealed his designs. He made his survey of the wall by night, that it might escape observation. The time for action being come, he laid the matter before the head men of the city (verse 17), whom he easily persuaded when he assured them of Artaxerxes' consent and goodwill. Preparations then began to be made; and im- mediately murmurs of opposition arose. Three opponents are now spoken of—Sanballat, Tobiah and an Arabian, Geshem or Gashmu, not previously mentioned. These persons ap- pear to have sent a formal message to the authorities of Jerusalem (verse 19), taxing them with an intention to rebel. Nehemiah made no direct reply to this charge, but boldly stated his resolve to "arise and build," and denied Sanballat's right to interfere with him. P. C. 12-16. Having rested after his long journey three days, he "arose in the night, he, and some few men with him." To none, even of these few, had he "told what God had put in his heart to do at Jerusalem." For resolutions which affect the Church's life are formed by men whom the Spirit teaches to be silent until the time has come for action. So Nehemiah rode out by night, while the stars were shining into the well of Gihon and Solomon's Pool. Then, after ascending the Valley of Kedron, he re-entered by the valley gate and returned home. During his ride he had seen by fitful gleams the tumbled masses of masonry close beside the course carefully trodden by his horse—for the rubbish choked the path, “so that there was no place for the beast under him to pass.” Again and again he came to gates consumed with fire, which, as the Assyrian sculptures show us, was invariably done with captured cities. What his thoughts were we are not fully told. But of one thing we may be sure. It was not only as a patriot that he felt bitter sorrow. As long as those walls were broken down the purposes of God must be unfulfilled and the footsteps of His Anointed must linger. For the mysterious weeks were to be counted from “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince.” Haunted by this voice of prophecy—by that other oracle of the Book of Jeremiah, which was so evidently familiar to him, “The city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner”—he announces his purpose: “Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.” Bp. W. Alexander. 17,18. It was necessary, first of all, to take the other authorities of the place into council. So—on the next day probably—Nehemiah summoned to his presence “the priests, the nobles, and the rulers”—Eliashib doubtless, the head of the priestly order, the elders of Jerusalem, and the head men of such villages as lay near at hand—and opened to them the extent of his powers and the nature of his designs. Artaxerxes, he said, had empowered him to rebuild the entire circuit of the walls, and to place the city in a state of complete defence. The thing must be done as quickly as possible. Preparations must be quietly made, and on a given day workmen must present themselves along the whole line of the defences, ready all of them to set to the work simultaneously, and build the portion allotted to them. New materials would not be needed, unless it were for the gates and the gate towers; the walls might be rebuilt out of the ruins and rubbish which marked their former site. The inhabitants of each quarter should repair the part of the wall nearest to where they dwelt. All classes should take part in the work—priests, nobles, tradesmen, merchants, and artisans. As the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not sufficiently numerous to acaccomplish the entire task in the short time that was needful, other workers must be called in from the country towns and villages, who might gather themselves together at the part of the wall which was nearest to them. Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpeh, Zanoah, Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, Keilah, could easily send a portion of their population to share the labors of those who dwelt in Jerusalem, since none of these places lay at any great distance from the capital. A general willingness to give their services seems to have been displayed alike by the men of Jerusalem and the dwellers in the country districts, since only one abstention is noticed—that of the “nobles of Tekoah.” G. R. 20. “Then answered I them,” says Nehemiah, with noble reliance upon God—“Then answered I them”—not that the king had given me a decree to undertake the work; not that I was in reality obeying, instead of resisting him; but this heavenly hero’s sublime and magnanimous answer was, “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we, His servants, will arise and build.” And in the might of that confidence they prosecuted their task, spite of every discouragement; spite of contempt and fraud and treachery; spite of false friends and open enemies, till, in fifty-two days, this handful of feeble men brought the mighty work to a happy issue; the walls of the city were finished, and the gates were again set up, because the good hand of their God was upon them. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Stowell. Chap. 3. The third chapter contains an honorable register of those who despaired not of their country, but uprose, in a time of feebleness and depression, to rebuild their capital. They were of all ranks and classes. First rose up, as became him, the high priest, with his brethren the priests. The Levites, too, put their hands to the work. Then came the rulers, merchants, “goldsmiths and apothecaries”—indeed, all the well-doing population of the city. Some of the ladies of high rank showed a fine example at this emergency. The daughters of Shallum, who was “ruler of the half part of Jerusalem,” helped their father in the work. Helpers also came in from the small towns of Judea, rising superior to all petty jealousies, and preferring Jerusalem above their chief joy. There were a few half-hearted in the enterprise, such as the nobles of Tekoa, who “put not their necks to the work of their Lord.” They seem to have been the magnates of a little town; and, like petty great people in all times, thought it enough to give their patronage. They were exceptions, however, to the general rule. The builders worked with a will and on a plan which gave exercise to both public zeal and private interest. Every man built over against his own house or his own chamber if he were not a separate householder. At the same time, every one was inspired by the thought that he was filling up his part of a great design for the common good, and for the welfare, not of a gate, or street, or quarter of the city, but of all Jerusalem. D. F. With the general purpose of doing honor to the deserving is combined the wish graphically to place the whole scene before the reader. This is done by means of a profusion of topographical details. Nehemiah takes us along the entire circuit of the wall—shows us “the tower of Meah,” “the tower of Hananeel,” “the fish gate,” “the old gate,” “the throne of the governor,” “the broad wall,” “the tower of the furnaces,” “the valley gate,” “the dung gate,” “the gate of the fountain,” “the pool of Siloam,” “the king’s garden,” “the stairs,” “the sepulchres of David,” “the pool that was made,” “the armory,” “the tower that lay out,” “Ophel,” “the horse gate,” “the gate Miphkad,” “the sheep gate,” and “the ascent of the corner”—exhibits to us the party at work in each place, repairing a portion of the wall, or rebuilding a gateway—notes the zeal of those who, completing the piece first assigned to them rapidly, then undertook a second piece (verses 11, 19, 21, 24, etc.), and altogether gives us a description which is full of life and activity. The passage is invaluable to the topographer, and though not resolving all the difficulties with which he meets in his attempts to reproduce the plan of the ancient city, furnishes more effectual help than all other existing notices on the subject put together. P. C. The wall was parcelled out among forty-four working parties, who, on a given day, all mustered in their several places, and began the tasks allotted to them. On the eastern side of the city, in the neighborhood of the Temple, labored the priests, the Nethinim, the goldsmiths and the merchants; about the northeast corner the work was done by the men of Jericho; along the north wall were employed the Tekoites, the men of Gibeon, and the men of Mizpeh; toward the west, the inhabitants of Zanoah; toward the south, a portion of the men of Mizpeh, together with the inhabitants of Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, and Keilah. The Levites worked at portions of the wall of Ophel. Small parcels of the wall seem to have been assigned to individuals, either singly or in pairs, who exercised a superinterdependence over the men of their trade or of their neighborhood. Particular attention appears to have been paid to the gate towers—eleven in number—which broke the line of the walls at irregular intervals. These had to be provided with guard-rooms, heavy wooden doors, solid bars, and other fastenings, as the security of the town would greatly depend upon them. So far as can be gathered from Nehemiah’s account, there were at this time five gates in the eastern wall, three in the northern wall, two in the southern wall, and one in the western wall—the “valley gate.” There were also, in the spaces between the gates, and especially at any angle formed by the walls, or at any weak point, protecting towers or bastions, which projected beyond the general line of the walls. G. R. 10,23,28. Every one over against his house.** The priests and others, whose houses were near the wall, repaired that part of the wall which was opposite each of their dwellings. This suggests the order to be observed in seeking the good of others. Let every one do the work which lies nearest to him. Let him begin with his own family. No amount of good work elsewhere will compensate for neglect there. Christian parents can do most good to the community by training well their children. Then, as ability and opportunity permit, let each seek the good of his dependents, friends, neighbors, the congregation with which he worships, the city or town, the country, the Church at large, the world. P. C. When the Hebrews set about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, each man was instructed to build over against his own house. That was better economy than for each man to do a little everywhere, and by that means not do much of anything anywhere. The results are a good deal of the latter sort when a man stops with being simply a member of the Church universal; he neither denotes much to the Church nor the Church much to him. We get affected by close contacts with live things at specific points. It is a great thing to love all mankind. But it is better to say a single word of cheer and comfort to the man who stands next you than merely to love the whole race with a thin dilute of affection that never reaches the point of doing anything for anybody. The best way really to know how to love the man that is farthest from you is to begin by loving and blessing the man that is next you. It is a small matter, I confess, to love your neighbor, but the slumbering potencies of universal love are all in it. C. H. P. Consider how the greatest things ever done on earth have been done by little and little—little agents, little persons, and little things. How was the wall restored around Jerusalem? By each man building the breach before his own door. How was the soil of the New World redeemed from gloomy forests? By each sturdy emigrant cultivating the patch round his own log hut. How have the greatest battles been won? Not by the generals, but by the rank and file—every man holding his own post, and ready to die on the battlefield. The victory was achieved by the blood and courage of the many. So, if the world is ever to be conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, but by every member of Christ's body being a working member; doing his own work; filling his own sphere; holding his own post; and saying to Jesus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Guthrie. So it is by every one building the part of the wall which lies opposite to himself; by each one, like the Baptist of old, fulfilling his course; by each one doing the duty which devolves on him as a soldier fighting under Christ in the great army of the faithful, that the whole work is to be carried on and completed; this one taking up this field, and another that field, at home or abroad—going himself, or contributing to make others go. McCosh. At whatever point we touch the moral desolation of society, there is our place of building. At whatever spot we touch sin, there is our place of fighting. The place where our vocation plants us, and our usual duties and relations engage us, is the one where we shall wear and use God's armor to best effect. It probably seemed to each builder on the wall a very arduous undertaking to rebuild the whole city wall; and so it might have done if he had had it all to do. But each one did his little, and worked over against his own door, and the work was completed in two months. C. H. P. Chap. 4. Open opposition offered to the work by Sanballat and Tobiah, and arrangements made by Nehemiah to meet it. Sanballat and his friends, when they first heard that the wall was actually being restored, the working parties formed, and the work taken in hand, could scarcely believe it. What? These feeble Jews undertake so heavy a task, attempt a work that must occupy so long a time, and for which they had not even the necessary materials? (verse 2). Impossible! Such a wall as they could build would be so weak that if a fox tried to get over it he would break it down (verse 3). But when, despite their scoffs, the working parties labored steadily, and the whole wall was brought to half the intended height (verse 6), and the gaps made in it by the Babylonians were filled up (verse 7), they changed their tone, admitted the seriousness of the undertaking, and the probability that it would succeed unless steps were taken to prevent it. Nehemiah's work would be accomplished before the court could be communicated with. Accordingly, it was resolved to stop the building by main force. Sanballat and Tobiah, his Ammonite hanger-on, entered into a league with the neighboring peoples—the Philistines of Ashdod, the Ammonites, and some Arab tribe or tribes—and agreed with them that a conjoint attack should be made upon Jerusalem by a confederate army (chap. 3:7, 8). But Nehemiah, having learned what was intended, made preparations to meet and repulse the assailants. He began by setting a watch day and night (verse 9) on the side on which the attack was expected. When an assault seemed imminent, he stopped the work and drew up the whole people in battle array, with swords, spears, and bows, behind the wall, but in conspicuous places, so that they could be seen from a distance, and in this attitude awaited the enemy (verse 13). The result was that no actual assault was delivered. The work was then resumed, but under additional precautions. The laborers were compelled to work either with a weapon in one hand, or at the least with a sword at their side (verses 17, 18). Nehemiah's private attendants were armed and formed into two bands, one of which worked on the wall, while the other kept guard, and held the arms, offensive and defensive, of their fellow-servants (verse 16). At night the working parties retired to rest within the city, but Nehemiah himself, his brothers, his servants, and his bodyguard, remained outside, keeping watch by turns, and sleeping in their clothes, until the wall was finished (verses 22, 23). P. C. 9. We made our prayer and set a watch. There are times when we must pray with our eyes open; when it is hardly safe to wink lest we lose sight of our danger. Praying against danger is but a sham when it takes the place of watching against danger. If we pray that we may not be surprised by the enemy, we must watch lest the enemy surprise us. If we pray for strength to resist the enemy, we must watch for the enemy's coming, that we may use our God-given strength effectively. If we pray that the enemy may not approach us, we ought to watch for an answer to our prayers, that we may be sure that the coast is clear on every side. There is no duty of calling on God for help that doesn't include the idea of doing something ourselves. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." "Stand, therefore; praying at all seasons in the spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance." H. C. T.—The true way to meet opposition is twofold—prayer and prudent watchfulness. "Pray to God, and keep your powder dry" is not a bad compendium of the duty of a Christian soldier. The union of appeal to God with the full use of common sense, watchfulness, and prudence would dissipate many hindrances to successful service. A. M. What doth Nehemiah, with his Jews, for their common safety? They pray and watch; they pray unto God; they watch against the enemy. And thus shall we happily prevail against those spiritual wickednesses which war against our souls. No evil can surprise us if we watch; no evil can hurt us if we pray. Bp. II.—That was the way of this good man, and should be our way; all his cares, all his griefs, all his fears he spread before God, and thereby made himself easy. This was the first thing he did: before he used any means he made his prayer to God, for with Him we must always begin. Having prayed, he set a watch against them. The instructions Christ has given us in our spiritual warfare agree with this example (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray." If we think to secure ourselves by prayer only without watchfulness, we are slothful and tempt God. If by watchfulness without prayer, we are proud and slight God; and either way we forfeit His protection. H.—We are to watch and keep our garments. We are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which He has overcome the world. We are to commend ourselves to God in prayer that He may "keep and present us before the presence of His glory." We are to think upon the promises, and to work them into our hearts by spiritual reasoning, and so "escape the corruption that is in the world through lust." All these things are to be done. It is folly and presumption to think that because power is with God and from God, effort should not be in ourselves! T. Manton. 10. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed.** The complaint seems to be that by the drawing off of men from the working parties to act as guards, those parties were so weakened that they could not continue the work, the quantity of rubbish being so great. P. C.—The state of Jerusalem today illustrates his difficulties from the "much rubbish." Except on the area of the Mosque of Omar, ancient Jerusalem lies many feet below the present surface. Eleven times has the city been captured and dismantled, and after each siege the materials have been thrown down till we may sink a shaft from twenty to even a hundred feet before we reach the natural surface. Tristram. 10-13. Nehemiah enumerates his discouragements: 1. The Jews engaged in the work grew weary of it, and despaired of its completion. 2. The adversaries boasted and threatened. 3. The provincial Jews declared the danger of continuing the work to be great. B. C.—In these verses Nehemiah tells, in his simple way, of the difficulties from three several quarters which threatened to stop his work. He had trouble from the workmen, from the enemies, and from the mass of Jews not resident in Jerusalem. The enthusiasm of the builders had cooled, and the magnitude of their task began to frighten them. It is a great piece of Christian duty to recognize difficulties, and not be cowed by them. The true inference from the facts would have been, "so that we must put all our strength into the work, and trust in our God to help us." We may not be responsible for discouragements suggesting themselves, but we are responsible for letting them become dissuasives. Our one question should be, Has God appointed the work? If so, it has to be done, however little our strength and however mountainous the accumulations of rubbish. The second part in the trio was taken by the enemies—Sanballat and Tobiah and the rest. They laid their plans for a sudden swoop down on Jerusalem, and calculated that if they could surprise the builders at their work they would have no weapons to show fight with, and so would be easily dispatched. Killing the builders was but a means; the desired end is significantly put last (verse 11), as being the stopping of the abhorred work. But killing the workmen does not cause the work to cease when it is God's work, as the history of the Church in all ages shows. Conspirators should hold their tongues. It was not a hopeful way of beginning an attack, of which the essence was secrecy and suddenness, to talk about it. A bird of the air carries the matter. The third voice is that of the Jews in other parts of the land, and especially those living on the borders of Samaria, next door to Sanballat. Verse 12 is probably best taken as in the Revised Version, which makes "Ye must return to us" the imperative and often-repeated summons from these to the contingents from their respective places of abode, who had gone up to Jerusalem to help in building. Alarms of invasion made the scattered villagers wish to have all their men capable of bearing arms back again to defend their own homes. It was a most natural demand; but in this case, as so often, audacity is truest prudence; and in all high causes there come times when men have to trust their homes and dear ones to God's protection. The necessity is heart-rending, and we may well pray that we may not be exposed to it; but if it clearly arises, a devout man can have no doubt of his duty. And how character is ennobled by so severe a sacrifice! A. M. 14. And I looked. He saw the enemy coming. Rose up. To take command and give orders. And said.** He spoke a few words to encourage his men, telling them to remember whom they fought under—viz., the Lord; and what they had to fight for—viz., their homes and all they held dear. The attack was not made, however. Perhaps the attacking party received word from their allies within the walls; perhaps they saw for themselves that the surprise had failed and the Jews were prepared. This was not the first nor the last time when thorough preparation for fighting removed the necessity of fighting. W. J. B. Now doth Nehemiah arm his people; and for the time changes their trowels into swords and spears and bows; raising up their courage with a vehement exhortation "to remember the Lord, which is great and terrible; and to fight for their brethren, their sons, their daughters, their wives, and their houses." Nothing can so hearten us to the encountering of any evil as the remembrance of that infinite power and wisdom, which can either avert, or mitigate, or sanctify it. We could not faint if we did not forget God. Bp. H. Remember the Lord, and fight. Trust in God quickens activity, not slackens it. It nerves the strong arm, not paralyzes it. It is while we remember God's readiness to make our honest labor effective that we work with a will for our daily bread, that we push forward in business, that we study and write and preach in the conviction that our toil will tell on ages, tell for God. The men who remember the Lord in His power and goodness are the men who rise up against all odds, and battle evil in high places and low, with never a thought of being overborne and defeated. It is those who back up against the Rock of Ages and defy the universe who have true faith in God and prove it as courageous soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. A readiness to fight for God's cause is a test of loving, faith-filled remembrance of God. H. C. T. "Remember the Lord," said Nehemiah, when he wanted to arouse the courage of the languid people. To a man in discouragement the very thought of God is like a cool wind after a day of oppressive heat. It refreshes him, and gives him renewed courage to bear and to do. It adds somehow to the totality of his being something that gives to all the rest an invincible pluck, and so doubles his force. A man who knows that God is on his side will watch and fight and work all the better for keeping this truth uppermost. It takes away from him the fear of man "that bringeth a snare," and puts the fear of God so high that all other fear disappears. Such a man is hard to beat, for he never knows when he is beaten. He always picks up his weapons again and renews the fight. Schaupffer. The calm heroism of Nehemiah and his wise action in the emergency are told in verses 13-15. He made a demonstration in force, which at once showed that the scheme of a surprise was blown to pieces. The walls were manned, and the enemy would have to deal not with unarmed laborers, but with prepared soldiers. The work was stopped, and trowel and spade exchanged for sword and spear. "And I looked," says Nehemiah. His careful eye travelled over the lines, and, seeing all in order, he cheered the little army with ringing words. He had prayed (Neh. 1:5) to "the great and terrible God," and now he bids his men remember Him, and thence draw strength and courage. The only real antagonist of fear is faith. If we can grasp God we shall not dread Sanballat and his crew. Unless we do, the world is full of dangers which it is not folly to fear. Note, too, that the people are animated for the fight by reminding them of the dear ones whose lives and honor hung on the issue. Nothing is said about fighting for God and His temple and city; but the motives adduced are not less sacred. Family love is God's best of earthly gifts; and though it is sometimes duty to "forget thine own people and thy father's house," as we have just seen, nothing short of these highest obligations can supersede the sweet one of straining every nerve for the well-being of dear ones in the hallowed circle of home. So the plan of a sudden rush came to nothing. It does not appear that the enemy was in sight; but the news of the demonstration soon reached them, and was effectual. Prompt preparation against possible dangers is often the means of turning them aside. Watchfulness is indispensable to vigor of Christian character and efficiency of work. Suspicion is hateful and weakening; but a man who tries to serve God in such a world as this had need to be like the living creatures in the Revelation, having “eyes all over.” “Blessed is the man that (in that sense) feareth always.” The upshot of the alarm is very beautifully told: “We returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.” No time was wasted in jubilation. The work was the main thing, and the moment the interruption was ended, back to it they all went. It is a fine illustration of persistent discharge of duty, and of that most valuable quality, the ability and inclination to keep up the main purpose of a life continuous through interruptions, like a stream of sweet water running through a bog. A. M. 15. Three things go well together in work for God—prayer, promptitude and perseverance. Had the builders ceased until they should go out and attack Sanballat or Geshem, it would have been long ere their task was finished. But no, attack was not for them, only defence; and the moment that the display of readiness to defend themselves has caused the enemy to retire, they turn eagerly to finish the wall. Every course of masonry laid was better than a hundred victories. Having arms in their hands did not tempt them to fight; success did not uplift them; they knew that it was God who had brought to naught the counsel of Sanballat, and they went on doing His work with all their might. A. Symington. 16-20. Nehemiah’s precautions concerned six classes of men—viz., his personal retainers, two classes of workmen, the officers, the trumpeter, and the general. My servants (cf. verse 23 and chaps. 5:10, 16; 13:19). These were trained men, who could be depended upon. Half of them wrought in the work, while the other half, themselves armed doubtless, had armor in readiness for the working half. It was impossible for a man to wear armor while working on the wall; but by this arrangement there was always a little effective band of armed men ready to take the initiative in resisting an attack from foes without or traitors within; and their number would be doubled with no delay except while their comrades were putting on their armor. W. J. B. God’s workers must be prepared for warfare as well as building. There have been epochs in which that necessity was realized in a very sad manner; and the Church on earth will always have to be the Church militant. But it is well to remember that building is the end, and fighting is but the means. The trowel, not the sword, is the natural instrument. Controversy is second best—a necessity, no doubt, but an unwelcome one, and only permissible as a subsidiary help to doing the true work, rearing the walls of the city of God. “He that sounded the trumpet was by me.” The gallant leader was everywhere, animating by his presence. He meant to be in the thick of the fight if it should come. And so he kept the trumpeter by his side, and gave orders that when he sounded all should hurry to the place; for there the enemy would be, and Nehemiah would be where they were. “The work is great and large, and we are separated . . . one far from another.” How naturally the words lend themselves to the old lesson so often drawn from them! God’s servants are widely parted, by distance, by time, and, alas! by less justifiable causes. Unless they draw together they will be overwhelmed, taken in detail and crushed. They must rally to help each other against the common foe. Thank God, the longing for manifest Christian unity is deeper today than ever it was. But much remains to be done before it is adequately fulfilled in the recognition of the common bond of brotherhood, which binds us all in one family if we have one Father. American and English Christians are bound to seek the tightening of the bonds between them and to set themselves against politicians who may seek to keep apart those who both in the flesh and in the spirit are brothers. All Christians have one great Captain; and He will be in the forefront of every battle. His clear trumpet call should gather all His servants to His side. A. M. There are pressing difficulties in the believer’s way while he is engaged in the prosecution of his work. The Christian life is a scene of perpetual conflict. Heart corruption is the greatest foe of the Christian. From that he cannot flee. And had he nothing else than this corruption to fear while he strives to rear up the spiritual edifice—i.e., to advance in grace and in godliness—he would yet require to be furnished, as the people were under Nehemiah, with the weapon to defend as well as with the implement to build. When we consider the very dangerous position which the Christian occupies, with a crafty adversary on the one side—viz., Satan—an alluring and sometimes a threatening foe on the other side—viz., the world—and a treacherous heart within, his proper attitude is that which was assumed by the people spoken of in the text, every one of whom, while with one of his hands he wrought in the work, with the other hand held a weapon. These Jews were in the exercise of constant watchfulness. They knew that there was evil meditated against them; but they knew not the moment when the onset might be, and therefore, like wise men, they stood prepared for it. Christian watchfulness is one of the most indispensable, and, at the same time, one of the most comprehensive duties to which the disciples of Jesus are called. The Jews were careful to furnish themselves with the means of defence. The Christian has the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The attitude of the Jews indicates the firmest determination to make progress in their work. Advancement is the watchword of the Christian. A. D. Davidson. 21. So we labored; and half of them held the spears. This is a summary of the main points previously related: "So we continued to work; and one half of my personal followers continued to keep watch and to hold the spears" (verse 16). From the rising of the morning, etc.** This is additional, and shows how early the work commenced each morning, and how late it continued. P. C. The closing verse tells again how Nehemiah's immediate dependents divided work and watching, and adds to the picture the continuousness of their toil from the first gray of morning till darkness showed the stars and ended another day of toil. Happy they who thus "from morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve," labor in the work of the Lord! For them, every new morning will dawn with new strength, and every evening be calm with the consciousness of "something attempted, something done." A. M. The section is rich in analogies for spiritual things. As believers, we have an important building work to do, and we have to do it in the presence of spiritual enemies without and within. There are few Bible characters from whom the practical worker can get so many points as from Nehemiah. And, among other things, he is especially characterized by this: the more utterly he feels his dependence upon God ("our God shall fight for us," verse 20), the more carefully does he attend to every minute detail which may insure success. W. J. B. Cultivated, scientific man is fast becoming passionless intellect. Religion resides in the affections, imagination, emotions, conscience. These are to be utterly extirpated; and religion must wither away in its very roots before the positive philosophy. Yes; in many a tone the epigram is uttered that burns and stings. "What of these feeble Jews, these clerics and clerically minded laymen? Will they revive the stones which modern thought has overthrown or pulverized? Not to speak of the colossal strength of organized German science, the light brush of the fox of French criticism shall even break down their miserable walls of dogma!" Yet, for all that, God's people "have a mind to work." The Church will be repaired. One day God's summer light shall strike upon the topmost row. Christ, the Divine Healer, will own the work of restoration by miracles of love at the "sheep gate" and the "pool of Siloam." The wall shall stand, uncrumbled by the assaults of unbelief, unscathed by the fires of criticism, untouched by the tooth of time. The songs that were murmured in the night among the ruins by voices half choked with sobs shall be exchanged for hymns, wafted upward by the music of silver trumpets, and chanted by the long processions circling round the walls. No miracle is recorded of Nehemiah's restoration; and it is all the more precious for us. Yet how marvellous was the rapidity with which the renewal was accomplished. So with that other and greater work of building up God's temple of restored humanity from the ruins of the fall, wrought out between Good Friday and Whitsuntide. "The work was finished in fifty and two days." Give us a year for a day, and who shall say what God may have wrought? Yes; Nehemiah's journey in darkness and sorrow was not more different from the festal processions, sweeping on with light and song, when the visionary's dream among the moonlit ruins stood palpably in majestic stone, than the beginnings of our work here and now from the joy that waits us—perhaps even here—certainly in the city that is above. 'Tis a book where all spiritual restorers may have their names written. There is a work that does not end when the worker's weary hands are folded and the thinker's busy brain is still. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each to profit others. Woman has her honored place in our restoration. Is it not written, "Shallum repaired, he and his daughters?" Sister, deaconess, district visitor, parish helper—all are wanted. Let it not be said of our men of intellectual culture, "Their nobles put not their neck to the work of the Lord." Thoughtful Christians, laymen especially, are called upon to grapple with social and economical questions, which are as urgent for us as the question of "the hundredth part" (or twelve per cent interest) was for Nehemiah's contemporaries—such as the Church's duty in relation to strikes and labor, to the organization of charity, to the temperance movement. Educated Christian men are specially needed to repair the part of the wall "over against their house." Some of them are required to adjust the boundary lines between science and faith; to show us that law is not a chain coiled round the living God, but rather a thread which He holds. Others are needed to quicken interest in theological thought by helping men to a more living knowledge of the Bible. Others should devote themselves to the centre of all Christian thought—the theology of the incarnation—the dogma enshrined in the transparent depths of the angel's word, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The age is impatient of miracle; it is patient of fact. To minds impatient of isolated miracles such a theology will show the central, unquestionable miracle, Jesus Himself—that is, one from the cradle to the grave, walking in a spotless purity, through all temptation wearing a conscience without a scar; treading the great deep of human life, and never wetting His feet with the spray; equally at home with saints in the glory of the Mount, and with men writhing in misery at its base; elect to wipe away the tears of humanity, to bear it undwarfed and undimmed to the heavenly places—yet to whom we can go when the shame burns in the cheek and the sweat stands upon the brow. Men will recognize in this a new humanity formed by a new contact with the creative power. The theology of the incarnation will prove itself by enabling men to understand what is otherwise a tangled mass of contradictions—the life and character of Jesus. To our age, which appeals to fact, such a theology will go on to unfold the fact of the spiritual life, of which faith tells us that its light is the written Word, its breath prayer, its food the [ineffably precious promises]. Away with the cant which would make theology destructive of the beauty of religion. As well assert that a knowledge of botany destroys the beauty of a flower. Listen not to those who speak of it as if it were like the bent grass fastened to its place, describing forever the same monotonous segments of circles, according to the wind. The words of the God Man have illimitable applications. Talk not of the obscurity of Christian dogma. If such there be, it is not the vulgar and deceitful obscurity of the fog; it is the glorious obscurity of the long, deep distances of the lustrous sky. Others, again, are wanted to teach the ignorant; to waft some notes of Gospel pardon and peace beyond their present limits; to tell metallic natures, as hard as the gold which their fingers clutch, that "it shall not profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul." All the children of the Church are bound to show something in word or work of the beauty of Christ; to develop in themselves and others "the life of godliness, intellectual, devotional, practical," and so to "build up the wall of Jerusalem." One part of Jeremiah's prophecy has been fulfilled in Nehemiah's restoration. "Behold the days come that the city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner." The other sweeter and higher music shall not be lost forever. Not only shall the desolation and stagnation of some neglected parish; the sin and misery of some squalid alley, where men do the works of Satan, with a beast's heart or a devil's, pass away. The very type of leprosy; the very image of death and hell; the very spot where the carcasses rot, defiling God's earth; the very emblem of the obstinate clinging sin, that even the altar fires cannot purge away; the very fields whose name teaches that they are outside, Gareb and Goath and the rest shall be taken into the broadening circuit of the holy city. The joy that quivers faintly in the pages of Nehemiah throbs to the music of the Gospel. Faint chimes, struck before the time, and dying away upon the breeze, waken again and clash out upon the bells of the Apocalypse. The sealing of the covenant passes into the sealing of God's servants upon the forehead. The joy of which Nehemiah speaks is transformed into the higher joy, when all those who have worked for "the Jerusalem which now is" shall be gathered into "the Jerusalem which is above;" when after the deceits of time all builders and restorers—from apostles on—having cried on earth, "Remember me, O God, and spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy," shall enter into the joy of their Lord, and keep the Eternal Feast of Tabernacles in "Jerusalem the Golden." Bp. W. Alexander. 2:12 AND I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the valley gate, even toward the dragon's well, and to the dung gate, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. Then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall; and I turned back, 16 and entered by the valley gate, and so returned. And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work. Then said I unto them, Ye see the evil case that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. 18 And I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also of the king's words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they 19 strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king? 20 Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem. 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Ham- 2 mesh they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hannel. And next unto him builded the men 3 of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri. And the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the 4 bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah, 5 the son of Meshezabel. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Baana. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their 6 lord. And the old gate repaired Joinda the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Beso- deiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the bolts thereof, and the 7 bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Merono- thite, the men of Gibeon, and of Mizpah, which appertained to the throne of the governor 8 beyond the river. Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths. And next unto him repaired Hananiah one of the apothecaries, and they fortified Jerusalem even 9 unto the broad wall. And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of 10 half the district of Jerusalem. And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabneiah. 11 Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired another portion, 12 and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Hallohesh, 13 the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. The valley gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts 14 thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits of the wall unto the dung gate. And the dung gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth- haccherem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof. 15 And the fountain gate repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the bolts thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, even unto the stairs 16 that go down from the city of David. After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, 17 and unto the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty men. After him re- 18 paired the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler 19 of half the district of Keilah, for his district. After him repaired their brethren, Bavvai the 20 son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah. And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another portion, over against the going up to the 21 armoury at the turning of the wall. After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high 22 priest. After him repaired Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz another portion, 23 from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. And after 24 him repaired the priests, the men of the Plain. After them repaired Benjamin and Hasshub over against their house. After them repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of 25 Ananiah beside his own house. After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another por- 26 tion, from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall, and unto the corner. Palai the son of Uzai repaired over against the turning of the wall, and the tower that standeth out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah 27 the son of Parosh repaired. (Now the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel, unto the place over against 28 the water gate toward the east, and the tower that standeth out.) After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, over against the great tower that standeth out, and unto the wall 29 of Ophel. Above the horse gate repaired the priests, every one over against his own house. 30 After them repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his own house. And after him 31 repaired Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate. After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another portion. After 32 him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber. After him repaired Malchijah one of the goldsmiths unto the house of the Nethinim, and of the merchants, over 33 against the gate of Hammihkad, and to the ascent of the corner. And between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants. 4:1 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was 2 wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify them- selves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out 3 of the heaps of rubbish, seeing they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall break down their stone wall. 4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn back their reproach upon their own head, 5 and give them up to spoiling in a land of captivity: and cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the 6 builders. So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto half the height thereof: for the people had a mind to work. 7 But it came to pass that, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Am- monites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went 8 forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth; and they conspired all of them together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause 9 confusion therein. But we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against 10 them day and night, because of them. And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the 11 wall. And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come into the 12 midst of them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. And it came to pass that, when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times from all places, Ye must 13 return unto us. Therefore set I in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their 14 bows. And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your houses. 15 And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his 16 work. And it came to pass from that time forth, that half of my servants wrought in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the coats of mail; and 17 the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. They that builded the wall and they that bare burdens laded themselves, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and 18 with the other held his weapon; and the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, 19 and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are sep- 20 arated upon the wall, one far from another: in what place soever ye hear the sound of the 21 trumpet, resort ye thither unto us; our God shall fight for us. So we wrought in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within 23 Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labour in the day. So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, every one went with his weapon to the water. 2:12-20. Steps taken by Nehemiah prelim- inary to his building of the wall, and first ap- pearance of opposition. Nehemiah expected opposition, and as long as possible concealed his designs. He made his survey of the wall by night, that it might escape observation. The time for action being come, he laid the matter before the head men of the city (verse 17), whom he easily persuaded when he assured them of Artaxerxes' consent and goodwill. Preparations then began to be made; and im- mediately murmurs of opposition arose. Three opponents are now spoken of—Sanballat, Tobiah and an Arabian, Geshem or Gashmu, not previously mentioned. These persons ap- pear to have sent a formal message to the authorities of Jerusalem (verse 19), taxing them with an intention to rebel. Nehemiah made no direct reply to this charge, but boldly stated his resolve to "arise and build," and denied Sanballat's right to interfere with him. P. C. 12-16. Having rested after his long journey three days, he "arose in the night, he, and some few men with him." To none, even of these few, had he "told what God had put in his heart to do at Jerusalem." For resolutions which affect the Church's life are formed by men whom the Spirit teaches to be silent until the time has come for action. So Nehemiah rode out by night, while the stars were shining into the well of Gihon and Solomon's Pool. Then, after ascending the Valley of Kedron, he re-entered by the valley gate and returned home. During his ride he had seen by fitful gleams the tumbled masses of masonry close beside the course carefully trodden by his horse—for the rubbish choked the path, “so that there was no place for the beast under him to pass.” Again and again he came to gates consumed with fire, which, as the Assyrian sculptures show us, was invariably done with captured cities. What his thoughts were we are not fully told. But of one thing we may be sure. It was not only as a patriot that he felt bitter sorrow. As long as those walls were broken down the purposes of God must be unfulfilled and the footsteps of His Anointed must linger. For the mysterious weeks were to be counted from “the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem, unto the Messiah, the Prince.” Haunted by this voice of prophecy—by that other oracle of the Book of Jeremiah, which was so evidently familiar to him, “The city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel unto the gate of the corner”—he announces his purpose: “Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.” Bp. W. Alexander. 17,18. It was necessary, first of all, to take the other authorities of the place into council. So—on the next day probably—Nehemiah summoned to his presence “the priests, the nobles, and the rulers”—Eliashib doubtless, the head of the priestly order, the elders of Jerusalem, and the head men of such villages as lay near at hand—and opened to them the extent of his powers and the nature of his designs. Artaxerxes, he said, had empowered him to rebuild the entire circuit of the walls, and to place the city in a state of complete defence. The thing must be done as quickly as possible. Preparations must be quietly made, and on a given day workmen must present themselves along the whole line of the defences, ready all of them to set to the work simultaneously, and build the portion allotted to them. New materials would not be needed, unless it were for the gates and the gate towers; the walls might be rebuilt out of the ruins and rubbish which marked their former site. The inhabitants of each quarter should repair the part of the wall nearest to where they dwelt. All classes should take part in the work—priests, nobles, tradesmen, merchants, and artisans. As the inhabitants of Jerusalem were not sufficiently numerous to acaccomplish the entire task in the short time that was needful, other workers must be called in from the country towns and villages, who might gather themselves together at the part of the wall which was nearest to them. Jericho, Tekoah, Gibeon, Mizpeh, Zanoah, Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, Keilah, could easily send a portion of their population to share the labors of those who dwelt in Jerusalem, since none of these places lay at any great distance from the capital. A general willingness to give their services seems to have been displayed alike by the men of Jerusalem and the dwellers in the country districts, since only one abstention is noticed—that of the “nobles of Tekoah.” G. R. 20. “Then answered I them,” says Nehemiah, with noble reliance upon God—“Then answered I them”—not that the king had given me a decree to undertake the work; not that I was in reality obeying, instead of resisting him; but this heavenly hero’s sublime and magnanimous answer was, “The God of heaven, He will prosper us; therefore we, His servants, will arise and build.” And in the might of that confidence they prosecuted their task, spite of every discouragement; spite of contempt and fraud and treachery; spite of false friends and open enemies, till, in fifty-two days, this handful of feeble men brought the mighty work to a happy issue; the walls of the city were finished, and the gates were again set up, because the good hand of their God was upon them. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Stowell. Chap. 3. The third chapter contains an honorable register of those who despaired not of their country, but uprose, in a time of feebleness and depression, to rebuild their capital. They were of all ranks and classes. First rose up, as became him, the high priest, with his brethren the priests. The Levites, too, put their hands to the work. Then came the rulers, merchants, “goldsmiths and apothecaries”—indeed, all the well-doing population of the city. Some of the ladies of high rank showed a fine example at this emergency. The daughters of Shallum, who was “ruler of the half part of Jerusalem,” helped their father in the work. Helpers also came in from the small towns of Judea, rising superior to all petty jealousies, and preferring Jerusalem above their chief joy. There were a few half-hearted in the enterprise, such as the nobles of Tekoa, who “put not their necks to the work of their Lord.” They seem to have been the magnates of a little town; and, like petty great people in all times, thought it enough to give their patronage. They were exceptions, however, to the general rule. The builders worked with a will and on a plan which gave exercise to both public zeal and private interest. Every man built over against his own house or his own chamber if he were not a separate householder. At the same time, every one was inspired by the thought that he was filling up his part of a great design for the common good, and for the welfare, not of a gate, or street, or quarter of the city, but of all Jerusalem. D. F. With the general purpose of doing honor to the deserving is combined the wish graphically to place the whole scene before the reader. This is done by means of a profusion of topographical details. Nehemiah takes us along the entire circuit of the wall—shows us “the tower of Meah,” “the tower of Hananeel,” “the fish gate,” “the old gate,” “the throne of the governor,” “the broad wall,” “the tower of the furnaces,” “the valley gate,” “the dung gate,” “the gate of the fountain,” “the pool of Siloam,” “the king’s garden,” “the stairs,” “the sepulchres of David,” “the pool that was made,” “the armory,” “the tower that lay out,” “Ophel,” “the horse gate,” “the gate Miphkad,” “the sheep gate,” and “the ascent of the corner”—exhibits to us the party at work in each place, repairing a portion of the wall, or rebuilding a gateway—notes the zeal of those who, completing the piece first assigned to them rapidly, then undertook a second piece (verses 11, 19, 21, 24, etc.), and altogether gives us a description which is full of life and activity. The passage is invaluable to the topographer, and though not resolving all the difficulties with which he meets in his attempts to reproduce the plan of the ancient city, furnishes more effectual help than all other existing notices on the subject put together. P. C. The wall was parcelled out among forty-four working parties, who, on a given day, all mustered in their several places, and began the tasks allotted to them. On the eastern side of the city, in the neighborhood of the Temple, labored the priests, the Nethinim, the goldsmiths and the merchants; about the northeast corner the work was done by the men of Jericho; along the north wall were employed the Tekoites, the men of Gibeon, and the men of Mizpeh; toward the west, the inhabitants of Zanoah; toward the south, a portion of the men of Mizpeh, together with the inhabitants of Beth-haccarem, Beth-zur, and Keilah. The Levites worked at portions of the wall of Ophel. Small parcels of the wall seem to have been assigned to individuals, either singly or in pairs, who exercised a superinterdependence over the men of their trade or of their neighborhood. Particular attention appears to have been paid to the gate towers—eleven in number—which broke the line of the walls at irregular intervals. These had to be provided with guard-rooms, heavy wooden doors, solid bars, and other fastenings, as the security of the town would greatly depend upon them. So far as can be gathered from Nehemiah’s account, there were at this time five gates in the eastern wall, three in the northern wall, two in the southern wall, and one in the western wall—the “valley gate.” There were also, in the spaces between the gates, and especially at any angle formed by the walls, or at any weak point, protecting towers or bastions, which projected beyond the general line of the walls. G. R. 10,23,28. Every one over against his house.** The priests and others, whose houses were near the wall, repaired that part of the wall which was opposite each of their dwellings. This suggests the order to be observed in seeking the good of others. Let every one do the work which lies nearest to him. Let him begin with his own family. No amount of good work elsewhere will compensate for neglect there. Christian parents can do most good to the community by training well their children. Then, as ability and opportunity permit, let each seek the good of his dependents, friends, neighbors, the congregation with which he worships, the city or town, the country, the Church at large, the world. P. C. When the Hebrews set about rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, each man was instructed to build over against his own house. That was better economy than for each man to do a little everywhere, and by that means not do much of anything anywhere. The results are a good deal of the latter sort when a man stops with being simply a member of the Church universal; he neither denotes much to the Church nor the Church much to him. We get affected by close contacts with live things at specific points. It is a great thing to love all mankind. But it is better to say a single word of cheer and comfort to the man who stands next you than merely to love the whole race with a thin dilute of affection that never reaches the point of doing anything for anybody. The best way really to know how to love the man that is farthest from you is to begin by loving and blessing the man that is next you. It is a small matter, I confess, to love your neighbor, but the slumbering potencies of universal love are all in it. C. H. P. Consider how the greatest things ever done on earth have been done by little and little—little agents, little persons, and little things. How was the wall restored around Jerusalem? By each man building the breach before his own door. How was the soil of the New World redeemed from gloomy forests? By each sturdy emigrant cultivating the patch round his own log hut. How have the greatest battles been won? Not by the generals, but by the rank and file—every man holding his own post, and ready to die on the battlefield. The victory was achieved by the blood and courage of the many. So, if the world is ever to be conquered for our Lord, it is not by ministers, nor by office-bearers, but by every member of Christ's body being a working member; doing his own work; filling his own sphere; holding his own post; and saying to Jesus, "Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" Guthrie. So it is by every one building the part of the wall which lies opposite to himself; by each one, like the Baptist of old, fulfilling his course; by each one doing the duty which devolves on him as a soldier fighting under Christ in the great army of the faithful, that the whole work is to be carried on and completed; this one taking up this field, and another that field, at home or abroad—going himself, or contributing to make others go. McCosh. At whatever point we touch the moral desolation of society, there is our place of building. At whatever spot we touch sin, there is our place of fighting. The place where our vocation plants us, and our usual duties and relations engage us, is the one where we shall wear and use God's armor to best effect. It probably seemed to each builder on the wall a very arduous undertaking to rebuild the whole city wall; and so it might have done if he had had it all to do. But each one did his little, and worked over against his own door, and the work was completed in two months. C. H. P. Chap. 4. Open opposition offered to the work by Sanballat and Tobiah, and arrangements made by Nehemiah to meet it. Sanballat and his friends, when they first heard that the wall was actually being restored, the working parties formed, and the work taken in hand, could scarcely believe it. What? These feeble Jews undertake so heavy a task, attempt a work that must occupy so long a time, and for which they had not even the necessary materials? (verse 2). Impossible! Such a wall as they could build would be so weak that if a fox tried to get over it he would break it down (verse 3). But when, despite their scoffs, the working parties labored steadily, and the whole wall was brought to half the intended height (verse 6), and the gaps made in it by the Babylonians were filled up (verse 7), they changed their tone, admitted the seriousness of the undertaking, and the probability that it would succeed unless steps were taken to prevent it. Nehemiah's work would be accomplished before the court could be communicated with. Accordingly, it was resolved to stop the building by main force. Sanballat and Tobiah, his Ammonite hanger-on, entered into a league with the neighboring peoples—the Philistines of Ashdod, the Ammonites, and some Arab tribe or tribes—and agreed with them that a conjoint attack should be made upon Jerusalem by a confederate army (chap. 3:7, 8). But Nehemiah, having learned what was intended, made preparations to meet and repulse the assailants. He began by setting a watch day and night (verse 9) on the side on which the attack was expected. When an assault seemed imminent, he stopped the work and drew up the whole people in battle array, with swords, spears, and bows, behind the wall, but in conspicuous places, so that they could be seen from a distance, and in this attitude awaited the enemy (verse 13). The result was that no actual assault was delivered. The work was then resumed, but under additional precautions. The laborers were compelled to work either with a weapon in one hand, or at the least with a sword at their side (verses 17, 18). Nehemiah's private attendants were armed and formed into two bands, one of which worked on the wall, while the other kept guard, and held the arms, offensive and defensive, of their fellow-servants (verse 16). At night the working parties retired to rest within the city, but Nehemiah himself, his brothers, his servants, and his bodyguard, remained outside, keeping watch by turns, and sleeping in their clothes, until the wall was finished (verses 22, 23). P. C. 9. We made our prayer and set a watch. There are times when we must pray with our eyes open; when it is hardly safe to wink lest we lose sight of our danger. Praying against danger is but a sham when it takes the place of watching against danger. If we pray that we may not be surprised by the enemy, we must watch lest the enemy surprise us. If we pray for strength to resist the enemy, we must watch for the enemy's coming, that we may use our God-given strength effectively. If we pray that the enemy may not approach us, we ought to watch for an answer to our prayers, that we may be sure that the coast is clear on every side. There is no duty of calling on God for help that doesn't include the idea of doing something ourselves. "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." "Stand, therefore; praying at all seasons in the spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance." H. C. T.—The true way to meet opposition is twofold—prayer and prudent watchfulness. "Pray to God, and keep your powder dry" is not a bad compendium of the duty of a Christian soldier. The union of appeal to God with the full use of common sense, watchfulness, and prudence would dissipate many hindrances to successful service. A. M. What doth Nehemiah, with his Jews, for their common safety? They pray and watch; they pray unto God; they watch against the enemy. And thus shall we happily prevail against those spiritual wickednesses which war against our souls. No evil can surprise us if we watch; no evil can hurt us if we pray. Bp. II.—That was the way of this good man, and should be our way; all his cares, all his griefs, all his fears he spread before God, and thereby made himself easy. This was the first thing he did: before he used any means he made his prayer to God, for with Him we must always begin. Having prayed, he set a watch against them. The instructions Christ has given us in our spiritual warfare agree with this example (Matt. 26:41), "Watch and pray." If we think to secure ourselves by prayer only without watchfulness, we are slothful and tempt God. If by watchfulness without prayer, we are proud and slight God; and either way we forfeit His protection. H.—We are to watch and keep our garments. We are to act faith upon the victory of Christ, by which He has overcome the world. We are to commend ourselves to God in prayer that He may "keep and present us before the presence of His glory." We are to think upon the promises, and to work them into our hearts by spiritual reasoning, and so "escape the corruption that is in the world through lust." All these things are to be done. It is folly and presumption to think that because power is with God and from God, effort should not be in ourselves! T. Manton. 10. The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed.** The complaint seems to be that by the drawing off of men from the working parties to act as guards, those parties were so weakened that they could not continue the work, the quantity of rubbish being so great. P. C.—The state of Jerusalem today illustrates his difficulties from the "much rubbish." Except on the area of the Mosque of Omar, ancient Jerusalem lies many feet below the present surface. Eleven times has the city been captured and dismantled, and after each siege the materials have been thrown down till we may sink a shaft from twenty to even a hundred feet before we reach the natural surface. Tristram. 10-13. Nehemiah enumerates his discouragements: 1. The Jews engaged in the work grew weary of it, and despaired of its completion. 2. The adversaries boasted and threatened. 3. The provincial Jews declared the danger of continuing the work to be great. B. C.—In these verses Nehemiah tells, in his simple way, of the difficulties from three several quarters which threatened to stop his work. He had trouble from the workmen, from the enemies, and from the mass of Jews not resident in Jerusalem. The enthusiasm of the builders had cooled, and the magnitude of their task began to frighten them. It is a great piece of Christian duty to recognize difficulties, and not be cowed by them. The true inference from the facts would have been, "so that we must put all our strength into the work, and trust in our God to help us." We may not be responsible for discouragements suggesting themselves, but we are responsible for letting them become dissuasives. Our one question should be, Has God appointed the work? If so, it has to be done, however little our strength and however mountainous the accumulations of rubbish. The second part in the trio was taken by the enemies—Sanballat and Tobiah and the rest. They laid their plans for a sudden swoop down on Jerusalem, and calculated that if they could surprise the builders at their work they would have no weapons to show fight with, and so would be easily dispatched. Killing the builders was but a means; the desired end is significantly put last (verse 11), as being the stopping of the abhorred work. But killing the workmen does not cause the work to cease when it is God's work, as the history of the Church in all ages shows. Conspirators should hold their tongues. It was not a hopeful way of beginning an attack, of which the essence was secrecy and suddenness, to talk about it. A bird of the air carries the matter. The third voice is that of the Jews in other parts of the land, and especially those living on the borders of Samaria, next door to Sanballat. Verse 12 is probably best taken as in the Revised Version, which makes "Ye must return to us" the imperative and often-repeated summons from these to the contingents from their respective places of abode, who had gone up to Jerusalem to help in building. Alarms of invasion made the scattered villagers wish to have all their men capable of bearing arms back again to defend their own homes. It was a most natural demand; but in this case, as so often, audacity is truest prudence; and in all high causes there come times when men have to trust their homes and dear ones to God's protection. The necessity is heart-rending, and we may well pray that we may not be exposed to it; but if it clearly arises, a devout man can have no doubt of his duty. And how character is ennobled by so severe a sacrifice! A. M. 14. And I looked. He saw the enemy coming. Rose up. To take command and give orders. And said.** He spoke a few words to encourage his men, telling them to remember whom they fought under—viz., the Lord; and what they had to fight for—viz., their homes and all they held dear. The attack was not made, however. Perhaps the attacking party received word from their allies within the walls; perhaps they saw for themselves that the surprise had failed and the Jews were prepared. This was not the first nor the last time when thorough preparation for fighting removed the necessity of fighting. W. J. B. Now doth Nehemiah arm his people; and for the time changes their trowels into swords and spears and bows; raising up their courage with a vehement exhortation "to remember the Lord, which is great and terrible; and to fight for their brethren, their sons, their daughters, their wives, and their houses." Nothing can so hearten us to the encountering of any evil as the remembrance of that infinite power and wisdom, which can either avert, or mitigate, or sanctify it. We could not faint if we did not forget God. Bp. H. Remember the Lord, and fight. Trust in God quickens activity, not slackens it. It nerves the strong arm, not paralyzes it. It is while we remember God's readiness to make our honest labor effective that we work with a will for our daily bread, that we push forward in business, that we study and write and preach in the conviction that our toil will tell on ages, tell for God. The men who remember the Lord in His power and goodness are the men who rise up against all odds, and battle evil in high places and low, with never a thought of being overborne and defeated. It is those who back up against the Rock of Ages and defy the universe who have true faith in God and prove it as courageous soldiers of the Lord Jesus Christ. A readiness to fight for God's cause is a test of loving, faith-filled remembrance of God. H. C. T. "Remember the Lord," said Nehemiah, when he wanted to arouse the courage of the languid people. To a man in discouragement the very thought of God is like a cool wind after a day of oppressive heat. It refreshes him, and gives him renewed courage to bear and to do. It adds somehow to the totality of his being something that gives to all the rest an invincible pluck, and so doubles his force. A man who knows that God is on his side will watch and fight and work all the better for keeping this truth uppermost. It takes away from him the fear of man "that bringeth a snare," and puts the fear of God so high that all other fear disappears. Such a man is hard to beat, for he never knows when he is beaten. He always picks up his weapons again and renews the fight. Schaupffer. The calm heroism of Nehemiah and his wise action in the emergency are told in verses 13-15. He made a demonstration in force, which at once showed that the scheme of a surprise was blown to pieces. The walls were manned, and the enemy would have to deal not with unarmed laborers, but with prepared soldiers. The work was stopped, and trowel and spade exchanged for sword and spear. "And I looked," says Nehemiah. His careful eye travelled over the lines, and, seeing all in order, he cheered the little army with ringing words. He had prayed (Neh. 1:5) to "the great and terrible God," and now he bids his men remember Him, and thence draw strength and courage. The only real antagonist of fear is faith. If we can grasp God we shall not dread Sanballat and his crew. Unless we do, the world is full of dangers which it is not folly to fear. Note, too, that the people are animated for the fight by reminding them of the dear ones whose lives and honor hung on the issue. Nothing is said about fighting for God and His temple and city; but the motives adduced are not less sacred. Family love is God's best of earthly gifts; and though it is sometimes duty to "forget thine own people and thy father's house," as we have just seen, nothing short of these highest obligations can supersede the sweet one of straining every nerve for the well-being of dear ones in the hallowed circle of home. So the plan of a sudden rush came to nothing. It does not appear that the enemy was in sight; but the news of the demonstration soon reached them, and was effectual. Prompt preparation against possible dangers is often the means of turning them aside. Watchfulness is indispensable to vigor of Christian character and efficiency of work. Suspicion is hateful and weakening; but a man who tries to serve God in such a world as this had need to be like the living creatures in the Revelation, having “eyes all over.” “Blessed is the man that (in that sense) feareth always.” The upshot of the alarm is very beautifully told: “We returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work.” No time was wasted in jubilation. The work was the main thing, and the moment the interruption was ended, back to it they all went. It is a fine illustration of persistent discharge of duty, and of that most valuable quality, the ability and inclination to keep up the main purpose of a life continuous through interruptions, like a stream of sweet water running through a bog. A. M. 15. Three things go well together in work for God—prayer, promptitude and perseverance. Had the builders ceased until they should go out and attack Sanballat or Geshem, it would have been long ere their task was finished. But no, attack was not for them, only defence; and the moment that the display of readiness to defend themselves has caused the enemy to retire, they turn eagerly to finish the wall. Every course of masonry laid was better than a hundred victories. Having arms in their hands did not tempt them to fight; success did not uplift them; they knew that it was God who had brought to naught the counsel of Sanballat, and they went on doing His work with all their might. A. Symington. 16-20. Nehemiah’s precautions concerned six classes of men—viz., his personal retainers, two classes of workmen, the officers, the trumpeter, and the general. My servants (cf. verse 23 and chaps. 5:10, 16; 13:19). These were trained men, who could be depended upon. Half of them wrought in the work, while the other half, themselves armed doubtless, had armor in readiness for the working half. It was impossible for a man to wear armor while working on the wall; but by this arrangement there was always a little effective band of armed men ready to take the initiative in resisting an attack from foes without or traitors within; and their number would be doubled with no delay except while their comrades were putting on their armor. W. J. B. God’s workers must be prepared for warfare as well as building. There have been epochs in which that necessity was realized in a very sad manner; and the Church on earth will always have to be the Church militant. But it is well to remember that building is the end, and fighting is but the means. The trowel, not the sword, is the natural instrument. Controversy is second best—a necessity, no doubt, but an unwelcome one, and only permissible as a subsidiary help to doing the true work, rearing the walls of the city of God. “He that sounded the trumpet was by me.” The gallant leader was everywhere, animating by his presence. He meant to be in the thick of the fight if it should come. And so he kept the trumpeter by his side, and gave orders that when he sounded all should hurry to the place; for there the enemy would be, and Nehemiah would be where they were. “The work is great and large, and we are separated . . . one far from another.” How naturally the words lend themselves to the old lesson so often drawn from them! God’s servants are widely parted, by distance, by time, and, alas! by less justifiable causes. Unless they draw together they will be overwhelmed, taken in detail and crushed. They must rally to help each other against the common foe. Thank God, the longing for manifest Christian unity is deeper today than ever it was. But much remains to be done before it is adequately fulfilled in the recognition of the common bond of brotherhood, which binds us all in one family if we have one Father. American and English Christians are bound to seek the tightening of the bonds between them and to set themselves against politicians who may seek to keep apart those who both in the flesh and in the spirit are brothers. All Christians have one great Captain; and He will be in the forefront of every battle. His clear trumpet call should gather all His servants to His side. A. M. There are pressing difficulties in the believer’s way while he is engaged in the prosecution of his work. The Christian life is a scene of perpetual conflict. Heart corruption is the greatest foe of the Christian. From that he cannot flee. And had he nothing else than this corruption to fear while he strives to rear up the spiritual edifice—i.e., to advance in grace and in godliness—he would yet require to be furnished, as the people were under Nehemiah, with the weapon to defend as well as with the implement to build. When we consider the very dangerous position which the Christian occupies, with a crafty adversary on the one side—viz., Satan—an alluring and sometimes a threatening foe on the other side—viz., the world—and a treacherous heart within, his proper attitude is that which was assumed by the people spoken of in the text, every one of whom, while with one of his hands he wrought in the work, with the other hand held a weapon. These Jews were in the exercise of constant watchfulness. They knew that there was evil meditated against them; but they knew not the moment when the onset might be, and therefore, like wise men, they stood prepared for it. Christian watchfulness is one of the most indispensable, and, at the same time, one of the most comprehensive duties to which the disciples of Jesus are called. The Jews were careful to furnish themselves with the means of defence. The Christian has the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. The attitude of the Jews indicates the firmest determination to make progress in their work. Advancement is the watchword of the Christian. A. D. Davidson. 21. So we labored; and half of them held the spears. This is a summary of the main points previously related: "So we continued to work; and one half of my personal followers continued to keep watch and to hold the spears" (verse 16). From the rising of the morning, etc.** This is additional, and shows how early the work commenced each morning, and how late it continued. P. C. The closing verse tells again how Nehemiah's immediate dependents divided work and watching, and adds to the picture the continuousness of their toil from the first gray of morning till darkness showed the stars and ended another day of toil. Happy they who thus "from morn till noon, from noon till dewy eve," labor in the work of the Lord! For them, every new morning will dawn with new strength, and every evening be calm with the consciousness of "something attempted, something done." A. M. The section is rich in analogies for spiritual things. As believers, we have an important building work to do, and we have to do it in the presence of spiritual enemies without and within. There are few Bible characters from whom the practical worker can get so many points as from Nehemiah. And, among other things, he is especially characterized by this: the more utterly he feels his dependence upon God ("our God shall fight for us," verse 20), the more carefully does he attend to every minute detail which may insure success. W. J. B. Cultivated, scientific man is fast becoming passionless intellect. Religion resides in the affections, imagination, emotions, conscience. These are to be utterly extirpated; and religion must wither away in its very roots before the positive philosophy. Yes; in many a tone the epigram is uttered that burns and stings. "What of these feeble Jews, these clerics and clerically minded laymen? Will they revive the stones which modern thought has overthrown or pulverized? Not to speak of the colossal strength of organized German science, the light brush of the fox of French criticism shall even break down their miserable walls of dogma!" Yet, for all that, God's people "have a mind to work." The Church will be repaired. One day God's summer light shall strike upon the topmost row. Christ, the Divine Healer, will own the work of restoration by miracles of love at the "sheep gate" and the "pool of Siloam." The wall shall stand, uncrumbled by the assaults of unbelief, unscathed by the fires of criticism, untouched by the tooth of time. The songs that were murmured in the night among the ruins by voices half choked with sobs shall be exchanged for hymns, wafted upward by the music of silver trumpets, and chanted by the long processions circling round the walls. No miracle is recorded of Nehemiah's restoration; and it is all the more precious for us. Yet how marvellous was the rapidity with which the renewal was accomplished. So with that other and greater work of building up God's temple of restored humanity from the ruins of the fall, wrought out between Good Friday and Whitsuntide. "The work was finished in fifty and two days." Give us a year for a day, and who shall say what God may have wrought? Yes; Nehemiah's journey in darkness and sorrow was not more different from the festal processions, sweeping on with light and song, when the visionary's dream among the moonlit ruins stood palpably in majestic stone, than the beginnings of our work here and now from the joy that waits us—perhaps even here—certainly in the city that is above. 'Tis a book where all spiritual restorers may have their names written. There is a work that does not end when the worker's weary hands are folded and the thinker's busy brain is still. The manifestation of the Spirit is given to each to profit others. Woman has her honored place in our restoration. Is it not written, "Shallum repaired, he and his daughters?" Sister, deaconess, district visitor, parish helper—all are wanted. Let it not be said of our men of intellectual culture, "Their nobles put not their neck to the work of the Lord." Thoughtful Christians, laymen especially, are called upon to grapple with social and economical questions, which are as urgent for us as the question of "the hundredth part" (or twelve per cent interest) was for Nehemiah's contemporaries—such as the Church's duty in relation to strikes and labor, to the organization of charity, to the temperance movement. Educated Christian men are specially needed to repair the part of the wall "over against their house." Some of them are required to adjust the boundary lines between science and faith; to show us that law is not a chain coiled round the living God, but rather a thread which He holds. Others are needed to quicken interest in theological thought by helping men to a more living knowledge of the Bible. Others should devote themselves to the centre of all Christian thought—the theology of the incarnation—the dogma enshrined in the transparent depths of the angel's word, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee; therefore also that Holy Thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." The age is impatient of miracle; it is patient of fact. To minds impatient of isolated miracles such a theology will show the central, unquestionable miracle, Jesus Himself—that is, one from the cradle to the grave, walking in a spotless purity, through all temptation wearing a conscience without a scar; treading the great deep of human life, and never wetting His feet with the spray; equally at home with saints in the glory of the Mount, and with men writhing in misery at its base; elect to wipe away the tears of humanity, to bear it undwarfed and undimmed to the heavenly places—yet to whom we can go when the shame burns in the cheek and the sweat stands upon the brow. Men will recognize in this a new humanity formed by a new contact with the creative power. The theology of the incarnation will prove itself by enabling men to understand what is otherwise a tangled mass of contradictions—the life and character of Jesus. To our age, which appeals to fact, such a theology will go on to unfold the fact of the spiritual life, of which faith tells us that its light is the written Word, its breath prayer, its food the [ineffably precious promises]. Away with the cant which would make theology destructive of the beauty of religion. As well assert that a knowledge of botany destroys the beauty of a flower. Listen not to those who speak of it as if it were like the bent grass fastened to its place, describing forever the same monotonous segments of circles, according to the wind. The words of the God Man have illimitable applications. Talk not of the obscurity of Christian dogma. If such there be, it is not the vulgar and deceitful obscurity of the fog; it is the glorious obscurity of the long, deep distances of the lustrous sky. Others, again, are wanted to teach the ignorant; to waft some notes of Gospel pardon and peace beyond their present limits; to tell metallic natures, as hard as the gold which their fingers clutch, that "it shall not profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his own soul." All the children of the Church are bound to show something in word or work of the beauty of Christ; to develop in themselves and others "the life of godliness, intellectual, devotional, practical," and so to "build up the wall of Jerusalem." One part of Jeremiah's prophecy has been fulfilled in Nehemiah's restoration. "Behold the days come that the city shall be built from the tower of Hananeel to the gate of the corner." The other sweeter and higher music shall not be lost forever. Not only shall the desolation and stagnation of some neglected parish; the sin and misery of some squalid alley, where men do the works of Satan, with a beast's heart or a devil's, pass away. The very type of leprosy; the very image of death and hell; the very spot where the carcasses rot, defiling God's earth; the very emblem of the obstinate clinging sin, that even the altar fires cannot purge away; the very fields whose name teaches that they are outside, Gareb and Goath and the rest shall be taken into the broadening circuit of the holy city. The joy that quivers faintly in the pages of Nehemiah throbs to the music of the Gospel. Faint chimes, struck before the time, and dying away upon the breeze, waken again and clash out upon the bells of the Apocalypse. The sealing of the covenant passes into the sealing of God's servants upon the forehead. The joy of which Nehemiah speaks is transformed into the higher joy, when all those who have worked for "the Jerusalem which now is" shall be gathered into "the Jerusalem which is above;" when after the deceits of time all builders and restorers—from apostles on—having cried on earth, "Remember me, O God, and spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy," shall enter into the joy of their Lord, and keep the Eternal Feast of Tabernacles in "Jerusalem the Golden." Bp. W. Alexander. 5:1 THEN there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren 2 the Jews. For there were that said, We, our sons and our daughters, are many: let us get 3 corn, that we may eat and live. Some also there were that said, We are mortgaging our 4 fields, and our vineyards, and our houses: let us get corn, because of the dearth. There 5 were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute upon our fields and our 6 vineyards. Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: 7 and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our 8 daughters are brought into bondage already: neither is it in our power to help it; for other 9 men have our fields and our vineyards. And I was very angry when I heard their cry and 10 these words. Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, 11 and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I held a great assembly 12 against them. And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the 13 Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and would ye even sell your brethren, and should 14 they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found never a word. Also I said, The 15 thing that ye do is not good: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God, because of the 16 reproach of the heathen our enemies? And I likewise, my brethren and my servants, do lend 17 them money and corn on usury. I pray you, let us leave off this usury. Restore, I pray 18 you, to them, even this day, their fields, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, 19 also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of 20 them. Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we 21 do, even as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should 22 do according to this promise. Also I shook out my lap, and said, So God shake out every 23 man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise; even thus be he 24 shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And 25 the people did according to this promise. Moreover from the time that I was appointed to 26 be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even unto the two and 27 thirtieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brethren have not eaten 28 the bread of the governor. But the former governors that were before me were chargeable 29 unto the people, and took of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even 30 their servants bare rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God. Yea, 31 also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants 32 were gathered thither unto the work. Moreover there were at my table of the Jews and the 33 rulers an hundred and fifty men, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that 34 were round about us. Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice 35 sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet 36 for all this I demanded not the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon 37 this people. Remember unto me, O my God, for good, all that I have done for this people. Chap. 5:1-13. A chapter on the poor and the rich. This has a theme peculiarly its own, unlike that of any other in the Bible—the mutual relations of the rich and poor, in a season of general scarcity. Here in Judea were dearth, suffering for bread and complaints of the poor against their richer brethren. The poor came to Nehemiah; “there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their Jewish brethren.” Some with large families could not fill so many mouths; some had mortgaged everything for bread; some had borrowed to pay state taxes; some had been obliged to sell sons and daughters into slavery, and had no means to redeem them because their lands too were gone for debt. And they could not tell this sad tale without suggesting that their children were of their own flesh and blood—as dear to them as sons and daughters were to their richer brethren who had been buying and selling their neighbors’ children. Nehemiah heard this with sorrow and indignation. He “was very angry when he heard their cry in these words." He thought the case over; he rebuked those rich men for their oppressive usury; he brought face to face before them the many who were suffering so cruelly under their oppressions. He thought proper to speak of his own case: We have done all we could to redeem our Jewish brethren from personal slavery to foreign slave-holders; but ye are enslaving your own brethren. They could say nothing in reply. He said: Ye bring on us the reproach of our enemies; this is a disgrace to our religion and to the God we worship. I pray you, restore to your brethren those lands, those enslaved children, and that exorbitant interest—"the hundredth part"—one per cent (payable monthly, we must presume—equal to twelve per cent per annum), which ye have charged, not for money loaned merely, but for corn—the necessaries of life. We may rejoice to see that they responded promptly—"We will restore, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest." But lest second thought should bring on the grip of covetousness again, Nehemiah called in the priests to administer the sacred oath that they should fulfil this promise. Also to add the force of his own noble heart, he shook his lap and said, "So God shake out every man from his house and from his labor" (all the fruits of it) "who performs not this promise." There was some public feeling there, for all the congregation cried, "Amen; and praised the Lord." H. C. The chief causes of poverty were three: (1) Overpopulation (verse 2); (2) a recent famine (verse 3); and (3) the weight of taxation, arising from the large amount annually demanded from the province by the Persians in the way of tribute (verse 4). The entire result was that the poorer classes were compelled, first of all, to mortgage their houses and such lands as they possessed (verse 3), and secondly to pledge the persons of their sons and daughters (verse 5), in order to raise money, with the near prospect of having to allow them to become slaves if they were unable to repay their creditor at the time appointed. Under these circumstances they appealed to the new governor for relief. The appeal placed him in a position of great difficulty. He was not rich enough to take upon himself the whole burden; and though he himself and his brothers and personal attendants did lend freely, out of their private store, money and grain (verse 10), yet this was far from being enough. On the other hand, it was impossible for him, under the Persian system of government, to carry matters with a high hand and order a general cancelling of debts. He could only have recourse to persuasion, argument and personal influence. He therefore, first of all, spoke to the "nobles," who were the money-lenders, rebuked them, and endeavored to induce them to desist from their malpractices (verse 7); but failing to produce in this way any considerable effect, he brought the matter before an assembly of the people. There he first shamed the nobles by alleging his own contrary example, and then called on them, "for the fear of God and because of the reproach of the heathen," to restore the forfeited lands and houses to their former owners, repay all that they had received in the way of interest on the money lent, and give up the entire practice of lending money upon pledge or mortgage (verses 7-11). Moved by this public appeal, the nobles intimated their consent, whereupon he made them clinch their promise by an oath (verse 12), adding on his own part a malediction if the oath were not observed, which was hailed with acclaim by the people. Thus the whole matter was brought to a happy conclusion—the promise made was kept—"the people"—i.e., the whole nation, nobles included, "did according to this word" (verse 13). P. C. "The people," we are told, "did according to this promise." The poor, who had been deprived of them, re-entered on their lands, their vineyards, their olive-yards and their houses. Whatever interest they had paid on the money which they had borrowed was repaid them; if any interest was owed doubtless it was remitted. We are not told expressly whether anything was done to relieve those who had pledged their persons, or the persons of their sons or daughters. But it is impossible to suppose that they did not share in the general remission of obligations. If the observance of the sabbatical year was not yet restored, it was on the point of restoration (Neh. 10: 31). Probably all who had served their masters six years as slaves were now allowed to go free, in accordance with Ex. 21: 2. The remainder were given to understand that they would not have to serve beyond the sexennial period. G. R. In an argument to show that the Agrarian law of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy could not have been an afterthought of these latest times, Milman says: "We cannot understand the promulgation of this law of landed property, with all these singular provisions, after the total dislocation and disorganization of that property during the kingdom and the Exile and after the return from the Exile." B. 7. The question was not what is allowable between man and man in transactions, but what was right, at a period of national distress, between members of the commonwealth of Israel. To exact usury of a brother or countryman was contrary to the express law of Moses; and it was quite at variance with the constitution which God had given to Israel, that the landed possessions of families should be wrested from them in their temporary depression, and that the soil of Palestine should be concentrated in the hands of a few hard-hearted usurers. D. F. 9. Also I said. To silence the nobles was not enough. To shame them was not enough. What was wanted was to persuade them. Nehemiah therefore continued his address. It is not good that ye do. It is not good in itself, apart from any contrast with what I have been doing. Ought ye not to walk—or, literally, “will ye not walk”—in the fear of our God? Will ye not really “fear God and keep His commandments,” not in the letter only, but in the spirit? Will ye not cease to oppress your brethren? Will ye not deal kindly and gently with them? Because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies. If the mere fear of God, the desire to escape His displeasure and win His approval, is not enough, will not the thought of the light in which you will appear to the heathen influence you? You make a profession of religion; you claim to be actuated by high motives; to be merciful, compassionate and self-denying. If they see you as keen after gain as any of themselves, as regardless of others, as pitiless and oppressive, what a reproach will not this bring on your religion! What a proof will it not seem to be that you are no better than your neighbors, and your religion, therefore, no whit superior to theirs! P. C.—Who can resist this sweet and sovereign reprehension? Did we dwell alone in the midst of the earth, yet the fear of our God should overawe our ways; but now that we dwell in the midst of our enemies, whose eyes are bent upon all our actions, whose tongues are as ready to blaspheme God as we to offend Him, how carefully should we avoid those sins which may draw shame upon our profession! Thus shall religion suffer more from the heathen than our brethren do from us. Bp. H. 12. Then they said, We will restore them. Nehemiah prevailed, and brought about a “day of sacrifices.” The nobles, one and all, agreed not only to give back the interest that they had illegally received on the corn and money borrowed of them, but to restore the forfeited lands and houses, which must have been of far greater value, and to which they were by law fully entitled. “We will restore them,” they said, “and will (in future) require nothing of them, neither interest nor security, but will do as thou sayest.” The promise was sweeping in its terms, and probably not insincere; but Nehemiah mistrusted all sudden impulses. He would have something more than a promise. Then called I the priests, and took an oath of them (the nobles), that they should do according to this promise—i.e., he swore the nobles, in the sacred presence of the priests, to the performance of the promise which they had made. 13. Also I shook my lap. Even the taking of the oath did not seem sufficient to the prudent governor. He would strengthen the oath by a malediction, and a malediction accompanied by a symbolical act, to render it the more impressive. Among the nations of antiquity few things were so much dreaded as falling under a curse. The maledictions of De. 28:16-44 were the supreme sanction which Moses devised for the Law, whereof he was the promulgator. Curses protected the tombs and inscriptions of the Assyrian and Persian kings, the contracts of the Babylonians, and the treaties of most nations. Nehemiah’s curse is an unusual one, but very clear and intelligible. He prays that whosoever departs from his promise given may be cast forth a homeless wanderer, emptied of all his possessions, as empty as the fold in his own dress, which he first gathers into a sort of bag or pocket, and then throws from him and so empties out. To this the assembly responded by a hearty “Amen,” and then praised the Lord for the happy ending of the whole affair; in which they piously traced the directing and overruling hand of God. P. C. A great practical reformation was here carried out by a religious ruler on the highest religious principles, and by the strength of religious character. No more difficult task than to deal successfully with such circumstances in which men’s selfish interests were involved, and the moneyed classes would be against reform. Selfishness is not confined to any class. Those, however, who from their circumstances have acquired most of intelligence and culture, and have most power individually, may be expected to show a tender consideration for the feelings of the poor; they will be concerned for their elevation, improvement and salvation; they will not use their advantages selfishly or hardly (even though legally); they will not feel quite content to swell their own fortunes by giving helpless people starvation wages, or lending money at rates ruinous to the borrower, merely because the law of "supply and demand" justifies them; their power will be used to rebuke, restrain and remedy oppression; to protect and aid the weak; to soften the inequalities of life by kindness and thoughtful charity; and, generally, to bless others rather than aggrandize themselves. In thus acting they will obey the dictates of prudence as well as those of Christianity, and will aid in uniting society by bonds which the strain of the most calamitous times will not burst asunder. 14-19. Nehemiah not unnaturally goes on to inform us of the methods by which in his general government he endeavored to alleviate the distress, or at any rate to avoid adding to the burdens which pressed upon the poorer classes. From the time that he entered upon his office, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, n.c. 444, to the time of his writing this portion of his Book, in the thirty-second year of the same king, n.c. 432, he had lived entirely at his own expense, requiring no contributions from the people, either in provisions or money, for the support of himself or his court (verse 14). This was quite contrary to the previous practice of Jewish governors (verse 15), and indeed of Oriental governors generally, whether under the Persian system or any other, such persons almost universally taxing their provinces, sometimes very heavily, for their current expenses, and often accumulating princely fortunes by their exactions. Nehemiah had also maintained a noble hospitality, of which he may be excused for being a little proud; during these twelve years of his governorship, entertaining daily at his table one hundred and fifty of the chief inhabitants of Jerusalem, besides many foreign Jews who from time to time came on visits to the Judean capital (verses 17, 18). He takes credit, further, for giving the services of his private attendants to the work of the wall during the whole time that it was in building (verse 16), and for having abstained from the purchase of any land, when, through the general poverty, it might have been bought at a low price from those who were anxious to part with it. He felt that he had done much for his people. He looked, however, for his reward not to them, not to man, but to God; and desired that his reward should be not present gratitude and thanks, but God's approval and remembrance only (verse 19). "Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done for this people." P. C. He shows us what wealth can do when wealth is consecrated to the service of God. His life rebukes the men who shut themselves up in their own selfish money-getting or money-hoarding, and never manifest any public spirit on behalf either of their country or the Church of God. He shows us, too, what may be done in a community by even one man of practical sagacity and energetic zeal—how such a man can stir up others by his example and his influence, and can carry out his plans for the common good, in spite of enemies without and croakers within. Let us then take a practical lesson from this patriot and reformer of the olden time. Let us not shut ourselves up in our own individual and domestic interests. Let us extend our sympathies and efforts and see what we can do according to the special needs of our own time to serve God and man in our day and generation. T. Finlayson. 15. So did not I, because of the fear of God.** How, in this example, is afresh delineated the essence and the value of that upright fear of God, which has the premise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come! In Nehemiah the fear of God has become, in the fullest sense of the term, a life-principle, which not merely incites to all that is good and noble, but also restrains from much, which every one else would certainly have permitted himself. How all-powerful is a principle which can place itself as a wall between the man and every forbidden tree, and make him draw back, for God's sake, when everything calls to him, "Hold fast!" The fear of God makes Nehemiah not merely look to himself, but in the midst of resistance and misjudgment watch and care for others with a fidelity which has never been surpassed. Only read how much good this one man accomplished for thousands around him; see him incite the languid, part disputants, disperse foes, only and at all times for God's sake; and say if the world would be a loser if the life-principle of Nehemiah were more generally adopted. How much better would be our age, our land, our society, if men of such principles, characters like these, were more to be met with in every circle! Many good deeds are done, but how much from self-interest; many evil things are refrained from, but how much from fear of man, or from want of opportunity! How few have the courage, like Nehemiah, to call sin, sin; and to be afraid of nothing but the displeasure of God! Van O. The loftiest motive may regulate the smallest duties. Religious principle, as we call it in our abstract way, or "the fear of God," as Nehemiah called it, may interpenetrate, will interpenetrate and run through all life, and find a field for its noblest exercise in the midst of commonplace and secular duties! Wherever that principle is strong and vigorous, a man will have to make up his mind to sturdy non-compliance, to dare to be singular, to be unlike the maxims and examples of the people round about him, and every good man will have to make up his mind to give up a great many sources of gain and profit and pleasure and advantage for no more tangible reason than because a more sensitive conscience makes that which other men can do without winking, if I may so say, a crime intolerable to him. You cannot resist the evil around you unless you give yourselves to God. "So did not I, because of the fear of God." The fear of God in the Old Testament corresponds precisely to the more fully developed faith and love to Christ, who is the express image of the Divine person and the communicator to us of the Divine strength, upon whom we have to cast ourselves! God in Christ, trusted in, loved, reverenced, obeyed, imitated—God in Christ alone strengthens a man for this resistance and non-compliance! No man can stand in the slippery places where we have to go, unless he have the grasp of a higher and stronger hand to keep him up. No man will ever for a lifetime resist and repel the domination of evil unless he is girded about with the purity of Jesus Christ, as an atmosphere in which all poisonous things fade and die, and through which no temptation can force its way. The only means for this steadfast resistance is a steadfast faith in Jesus as our Saviour. He has assured us that He will give us the victory. "Yea, he shall be holden up, for God is able to make him stand." In the strength of this promise I have the right to come to the feeblest here and say, "However you may be encompassed by evil, however you may be drawn aside by evil example and harming associations, however difficult to may be for you to keep your footing in the midst of the rush and swirl of that great tide of sin, here is a hand that you may grasp, and His grasp will make you strong." Nothing will go right unless you dare to be singular. "So did not I." The chief field for the exercise of this resolute non-compliance with common practice is in the region of moral action in the daily conduct of your lives. 1. He who yields is wrecked and ruined. The absolute necessity for this sturdy resistance is plain from the very make of our own natures. It is enforced if we think of the order of things in which we dwell. It is chiefly enforced by the fact that every one of us is thrown more or less closely into contact with people who themselves are living as they should not, and who would fain drag us after them. 2. Remember that not only does easy yielding to such enticements bring all sorts of moral confusion and failure into a man's life, but that such compliance is in itself weak and unworthy. Surely there is nothing that walks the earth more contemptible, as well as more certainly evil, than a man that lets himself be made by whatever force may happen to be strongest near him, and fastening up his helm and unshipping his oars, is content to be blown about by every vagrant wind and rolled in the trough of each curling wave. 3. Another very solemn consideration may be suggested, enforcing the need of this vigorous non-compliance with the temptations around us, from the remembrance of what a poor excuse for wrong-doing they will be found to be at last. For us all, in every period of life, the necessity is the same. We must learn to say "No." We must dare, if need be, to be singular. Like the young Joseph, when you are tempted astray by seducing voices, let your answer be, "How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?" Like the young Daniel, when forbidden pleasures and questionable delights are urged upon your appetites, be "purposed in" your "heart that" you "will not defile" yourself with them, and choose pulse and water with the relish of a good conscience rather than such dainties. Like the same Daniel, when the crowd are flocking at the sound of the sackbut and psaltery to worship some golden image, keep your knees unbent amid the madness, learn to stand erect though you alone are upright in the midst of a grovelling multitude, and protest, "We will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up." Like Nehemiah, dare to lose money rather than adopt sources of profit which others may use without a thought, but which your conscience shrinks from; and to all the various enticements of pleasure and gain and ease and popular loose maxims for the conduct, oppose immovable resistance founded on a higher law and a mightier motive—"So did not I, because of the fear of God." A. M. 19. Lastly, he concludes with a prayer, Think upon me, my God, for good. Nehemiah here mentions what he had done for this people, not in pride, as boasting of himself, nor in passion, as upbraiding them, not does it appear that he had occasion to do it in his own vindication, as Paul had to relate his like self-denying tenderness toward the Corinthians, but to shame the rulers out of their oppressions; let them learn of him to be neither greedy in their demands nor paltry in their expenses, and then they would have the credit and comfort of it, as he had. He mentions it to God in prayer, not as if he thought he had hereby merited any favor from God as a debt, but to show that he looked not for any recompense of his generosity from men, but depended upon God only to make up to him what he had lost and laid out for His honor; and he reckoned the favor of God reward enough. "If God do but think upon me for good, I have enough." His thoughts to usward are our happiness (Ps. 40 : 5). He refers himself to God, to recompense him in such a manner as He pleased. "If men forget me, let my God think on me, and I desire no more." H. Study this character thoroughly as we may, the more it is studied this fact will stand forth in the bolder relief, that its actuating ruling force is a principled fear of God. Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of faith. Recognizing God as the God of heaven, as ruling in and concerned with the affairs of men, as the great and just God, yet the God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love Him and observe His Commandments, he trusted alone in Him. He believed that God was able to move the hearts of king and of people—able to thwart the designs and efforts of combined enemies, however subtle, numerous or powerful—able to succeed any right purpose of whatever magnitude, though conceived and undertaken by a single feeble man. And his faith was proven by his deeds, proven as well as rewarded by his success in a work so vast. Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of prayer. Recognizing God as over and in all events, believing that God could and would counsel and direct in every plan wisely conceived and singly, faithfully engaged in, that God could and would ensure the execution of such plan in its least details, with the simplest, most childlike utterance, at every step, in every juncture in which he was placed, we see him praying to the God he feared and trusted. Nowhere, in the Bible history, do we see the God-fearing spirit illustrated by greater simplicity and minuteness in supplication. Before he sought the king—in the king's presence—when he left that presence, on his journey and arrival at Jerusalem, and daily onward in doing his good work, repeated expressions assure us that he lived and acted in the closest communion with God, pouring out his very heart in constant prayer. Because of this principled fear of God, he was a man of action. The spirit that believed and prayed did not passively wait to see done by miracle what he knew God could do by him. Never was the impelling force of faith, never was the inspiring energy of heart-moved living prayer more effectively illustrated than in the intense, unwearied activity of this man in singly achieving that which devotion and patriotism had prompted him to undertake. A people long demoralized by anarchy among themselves and the tyranny of their neighbor heathen nations had to be reorganized and re-inspirited. Their long-dormant patriotism and piety had to be awakened. Courage and energy had to be infused into their depressed and slothful spirits. And these qualities had to be kept alive for weeks under the most adverse circumstances of temptation and trial, through days of severest toil and nights of sleepless vigilance, amid the taunts, the wiles and the threats of foes gathered on every side. Yet the energy of this man of faith and prayer was equal to this work; it slacked not till the work was done, till the city was rebuilt, the government restored, and the people delivered from suffering and oppression from within and without. A yet further effect of his principled fear of God was his patriotism, his just love of his own people and land. There is a love of country based upon the mere fact of birth and the feeling of personal partnership in national blessings and national glory—a love created in part by self-interest, fostered and perpetuated by the memory of a people's past deeds and associations and the promise or possibility of their future achievements. This love, which belongs mainly to elevated minds, which, as all history shows, outlives a nation's prosperity, this love is worthy of, it has always won, high admiration of men. But when there enters into this the idea that nations as individuals exist by God's appointment, for His glory in man's welfare, when in a particular nation's history there are visible tokens of God's especial favor, indications that He has designed such nation to be His agent for peculiar blessing to men, then the soul that recognizes, fears and trusts God finds in these tokens and indications a yet broader, firmer foundation for love of country—the quality of his love is higher and more just. The narrative of Nehemiah shows that such was his love, that it had such a broad, firm basis. He loved his people and land because they were his, because of the distinguished and useful history they had wrought. But he loved chiefly because he recognized God as having shaped this history, as having established the nation and ordered its career for good to itself and other nations, and in, over all, for His own glory upon earth. Therefore, because he believed that God had a work still to be accomplished by his people, because he believed that God had not turned away His favor utterly from them, because he believed that there were in God's heart thoughts of mercy toward his scattered, broken people, therefore his strong love incited and constrained him to pray and labor for their peace and prosperity. B. OPPOSITION BY CRAFT AND INTIMIDATION. WALL COMPLETED. HANANI PUT IN CHARGE. SECOND REGISTER OF RETURNED JEWS. 6 : 1 Now it came to pass, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem the Arabian, and unto the rest of our enemies, that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein ; (though even unto that time I had not set up the doors in the gates ;) that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down : why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? And they sent unto me four times after this sort ; and I answered them after the same manner. Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand ; wherein was written, It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel ; for which cause thou buildest the wall : and thou wouldest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah : and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. For they all would have made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. But now, O God, strengthen thou my hands. And I went unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up ; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple : for they will come to slay thee ; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. And I discerned, and, lo, God had not sent him : but he pronounced this prophecy against me : and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this cause was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof, that all the heathen that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes : for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shecaniah the son of Arah ; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah to wife. Also they spake of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear. 7 : 1 Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the 2 porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, that I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the governor of the castle, charge over Jerusalem : for he was a faithful man, and 3 feared God above many. And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot ; and while they stand on guard, let them shut the doors, and bar ye them : and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and 4 every one to be over against his house. Now the city was wide and large : but the people 5 were few therein, and the houses were not builded. And my God put into my heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found the book of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and I found written therein : Verses 6-73 omitted because nearly identical with Ezra 2 : 1-70. Points of variation noted in place. 6 : 1-19. Secret proceedings of Sanballat and his friends to hinder the building of the wall, and their failure. The wall completed. 6 : 1-9. When it was found that Nehemiah's arrangements for guarding the wall (chap. 4 : 13-23) were such that success was not likely to attend the employment of force by the confederates, and the idea of an assault was therefore given up, recourse was had to artifice and intrigue. First of all, Sanballat sent to propose a meeting between himself, Geshem and Nehemiah in the open country about Ono, twenty-five or thirty miles from Jerusalem, hoping thus to draw him to a distance from his supporters, and intending to "do him a mischief" (verse 2). Nehemiah, who perceived the snare, declined ; but Sanballat persisted, and made four other proposals for conferences, probably varying the place, but all without avail. On the fifth and last occasion the letter sent to Nehemiah was an open one, and taxed him with an intention to rebel and make himself king, an intention which was sure to come to the ears of Artaxerxes, and would bring the Jews into trouble. Nehemiah, however, was not to be intimidated or diverted from his purpose. He protested that the charge made against him was a pure calumny, invented by Sanballat himself, and still declined a conference (verse 8). Hereupon intrigues began between Sanballat and Tobiah, on the one hand, and some of Nehemiah's subjects, on the other. P. C. Sanballat and his friends offer a good text from which to preach a sermon on the successive stages in which a feeling of opposition to God's work develops itself. When Nehemiah came to attempt something for Israel, they disliked it exceedingly. When it was decided to build, they mocked and slandered the builders (2 : 19). When the work was actually begun, they ridiculed it without measure (4 : 1-3). When it had reached a decided stage of progress, they made serious fight against it (4 : 8). After they failed in this, they continued to work against it by treachery and intrigue (Neh. 6). W. J. B. 3. "The God of heaven, He will prosper us ; therefore we His servants will arise and build," was the sentiment with which he girded himself to his task ; and it was in this mighty confidence that he prosecuted the work, undismayed by threats, unembarrassed by plots, in nowise disheartened by difficulties or disappointments. His noble steadfastness of resolution was manifest throughout his career. He had counted the cost, he had made up his mind ; his decision was unwavering, and he carried it out with unfaltering energy. There is a surpassing moral grandeur in the reply which he sent to Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of his enemies, when they said to him, "Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono." He transmitted to them this magnanimous message, "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down ; why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?" It needs only that you should study his history, to perceive how this sublime determination of spirit pervaded the whole of his course. Whatever his hand found to do, he did it with his might ; whatever he resolved to win, he never ceased till he had won it ; whatever he determined to encounter, he never failed to overcome Stowell. It is a poor eye that does not see something greater than pleasure in the horizon of life. Conscience, duty, righteousness are far loftier things than success, prosperity, pleasure. He who keeps his eye steadily on the prize of his high calling will not easily be seduced by the siren sisters and their enchanting music. It was a splendid answer Nehemiah gave to Sanballat and his people when they would have had him meet them in the plain of Ono: "I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down." Let us ever keep in mind the great work of the Christian life, and refuse every solicitation from within as well as from without that would make us let it alone, or be slack in performing it. Enjoyment will come to us in the very act of fulfilling the purpose of life; and when, as is quite legitimate, we "drink of the brook by the way," the effect will not be to enfeeble and paralyze us, but to brace us for more activity and bring to us the greater success. W. G. B. 6. Sanballat's servant comes now, the fifth time, with an opened letter importing dangerous intimations, wherein is written, "It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that the Jews think to rebel; for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king." "It is reported:" and what falsehood may not plead this warrant? What can be more lying than report? "Among the heathen:" and who is more ethnic than Sanballat? What pagan can be worse than a mongrel idolater? "And Gashmu saith it:" "Ask my fellow else." This Arabian was one of those three heads of all the hostile combination against Jerusalem, against Nehemiah. It would be wide with innocence if enemies might be allowed to accuse. "That the Jews think to rebel:" a stale suggestion, but once powerful. Malice hath learned to miscall all actions. Where the hands cannot be taxed, very thoughts are prejudged: "For which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king." He was never true Israelite, that hath not passed spiteful slanders and misconstructions. Bp. II. 8,9. They were, no doubt, prepared for his indignant reply to Sanballat—"There are no such things done as thou sayest; but thou feignest them out of thine own heart" (verse 8). But they calculated that the charge which they had made in an open letter would be bruited abroad, would alarm many of Nehemiah's own adherents, would "weaken his hands" (verse 9), perhaps shake his resolution, and, above all, would raise suspicions with respect to his fidelity in the breast of the Great King. G. R. 9. In the midst of his complaint of their malice, in endeavoring to frighten him, and so weaken his hands, he lifts up his heart to heaven in this short prayer, Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. It is the great support and relief of good people, that in all their straits and difficulties they have a good God to go to, from whom, by faith and prayer, they may fetch in grace to silence their fears and strengthen their hands, when their enemies are endeavoring to fill them with fears and weaken their hands. When, in our Christian work and warfare, we are entering upon any particular services or conflicts, this is a good prayer for us to put up, "I have such a duty to do, such a temptation to grapple with; now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." Christian fortitude will be sharpened by opposition. Every temptation to draw us from our duty should quicken us so much the more to duty and to prayer. H. 10-13. They next resolved to work upon his fears by the instrumentality of his own professed and seeming friends. There was a certain Shemaiah, who claimed to be a Jehovistic prophet, and was allied with other members of the prophetic order, and particularly with a prophetess of repute named Noadiah (verse 14). Sanballat and Tobiah bribed this person (verse 12), and induced him to become their tool and instrument. They bade him assure Nehemiah that a plot existed to assassinate him, and deliver him a solemn message, as from God, that there was one way only by which he could save his life—he must withdraw himself from the work in which he was engaged and secretly take refuge in the Temple building, where alone he could be safe. Shemaiah was probably a priest, and therefore had access to the sacred edifice—he proposed to meet Nehemiah there (verse 10), and suggested that they should close the doors against intruders, and remain in hiding till the danger was past. Noadiah and the other soi-disant prophets made similar representations (verse 14). But again Nehemiah's constancy and courage withstood the strain to which they were put. Plot or no plot, he would not take the course recommended; he felt that it would be unworthy of him. "Should such a man," he said, "as I flee?" (verse 11). Can I, the governor, the head of the state, to whom all look for direction, take to flight, leave my post, hide myself? Assuredly not—not even to save my life. And would my life be saved, if I followed the advice tendered me? Would it not rather be forfeited? "Who is there, that, being as I" (i.e., a layman), "would go into the Temple to save his life?" or, "could go into the Temple and live?" Any "stranger," not of the seed of Aaron, who entered the sanctuary, was by the Law (Num. 18: 7) to be put to death. Thus once more Nehemiah, trusting little to advisers, but much to his own sense of right, by following the plain path of duty avoided the trap set for him. G. R. Shemaiah's real design appears to have been not only to disgrace Nehemiah and dishearten the people, when they saw the cowardice of their governor (verse 13), but also to prepare the way for an assault of the enemy on the city when there was no leader to oppose them. Stackhouse.—His design was not to serve but to ensnare Nehemiah; to shake his strong confidence in the protection of God, and beguile him into doubtful and dastardly expedients; that so the hands of the workmen might be weakened in their work, and the enemies of Israel have occasion to reproach the leader of the people, as having been entangled like a bird in the snare of the fowler. But holy courage has always heavenly wisdom for her companion. Nehemiah, therefore, penetrating the hypocrisy of the tempter, and lending no fond ear to the whispers of a faithless expediency, answered with sublime serenity, "Should such a man as I flee? and who is there that, being as I am, would go into the Temple to save his life? I will not go in." Stowell. And what if Nehemiah had hearkened to this counsel? Sin and shame had followed. That holy place was for none but persons sacred—such as were privileged by blood and function; others should presume and offend in entering. And now what would the people say? "What shall become of us while our governor hides his head for fear? Where shall we find a temple to secure us? What do we depending upon a cowardly leader?" Well did Nehemiah forecast these circumstances, both of act and event; and therefore, resolving to distrust a prophet that persuaded him to the violation of a law, he rejects the motion with scorn: "Should such a man as I flee? Should I go into the Temple to save my life? I will not go." Bp. II. Nehemiah was engaged in a great work; his God was with him and gave him success; friends and enemies united against him; by base insinuation, craft and stratagem they strove to dishearten and deter him from going on with God's work. Opposition is the Christian's lot; courage his honor; perseverance his jewel. Look at this man of God: he boldly repels all fear. Instead of fleeing from his work as advised, he flees to his God, and cries, "O God, strengthen my hands" (verse 9). Faith inspires prayer; prayer brings courage to the heart; then he boldly demands, Should such a man as I flee? A man so greatly favored, so highly honored as to be employed by God to work for Him? No; I disdain such mean cowardice; I will work on; it is God's cause; let Him order the event; I fear it not. Christian, your calling is to work for God; expect opposition from within and without. This may call up fear and dismay; but consider your dignity; maintain and assert it. "Should such a man as I flee?" A man called by the grace of Jesus to resist the devil, to face carnal men, to vanquish sin, to overcome the world, to obtain victory over death and to receive a crown of righteousness in endless glory—shall I flee? What, I who am called to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus? O my soul, put on Christ and put off fear; put up prayer and put down dread! W. Mason. 14. He does not revengefully imprecate any particular judgment upon his enemies, but refers the matter to God. "Thou knowest their hearts, and art the avenger of falsehood and wrong; take cognizance of this cause, judge between me and them, and take what way and time Thou pleasest to call them to an account for it." Whatever injuries are done us, we must not avenge ourselves, but commit our cause to Him that judgeth righteously. H. 15. Nehemiah's vigilance anticipated every difficulty, his prudent measures defeated every obstruction, and with astonishing rapidity Jerusalem was made again "a city fortified." Jamieson.—The work on the city walls was at length finished joyfully, having occupied fifty-two days—pushed with untiring diligence and the energy of a noble enthusiasm. We shall meet a somewhat extended account of the joyous dedication of these walls below (chap. 12: 27-43). H. C. Fifty-two days from July 25th would bring him to September 15th, which corresponds, as nearly as may be, to the 25th of Elul. There is no difficulty in supposing that the wall could have been repaired in this space. The materials were ready at hand; the working parties were numerous; the workmen full of zeal. If we estimate the circumference of the wall at four miles, which is probably beyond the truth, and the working parties at forty-two (Ewald), it will follow that each party had, on the average, to repair one hundred and eighty-six yards, or at the rate of between three and four yards a day. There was probably no work done on the Sabbaths, and there may have been one or two days of interruption, when attack seemed imminent (chap. 4: 13-15); but otherwise the work was carried on without pause from early dawn to dark. P. C. Nehemiah's narrative is thoroughly consistent with itself, and contains in it nothing that is improbable. He represents the walls as everywhere existing at the time that he commenced his task, and as only needing repairs. He states that the work was partitioned among at least thirty-seven working parties, who labored simultaneously. He shows that the material for repairs was ready at hand in the débris of the walls which lay at their base (2:14; 4:2). He explains how, notwithstanding all menaces, the workmen labored uninterruptedly. There can be no doubt that a dismantled fortress as large as Jerusalem—i.e., less than four miles in circumference, has often been put into a state of defence in a shorter time than fifty-two days. 16. They perceived that this work was wrought of our God. The hand of God was traceable (1) in the favorable disposition of Artaxerxes toward a work on which he might naturally have looked with jealousy (see chap. 1:11; 2:4); and (2) in the failure of all attempts to intimidate or deceive Nehemiah. B. C. 17. During all this time, Nehemiah adds, the stratagems of our professed enemies were not so dangerous as the treachery and baseness of many of our own citizens. Some of these having married into Tobiah's family (chap. 13:4-9), espoused his interests both secretly and openly, and informed him of all we said and did; so that well might that haughty heathen threaten me with his letters when he knew there were people within our own walls who would second him in all his designs. Pyle. 7:1-69. The entire work being at length accomplished, it devolved upon him to make the necessary arrangements for the security of what had now become a first-rate fortress. Accordingly, he seems himself to have assigned the guard of the gates to certain bodies of Levites (verse 1), as being experienced in the business of keeping watch; after which he committed the task of appointing other guards to his brother Hanani and to a certain Hananiah, already the commandant of the Birah, or Temple tower (verse 2). They devised a system by which the adult male inhabitants were made to partition the watch of the wall among themselves, each on the part which was nearest to his own house (verse 3). At the same time, it was ordered, for greater precaution, that all the gates should be closed at night, and none of them opened "until the sun was hot" (ibid.)—i.e., until some hours after sunrise. The city was thus made as secure as the circumstances admitted; but in the course of the arrangements it became clear, at any rate to Nehemiah, that the population of the city was too scanty for its size (verse 4), and that some steps ought to be taken to augment the number of inhabitants. As a first step, a necessary preliminary before he could lay any definite proposal before the "rulers," the governor thought it necessary to make a census of the entire people (verse 5). It seems to have been in the course of his preparations for this purpose that he "found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first." The list in verses 7-69 has been regarded as the result of his own census; but it would seem to be most probable that we have the actual result of Nehemiah's census, so far as he thought fit to give it to us, in chap. 11:3-36. P. C. 1-3. No sooner were the walls finished, the gate-towers completed and the gates hung in them, than he proceeded to create an organization for the continual defence of the gates and walls by a guard or garrison. To the Levites generally, together with the Temple porters and singers, the special duty of keeping watch and ward continually was assigned (Neh. 7:1); and further, the citizens were required to organize a civil guard, which should come on duty at nightfall, should see the town-gates shut and barred, watch the walls over against their houses, and in the morning see that the gates were not opened too early. In the East it is usual to make sunrise the time for opening; Nehemiah required that the gates of Jerusalem should be kept shut "till the sun was hot" (ibid., verse 3)—i.e., till eight or nine o'clock. This was an extraordinary precaution, intended probably to meet attempts at surprise on the part of Sanballat and his friends, who were regarded as capable of any act, however treacherous, which might seem likely to serve their purpose. Finally, that there might be persons whose duty it should be to see that the system of defence thus inaugurated should be constantly kept up, and not allowed to fall into desuetude, Nehemiah appointed two military commandants to take charge of the town. These were his brother Hanani, who had returned from Susa (Neh. 1:1, 2) to Jerusalem, and a certain Hananiah—"a faithful man, and one who feared God above many" (7:2), who had hitherto been governor of the fortress. G. R. 4-73. This genealogical table of the first company of returning Jews (substantially the same as in Ezra 2) may be brought out here in connection with measures for filling up the city—its population being entirely too sparse for the best interest of the entire colony. We shall see more on this subject in chaps, 11 and 12. H. C.—The increase of the population of the city was a matter of pressing importance; for the ample space within the walls was very sparsely occupied with houses, and thinly inhabited. Before resolving, however, on the steps to be taken, it occurred to Nehemiah (and he regarded the suggestion as from God) to call a general assembly, that he might make a census of the population, as a basis for further measures. The result does not appear until chap. 11. P. C. 5. My God put into mine heart.** As Nehemiah contemplated the vast empty spaces within the city walls, and considered with himself how they might best be peopled, the thought came to him—and he hailed it as a Divine inspiration—that by taking a census of the people he might pave the way for some transfer of the inhabitants of the country districts into the capital, which would at any rate strengthen the latter, and lessen the desolate appearance of its streets and squares, which had so pained him. The census would show what proportion the country and town populations bore to each other, and would point out which were the places in the country districts that could best afford to lose a portion of their inhabitants. A census therefore was resolved upon, and, according to ordinary Jewish usage (Num. 1: 17–47; 1 Chron. 21: 5, 6; Ezra 2: 3–62), it was genealogical. 6–73. The register of those who returned under Zerubbabel, with the number of their slaves, beasts and oblations. It is no doubt a curious circumstance that this list should occur twice, with no important differences, in the two books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The double record enables us to make out a more perfect catalogue than we could have obtained from either separately, since there are corruptions in each which may be corrected by means of the other. P. C.—This section is identical with Ezra 2: 1–3: 1, word for word, and letter for letter, except in two points—viz., the numbers repeatedly vary; and there is a difference in the account of the offerings made by the governor, the nobles and the people. The heading, the contents, the narrative about the sons of Barzillai, the fact of the offerings, the dwelling in their cities, the coming of the seventh month, the gathering of all the people to Jerusalem as one man, are in words and in sense the very self-same passage. The idea that the very same words, extending to seventy verses, describe different events, is simply absurd and irrational. The numbers, therefore, must originally have been the same in both books. But when we examine the varying numbers, we see the following particular proofs that the variations are corruptions of the original text. Though the items vary, the sum total, 42,360, is the same (Ezra 2: 64; Neh. 7: 66). In like manner the totals of the servants, the singing men and women, the horses, mules and asses, are all the same, except that Ezra has two hundred instead of two hundred and forty-five singing men and women. The numbers of the priests and the Levites are the same in both, except that the singers, the sons of Asaph, are one hundred and twenty-eight in Ezra, against one hundred and forty-eight in Nehemiah, and the porters one hundred and thirty-nine against one hundred and thirty-eight. Then in each particular case, when the numbers differ, we see plainly that the difference might arise from a copyist's error. Dic. B. Bishop Kennicott's theory, that the three lists—that of Ezra, that of Nehemiah, and that in the first of Esdras—had all one original, and that the existing differences proceed entirely from mistakes of the copyists, is the only tenable one. It is especially remarkable that the differences in the numbers of the three lists consist chiefly in a single unit, a single ten, or a single hundred—or in a five; less often in two units, or two tens, or two hundreds, or in a six—differences probably arising from the obliteration of one or two signs in a notation resembling the Roman or the Egyptian, where there are special signs for a thousand, a hundred, ten, five, and the unit, complex numbers being expressed by repetition of these, as 3438 in Latin inscriptions by MMMCCCCXXXVIII. Any fading of a sign in such a notation as this causes a copyist to diminish the amount by one, five, ten, a hundred, a thousand, etc. A fading of two signs may produce a diminution of two thousand, two hundred, twenty, two; or again of eleven hundred, one hundred and ten, one hundred and five, fifteen, eleven, six, and the like. P. C. 7 : 73 AND when the seventh month was come, the children of Israel were in their cities. 8 : 1 And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the broad place that was before the water gate ; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the broad place that was before the water gate from early morning until midday, in the presence of the men and the women, and of those that could understand ; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose ; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Uriah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand ; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchijah, and Hashum, and Hashbaddanah, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people ; (for he was above all the people ;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up ; and Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with the lifting up of their hands ; and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground. Also Jeshua, and Bani, and Sherebiah, Jamin, Akkub, Shabbethai, Hodiah, Maaseiah, Kelita, Azariah, Jozabad, Hanan, Pelaiah, and the Levites, caused the people to understand the law ; and the people stood in their place. And they read in the book, in the law of God, distinctly ; and they gave the sense, so that they understood the reading. And Nehemiah, which was the Theshatta, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God ; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto him for whom nothing is prepared ; for this day is holy unto our Lord ; neither be ye grieved ; for the joy of the LORD is your strength. So the Levites stilled all the people, saying, Hold your peace, for the day is holy ; neither be ye grieved. And all the people went their way to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them. And on the second day were gathered together the heads of fathers' houses of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to give attention to the words of the law. And they found written in the law, how that the LORD had commanded by Moses, that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month ; and that they should publish and proclaim in all their cities, and in Jerusalem, saying, Go forth unto the mount, and fetch olive branches, and branches of wild olive, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and branches of thick trees, to make booths, as it is written. So the people went forth, and brought them, and made themselves booths, every one upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of the house of God, and in the broad place of the water gate, and in the broad place of the gate of Ephraim. And all the congregation of them that were come again out of the captivity made booths, and dwelt in the booths ; for since the days of Jeshua the son of Nun unto that day had not the children of Israel done so. And there was very great gladness. Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days ; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the ordinance. 9 : 1 Now in the twenty and fourth day of this month the children of Israel were assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth, and earth upon them. And the seed of Israel separated themselves from all strangers, and stood and confessed their sins, and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place, and read in the book of the law of the LORD their God a fourth part of the day ; and another fourth part they confessed, and worshipped the LORD their God. Then stood up upon the stairs of the Levites, Jeshua, and Bani, and Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani, and cried with a loud voice unto the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, and Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hediiah, Shebaniah, and Pethaiah, said, Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting ; and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise. Thou art the LORD, even thou alone ; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all ; and the host of heaven worshipped thee. Thou art the LORD the God, who didst choose Abram, and broughtest him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees, and gavest him the name of Abraham ; and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite, and the Girgashite, even to give it unto his seed, and hast performed thy words ; for thou art righteous. And thou sawest the affliction 10 of our fathers in Egypt, and heardest their cry by the Red Sea; and shewedst signs and wonders upon Pharaoh, and on all his servants, and on all the people of his land; for thou knewest that they dealt proudly against them; and didst get thee a name, as it is this day. 11 And thou didst divide the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on the dry land; and their pursuers thou didst cast into the depths, as a stone into the 12 mighty waters. Moreover thou leddest them in a pillar of cloud by day; and in a pillar of 13 fire by night, to give them light in the way wherein they should go. Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spake with them from heaven, and gavest them right judge- 14 ments and true laws, good statutes and commandments; and madest known unto them thy holy sabbath, and commandedest them commandments, and statutes, and a law, by the hand 15 of Moses thy servant: and gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and commandedest them that they should 16 go in to possess the land which thou hadst lifted up thine hand to give them. But they and our fathers dealt proudly, and hardened their neck, and hearkened not to thy command- 17 ments, and refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their neck, and in their rebellion appointed a captain to return to their bondage; but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and full of compassion, slow to 18 anger, and plenteous in mercy, and forsookest them not. Yea, when they had made them a molten calf, and said, This is thy God that brought thee up out of Egypt, and had wrought 19 great provocations; yet thou in thy manifold mercies forsookest them not in the wilderness; the pillar of cloud departed not from over them by day, to lead them in the way; neither 20 the pillar of fire by night, to shew them light, and the way wherein they should go. Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their 21 mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst. Yea, forty years didst thou sustain them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing; their clothes waxed not old, and their feet swelled 22 not. Moreover thou gavest them kingdoms and peoples, which thou didst allot after their portions; so they possessed the land of Sithon, even the land of the king of Heshbon, and 23 the land of Og king of Bashan. Their children also multipliedst thou as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them into the land, concerning which thou didst say to their fathers, that 24 they should go in to possess it. So the children went in and possessed the land, and thou subduedst before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gavest them into their hands, with their kings, and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they 25 would. And they took fenced cities, and a fat land, and possessed houses full of all good things, cisterns hewn out, vineyards, and oliveyards, and fruit trees in abundance; so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. 26 Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their back, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them again unto thee, and 27 they wrought great provocations. Therefore thou deliveredst them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them; and in the time of their trouble, when they cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and according to thy manifold mercies thou gavest them 28 saviours who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries. But after they had rest, they did evil again before thee; therefore leftest thou them in the hand of their enemies, so that they had the dominion over them; yet when they returned, and cried unto thee, thou heardest from heaven; and many times didst thou deliver them according to thy mercies; and 29 testifiedst against them, that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law; yet they dealt proudly, and hearkened not unto thy commandments, but sinned against thy judgements, (which if a man do, he shall live in them,) and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their 30 neck, and would not hear. Yet many years didst thou bear with them, and testifiedst against them by thy spirit through thy prophets; yet would they not give ear; therefore 31 gavest thou them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless in thy manifold mercies thou didst not make a full end of them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious 32 and merciful God. Now therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the terrible God, who keepest covenant and mercy, let not all the travail seem little before thee, that hath come upon us, on our kings, on our princes, and on our priests, and on our prophets, and on our fathers, and on all thy people, since the time of the kings of Assyria unto this day. 33 Howbeit thou art just in all that is come upon us; for thou hast dealt truly, but we have 34 done wickedly; neither have our kings, our princes, our priests, nor our fathers, kept thy law, nor hearkened unto thy commandments and thy testimonies, wherewith thou didst 35 testify against them. For they have not served thee in their kingdom, and in thy great goodness that thou gavest them, and in the large and fat land which thou gavest before them, 36 neither turned they from their wicked works. Behold, we are servants this day, and as for the land that thou gavest unto our fathers to eat the fruit thereof and the good thereof, be- 37 hold, we are servants in it. And it yieldeth much increase unto the kings whom thou hast set over us because of our sins: also they have power over our bodies, and over our cattle, 38 at their pleasure, and we are in great distress. And yet for all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, our Levites, and our priests, seal unto it. 10: 1 Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah the Tirshatha, the son of Hacaiah, and Zede- 2, 3, 4 kiah; Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah; Pashhur, Amariah, Malchijah; Hattush, Shebaniah, 5, 6, 7 Malluch; Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah; Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch; Meshullam, Abijah, 8, 9 Mijamin; Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these were the priests. And the Levites: namely, 10 Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; and their brethren, 11, 12 Shebaniah, Hodiah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan; Mica, Rehob, Hashabiah; Zaccur, Sherebiah, 13,14. Shebaniah; Hodiah, Bani, Beninu. The chiefs of the people: Parosh, Pahath-moab, 15, 16, 17 Elam, Zattu, Bani; Bunni, Azgad, Bebai; Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin; Ater, Hezekiah, 18, 19, 20 Azzur; Hodiah, Hashum, Bezai; Hariph, Anathoth, Nobai; Magpiash, Meshullam, 21, 22, 23 Hezir; Meshezabel, Zadok, Jaddun; Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah; Hoshea, Hananiah, 24, 25, 26 Hasshub; Hallohesh, Pilha, Shobek; Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah; and Ahiah, 27, 28 Hanan, Anan; Malluch, Harim, Baanah. And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinim, and all they that had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daugh- 29 ters, every one that had knowledge and understanding; they clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our 30 Lord, and his judgements and his statutes; and that we would not give our daughters unto 31 the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons: and if the peoples of the land bring war or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy of them on the sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction 32 of every debt. Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third 33 part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; for the shewbread, and for the continual meal offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make atone- 34 ment for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of 35 the LORD our God, as it is written in the law: and to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and 36 the firstfruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, unto the house of the LORD: also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the 37 house of our God; and that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our heave offer- ings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, the wine and the oil, unto the priests, to the cham- bers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites; for they, the 38 Levites, take the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of 39 the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. For the chil- dren of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the heave offering of the corn, of the wine, and of the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God. CHAPS. 8-10 constitute a section by themselves. This section might be entitled "An Account of the Great Convocation held under Nehemiah." It differs from the opening and closing parts of the book in that it speaks of Nehemiah in the third person (for example, Neh 8: 9; 10: 1), while they are written in his name in the first person. It records events closely connected with those of the first chapters, since they deal with the first six months (Neh. 6: 15, etc.) of the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, while this section is concerned with the events of the seventh month (Neh. 8: 2, 13, 18; 9: 1). These events are separated by an interval of from twelve years to many years from those mentioned in the later chapters of Nehemiah. The account was written long enough after the events to make it proper (Neh. 8: 17) to say "that day." The interval thus required might be anywhere from a few days to many years. One marked literary phenomenon of the account is its alternating between the third person and the first person plural when it speaks of Nehemiah and his associates. In general, the narrative is in the third person, while the prayer in chap. 9 and the covenant engagements in chap. 10 are in the first person plural. But besides those parts of the covenant that are given in the form of promises in the first person plural (Neh. 9: 38; 10: 29, last clause, 30-33, 35-39), another part is given in narrative form in the third person (Neh. 10: 28, 29a); and still another part is given in narrative form in the first person plural (Neh. 10: 34; but not 32, 33, 35, and 36, as in the English versions). These phenomena are most naturally accounted for by the hypothesis that the author was a participant in the events—that is, that he is either Nehemiah or some associate of his. There is no proof that Nehemiah himself did not write it. If he wrote it, he wrote it as a paper of an official nature, in which it was proper to speak of himself in the third person, and not in the first person singular, as in his memoirs. This section describes a series of events of the greatest importance. Jewish and Christian tradition have much to say concerning the so-called Great Synagogue, to which many allege that we owe the completion and authentication of the Old Testament Scriptures. These traditions, whether we regard them as historical or legendary, radiate from this great convocation in Nehemiah's time. But we now have less to do with these than with one particular design which Nehemiah had in mind. His design was to renew and enlarge the reforms which Ezra had begun thirteen years before, and especially the reform against marriages with foreign women. Evidently the work of Ezra had not proved a permanent success. Great disasters had followed it (Neh. 1:3, etc.), and such marriages were still in vogue (Neh. 6:18, etc.). Nehemiah intended to renew this reform. It is not necessary to say that this was his only, or even his chief object; but it was an object that he never lost sight of. Chaps. 8-10 are an account of transactions running through twenty-four days or more, by which Nehemiah brought this and other reforms into active operation. The first part of the eighth chapter (1-12) tells what happened in one day—the first day of the seventh month (verse 2). The remainder of the chapter is the second part, giving an account of events from the second to the twenty-third days of the month (verses 13, 18). Chaps. 9 and 10 constitute the third part, giving an account of what was done the twenty-fourth day of the month. W. J. B. # Outline of Events Narrated in Chaps. 8-10. On the first day of the month the people were gathered as one man in the street before the water-gate, and Ezra again appears among them. At their desire he produced the Book of the Law, and having opened it amid marks of the deepest reverence from all the people, he read it to an audience wrapped in attention from morning to midday. The manner of reading was this: Ezra stood on a pulpit, with six Scribes or Levites on his right hand and seven on his left, who seem to have relieved him in the reading; for it is said, “they read in the book in the law of God distinctly.” The people stood in their ranks in front of the pulpit; and among them were thirteen other ministers, who, with the assistance of the Levites, “caused the people to understand the law.” There can be little doubt that this phrase refers to a translation of what Ezra read in Hebrew into the mixed Chaldee dialect, which had become the vernacular tongue during the Captivity. The reading produced an impression like that made on Josiah. All the people wept at what they heard; not only, we may well believe, with regret at the past glories of their nation, but at the recital of the sins for which that glory had departed, not unmixed with a penitent consciousness of their own guilt. But Nehemiah (who is now first mentioned in the transaction), supported by Ezra and the Levites, bade them cease their sorrow, and go home to “eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions to those for whom nothing was prepared, for the day was holy to Jehovah.” The people went away to make great mirth, because they understood the words that were declared unto them. When the reading was resumed on the following day, they came to the institution of the Feast of Tabernacles in this very month of Tisri. Their excited minds caught the signal for fresh rejoicing in Jehovah. They went forth into the mount to fetch branches of olive, and pine, and myrtle, and palm, and thick trees, and made booths on the roofs and in the courts of their houses, in the Temple court and along the streets to the city gates. Such a Feast of Tabernacles had not been kept since the days of Joshua. The reading of the law was continued for all the seven days of the feast, and the eighth was a solemn assembly, as Moses had commanded. After the burst of joy for God’s mercy in restoring them, they turned to the solemn duty of humiliation and repentance for their sins. The Day of Atonement ought to have been kept on the tenth of this month. It had probably been passed over, as requiring more solemn preparation and a more orderly arrangement of the Temple service than was yet possible. In its place a fast was held two days after the Feast of Tabernacles, on the twenty-fourth day of Tisri. All who were of the seed of Israel, carefully separating themselves from the strangers, appeared in the deepest mourning, clad in sackeloth, and with earth upon their heads. The day seems to have been divided into four equal parts, only broken by the intervals necessary for refreshment. The first three hours were devoted to the reading of the law. The morning sacrifice fitly introduced the second quarter, which was spent in silent confession and prayer. When the hour of noon was past, the Levites, arranged on the steps of the Temple porch, or on a scaffold erected for the purpose, called upon the people to stand up and bless Jehovah. Then in a solemn prayer, the epitome of which is a fit model for all such services, they recited God’s mercies from the first call of Abram; they confessed the sins of their forefathers, and God’s forbearance in punishing without utterly consuming them; and they acknowledged His justice in their present state of humiliation and great distress, as servants to the kings set over them for their sins, to whom their land yielded its increase, and who had dominion over their bodies and cattle at their pleasure. Submissive to God’s will, they ended by making a new covenant with Him; and before the sun set, it was recorded in writing, and sealed by the princes, priests, and Levites, whose names are recorded by Nehemiah, while the rest of the people bound themselves by a curse and an oath to walk in the law which God had given by Moses. The chief points of this covenant were: To make no intermarriages with the heathen; to abstain from traffic on the Sabbath, and to keep the sabbatic year, with its release of all debts; to pay a yearly tax of a third of a shekel for the services of the sanctuary, which are carefully enumerated; to offer the first-fruits and first-born, and the tithes due to the Levites and the priests; and, in one final word, "We will not forsake the house of our God." To most points of this covenant they remained faithful in the letter. The sins of the Jewish nation took henceforth a direction altogether different from the open rebellion and apostasy of their fathers. The more scrupulous their observance of the law, the more did they make it void by their traditions and pervert it to serve their selfishness. P. S. 8:1-12. General account of the reading of the Law. The events of the first day of the seventh month were the reading of the Law and certain results that followed. We have, first, a general account (verses 1-3); second, details in regard to the reading (verses 4-8); third, the weeping that followed, and the way in which the weeping was dealt with (verses 9-12). Nehemiah understood the importance of keeping an enterprise in motion. As soon as the wall was completed, the twenty-fifth day of the sixth month (Neh. 6:15), before the enthusiasm over that achievement had time to cool, he pushed forward to accomplish yet greater things; utilizing for his first movement the great national day of the blowing of trumpets. W. J. B. 1. They spake unto Ezra the scribe. This is the first mention of Ezra in the present book, and the first proof we have had that he was contemporary with Nehemiah. B. C.—A gap of twelve or thirteen years occurs between the narrative with which the Book of Ezra ends, and the next appearance which Ezra makes upon the scene of history. It is uncertain how he was employed during this interval. "As Ezra's commission was only of a temporary nature," says Bishop Arthur Heyvey, "to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem, and to carry thither the silver and gold which the king and his counsellors had freely offered unto the God of Israel, and as there is no trace whatever of his presence at Jerusalem between the eighth and the twentieth year of Artaxerxes, it seems probable that, after he had effected his reformation, and had appointed competent judges and magistrates, with authority to maintain it, he himself returned to the King of Persia. This is in itself what one would expect, and what is borne out by the parallel case of Nehemiah; and it also accounts for the abrupt termination of Ezra's narrative, and for that relapse of the Jews into their former irregularities which is apparent in the Book of Nehemiah. Such a relapse, and such a state of affairs at Jerusalem in general, could scarcely have occurred if Ezra had continued there." On these grounds it seems best to conclude that from B.C. 457 to B.C. 445 the great priest and scribe was absent from the holy city, either employed by the Persian monarch in other secular work, or pursuing his literary labors in retirement, at Babylon or elsewhere. But a time came when, again, a call was made on him to return to Jerusalem—the cradle and citadel of his race—and resume an active superintendence over the community, which had been the object of his deep affection and diligent care twelve years before. But, this time, he was not to be in sole charge. Providence had provided him with a coadjutor in the person of Nehemiah—a man after his own heart—zealous, active, intensely pious, and profoundly anxious for the true well-being of his nation. The two were excellently fitted to assist and supplement each other. One possessed in a high degree the qualities needed in a political leader, was an active warrior, a sagacious statesman, well suited to grapple with practical dangers and difficulties of all kinds; the other was above all things a teacher, able to impress men's minds, to expound, convince, persuade, instruct, educate, guide in the way of true knowledge and pure religion. Various reforms—which, while in some respects they restricted the liberties and increased the burdens of the Judean community, were yet of the highest advantage to it, by calling out its patriotism and waking up its religious zeal—must be assigned to the conjoint efforts of the two Hebrew leaders, who worked together in the most perfect harmony and agreement. The exact time which they occupied is uncertain; but it is on the whole most probable that they were begun and concluded within the space of a few months. The Book of Nehemiah is deficient in chronological notices; and, having been compiled from a number of distinct documents, lends itself to various interpretations. Nehemiah's governorship lasted certainly for above twelve years (Neh. 5 : 14 ; 13 : 6) ; but during what portion of this time Ezra was associated with him cannot be determined. The later Israel, the Israel of the times of the Maccabees, and of our Lord's day, was the natural fruit and outcome of their exertions. Without them it is almost certain that the wall of partition between Israel and the heathen, which was absolutely indispensable under the circumstances, as even Kuenen admits, would have been broken down, and the small Jewish nation would have lost itself among its neighbors, and have vanished without leaving a trace behind. G. R. The Book of the Law of Moses. Evidently this book contained the laws which they were proposing to enforce ; and the prayer given in chap. 9, as having been offered after several days of public reading from the Book of the Law, is largely a recapitulation of the contents of the book. Applying these tests, it is evident that this book included our present Pentateuch (unless somebody can prove differences in details) ; but it is not so evident that Ezra's Book of the Law was limited to the Pentateuch. The recapitulation in chap. 9 passes without a break from the history recorded in the Pentateuch to that recorded in the following books ; and the law against intermarriage with foreigners, as enforced by Ezra and Nehemiah, is not found in the Pentateuch, save as the Pentateuch may be regarded as interpreted or supplemented by the other books. Directly, the Pentateuch only forbids intermarriage with Canaanites. W. J. B. Princes, priests, Levites, and people receive Ezra's copy of the law as of unquestionable authority, and submit to it without opposition, though such submission, as we have seen, involved sacrifices the most distressing on the part of great numbers of the people, many of whom were of high rank and authority. Again : Ezra, Nehemiah, and the princes of the people went on harmoniously, as well as zealously, in the work of civil and ecclesiastical reform—a reform of great breadth and thoroughness, since it embraced the following specifications : the engagement of the people in a solemn covenant to walk in God's law, as given by Moses ; the renunciation and avoidance of all intermarriages with idolatrous nations ; the rigid sanctification of the Sabbath ; the observance of the sabbatical year and the non-exaction of debts therein ; the payment of a tax of a third of a shekel yearly for the service of the Temple ; the bringing of the first-fruits of the ground, of their sons, and of their cattle, to the house of the Lord ; and the giving of tithes to the priests and Levites of all the proceeds of the land (Neh. 10 : 29-37). These details cover no inconsiderable part of the Pentateuch as we now have it ; and these details could not have been compiled at or subsequently to the time of the first return of the Jews out of their captivity. E. C. W. 4. Everything was prepared. Ezra had had a platform of wood constructed in the square, and had taken his station upon it at early dawn, together with thirteen other priests, six of them, with himself, occupying one side of the platform, and the remaining seven the other. He had brought "the Book of the Law" with him, and "opened it in the sight of all the people" (verse 5), while the people "stood up" in the attitude of attention and respect. Prefacing his reading with an ascription of praise to Almighty God, whereto all the people responded by a shout of "Amen, amen" (verse 6), he proceeded to read out such portions of the law to the assembled multitude as he judged best, and continued his occupation from early morning to midday (verse 3). Distributed among the people were thirteen Levites, whose task it was to repeat, and, where necessary, to explain the words read by Ezra. G. R. Those colonists did not leave comfortable homes in Babylon to set up a temple at Jerusalem whose ritual had, in their estimation, anything short of a Divine sanction. Ezra brings forth the book, and the people receive it, as the law of Moses, the ancient constitution of the nation which they had sacrificed so much to restore ; and the modern theory gives no adequate explanation of this deeply rooted national belief. Ezra is a restorer, not an innovator. And although the high regard to Scripture which he inaugurated degenerated into a slavish worship of the letter, and the attention to the legal element ran into extravagance, it is the great merit of him and his associates that, at a critical time, they preserved the ancient writings which show how from earliest times the people of Israel had been the channel of the revelation of God's will to mankind, and rallied around these writings the wondrous people that has been from age to age the witness of God's truth to the world. James Robertson. 9-18. Through the study of God's word there came to these people a revelation of themselves that made them ashamed and sorrowful. But through the same study there came to them a revelation of God that made them glad and exultant. Through twenty-three days of glad-some public services Nehemiah fostered in them this strength that comes from studying Jehovah's law, and rejoicing in Him. In token of this joy, they went out by public proclamation into the mountain country, and brought in green branches, and covered the roofs and streets and open squares of Jerusalem with the booths in which dwelt the people who were keeping festival. W. J. B. It strikes one as touching and strange that such an assembly should be needed after so many centuries of national existence. It sums up in one vivid picture the sin and suffering of the nation. To observe that law had been the condition of their prosperity. To bind it on their hearts should have been their delight and would have been their life; and here, after all these generations, the best of the nation are assembled, so ignorant of it that they cannot even understand it when they hear it. Absorption with worldly things has an awful power of dulling spiritual apprehension. Neglect of God's law weakens the power of understanding it. This scene was in the truest sense a "revival." We may learn the true way of bringing men back to God—viz., the faithful exposition and enforcement of God's will and word. We may learn, too, what should be the aim of public teachers of religion—viz., first and foremost, the clear setting forth of God's truth. Their first business is to "give the sense, so that they understand the reading;" and that, not for merely intellectual purposes, but that, like the crowd outside the water gate on that hot noonday, men may be moved to penitence, and then lifted to the joy of the Lord. 10. The first day of the seventh month was the feast of trumpets; and when the reading was over, and its effects of tears and sorrow for disobedience were seen, the preachers changed their tone, to bring consolation and exhort to gladness. Nehemiah had taken no part in reading the Law, as Ezra the priest and his Levites were more appropriately set to that. But he joins them in exhorting the people to dry their tears and go joyfully to the feast. These exhortations contain many thoughts universally applicable. They teach that even those who are most conscious of sin and breaches of God's law should weep indeed, but should swiftly pass from tears to joy. They do not teach how that passage is to be effected; and in so far they are imperfect, and need to be supplemented by the New Testament teaching of forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. But in their clear discernment that sorrow is not meant to be a permanent characteristic of religion, and that gladness is a more acceptable offering than tears, they teach a valuable lesson, needed always by men who fancy that they must atone for their sins by their own sadness, and that religion is gloomy, harsh, and crabbed. Further, these exhortations to festal gladness breathe the characteristic Old Testament tone of wholesome enjoyment of material good as a part of religion. The way of looking at eating and drinking and the like as capable of being made acts of worship has been too often forgotten by two kinds of men—saints who have sought sanctity in asceticism; and sensualists who have taken deep draughts of such pleasures without calling on the name of the Lord, and so have failed to find His gifts a cup of salvation. It is possible to "eat and drink and see God," as the elders of Israel did on Sinai. Further, the plain duty of remembering the needy while we enjoy God's gifts is beautifully enjoined here. The principle underlying the commandment to send portions to them for whom nothing is provided—that is, no feast has been dressed—is that all gifts are held in trust, that nothing is bestowed on us for our own good only, but that we are in all things stewards. The law extends to the smallest and to the greatest possessions. We have no right to feast on anything unless we share it, whether it be festal dainties or the bread that came down from heaven. To share our portion with others is the way to make our portion greater as well as sweeter. Further, "the joy of the Lord is your strength." By strength here seems to be meant a stronghold. If we fix our desires on God, and have trained our hearts to find sweeter delights in communion with Him than in any earthly good, our religion will have lifted us above mists and clouds into clear air above, where sorrows and changes will have little power to affect us. If we are to rejoice in the Lord, it will be possible for us to "rejoice always." And that joy will be as a refuge from all the ills that flesh is heir to. Dwelling in God, we shall dwell safely, and be far from the fear of evil. A. M. The crowning revelation of Old Testament times is given to that reformer who, coming up from the land of exile to re-create and renew the people of the Lord, cheers and inspirits them with the assurance that God overflows with delight in His chosen, works out their salvation in a festal mood, and commissions them to minister to each other's necessities with ungrudging bounty and a deathless hope; for, says he, "the joy of the Lord is your strength." God's joy a stronghold! Assuredly and unspeakably. When once there is breathed into us, so as to fill and uplift us above the low zones of our world-life, this sense of the eternal Father delighting in the sons of men and in the mercy He gives them, forthwith the world of nature is a new creation, instinct with a new significance, and potent with an evangelical energy. Nor is this less true of the bitter and painful experiences that make so large and obtrusive a portion of our earthly life; for they, too, are a part of the Divine order and plan of a loving and rejoicing Father, who finds His own joy diminished by our needless pain, and is seeking by all means to make us partakers of His holiness, so that we may be sharers of His happiness. The joy of the Lord is a stronghold into which we may run and be safe from the fear of death. The joy of the Lord is the source of our active, self-forgetting generosity. Whatever God is for us and to us, it is that we may be the same for and to others. The exhaustless fountain of the Divine gladness fills our cisterns till they overflow for the refreshing of a thirsty world. Joy in the Lord is strength, positive, actual power, for ministry. J. Clifford. Nature and grace alike testify that there is strength in joy. A sorrowful man is a dispirited man. Melancholy breeds despair. Tears in the eyes blind the sight. Even when sanctified affliction imparts new power to the soul, as unquestionably it does, so that there is a victory through sorrow, it is by an exercise of faith which supplants the natural grief by a joy and peace in God—a truth recognized by the words of Scripture concerning "chastening," that "afterward it worketh the peaceable fruit of righteousness." W. W. Patton. No vehement resolutions, no sense of your own sinfulness, nor even contrite remembrance of past failures, ever made a man strong yet. It made him weak that he might become strong, and when it had done that it had done its work. For strength there must be hope, for strength there must be joy. If the arm is to smite with vigor, it must smite at the bidding of a calm and light heart. The Christian work is of such a sort as that the most dangerous opponent to it is simple despondency and simple sorrow. "The joy of the Lord is strength." You are weak unless you are glad; you are not glad and strong unless your faith and hope are fixed in Christ, and unless you are working from and not toward the assurance of salvation, from and not toward the sense of pardon, from and not toward the conviction of acceptance with God! A. M.—Those who serve God slavishly from no other motive loftier than fear know nothing of spiritual joy. The service of love is full of freedom, full of gladness, full of power. It finds sweetness in self-sacrifice, delights in giving, makes duty a constant delight, ennobles the most menial tasks by performing them royally. It makes the joy of the Lord our strength. Anon. Our religion is not quite religion until it is clothed in a shining robe of gladness. It is only potent in degree as it becomes itself a gladness in us. All through the books of Moses we hear the perpetual overtone of an eleventh commandment, Thou shalt not clothe religion in the garments of heaviness. "And ye shall"—not the mere promise, the command—"rejoice before the Lord your God." "And thou shalt be altogether joyful." In other words, we are not merely to give ourselves good ground for joy, and let joy spring as it will, but we are to sow joy in that ground, and cultivate and harvest it. We are to strive to make, and feel, and show, every part and aspect of our religion delightful. What gives religion this vast advantage? First, it is the joy of contrition. Every child that has ever repented, and confessed a fault to a loving parent, knows what that is. Next, it is the joy of reconciliation to God, and harmony with His purposes and plans. Then, it is the joy of loving and being loved by God. And again, it is the joy of seeing and feeling everything, whether it seemeth for the present joyous or grievous work, and making it work in us the perfecting of that image of God, that Christ-likeness, which true religion makes our supreme desire. And, lastly, it is the joy of God's personal presence with us, and personal and entire care over us; or, rather, this is the last—the taking of all our joys to God, and God into all our joys. Cable. When we speak of joy, we do not speak of something we are after, but of something that will come to us, when we are after God and duty. It is a prize unbought, and is freest, purest in its flow, when it comes unsought. No getting into heaven, as a place, will compass it. You must carry it with you, else it is not there. You must have it in you, as the music of a well-ordered soul, the fire of a holy purpose, the welling up, out of the central depths, of eternal springs that hide their waters there. It is the rest of confidence, the blessedness of internal light and outflowing benevolence—the highest form of life and spiritual majesty. Being the birth of character, it has eternity in it. Rising from within, it is sovereign over all circumstance and hindrance. It is the joy of the Lord in the soul of man, because it is joy like His, and because it is from Him, participated by the secret life of goodness. Bushnell. Joy in the Lord is the natural result of Christian faith. It takes away the sense of sin. It gives us, instead of the torpid conscience or the angrily-stinging conscience—it gives us a conscience all calm from its accusations, with all the sting drawn out of it; for quiet peace lies in the heart of the man that is trusting in the Lord. The Gospel works joy, because the soul is at rest in God; joy, because every function of the spiritual nature has found now its haven and its object; joy, because health has come, and the healthy working of the body or of the spirit is itself a gladness; joy, because the dim future is painted (where it is painted at all) with shapes of light and beauty, and because the very vagueness of these is an element in the greatness of its revelation. The joy that is in Christ is deep and abiding. Faith in Him naturally works gladness. A. M. 9:1-38. The feast was over—the “solemn assembly” of the eighth day had been held—and the Judean community, assembled from the farthest points of the territory, from Hebron and Beersheba, from Ziklag, Jarmuth and Lachish, from Bethel, from Jericho and Tekoa, expected probably to be dismissed to their homes, when a further religious duty was laid upon them. The desire to weep and mourn and afflict themselves, which Nehemiah and Ezra had checked when it showed itself inopportunely on the first day of Tisri (8:2-9), was now to be gratified. The feast having been celebrated and one day of rest allowed them, the twenty-fourth of Tisri was appointed to be a day of humiliation and abstinence, on which another solemn assembly should be held, a confession of sin made, and a formal renewal of their covenant with God entered into by the whole people. The real heart of the people had been touched; and on the twenty and fourth day of the seventh month “the children of Israel assembled with fasting, and with sackcloth and earth upon them” (verse 1). They had carefully “separated themselves from all strangers” (verse 2), and having gathered themselves together in the Temple court, “they stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” Passages from the law were read to them by the Levites during a fourth part of the day (verse 3); then during another fourth part the people knelt and confessed their sins to God and worshipped Him; after this they rose up from their knees, and, standing each in his place, blessed and praised the Lord (verse 5), according to a set form of words, which Ezra probably composed, and which has been preserved to us in the Book of Nehemiah (verses 5-38). God’s many mercies were recounted, and the people’s many backslidings; His justice was acknowledged, and His mercy appealed to; it was solemnly represented to Him that His people were “in great distress” (verse 37); and then the covenant was renewed—not, as on former occasions, merely by word of mouth, but in a documentary form (verse 38)—a formal deed being drawn out, to which the princes, Levites, and priests appended their seals, and which was no doubt laid up in the national archives. G. R. 6. Thou hast made. The history of the creation in Genesis is not merely a cosmogonic account of primitive date, but above all else it is an express counter-statement opposed to the conceptions of Egypt and of Babylon. The latter were formed in regions either naturally fertile or early animated by commercial intercourse; the Mosaic idea emerges upon the lonely heights of Sinai, which no terrestrial vicissitudes have ever touched, and where nothing interposes between God and the world. With the Egyptians and Babylonians everything is developed from the innate powers of the sun, the stars, and the earth itself. Jehovah, on the other hand, appears as the Creator of heaven and earth, as both the originator and the orderer of the world. With the Egyptians man is not distinguished in kind from the sun, from which he issues, rather as a product than as a creature, and the same is true of the Babylonian cosmogony, where the Divine element in man is only revealed through the blood of a God chancing to fall down to earth. All creatures are generically the same with man. In the Mosaic cosmogony, on the other hand, the elements, plants, and animals are called into being by a supreme, intelligent Will, which creates in the last place man after His own image. The divergence is immeasurable. In a passage which criticism asserts to belong to the oldest form of the original account, to man is assigned lordship over the fishes of the sea, the fowls of the air, and all beasts which move upon the earth. This is a conception distinct from that prevalent in Egypt, where the bull is worshipped with divine honors as symbolizing the creative powers of nature. The idea of Jehovah, far from having arisen from nature-worship, is set up in opposition to it. Ranke. Heaven, the earth, and all things. It astonishes all thought to observe the minuteness of God's government, and of the natural and common processes which He carries on from day to day. His dominions are spread out, system beyond system, system above system, filling all height and latitude, but He is never lost in the vast or magnificent. He descends to an infinite detail, and builds a little universe in the smallest things. He carries on a process of growth in every tree, and flower, and living thing; accomplishes in each an internal organization and works the functions of an internal laboratory, too delicate all for eye or instrument to trace. He articulates the members and impels the instincts of every living mote that shines in the sunbeam. As when we ascend toward the distant and the vast, so when we descend toward the minute, we see His attention acuminated, and His skill concentrated on His object; and the last discernible particle dies out of our sight with the same divine glory on it as on the last orb that glimmers in the skirt of the universe. Bushnell. Regard Nature as transparent, as a window to look through and see the living powers of infinite love and wisdom in manifestation and operation; then she both gladdens your affections and charms and invigorates your mind. On the other hand, regard Nature as her own cause—then she becomes opaque; and the mind of the inquirer is confounded, darkened, and brought to a dead stand. In this case man finds himself shut up within limits which are too little for his nature, and which yield no explanation or solution of his existence; in the other case he passes on through an open door to the Infinite Presence, and sees before him his own endless way. The distinction is between being in a prison, within which your grave is waiting for you, and being in a preparatory school of discipline and culture, to be qualified in due time for society, service, honor, and bliss in the home kingdom of larger space and clearer light. Pulsford. For the susceptibility to natural beauty and grandeur God has provided. Nature is full of objects that correspond to this; it is among our purest and best sources of enjoyment, and is the forerunner and type of the higher enjoyment from the beauty of holiness. But the moral susceptibilities can be awakened only by character. For these the great provision is in God Himself, whose character is perfect; but aside from this, these susceptibilities may be drawn out in high activity by human character. If all people were to reflect the image of Christ in their radical character, the ideals of literature and art, or rather something more beautiful and better, would live and act before us, and no one can estimate the enhanced joy from moral beauty. Mark Hopkins. The host of heaven in the Old Testament includes, as this passage of Nehemiah shows, the heavenly bodies and the celestial spirits. The Old Testament distinctly maintains not only the creaturehood of the heavenly host (Ps. 33:6), but also the distinction of the two above-named classes. It is only by a poetical personification that the stars are spoken of in the song of Deborah (Judg. 5:20) as the warriors of the Lord, who, leaving their courses, descend to fight for Israel against Sisera, and that the morning stars are said in Job 38:7 to have joined with the angels in celebrating the morning of creation. The greater the danger to the Israelites, surrounded as they were by Sabæanism, of being seduced into a worship of the heavenly bodies, the more important was it not only to declare Jehovah's superiority to the heavenly bodies, and to forbid their adoration (De. 4:19; 17:3), but also to maintain such a view concerning them as might of itself exclude all worship of them. This is done from Gen. 1:14 onward. The heavenly bodies are declared to be merely light-bearers, created by God, and as such subserving earthly purposes. They manifest, indeed, by their splendor and their course, the greatness and wisdom of the Creator (Ps. 8:4; 19:5; Amos 5:8; Job 9:9; 38:31 sqq.), but their brilliancy admits of no comparison with the Divine glory. Thus they are the hosts of God, whom His almighty will commands (Isa. 40:26; 45:12); they serve to proclaim and to glorify His judgments (Joel 3:15; Isa. 13:10; Hab. 3:11). O. 7-31. Compare with this long historical résumé the still longer ones in Ps. 78:5-72 and Acts 7:2-47. God's dealings with His people furnished a moral lesson of extraordinary force, and moral teachers naturally made frequent reference to them. But it is not often that we have so complete and elaborate a recapitulation as the present, which, beginning with the call of Abraham, brings the history down to the time of the Persian servitude. God's goodness and His people's ingratitude form the burden of the whole. P. C. 20. "Thou gavest Thy good Spirit to instruct them" refers to the occurrence (Num. 11:17, 25) where God endowed the seventy elders with the spirit of prophecy for the confirmation of Moses' authority. Keil.—"Thou gavest Thy good Spirit to instruct them." To such it was said, "Turn ye at My reproof: I will pour out My spirit to you, I will make known My words unto you" (Prov. 1 : 23, 24). We see whence their destruction came, not from God's first restraint of His Spirit, but their refusing, despising, and setting at naught His counsels and reproofs. And when it is said, "They rebelled and vexed His Spirit; and He therefore turned and fought against them, and became their enemy," it appears that before His Spirit was not withheld, but did variously and often make essays and attempts upon them. And when Stephen, immediately before his martyrdom, thus bespeaks the descendants of these Jews, "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost; as your fathers did, so do ye," it is implied, the Holy Ghost had been always striving from age to age with that stubborn people. Hove. 30. Many years didst Thou forbear them. The Ten Tribes for two hundred and sixty years from the revolt of Jeroboam, the remaining two tribes for one hundred and thirty-five years longer. Testifiedst against them by Thy Spirit in Thy prophets.** Compare 2 K. 17 : 13, where the phrase used is nearly the same, and see also 2 Chron. 36 : 15, 16. There was a continual succession of prophets from the time of Solomon to and through the Captivity. Besides those whose writings have come down to us, we find mention of Ahijah the Shilonite, Iddo the seer, Shemaiah the prophet, Hanani, Jehu, the son of Hanani, Elijah, Elisha, Micaiah, the son of Imlah, Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada, Huldah, and (perhaps) Hosai. The guilt of the Jewish people was enormously increased by the fact that they would not give ear to the exhortations constantly addressed to them by the messengers of God. Therefore they were delivered into the hands of the heathen, or people of the lands. P. C. From this prayer we see that the history of the Pentateuch was at that time familiar to the people. There is remarkable evidence in the prayer of even a verbal acquaintance with it. The mention of the fact that the foot of the Israelites did not swell in the wanderings, and the word expressing it, are both peculiar to this prayer and to De. 8 : 4. It is highly improbable, not to say morally impossible, that there is no allusion here to the passage in Deuteronomy. But, in that case, it is certain that, in the time of Nehemiah, Deuteronomy was accepted as an authoritative record of the wanderings in the wilderness. There is evidence also that the authors of the prayer recognized in the troubles that had befallen their nation a fulfilment of the threatenings which had been pronounced against them in the twenty-eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (compare, e.g., Neh. 9 : 35-37 with De. 38 : 33, 47, 48, 51); and consequently they must have regarded that book as containing, not only true history, but also a veritable declaration on the part of God, which familiar and painful events have ratified; and it matters very little whether this portion of Nehemiah was written by him or by Ezra, or by any one else. The only matter of importance is that it should be credible as history, and there is not a shadow of suspicion attaching to it on this ground. We may rightly claim it, therefore, as documentary evidence of about the middle of the fifth century before Christ to the way in which the history of the Pentateuch was then regarded, and especially the Book of Deuteronomy. It is absolutely impossible that the Book of Deuteronomy could have been a forgery of the last two hundred years and the chiefs and leaders of the nation not have known it. If, as a matter of fact, it was not entitled to the position it held, it would not have been quoted as history, nor regarded as a Divine oracle that had been fulfilled. At all events, at this time the Book of Deuteronomy had obtained its position as an integral portion of the Pentateuch. The history embodied in the Pentateuch was familiar to the bulk of the people, and that Pentateuch itself was accepted as of Divine authority, and as substantially the work of Moses. And, with respect to this belief, it must be borne in mind that it was national, and of great antiquity. Their national unity and their national existence centred in their peculiar estimate of the law of Moses. And the belief, from its very nature, was one that could not but have been of great antiquity. In all the past there was no name at all to be compared with that of Moses. There was no character that occupied anything like the same position or had the same hold upon the national mind. The consciousness of this fact is so clear at every period of the history and on every page of the literature that you must sweep away the whole of the existing literature before you can successfully establish any opposite theory. Leathes. Chap. 10. The names of those who sealed, and the terms of the covenant. The covenant which the Levites had recommended 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. The rest of the people "clave to their brethren"—i.e., accepted the obligations of the covenant as fully as if they had put their seals to it. The people bound themselves, first of all, in general terms, to keep the whole law, "to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord their Lord, and His judgments and His statutes" (verse 29); after which they went on to particularize certain special points of the law, recently infringed upon, which they bound themselves to observe in future. These were chiefly the following: 1. The prohibition of intermarriage with the neighboring idolatrous nations (verse 30). 2. The command to hallow the Sabbath. 3. The law concerning the sabbatical year (verse 31). 4. The law of first-fruits (verses 35–37). 5. The obligation to pay tithes to the sacerdotal order (verses 37, 38). Finally, they undertook certain new obligations, not expressly contained in the law, but perhaps regarded as flowing from it by way of natural consequence, or else as desirable modes of carrying out its provisions. These were three in number—viz.: 1. The entire abolition of the custom which had grown up of lending money to their brethren upon pledge (see chap. 5:3–13). 2. The support of the Temple service by an annual tax upon each adult male, which was fixed for the present at the rate of one third part of a shekel (verse 32). 3. The supply of the wood requisite for keeping the fire alight upon the great altar, and for consuming the various offerings (verse 34). It is remarkable that these two latter regulations became permanent national institutions, maintaining themselves into Roman times, when we find them still continuing. (See Matt. 17:24.) P. C. That this was practically a new thing, that the people hereby revived and made obligatory among themselves a host of observances from which they had been free as long back as they could remember, may be readily allowed; but the statement that "these ordinances were now made known and imposed upon the Jewish nation for the first time" (Kuenen) must be strenuously denied, rejected and contradicted. The double fiction of a forgery of Deuteronomy, which imposed on Hilkiah the high-priest in the days of Josiah, and of a further forgery at this time by Ezra and his Babylonian friends of a book of priestly ordinances, corresponding to Leviticus, Numbers, and part of Exodus, which imposed on the nation at large, will scarcely find acceptance with any honest and reverent reader of Scripture, who cannot fail to perceive that it contradicts the entire series of the historical sacred writings from Exodus to Chronicles, as well as many passages in the prophets, and in the New Testament. Ezra and Nehemiah are to be regarded, not as coming from Babylonia with ordinances drawn up there, and hitherto existing only in theory, which they proceeded for the first time to carry from theory into practice, but as recalling to the memory of the people the old laws under which the nation had lived from the Exodus to the Captivity, and re-introducing, re-promulgating, and re-imposing them. Otherwise, we must regard the two great reformers as impostors, cheating the nation into the belief that an entirely new legislation, considered by Ezra and his priestly friends to be advisable under the peculiar circumstances of the time, was in reality one communicated by God Himself to Moses. Nehemiah's first reformation was now complete. With Ezra's assistance he had made the whole law of Moses, great parts of which had long been laid aside and even forgotten, known to the people. He had bound them to its observance. He had roused up in them a spirit of devotion and self-sacrifice, whereby they had been induced to accept fresh burdens and fresh obligations without a murmur. At the same time, he had provided for the sustenance and support of the ministers of religion—the priests and Levites. He had relieved them from troublesome secular duties—the cutting and storing of the Temple fuel—the collection and conveyance of the tithes and first-fruits—and he had enabled them to devote themselves more exclusively than before to the offices of religion. He had further secured the continuance of the Temple service by a tax, which could press heavily on no man, but which would yet suffice for its purpose, and prevent the ministers of religion from having their scanty resources unduly strained in times of depression and poverty. G. R. NAMES OF COLONISTS. NEHEMIAH'S RETURN. DEDICATION OF WALL. RE-FORM OF ABUSES: TEMPLE DESECRATION, SABBATH-BREAKING, AND MIXED MARRIAGES. 11:1 AND the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. Verses 3-36 include lists of chief dwellers in Jerusalem and in the country towns and villages. Chap. 12:1-26 contains lists of priestly and Levitical houses. These lists are sufficiently described in the first general note. 12:27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites; also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession; whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate: and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of 33, 34 Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph; and his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was before them: and by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward. And the other company of them that gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, upon the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even unto the broad wall; and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard. So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me: and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. And they kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, and so did the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they sanctified for the Levites; and the Levites sanctified for the sons of Aaron. 13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God for ever; because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 4. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of 5 our God, being allied unto Tobiah, had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the 6 porters; and the heave offerings for the priests. But in all this time I was not at Jerusa- lem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king, 7 and after certain days asked I leave of the king: and I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the 8 house of God. And it grieved me some: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of 9 Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal offerings and the 10 frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so 11 that the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered 12 them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn 13 and the wine and the oil unto the treasuries. And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedalah: and the next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and 14 their business was to distribute unto their brethren. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances thereof. 15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses therewith; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the 16 day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought in fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jeru- 17 salem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is 18 this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by 19 profaning the sabbath. And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, 20 that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers 21 of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on 22 you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember unto me, O my God, this also, and spare me accord- ing to the greatness of thy mercy. 23 In those days also saw I the Jews that had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of 24 Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the 25 Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters 26 for your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God 27 made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did strange women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying 28 strange women? And one of the sons of Jolada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son 29 in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the 30 Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed wards for the priests and 31 for the Levites, every one in his work; and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. The Closing Sections of the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah's narrative in the first person, broken off at Neh. 7:5 for the insertion of the 1st of the returned exiles, resumed, perhaps, in 11: 1, 2, and again interrupted by the genealogical note (11:3 to 12:26), is finally resumed with the account of the dedication of the wall (12: 27). This closing part of it consists of three sections, each ending with the precalve clause, "Remember me, O my God," etc. (13:14, 22, 31). The first section describes the dedication of the wall, the renewed separation from for- eigners, the renewed provision for the Levites, and, parenthetically, the reaction which had taken place during Nehemiah's absence, and which rendered these renewed arrangements necessary. It follows that the events of this section occurred partly during the interval be- tween the two administrations of Nehemiah, and partly soon after his return for his second administration. The second section describes a struggle for legalized Sabbath-keeping that oc- curred at some unknown later date. The third section is mainly concerned with two incidents in a renewed struggle against the practice of intermarriage with foreigners, but closes with a more general statement as to the work of Nehemiah. These statements touching foreign marriages perhaps cover a considerable interval of time. At all events, the latest incident mentioned, the marriage of a descendant of Joiada the high-priest with a woman of the family of Sanballat (Neh. 13:28), probably occurred some decades after the beginning of the second administration of Nehemiah. The opening chapters of Nehemiah's narrative are relatively full, covering in all only a few months. The closing sections are relatively brief, belonging to three different points of time, and covering, in all, many years. The dedication of the wall belongs to Nehemiah's second administration. The matters in the section (11:3 to 12:26) do not lead up to the account of the dedication. That section is in part a duplicate of 1 Chron. 9. It is a series of genealogical notes, including the names of men of at least six generations. Most of the men of the two youngest of these generations were not yet born when the wall was dedicated, and the names of those who participated in the dedication are in no way made prominent in these notes. There is a clear break between this genealogical section and what follows it. And, on the other hand, the account of the pageant at the wall is closely connected with the events related directly afterward. It was "on that day" that they made the arrangements described in 12:44. It was still "on that day" (13:1) that they read in the law in regard to the exclusion of Moabites and Ammonites from the assembly of Jehovah. It is necessarily to these events that the phrase "before this" of 13:4 applies. Hence the affirmation there made is that Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem took place before these events; that is, before the dedication of the wall and the reading of the law which accompanied it. And this is equivalent to saying that the dedication occurred after Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem for his second administration. Just at that time there were reasons why Nehemiah should devise such a public occasion as this. He could make use of it as a means of influencing the people for resisting the reactionary movement that had set in during his absence. This is a sufficient reply to the argument sometimes used, that it is not likely that they would so long have postponed the dedication of the wall. A city wall is not a temple, and does not necessarily demand dedication. There is no reason to think they would have dedicated it at all, save as there might be value in the dedicatory solemnities themselves. Nehemiah's Two Administrations. According to the record in the first ten chapters, Nehemiah accomplished two great things in the first seven months of the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. The first was the rebuilding of the wall, and the second the establishment of internal affairs on a sound basis. The points of internal administration that are most emphasized are, first, the abolishing of marriages with foreigners (Neh. 10:30); second, the stopping of trade on the Sabbath and the holy days (Neh. 10:31); third, the securing the observance of "the seventh year" (both by letting the soil rest and by releasing debts, doubtless, Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:3-7; De. 15:1, 2; Neh. 10:31); fourth, the breaking up of extortionate practices (Neh. 10:31; chap. 5); fifth, the making of business-like provision for the support of the Temple services and ministers (Neh. 10:32-39). From the close of these seven months, the first administration of Nehemiah lasted eleven or twelve years (Neh. 13:6; 5:14). The time was doubtless employed in working out the problems just mentioned, and the auxiliary problem of securing to Jerusalem a sufficient population to make it a safe city, and suitable for the national Temple and worship (Neh. 7:4; 11:1, 2). In Neh. 5:14-19, we are informed that during all this time Nehemiah lived in a generous and hospitable way in Jerusalem, but without cost to the people over whom he was governor. Doubtless those were to him trying years, but, on the whole, years of success. Steadily his people became more prosperous, and the ideas represented by Ezra and himself more influential among them. At the end of the twelve years Nehemiah went to the king, perhaps thinking that his task in Jerusalem was now accomplished. Thus his first administration closed, B.C. 433. It turned out, however, that he could not be spared, and he was recalled for a second administration (Neh. 13:6). How long he had been gone is a matter of conjecture. Some guess that it was one year, and some that it was several years; but it cannot have been many years. On his return to Jerusalem, he found disintegration in rapid progress. Tobiah had a lodging in the Temple itself. The Jews were again mingling with foreigners. The Sabbath was profaned. The provision for supporting the Temple attendants was neglected, and they had scattered, each to earn his own living. Nehemiah acted promptly and vigorously. He summarily evicted Tobiah. He commenced gathering again the scattered Levites and singers, and insisted that adequate provision should be made for them. The solemnities of the dedication of the wall afforded him an occasion for assembling and thoroughly reorganizing them, and providing for their support, and an equally good occasion for securing the ratification of his policy of excluding foreigners. Perhaps he would have lost a large part of a year's tithes, if he had waited till the feast of booths for a national gathering that should act in these matters. The administration thus vigorously begun was doubtless a long one—how long no one knows. W. J. B. Chaps. 11, 12. The nexus of chap. 11 is with chap. 7:4, 5. Having spoken in that place of the insufficiency of the population of Jerusalem, Nehemiah now proceeds to explain the steps which he took to remedy it. He made, it would seem, a census of the entire nation, and required each town and district to transfer one tenth of its population to the capital. The men in the various localities determined among themselves by lot who should stay and who should go, and Nehemiah no doubt made the necessary arrangements for the reception of the newcomers at Jerusalem. Forced enlargements of capitals by transfers of this kind were not uncommon in the ancient world, where the strength of states was considered to depend very greatly upon the size and predominance of the capital. Thucydides attributes the greatness and prosperity of the Athenian community to an artificial enlargement of the population of Athens which he ascribes to Theseus. Other notorious instances are those of Syracuse, Megalopolis and Tigranocerta. In Jerusalem at this time the special need of an increase in the number of the inhabitants was probably the defence of the walls. These had been rebuilt on the ancient foundations—their circuit was not much less than four miles—and to man them in case of attack, a large population was necessary. From a comparison of the numbers given in this chapter (verses 6–19) with those of 1 Chron. 9:9–22, it may be gathered that the result of Nehemiah's arrangements was to give Jerusalem a population of about twenty thousand souls. Having been led, in speaking of this matter, to give a sort of catalogue of the chief dwellers at Jerusalem (verses 4–19), and another of the country towns and villages occupied at this time by those Israelites who had returned from the Captivity (verses 25–35), Nehemiah is induced to insert, at this point, certain other lists or catalogues which he regards as worthy of being put on record. These lists are four in number, and occupy chap. 12 as far as verse 26. They comprise: (1) a list of the priestly and Levitical houses which returned with Zerubbabel (verses 1–9); (2) a list of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua; (3) a list of the heads of the priestly courses in the time of the high-priest, Joiakim; and (4) a list of the chief Levitical houses at the same period and afterward. Such lists possess at the present day but a very slight and secondary interest. Their formation, however, and safe preservation were, at the time, essential for the continuity of the nation's history, and the maintenance of the priestly order in purity, and without admixture of laic elements. P. C. 11:2. The men that willingly offered themselves. Besides those on whom the lot fell, a certain number volunteered to change their residence and to transfer themselves and families from their country homes to Jerusalem. The people called down blessings upon them for their patriotism. P. C. Chap. 12. This chapter is made up of two portions. From verse 1 to verse 26 it mainly consists of lists of the leading priests and Levites at different periods. Verses 27–47 give an account of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. This last passage is certainly from the pen of Nehemiah, and was written probably about n.c. 433. The lists which constitute the earlier portion of the chapter are four: (1) A list of the chief priestly and Levitical families, which returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (verses 1–9); (2) the succession of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua, high-priest in the time of Alexander the Great (verses 10, 11); (3) a list of the actual heads of the priestly families in the time of the high-priest Joiakim, the son of Jeshua (verses 12–21); and (4) a list of the chief Levitical families at the same period (verses 24–26). Of these four lists, Nos. 1, 3 and 4 may have been drawn up in the time of Nehemiah, but No. 2 in its present form must be much later. 22,23. These verses come in very awkwardly, interrupting the account of the Church officers in the time of Joiakim, which is resumed in verse 24. They appear to be an addition to the original text, made about the time of Alexander the Great, when the Books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah would seem to have first taken their existing shape. The same hand which inserted these verses probably also added to the original text verse 11. The days of Darius the Persian. Modern commentators are generally agreed that Darius Codomannus, the antagonist of Alexander the Great, is intended. This prince ascended the throne B.C. 336, and reigned till B.C. 331. B. C. 27-43. Dedication of the wall. It is not easy to imagine that the author would have separated the dedication of the wall from its completion by five chapters and a half, unless they had been separated in fact by an interval of some duration. The interval seems, by the notes of time contained in chaps. 12, 13, to have been one of nearly thirteen years. Nehemiah's religious reforms were certainly subsequent to the visit that he paid to the Persian court in B.C. 432 (13:6). These reforms grew out of a reading of the law which took place at the time when Nehemiah appointed the Temple officers (13:1), and that appointment followed closely on the dedication (12:44). The dedication of a city wall was, so far as we know, a new thing in Israel; but it had been customary from a remote time to dedicate houses (De. 20:5); and natural piety extended this practice to aggregations of houses, and to the limit or fence by which they were practically made one. The priestly order had shown its sense of the fitness of such a consecration when they raised their portion of the wall, and had at once "sanctified it" (3:1). Nehemiah now, by the ceremony which he planned and carried out, placed the whole circuit of the wall under the Divine protection, confessing in this solemn act the intrinsic worthlessness of mere walls and bulwarks, unless God lends them strength and makes them a protection against enemies. P. C. And now the time was come when, everything having been established in its rightful order, it seemed fitting that there should be a solemn dedication of the wall to Almighty God. It was not the Temple only which was viewed as a sanctuary by the more religious Jews; but the entire city was regarded as holy—as "God's mountain" (Isa. 65:25)—as a sort of outer sanctuary guarding the inner sanctuary, and, therefore, as requiring to be set apart to God by a formal act of consecration. On the day appointed for this important ceremony, Nehemiah arranged two grand processions, which should girdle the city on the right hand and on the left, and meeting together at the Temple, should there sing praise to God, and "offer great sacrifices and rejoice" (verse 43). The Levites were summoned from their country districts, with their full array of the musical instruments, which still bore the name of their royal inventor, David (verse 36); and the minstrels gathered themselves together from their retreats in the hills of Judah and in the deep valley of the Jordan (verses 28, 29). The priests came in their full numbers, carrying the sacred trumpets (verses 35, 41), and the princes of Judah mustered in great strength (verses 31, 32, 40). Nehemiah divided the assembled multitude into "two great companies of them that gave thanks," and placing himself at the head of the one company (verse 40), and "Ezra the scribe" (verse 36) at the head of the other, caused them to ascend the wall and make the circuit of it, part going in one direction and part in the other, rejoicing all the way and giving praise, until they met on the eastern rampart opposite the Temple, and, there taking their stand, brought the ceremony to an end by a loud antiphonal paean of praise, in which the priests blew their trumpets, the Levites sounded their harps, cymbals and psalteries, and the singers, "with Jerahiah their overseer" (verse 42), "sang loud" and "with great joy rejoiced" (verses 42, 43). At the same time, even the women and children joined in the general acclamation, so that "the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (verse 43). Ezra and Nehemiah, each at the head of their own half of the procession, stood facing one the other, set before the nation as their almost co-equal guides and rulers, to be alike venerated and alike obeyed. G. R. 27. To keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing. Solomon's dedication of the Temple was the pattern followed. As he had made the service altogether one of praise and thanksgiving (2 Chron. 5:13), and had employed in it cymbals, trumpets, psalteries and harps (ibid., verse 12), so Nehemiah on the present occasion. 43. "That day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy, the wives also and the children rejoiced; so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." The constituents of true joy are: 1. Thankfulness and praise in the remembrance of the past and in confident anticipation of the future. The people recounted the mercies of the Lord. Their dedication of the completed walls represented their preparation by the grace of God for His worship and service; their defence against assaults from without; their unity and order as a people. So ought all rejoicing to be well founded on the faith which has full possession of our hearts, and the consecrated religious life which maintains that faith in practice. 2. Purification. "They offered great sacrifices and rejoiced." The giving out of the heart in religious worship uplifts the whole strain of the life. A great expenditure of feeling in the pleasures of this world is exhausting to the nature, but religious emotion both purifies and exalts. 3. Fellowship. All rejoiced together—high and low, rich and poor, the strong men, the wives and children. The true joy is not solitary and selfish, but reveals the unity of kindred minds and sympathizing hearts. Family life is elevated by the cultivation of the spirit of social worship and praise, both in the larger circle of the congregation and in the smaller of the household. All joys brighten in the atmosphere of religious joy. 44-47. Nehemiah's arrangements for the Temple service, and appointment of officers. The good resolutions of the people at the time of the renewal of the covenant would have borne comparatively little fruit had they not been seconded and rendered effective by formal action on the part of the civil authority. The people, in the first flush of their zeal, had bound themselves to undertake the conveyance of the tithes, firstfruits and freewill offerings from the country districts to Jerusalem, and the deposition of them in the Temple treasuries (10 : 37-39). But in practice this was found too great a burden (13 : 10). Nehemiah therefore appointed special officers to collect the tithes and other dues throughout the entire territory, and to bring them to Jerusalem, and lay them up in the proper chambers (verse 44). Over the chambers he appointed treasurers, whose duty it was, not only to collect the ecclesiastical dues, but also to distribute the proceeds among the individuals entitled to share in them (13 : 13). Having in this way provided for the sustenance of the clerical body, he was able to insist on their regular performance of all their duties; and the success of his arrangements was such, that under him the Temple service was restored, not merely to the condition established by Zerubbabel (verse 47), but to one not markedly different from that which had been attained in the time of David and Asaph (verse 46). The priests, Levites, singers and porters respectively performed their duties to his satisfaction, purifying themselves, and taking the service in their turns, "according to the commandment of David and Solomon" (verse 45). 13 : 1-31. Nehemiah's efforts for the reform of religion. 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 (10 : 30-39), 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), he felt it necessary to take active steps to put an end to them. In the first place, intermarriages between the Jews and the neighboring heathen, like those which Ezra had dissolved twenty-five years previously (Ezra 10 : 16-44), had again occurred, and a new generation was growing up which could not speak its own language correctly (verse 24). The family of the high-priest, Eliashib, shared in this trespass. He himself was allied by marriage to the Ammonite chief, Tobiah (verse 4), and one of his grandsons had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat, the Samaritan (verse 28). Secondly, the strict observance of the Sabbath had fallen into disrepute. Further, the payment of the tithes was very irregular; and the Levites, who ought to have found their daily food provided for them in the Temple, not receiving their "portions" there, were forced to absent themselves from the daily service, and to support themselves by cultivating their own plots of ground (verses 10, 11). Finally, the Temple had ceased to be regarded as sacred to the Almighty; a portion of it had been converted into a dwelling-house by the order of the high-priest himself (verse 5), and the Ammonite, Tobiah, had been allowed to take possession of it. Nehemiah tells us in this chapter the mode wherein he dealt with these various evils, treating of the mixed marriages in verses 1-3 and 23-28; of the profanation of the Sabbath in verses 15-22; of the non-payment of the tithes in verses 10-13; and of the desecration of the Temple in verses 4-9. The chapter is remarkable for the number of "interjectional prayers" which it contains (verses 14, 22, 29, 31), and for the plainness and roughness of the language (see especially verses 9, 17, 21, 25, 28). The authorship of Nehemiah is universally admitted. P. C. It is tolerably clear that Ezra could not have remained at Jerusalem when Nehemiah took his departure, or the disorders of which we are about to speak would never have arisen. The simultaneous absence from Jerusalem of both Ezra and Nehemiah would necessarily bring Eliashib to the front. Accordingly, he seems to have come forward, and taken the direction of affairs. He proceeded to authorize a general relaxation of the Mosaic ordinances, and especially of those by which Nehemiah had set most store. The people should be free to contract marriage with whomsoever they preferred, and would incur no punishment for doing so. Wives were at once taken by many of the Jews from among the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Philistines of Ashdod. They were brought to Jerusalem and encouraged to teach their children their own forms of speech. A strange jargon began to be heard in the streets of the holy city, where infantile tongues babbled half in the Aramaic, "half in the speech of Ashdod" (13 : 24), and their mothers addressed them in the one language, their fathers in the other! Such seems to have been the rage for these marriages, that many Jews, carried away by it, wrongfully and cruelly put away their lawful native wives to take to themselves these aliens. To diminish the influence of the priests and Levites, who were the chief support of the reforming party, he seems to have connived at the non-payment of the tithes and firstfruits by those that owed them, which amounted to an absolute "robbery" (Mal. 3 : 8), and so impoverished the sacerdotal order, that they found themselves compelled to leave Jerusalem, and employ themselves in the cultivation of their own fields (verse 10). The service of the Temple must have suffered by this neglect, but Eliashib and his party were bent on amalgamating Judaism with heathenism, or, at any rate, on such a system of mutual toleration as should lead to an ultimate union and fusion. Meanwhile, they allowed the house of God to be "forsaken" (verse 11)—the choral service to be discontinued—the treasuries to become empty—and the once crowded courts to remain without either ministers or worshippers. If Eliashib, and the party which supported him, had remained much longer in power, and had succeeded in completely breaking down the wall of separation so long established between Israel and the heathen, it cannot be supposed that it would have been long before idolatrous altars would have appeared once more in Jerusalem at the corners of the streets, if they were not introduced, as they were under Manasseh, into the Temple itself. G. R. 7-31. When Nehemiah returned and saw this, it "grieved him sore." But he was no mere lamenter, to content himself with sighs and tears; he was a reformer of the most vigorous type. So he purified the Temple. Then he contended with the rulers about the neglect of tithes and offerings, and stopped the traffic which had been permitted on the seventh day, including a Sabbath market which the heathen had actually set up at the gate of Jerusalem. He also repeated the strict measure of discipline which Ezra had previously enforced, insisting on the divorce of heathen wives, whom Jews had illegally married. This he did with a certain vehemence of spirit, recalling the mischief that had followed such intimacy with the heathen on the part of the wisest of their kings. "Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things?" D. F. 7-14. Nehemiah went in person to the Temple, and entering the "great chamber," which Eliashib had assigned to Tobiah the Ammonite, and "prepared for him" (verse 7), he "cast forth"—apparently with his own hands—"all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber" (verse 8). Then he proceeded to give orders that other chambers, similarly desecrated, should be cleansed and restored to their proper uses (verse 9). The "vessels of the house of God" were brought back and once more stored in them, together with the "meat offering and the frankincense." The priests and Levites were recalled from their several "fields," and arrangements were made for their due sustenation by the enforcement of the tithe system as recently modified by the reformers. There was a ready obedience to Nehemiah's orders. "All Judah brought the tithe of the corn, and of the new wine, and of the oil unto the treasuries" (verse 12)—the Levites flocked back, and re-entered upon their old offices—the Temple courts were once more crowded—the choral anthems arose at the set times—and Nehemiah uttered the prayer which he has put on record (verse 14). 15-17. In re-establishing the rightful observance of the Sabbath, again Nehemiah had "the nobles" opposed to him, together with a large portion of the commercial classes. Once more, he tells us, he had to "contend." G. R. 19. When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath. The Jews have always reckoned their days from sunset to sunset, grounding their practice on the account of the Creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, where "the evening and the morning" are said to constitute each of the six days. There was also a special command that the "Sabbath" of the great day of atonement should be kept "from even to even" (Lev. 23 : 32). I commanded that the gates should be shut. The gates would as a matter of course have been shut at sunset. Nehemiah required that the closing should take place some half-hour earlier, when the shadows were lengthening, and the day was drawing toward a close. He regarded it as a sort of desecration of the Sabbath to carry on secular work to the last allowable moment. That there should be no burden brought in.** Foot passengers were no doubt allowed to enter and leave the city on the Sabbath, Nehemiah's servants being set to see that under no pretence should merchandise be allowed to enter. P. C.—The method adopted may yield suggestions for all who would aim at reforming abuses or public immoralities. One most necessary step is to cut off, as far as possible, opportunities for the sin. There will be no trade if you shut the gates the night before. There will be little drunkenness if there are no liquor shops. It is quite true that people cannot be made virtuous by legislation, but it is also true that they may be saved temptations to become vicious by it. A. M. 20. The merchants lodged without.** The merchants could not leave their wares unguarded; and the wares not being admitted into the town, they were obliged to camp out. Thus a crowd was collected about the gates, and a disturbance and excitement caused, which was unsuitable for the Sabbath. To prevent this, Nehemiah threatened to arrest the merchants, whereupon the practice was given up (verse 21). P. C.—Another hint comes from Nehemiah's vigorous word to the country folk outside the wall. There is need for very strong determination and much sanctified obstinacy in fighting popular abuses. They die hard. It is permissible to invoke the aid of the lawful authority. But a man with strong convictions and earnest purpose will be able to impress his convictions on a mass, even if he have no guards at his back. The one thing needful for Christian reformers is, not the power to appeal to force, but the force which they can carry within them. And it is better when the traders love the Sabbath too well to wish to drive bargains on it, than when they are hindered from doing as they wish by Nehemiah's strong will or formidable threats. A. M. Nehemiah's Views on the Sabbath. It is held by critics of a certain type that the Sabbath, in Nehemiah's time, was essentially a recent institution. But he himself certainly regarded it as ancient (verse 18), and as having been anciently of so much importance that the profaning of it was a reason for the calamities that had befallen Israel. In his mind the obligation to abstain from work on the Sabbath seems to be the same as in the case of the other holy days prescribed in the law (Neh. 10: 31). In any case, Neh. 9: 14 explicitly mentions the Sabbath as one of the institutions given through Moses at Sinai. W. J. B. It is easy to ridicule the Jewish Sabbath and "the Puritan Sunday." No doubt, there have been and are well-meant but mistaken efforts to insist on too rigid observance. No doubt, it has been often forgotten by good people that the Christian Lord's Day is not the Jewish Sabbath. Of course, the religious observance of the day is not a fit subject for legislation. But the need for a seventh day of rest is impressed on our physical and intellectual nature; and devout hearts will joyfully find their best rest in Christian worship and service. The vigor of religious life demands special seasons set apart for worship. A. M. 22. He concludes this passage with a prayer, in which observe the petitions, "Lord, remember me," that is enough; God's thoughts to usward are very precious (Ps. 40: 5). He adds, "Spare me; so far is he from thinking that what he had done did properly merit a reward in strict justice, that he cries earnestly to God to spare him. The best saints, even when they do the best actions, stand in need of sparing mercy, for 'there is not a just man that doeth good, and sinneth not.' The plea, 'According to the greatness (or multitude) of Thy mercies.' H.—After all, and when he had done all, he trusted in nothing that he had either gained or done; but the more he was laden with the fruits of righteousness, the more he felt himself to be laden with infirmities; so that, however illustrious he was in the eyes of his fellow-men, he felt that before his God he had no plea to urge, save 'the mercy that endureth forever.' This, therefore, was his lowly prayer—"Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me, according to the greatness of Thy mercy." Stowell.—Nehemiah had no false notion of his own goodness; for, while he asked for recompense for these good deeds of his, he could not but add, "Spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy." He who asks to be "spared" must know himself in peril of destruction; and he who invokes "mercy" must think that, if he were dealt with according to justice, he would be in evil case. So the consciousness of weakness and sin is an integral part of this prayer, and that takes all the apparent self-righteousness out of the previous petition. However worthy of and sure of reward a Christian man's acts of love and efforts for the spread of God's honor may be, the doer of them must still be "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." A. M. 23-28. But the chief struggle in this second reformation of Nehemiah's was the same as that which had engaged and absorbed the attention of Ezra when he first visited Judea—the contention with regard to the mixed marriages. Here men's feelings were excited to the highest possible pitch, and here he had for open antagonists persons of the very highest rank and position. Where the culprits belonged to the common herd he brooked no opposition. But a son of Joiada, and grandson of Eliashib the high-priest, Manasseh by name, had not only contracted one of the prohibited marriages (10 : 30), but had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, the chief of the foreign adversaries of Nehemiah (2 : 10, 19 ; 4 : 1, 7 ; 6 : 1, 2, 5, 12), and therefore a person peculiarly obnoxious to him. Nehemiah required him to put this woman away. Bolder than his grandfather, he met the command of the governor with a determined resistance—he would not part with his wife. Supported by a certain number of his order (13 : 29), he defied the Tirshatha. Nehemiah on his part was equally stanch—in his capacity of civil governor he passed on his opponent a sentence of exile (verse 28). The recalcitrant priest did not dare to remain ; but, in quitting the country, he seems to have formed a resolution to take refuge in Samaria with his father-in-law, and to establish there a worship and a temple, which should be permanent rivals of the worship and Temple at Jerusalem, should be always open to discontented members of the Judean community, and should present to the world a form of the Jehovistic religion less severe than that of the Judeans, simpler and more attractive. The result was the erection, on the lofty eminence known as Mount Gerizim, of the Samaritan sanctuary of Jehovah, wherein Manasseh was installed as high-priest, which continued for three centuries to be a thorn in the side of Judah, a refuge for traitors and renegades, a centre of hostility and antagonism, a constant source of trouble and difficulty. Manasseh, no doubt, from one point of view, had his revenge ; but, from another, it may be questioned whether he did not render, quite involuntarily, an important service to Judaism. As Kuenen remarks, "Had not Samaria stood open to the discontented Jews, perhaps the field would not have been cleared and the resistance to the new tendency" (i.e., to Nehemiah's reforms) "quelled so easily. Now that a refuge had been opened to them in the immediate neighborhood, they could the sooner resolve to give up the struggle—from which they could scarcely hope to come out as conconquerors." The practical result is, that with Manasseh's withdrawal opposition ceases ; the reforms are established ; and the newly freed nation grows up upon the lines which Ezra and Nehemiah have laid down, not upon those which would have been preferred by Manasseh and Eliashib. G. R. 23,24. We do not know what "the Jews' language" was at the time, whether it was Hebrew or Aramaic. Considering, however, how large a proportion of the returned exiles belonged to the priestly order, we might presume that Hebrew would still be used in the upper ranks of the community, and this presumption is borne out by the fact that nearly all the post-exilic books are in the old language of Israel. On the whole, it seems most probable that the Hebrew of the Old Testament did not become wholly extinct as a living tongue until contact with the Greeks had introduced another rival to it in the shape of Greek. Hebrew disappeared before the influence of Aramaic and Greek, just as completely as Aramaic and Greek themselves have since disappeared in Palestine before the influence of Arabic. Long before this happened, Old Testament Hebrew had naturally become filled with "Aramaisms"—that is, with words or forms of words and expressions which were borrowed from Aramaic. Sayce. 28. From this verse and from Ezra 10 : 18-22, it is evident that the priests especially were subjected to the severe discipline exercised by Ezra and Nehemiah with respect to mixed marriages. Such discipline was the more needful in proportion as the needy condition of the colony affected the state of public worship, and begot indifference and discouragement among the priesthood (see Mal. 1 : 6 ; 2 : 9). Oehler. 31. Nehemiah refers himself to God to recompense him, takes Him for his paymaster, and then doubts not but he shall be well paid. This may well be the summary of our petitions ; we need no more to make us happy than this, "Remember me, O my God, for good." H. Ezra and Nehemiah are brought before the reader somewhat fully. Their personal characters stand out in the strong light of words spoken, deeds done, sympathies manifested. It is rare that we meet with nobler men, of purer motive, more earnest spirit and of more unselfish natures. How eminently prayerful ! How pure and sweet is the simplicity of their devotion to the cause of God ! It is refreshing to come into contact with such men, to feel the power of such examples, and the inspiration of such spirits. They may have had blemishes of character, or sins of life; but if so, the record passes them unnoticed. Let us be thankful for such recorded lives. H. C. Probably in the later portion of his civil governorship Nehemiah was brought into contact with the last of the prophets, Malachi, a man thoroughly after his heart. Malachi denounces, with a vigor worthy of Isaiah himself, those special sins against which Nehemiah was never tired of contending—the intermarriage with heathen women, involving, as it too often did, repudiation of innocent and loving Jewish wives, whose unhappy lot caused them to bathe the altar with their tears (Mal. 2: 13); the withholding of tithes and offerings, which he regards as absolute robbery of the Almighty (ibid. 3: 8, 9); the oppression of the poor (ibid., verse 5), against which Nehemiah so strenuously exerted himself; the demoralization of the priesthood (Mal. 1: 6; 2: 1-10), patent in the cases of Eliashib and Manasseh, and the general irreligion and laxity (Mal. 1: 13, 14; 2: 17; 3: 5, 7). He re-echoes Nehemiah's condemnations, but even in stronger terms. He tells the priests that they "despise" and "profane God's name" (ibid. 1: 6, 12), that they "are departed out of the way" (ibid. 2: 8), have "corrupted the covenant of Levi," have "caused many to stumble," and have been "partial" in their exposition of the law (ibid. 2: 9). He calls the people "thieves and robbers" (ibid. 3: 8, 9), "adulterers, sorcerers, false swearers, treacherous dealers" (ibid. 2: 14), "committers of abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem" (ibid. 2: 11). He tells them that they are "cursed with a curse." G. R. Seven cities, each famous in history, have, during a period of more than four thousand years, been successively reared on the site of the four hills and intervening valleys, that are known by the common name of Jerusalem. With regard to the original city, its antiquity as a walled town dates at least forty centuries before our time. The Jebusites, after the conquest of Palestine, lay safe behind the colossal walls of Zion for four hundred and fifty years, till David surprised the stronghold by gaining admission through a water-course. Twenty-two years after the storming of Zion, the Jebusite Araunah, "as a king," ceded to the king of Israel the site which was afterward divided between the precincts of the Temple and the courts and gardens of the palace; and enormous wrought stones, artificially channelled (that their monolithic grandeur might not dwarf the smaller though yet gigantic blocks of the masonry of Solomon), yet tell why one of the neighboring ravines was called the "valley of the giants." David, Solomon, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Manasseh were the builders of regal Jerusalem. They enclosed and adorned Moriah, defended Ophel by a wall that united the fortification of Zion to Moriah; drew around the base of the hill, to the north and west, the wall known as the first wall of Josephus, and constructed a subterranean conduit. The peculiar features of the work of Solomon, the rusticated megalithic ashlar, the shouldered lintels, hollowed into the resemblance of true arches, the rude Phonician letters traced by the quarrymen and stone-hewers of Hiram, the cisterns and culvert of the conduit are yet to be recognized by the character no less than by the localities of the work. Regal Jerusalem stood for four hundred and sixty-six years. Sacerdotal Jerusalem dates from the restoration inaugurated by Zerubbabel, after the partial demolition effected by Nebuchadnezzar, to the more complete destruction resulting from the siege by Titus, a period of six hundred and six years. Nehemiah "the Tirshatha," Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, Hyrcanus, Herod the Great and Agrippa, the fourth Idumean king, were the principal builders during this period. Hadrian and Constantine, Julian and Justinian, were the builders of Roman Jerusalem. There is no mistaking the traces of their handiwork. Altars, entablatures, deeply incised rude Roman inscriptions, architectural fragments, even one or two portions of statues, or of statuettes, attest their pagan origin. Crosses and Christian inscriptions, and the introduction of a cruciform plan for buildings, yet to be traced in the foundations, commenced during this period of five centuries. The Persian and Arabic rule over the holy city endured, including the brief interval of restored Christian sway under Heraclius, for four hundred and eighty years. Moorish tiles are almost the only relics of this period to be distinguished in the museum. On the actual site exists very much that tells of the Arab occupation. The ninety years of the crusaders and of the Norman kings of Jerusalem have left relics remarkable for their value, if not for their number. The seventh permanent occupation of Jerusalem has been that of the Moslem, commencing with the capture by Saladin, and enduring, first under the Saracens and then under the Turkish caliphs, to our own day. Dilapidation, dirt, misery and decay have waited on the Turkish rule; and it is no trifling achievement to have obtained authority from the sultan to raise any portion of the veil which long neglect has drawn over the relics of Jerusalem. Brit. Quarterly.  Outline of Ancient Jerusalem. (Robinson modified.) THIS is a book of Divine providence. It is written to show how God, without manifesting Himself as He had done in Judea, watched over the Jews in a strange land, and under the power of the heathen. The charm of the history is this, that while everything proceeds in a manner quite natural, and there is no introduction of miracles or prodigies, all the incidents are so nicely adjusted to the production of the great result, that if one had been wanting, or been otherwise than it was, the whole plan would have been deranged, and the issue could never have been reached. The time occupied by this story falls in between the going up of Zerubbabel from Babylon to Jerusalem, and that of Ezra. The Persian empire, in which Babylon was then included, was at its height of greatness, extending from the Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Caspian to Arabia. The Ahasuerus who occupied the throne was most probably the Xerxes of profane history. His winter palace was at Susa or Shushan, and his court was luxurious and extravagant to a degree which we can scarcely conceive. D. F. The Book of Esther stands in the English Bible at the close of the historical books; it does not, however, form a link in the connected series, as it only relates to an episode in the history. It has, moreover, features of its own which distinguish it broadly from the historical books, and indeed from all the other books of the Old Testament. It takes its name from the Jewish maiden who became queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus, and it was written doubtless with the primary purpose of explaining the institution of the feast of Purim, which originated mainly through her means. In the Hebrew Bible it stands among the Hagiographa, the third division of the canonical books, as one of the five rolls, and by the later Jews has come to be esteemed almost as highly as the law itself. J. Robertson. The Book comes to us with an external record that is above suspicion. We receive it from those vigilant and scrupulous guardians of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish people; and with the most assuring commendation on their part. Their learned rabbis are united in including it among those Scriptures distinguished as the Hagiographa, the emphatically sacred books; and even among these, assigned it the first rank. The internal evidence is equally satisfactory. Like the other books of the Hebrew canon, it deals with the fortunes of the Jewish people, and is fully in keeping with their well-known characteristics. Mordecai and Esther were Jews of the clearest and most unquestionable type. The providence of God, in the deliverance of His people, stands out in this book in as distinct outline as in their rescue from the Egyptian bondage or from the Babylonian captivity. The record is everywhere true, moreover, to the Medo-Persian dynasty and character. It shows us just what the profane histories show us, only with greater minuteness and fidelity. Street. The Book of Esther relates an episode in Jewish history of intense interest to the entire nation at the time, since it involved the question of its continuance or destruction, but an episode which stood quite separate and distinct from the rest of Jewish history, unconnected with anything that preceded or followed, and which, but for the institution of the feast of Purim, might as easily have been forgotten by the people as escaped perils too often are by individuals. The main scene of the narrative is Susa, the Persian capital; the dramatis personæ are either Persians or "Jews of the dispersion." There is no mention, in the whole Book, of Palestine, or Jerusalem, or the Temple, or the provisions of the law, nor any allusion to any facts in previous Jewish history, excepting two: 1. The Captivity under Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 2: 6). 2. The subsequent dispersion of the Jews over all the various provinces of the Persian empire (chap. 3 : 8). Thus the events related belong, primarily, not to the history of the Palestinian Jews, but to that of the “Jews of the dispersion ;” and it is as indicating that those Jews were, no less than their brethren in Palestine, under the Divine care, that the Book appealed to the hearts of the Jewish race generally, and claimed a place in the national collection of sacred writings. The mere process of eliminating impossible kings conducts us to Xerxes, the son of Darius, and father of Longimanus, as the personage really meant. And here we find, in the first place, that the names are identical, the Hebrew Akhashverosh corresponding letter for letter with the Persian Khshayarsha, which the Greeks turned into Xerxes. Secondly, the resemblance of character is most striking, and is admitted on all hands. Thirdly, the notes of time exactly accord with the chronology of Xerxes’ reign. “In the third year of Xerxes’ reign was held an assembly at Susa to arrange the Grecian war (Herod. vii. 7). In the third year of Ahasuerus was held a great feast and assembly at Shushan the palace (Esth. 1 : 3). In the seventh year of his reign Xerxes returned defeated from Greece, and consoled himself by the pleasures of the harem (Herod. ix. 108). In the seventh year of his reign ‘fair young virgins were sought’ for Ahasuerus (Esth. 2 : 2-15).” We may therefore confidently regard the Ahasuerus of Esther as the well-known invader of Greece and scourger of the Hellespont, who has come down to us in profane history as “Xerxes.” P. C.—From the cuneiform alphabet of the ancient Persians we learn that Ahasuerus or Akhashverosh is the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha, called Xerxes in Greek. Two kings of this name ruled over Persia ; but as the second reigned for only a couple of months, he cannot possibly be the Ahasuerus of Esther. The latter must be the famous monarch of Greek story, whose huge armaments melted away before Greek valor at Salamis and Platæa. The character of Ahasuerus, too, agrees well with that of Xerxes I. Weak, vain, cowardly and capricious, Xerxes I. was the only Persian monarch known to us who could have acted in the way described in the Book of Esther. Xerxes has left inscriptions at Persepolis, at Elvend (near Ekbatana), and at Van in Armenia, which are couched in the same language as those of his father, Darius. Sayce. The reader will notice that, taking Ahasuerus to be Xerxes, the events of this Book fall after the dedication of the second Temple (second year of Darius) and before the labors of Ezra and Nehemiah (from the seventh to the thirty-second or some later year of Artaxerxes Longimanus). As to locality, the reader will see that these events transpire, not in Judah, and not where they would directly affect the colony there save through sympathy ; but in Shushan, the capital of the Medo-Persian empire. The Book shows that Jews in considerable numbers were scattered over that empire, many in Shushan itself. Of their fortunes under a special exigency during the reign of Xerxes this book gives an account. The name of the author of this book cannot be ascertained with any certainty. He gives details so minutely that he must have lived on the spot. His allusions to Persian life and manners, luxury, customs and history, harmonize so entirely with what comes to us through the Greek historians as to compel the same conclusion. The writer knew too much of the Persians to have lived elsewhere than there and then. Some think the book was written by Mordecai. It is probably safe to say—by him, or at least under his eye. As to purpose and aim, the author recognizes the feast of Purim ; indeed, makes great account of it as an established institution ; probably was active in making it such ; and consequently prepared this history of the events that culminated in that commemorative festival. Those events were worthy of this commemoration. God’s hand in them from first to last was so signally manifest, the lessons they taught could not fail to be at once impressive and instructive. But though God’s hand was in these events too plainly manifest to be mistaken or unnoticed, yet His name is not here, not being even once written in this Book. We are left in no doubt that Mordecai believed in God’s covenant with His people and in His promises of salvation in their behalf (4 : 14), and that both he and Esther believed in prayer, though they do not name prayer, but only fasting, when it seems plain enough that prayer is in their thought as truly as fasting. H. C. The language of the Book closely resembles that of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, which were all written about that time. The minute and particular accounts of many matters which would be known primarily only to Esther and Mordecai, and would certainly not have been written in the “Book of the Chronicles,” as Mordecai’s genealogy (2 : 5), Esther’s messages to Mordecai and Mordecai’s to her through Hatach (4 : 5-16), the circumstances of the two banquets given by Esther to Ahasuerus and Haman (5:6-8; 7:2-8), etc., make it probable that the writer was contemporary with the events narrated, and derived his information from Mordecai or Esther, or both. Further, the individuals who have been mentioned as the writers of the Book—Mordecai himself and the high-priest Joiakim—lived about this time. Altogether, it seems most probable that the work was composed about the middle of the fifth century B.C., or a little later, when Xerxes had been dead about twenty years. P. C.—The minuteness of the details, and the frequent reference to events and persons which presuppose an acquaintance with Persia, go to show not only that the author lived in Persia—which indeed is admitted on all sides—but also that he lived before the overthrow of the Persian power. At the same time it is evident from the first verse of the Book that the reign of Xerxes was already over, as well as from the last verse but one, where it is stated that “all” his acts were written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia. As we have seen, the character of the language of the book would tend to make it a little later than the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and we may therefore assent to the opinion of those commentators who place its composition toward the end of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 425). Sayce. It is remarkable that the name of God is not once mentioned in Esther. The only religious ideas introduced with any distinctness are the efficacy of a national humiliation (4:1-3), the certainty that punishment will overtake the wicked, and a feeling of confidence that Israel will not be forsaken (4:14). Various conjectural reasons have been given for this reticence. One thing is clear, that a Jew of later times would have taken care not to raise suspicion against his work by such an omission. . . . It would seem that the reticence of the author of Esther respecting his religious views was the result of habit. The Jews, bred up among the heathen, and living in constant intercourse with them, learned by degrees to keep back the expression of their religious convictions, to assimilate themselves externally to their masters, to eliminate from their ordinary discourse all that would mark them for Jews, while they clung internally to their old belief, and practised secretly their old customs. A century and a half of this dissimulation made it so habitual that it was not laid aside, even where there was no occasion for it. The Jew of the dispersion kept his religion in his heart of hearts, and spoke of it as little as possible. It may have helped to keep Esther free from the religious element, if it was in the main extracted from the Persian archives. We do not know on what scale these were written, but it is quite possible that they contained most of our present Esther. At any rate, if the author took them for his basis, and found them, as he might, altogether secular in tone, he would be naturally led to assimilate to them his own portions of the work. Finally, it must be granted that the whole difficulty is not overcome by these considerations, and it may well be that other circumstances also, which cannot be particularized, prevented the author from giving expression to the religious feelings and beliefs which he entertained, and which underlie his narrative. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 11:1 AND the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. Verses 3-36 include lists of chief dwellers in Jerusalem and in the country towns and villages. Chap. 12:1-26 contains lists of priestly and Levitical houses. These lists are sufficiently described in the first general note. 12:27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites; also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession; whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate: and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of 33, 34 Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph; and his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was before them: and by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward. And the other company of them that gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, upon the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even unto the broad wall; and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard. So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me: and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. And they kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, and so did the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they sanctified for the Levites; and the Levites sanctified for the sons of Aaron. 13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God for ever; because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 4. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of 5 our God, being allied unto Tobiah, had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the 6 porters; and the heave offerings for the priests. But in all this time I was not at Jerusa- lem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king, 7 and after certain days asked I leave of the king: and I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the 8 house of God. And it grieved me some: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of 9 Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal offerings and the 10 frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so 11 that the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered 12 them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn 13 and the wine and the oil unto the treasuries. And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedalah: and the next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and 14 their business was to distribute unto their brethren. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances thereof. 15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses therewith; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the 16 day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought in fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jeru- 17 salem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is 18 this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by 19 profaning the sabbath. And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, 20 that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers 21 of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on 22 you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember unto me, O my God, this also, and spare me accord- ing to the greatness of thy mercy. 23 In those days also saw I the Jews that had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of 24 Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the 25 Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters 26 for your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God 27 made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did strange women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying 28 strange women? And one of the sons of Jolada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son 29 in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the 30 Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed wards for the priests and 31 for the Levites, every one in his work; and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. The Closing Sections of the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah's narrative in the first person, broken off at Neh. 7:5 for the insertion of the 1st of the returned exiles, resumed, perhaps, in 11: 1, 2, and again interrupted by the genealogical note (11:3 to 12:26), is finally resumed with the account of the dedication of the wall (12: 27). This closing part of it consists of three sections, each ending with the precalve clause, "Remember me, O my God," etc. (13:14, 22, 31). The first section describes the dedication of the wall, the renewed separation from for- eigners, the renewed provision for the Levites, and, parenthetically, the reaction which had taken place during Nehemiah's absence, and which rendered these renewed arrangements necessary. It follows that the events of this section occurred partly during the interval be- tween the two administrations of Nehemiah, and partly soon after his return for his second administration. The second section describes a struggle for legalized Sabbath-keeping that oc- curred at some unknown later date. The third section is mainly concerned with two incidents in a renewed struggle against the practice of intermarriage with foreigners, but closes with a more general statement as to the work of Nehemiah. These statements touching foreign marriages perhaps cover a considerable interval of time. At all events, the latest incident mentioned, the marriage of a descendant of Joiada the high-priest with a woman of the family of Sanballat (Neh. 13:28), probably occurred some decades after the beginning of the second administration of Nehemiah. The opening chapters of Nehemiah's narrative are relatively full, covering in all only a few months. The closing sections are relatively brief, belonging to three different points of time, and covering, in all, many years. The dedication of the wall belongs to Nehemiah's second administration. The matters in the section (11:3 to 12:26) do not lead up to the account of the dedication. That section is in part a duplicate of 1 Chron. 9. It is a series of genealogical notes, including the names of men of at least six generations. Most of the men of the two youngest of these generations were not yet born when the wall was dedicated, and the names of those who participated in the dedication are in no way made prominent in these notes. There is a clear break between this genealogical section and what follows it. And, on the other hand, the account of the pageant at the wall is closely connected with the events related directly afterward. It was "on that day" that they made the arrangements described in 12:44. It was still "on that day" (13:1) that they read in the law in regard to the exclusion of Moabites and Ammonites from the assembly of Jehovah. It is necessarily to these events that the phrase "before this" of 13:4 applies. Hence the affirmation there made is that Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem took place before these events; that is, before the dedication of the wall and the reading of the law which accompanied it. And this is equivalent to saying that the dedication occurred after Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem for his second administration. Just at that time there were reasons why Nehemiah should devise such a public occasion as this. He could make use of it as a means of influencing the people for resisting the reactionary movement that had set in during his absence. This is a sufficient reply to the argument sometimes used, that it is not likely that they would so long have postponed the dedication of the wall. A city wall is not a temple, and does not necessarily demand dedication. There is no reason to think they would have dedicated it at all, save as there might be value in the dedicatory solemnities themselves. Nehemiah's Two Administrations. According to the record in the first ten chapters, Nehemiah accomplished two great things in the first seven months of the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. The first was the rebuilding of the wall, and the second the establishment of internal affairs on a sound basis. The points of internal administration that are most emphasized are, first, the abolishing of marriages with foreigners (Neh. 10:30); second, the stopping of trade on the Sabbath and the holy days (Neh. 10:31); third, the securing the observance of "the seventh year" (both by letting the soil rest and by releasing debts, doubtless, Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:3-7; De. 15:1, 2; Neh. 10:31); fourth, the breaking up of extortionate practices (Neh. 10:31; chap. 5); fifth, the making of business-like provision for the support of the Temple services and ministers (Neh. 10:32-39). From the close of these seven months, the first administration of Nehemiah lasted eleven or twelve years (Neh. 13:6; 5:14). The time was doubtless employed in working out the problems just mentioned, and the auxiliary problem of securing to Jerusalem a sufficient population to make it a safe city, and suitable for the national Temple and worship (Neh. 7:4; 11:1, 2). In Neh. 5:14-19, we are informed that during all this time Nehemiah lived in a generous and hospitable way in Jerusalem, but without cost to the people over whom he was governor. Doubtless those were to him trying years, but, on the whole, years of success. Steadily his people became more prosperous, and the ideas represented by Ezra and himself more influential among them. At the end of the twelve years Nehemiah went to the king, perhaps thinking that his task in Jerusalem was now accomplished. Thus his first administration closed, B.C. 433. It turned out, however, that he could not be spared, and he was recalled for a second administration (Neh. 13:6). How long he had been gone is a matter of conjecture. Some guess that it was one year, and some that it was several years; but it cannot have been many years. On his return to Jerusalem, he found disintegration in rapid progress. Tobiah had a lodging in the Temple itself. The Jews were again mingling with foreigners. The Sabbath was profaned. The provision for supporting the Temple attendants was neglected, and they had scattered, each to earn his own living. Nehemiah acted promptly and vigorously. He summarily evicted Tobiah. He commenced gathering again the scattered Levites and singers, and insisted that adequate provision should be made for them. The solemnities of the dedication of the wall afforded him an occasion for assembling and thoroughly reorganizing them, and providing for their support, and an equally good occasion for securing the ratification of his policy of excluding foreigners. Perhaps he would have lost a large part of a year's tithes, if he had waited till the feast of booths for a national gathering that should act in these matters. The administration thus vigorously begun was doubtless a long one—how long no one knows. W. J. B. Chaps. 11, 12. The nexus of chap. 11 is with chap. 7:4, 5. Having spoken in that place of the insufficiency of the population of Jerusalem, Nehemiah now proceeds to explain the steps which he took to remedy it. He made, it would seem, a census of the entire nation, and required each town and district to transfer one tenth of its population to the capital. The men in the various localities determined among themselves by lot who should stay and who should go, and Nehemiah no doubt made the necessary arrangements for the reception of the newcomers at Jerusalem. Forced enlargements of capitals by transfers of this kind were not uncommon in the ancient world, where the strength of states was considered to depend very greatly upon the size and predominance of the capital. Thucydides attributes the greatness and prosperity of the Athenian community to an artificial enlargement of the population of Athens which he ascribes to Theseus. Other notorious instances are those of Syracuse, Megalopolis and Tigranocerta. In Jerusalem at this time the special need of an increase in the number of the inhabitants was probably the defence of the walls. These had been rebuilt on the ancient foundations—their circuit was not much less than four miles—and to man them in case of attack, a large population was necessary. From a comparison of the numbers given in this chapter (verses 6–19) with those of 1 Chron. 9:9–22, it may be gathered that the result of Nehemiah's arrangements was to give Jerusalem a population of about twenty thousand souls. Having been led, in speaking of this matter, to give a sort of catalogue of the chief dwellers at Jerusalem (verses 4–19), and another of the country towns and villages occupied at this time by those Israelites who had returned from the Captivity (verses 25–35), Nehemiah is induced to insert, at this point, certain other lists or catalogues which he regards as worthy of being put on record. These lists are four in number, and occupy chap. 12 as far as verse 26. They comprise: (1) a list of the priestly and Levitical houses which returned with Zerubbabel (verses 1–9); (2) a list of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua; (3) a list of the heads of the priestly courses in the time of the high-priest, Joiakim; and (4) a list of the chief Levitical houses at the same period and afterward. Such lists possess at the present day but a very slight and secondary interest. Their formation, however, and safe preservation were, at the time, essential for the continuity of the nation's history, and the maintenance of the priestly order in purity, and without admixture of laic elements. P. C. 11:2. The men that willingly offered themselves. Besides those on whom the lot fell, a certain number volunteered to change their residence and to transfer themselves and families from their country homes to Jerusalem. The people called down blessings upon them for their patriotism. P. C. Chap. 12. This chapter is made up of two portions. From verse 1 to verse 26 it mainly consists of lists of the leading priests and Levites at different periods. Verses 27–47 give an account of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. This last passage is certainly from the pen of Nehemiah, and was written probably about n.c. 433. The lists which constitute the earlier portion of the chapter are four: (1) A list of the chief priestly and Levitical families, which returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (verses 1–9); (2) the succession of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua, high-priest in the time of Alexander the Great (verses 10, 11); (3) a list of the actual heads of the priestly families in the time of the high-priest Joiakim, the son of Jeshua (verses 12–21); and (4) a list of the chief Levitical families at the same period (verses 24–26). Of these four lists, Nos. 1, 3 and 4 may have been drawn up in the time of Nehemiah, but No. 2 in its present form must be much later. 22,23. These verses come in very awkwardly, interrupting the account of the Church officers in the time of Joiakim, which is resumed in verse 24. They appear to be an addition to the original text, made about the time of Alexander the Great, when the Books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah would seem to have first taken their existing shape. The same hand which inserted these verses probably also added to the original text verse 11. The days of Darius the Persian. Modern commentators are generally agreed that Darius Codomannus, the antagonist of Alexander the Great, is intended. This prince ascended the throne B.C. 336, and reigned till B.C. 331. B. C. 27-43. Dedication of the wall. It is not easy to imagine that the author would have separated the dedication of the wall from its completion by five chapters and a half, unless they had been separated in fact by an interval of some duration. The interval seems, by the notes of time contained in chaps. 12, 13, to have been one of nearly thirteen years. Nehemiah's religious reforms were certainly subsequent to the visit that he paid to the Persian court in B.C. 432 (13:6). These reforms grew out of a reading of the law which took place at the time when Nehemiah appointed the Temple officers (13:1), and that appointment followed closely on the dedication (12:44). The dedication of a city wall was, so far as we know, a new thing in Israel; but it had been customary from a remote time to dedicate houses (De. 20:5); and natural piety extended this practice to aggregations of houses, and to the limit or fence by which they were practically made one. The priestly order had shown its sense of the fitness of such a consecration when they raised their portion of the wall, and had at once "sanctified it" (3:1). Nehemiah now, by the ceremony which he planned and carried out, placed the whole circuit of the wall under the Divine protection, confessing in this solemn act the intrinsic worthlessness of mere walls and bulwarks, unless God lends them strength and makes them a protection against enemies. P. C. And now the time was come when, everything having been established in its rightful order, it seemed fitting that there should be a solemn dedication of the wall to Almighty God. It was not the Temple only which was viewed as a sanctuary by the more religious Jews; but the entire city was regarded as holy—as "God's mountain" (Isa. 65:25)—as a sort of outer sanctuary guarding the inner sanctuary, and, therefore, as requiring to be set apart to God by a formal act of consecration. On the day appointed for this important ceremony, Nehemiah arranged two grand processions, which should girdle the city on the right hand and on the left, and meeting together at the Temple, should there sing praise to God, and "offer great sacrifices and rejoice" (verse 43). The Levites were summoned from their country districts, with their full array of the musical instruments, which still bore the name of their royal inventor, David (verse 36); and the minstrels gathered themselves together from their retreats in the hills of Judah and in the deep valley of the Jordan (verses 28, 29). The priests came in their full numbers, carrying the sacred trumpets (verses 35, 41), and the princes of Judah mustered in great strength (verses 31, 32, 40). Nehemiah divided the assembled multitude into "two great companies of them that gave thanks," and placing himself at the head of the one company (verse 40), and "Ezra the scribe" (verse 36) at the head of the other, caused them to ascend the wall and make the circuit of it, part going in one direction and part in the other, rejoicing all the way and giving praise, until they met on the eastern rampart opposite the Temple, and, there taking their stand, brought the ceremony to an end by a loud antiphonal paean of praise, in which the priests blew their trumpets, the Levites sounded their harps, cymbals and psalteries, and the singers, "with Jerahiah their overseer" (verse 42), "sang loud" and "with great joy rejoiced" (verses 42, 43). At the same time, even the women and children joined in the general acclamation, so that "the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (verse 43). Ezra and Nehemiah, each at the head of their own half of the procession, stood facing one the other, set before the nation as their almost co-equal guides and rulers, to be alike venerated and alike obeyed. G. R. 27. To keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing. Solomon's dedication of the Temple was the pattern followed. As he had made the service altogether one of praise and thanksgiving (2 Chron. 5:13), and had employed in it cymbals, trumpets, psalteries and harps (ibid., verse 12), so Nehemiah on the present occasion. 43. "That day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy, the wives also and the children rejoiced; so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." The constituents of true joy are: 1. Thankfulness and praise in the remembrance of the past and in confident anticipation of the future. The people recounted the mercies of the Lord. Their dedication of the completed walls represented their preparation by the grace of God for His worship and service; their defence against assaults from without; their unity and order as a people. So ought all rejoicing to be well founded on the faith which has full possession of our hearts, and the consecrated religious life which maintains that faith in practice. 2. Purification. "They offered great sacrifices and rejoiced." The giving out of the heart in religious worship uplifts the whole strain of the life. A great expenditure of feeling in the pleasures of this world is exhausting to the nature, but religious emotion both purifies and exalts. 3. Fellowship. All rejoiced together—high and low, rich and poor, the strong men, the wives and children. The true joy is not solitary and selfish, but reveals the unity of kindred minds and sympathizing hearts. Family life is elevated by the cultivation of the spirit of social worship and praise, both in the larger circle of the congregation and in the smaller of the household. All joys brighten in the atmosphere of religious joy. 44-47. Nehemiah's arrangements for the Temple service, and appointment of officers. The good resolutions of the people at the time of the renewal of the covenant would have borne comparatively little fruit had they not been seconded and rendered effective by formal action on the part of the civil authority. The people, in the first flush of their zeal, had bound themselves to undertake the conveyance of the tithes, firstfruits and freewill offerings from the country districts to Jerusalem, and the deposition of them in the Temple treasuries (10 : 37-39). But in practice this was found too great a burden (13 : 10). Nehemiah therefore appointed special officers to collect the tithes and other dues throughout the entire territory, and to bring them to Jerusalem, and lay them up in the proper chambers (verse 44). Over the chambers he appointed treasurers, whose duty it was, not only to collect the ecclesiastical dues, but also to distribute the proceeds among the individuals entitled to share in them (13 : 13). Having in this way provided for the sustenance of the clerical body, he was able to insist on their regular performance of all their duties; and the success of his arrangements was such, that under him the Temple service was restored, not merely to the condition established by Zerubbabel (verse 47), but to one not markedly different from that which had been attained in the time of David and Asaph (verse 46). The priests, Levites, singers and porters respectively performed their duties to his satisfaction, purifying themselves, and taking the service in their turns, "according to the commandment of David and Solomon" (verse 45). 13 : 1-31. Nehemiah's efforts for the reform of religion. 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 (10 : 30-39), 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), he felt it necessary to take active steps to put an end to them. In the first place, intermarriages between the Jews and the neighboring heathen, like those which Ezra had dissolved twenty-five years previously (Ezra 10 : 16-44), had again occurred, and a new generation was growing up which could not speak its own language correctly (verse 24). The family of the high-priest, Eliashib, shared in this trespass. He himself was allied by marriage to the Ammonite chief, Tobiah (verse 4), and one of his grandsons had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat, the Samaritan (verse 28). Secondly, the strict observance of the Sabbath had fallen into disrepute. Further, the payment of the tithes was very irregular; and the Levites, who ought to have found their daily food provided for them in the Temple, not receiving their "portions" there, were forced to absent themselves from the daily service, and to support themselves by cultivating their own plots of ground (verses 10, 11). Finally, the Temple had ceased to be regarded as sacred to the Almighty; a portion of it had been converted into a dwelling-house by the order of the high-priest himself (verse 5), and the Ammonite, Tobiah, had been allowed to take possession of it. Nehemiah tells us in this chapter the mode wherein he dealt with these various evils, treating of the mixed marriages in verses 1-3 and 23-28; of the profanation of the Sabbath in verses 15-22; of the non-payment of the tithes in verses 10-13; and of the desecration of the Temple in verses 4-9. The chapter is remarkable for the number of "interjectional prayers" which it contains (verses 14, 22, 29, 31), and for the plainness and roughness of the language (see especially verses 9, 17, 21, 25, 28). The authorship of Nehemiah is universally admitted. P. C. It is tolerably clear that Ezra could not have remained at Jerusalem when Nehemiah took his departure, or the disorders of which we are about to speak would never have arisen. The simultaneous absence from Jerusalem of both Ezra and Nehemiah would necessarily bring Eliashib to the front. Accordingly, he seems to have come forward, and taken the direction of affairs. He proceeded to authorize a general relaxation of the Mosaic ordinances, and especially of those by which Nehemiah had set most store. The people should be free to contract marriage with whomsoever they preferred, and would incur no punishment for doing so. Wives were at once taken by many of the Jews from among the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Philistines of Ashdod. They were brought to Jerusalem and encouraged to teach their children their own forms of speech. A strange jargon began to be heard in the streets of the holy city, where infantile tongues babbled half in the Aramaic, "half in the speech of Ashdod" (13 : 24), and their mothers addressed them in the one language, their fathers in the other! Such seems to have been the rage for these marriages, that many Jews, carried away by it, wrongfully and cruelly put away their lawful native wives to take to themselves these aliens. To diminish the influence of the priests and Levites, who were the chief support of the reforming party, he seems to have connived at the non-payment of the tithes and firstfruits by those that owed them, which amounted to an absolute "robbery" (Mal. 3 : 8), and so impoverished the sacerdotal order, that they found themselves compelled to leave Jerusalem, and employ themselves in the cultivation of their own fields (verse 10). The service of the Temple must have suffered by this neglect, but Eliashib and his party were bent on amalgamating Judaism with heathenism, or, at any rate, on such a system of mutual toleration as should lead to an ultimate union and fusion. Meanwhile, they allowed the house of God to be "forsaken" (verse 11)—the choral service to be discontinued—the treasuries to become empty—and the once crowded courts to remain without either ministers or worshippers. If Eliashib, and the party which supported him, had remained much longer in power, and had succeeded in completely breaking down the wall of separation so long established between Israel and the heathen, it cannot be supposed that it would have been long before idolatrous altars would have appeared once more in Jerusalem at the corners of the streets, if they were not introduced, as they were under Manasseh, into the Temple itself. G. R. 7-31. When Nehemiah returned and saw this, it "grieved him sore." But he was no mere lamenter, to content himself with sighs and tears; he was a reformer of the most vigorous type. So he purified the Temple. Then he contended with the rulers about the neglect of tithes and offerings, and stopped the traffic which had been permitted on the seventh day, including a Sabbath market which the heathen had actually set up at the gate of Jerusalem. He also repeated the strict measure of discipline which Ezra had previously enforced, insisting on the divorce of heathen wives, whom Jews had illegally married. This he did with a certain vehemence of spirit, recalling the mischief that had followed such intimacy with the heathen on the part of the wisest of their kings. "Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things?" D. F. 7-14. Nehemiah went in person to the Temple, and entering the "great chamber," which Eliashib had assigned to Tobiah the Ammonite, and "prepared for him" (verse 7), he "cast forth"—apparently with his own hands—"all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber" (verse 8). Then he proceeded to give orders that other chambers, similarly desecrated, should be cleansed and restored to their proper uses (verse 9). The "vessels of the house of God" were brought back and once more stored in them, together with the "meat offering and the frankincense." The priests and Levites were recalled from their several "fields," and arrangements were made for their due sustenation by the enforcement of the tithe system as recently modified by the reformers. There was a ready obedience to Nehemiah's orders. "All Judah brought the tithe of the corn, and of the new wine, and of the oil unto the treasuries" (verse 12)—the Levites flocked back, and re-entered upon their old offices—the Temple courts were once more crowded—the choral anthems arose at the set times—and Nehemiah uttered the prayer which he has put on record (verse 14). 15-17. In re-establishing the rightful observance of the Sabbath, again Nehemiah had "the nobles" opposed to him, together with a large portion of the commercial classes. Once more, he tells us, he had to "contend." G. R. 19. When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath. The Jews have always reckoned their days from sunset to sunset, grounding their practice on the account of the Creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, where "the evening and the morning" are said to constitute each of the six days. There was also a special command that the "Sabbath" of the great day of atonement should be kept "from even to even" (Lev. 23 : 32). I commanded that the gates should be shut. The gates would as a matter of course have been shut at sunset. Nehemiah required that the closing should take place some half-hour earlier, when the shadows were lengthening, and the day was drawing toward a close. He regarded it as a sort of desecration of the Sabbath to carry on secular work to the last allowable moment. That there should be no burden brought in.** Foot passengers were no doubt allowed to enter and leave the city on the Sabbath, Nehemiah's servants being set to see that under no pretence should merchandise be allowed to enter. P. C.—The method adopted may yield suggestions for all who would aim at reforming abuses or public immoralities. One most necessary step is to cut off, as far as possible, opportunities for the sin. There will be no trade if you shut the gates the night before. There will be little drunkenness if there are no liquor shops. It is quite true that people cannot be made virtuous by legislation, but it is also true that they may be saved temptations to become vicious by it. A. M. 20. The merchants lodged without.** The merchants could not leave their wares unguarded; and the wares not being admitted into the town, they were obliged to camp out. Thus a crowd was collected about the gates, and a disturbance and excitement caused, which was unsuitable for the Sabbath. To prevent this, Nehemiah threatened to arrest the merchants, whereupon the practice was given up (verse 21). P. C.—Another hint comes from Nehemiah's vigorous word to the country folk outside the wall. There is need for very strong determination and much sanctified obstinacy in fighting popular abuses. They die hard. It is permissible to invoke the aid of the lawful authority. But a man with strong convictions and earnest purpose will be able to impress his convictions on a mass, even if he have no guards at his back. The one thing needful for Christian reformers is, not the power to appeal to force, but the force which they can carry within them. And it is better when the traders love the Sabbath too well to wish to drive bargains on it, than when they are hindered from doing as they wish by Nehemiah's strong will or formidable threats. A. M. Nehemiah's Views on the Sabbath. It is held by critics of a certain type that the Sabbath, in Nehemiah's time, was essentially a recent institution. But he himself certainly regarded it as ancient (verse 18), and as having been anciently of so much importance that the profaning of it was a reason for the calamities that had befallen Israel. In his mind the obligation to abstain from work on the Sabbath seems to be the same as in the case of the other holy days prescribed in the law (Neh. 10: 31). In any case, Neh. 9: 14 explicitly mentions the Sabbath as one of the institutions given through Moses at Sinai. W. J. B. It is easy to ridicule the Jewish Sabbath and "the Puritan Sunday." No doubt, there have been and are well-meant but mistaken efforts to insist on too rigid observance. No doubt, it has been often forgotten by good people that the Christian Lord's Day is not the Jewish Sabbath. Of course, the religious observance of the day is not a fit subject for legislation. But the need for a seventh day of rest is impressed on our physical and intellectual nature; and devout hearts will joyfully find their best rest in Christian worship and service. The vigor of religious life demands special seasons set apart for worship. A. M. 22. He concludes this passage with a prayer, in which observe the petitions, "Lord, remember me," that is enough; God's thoughts to usward are very precious (Ps. 40: 5). He adds, "Spare me; so far is he from thinking that what he had done did properly merit a reward in strict justice, that he cries earnestly to God to spare him. The best saints, even when they do the best actions, stand in need of sparing mercy, for 'there is not a just man that doeth good, and sinneth not.' The plea, 'According to the greatness (or multitude) of Thy mercies.' H.—After all, and when he had done all, he trusted in nothing that he had either gained or done; but the more he was laden with the fruits of righteousness, the more he felt himself to be laden with infirmities; so that, however illustrious he was in the eyes of his fellow-men, he felt that before his God he had no plea to urge, save 'the mercy that endureth forever.' This, therefore, was his lowly prayer—"Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me, according to the greatness of Thy mercy." Stowell.—Nehemiah had no false notion of his own goodness; for, while he asked for recompense for these good deeds of his, he could not but add, "Spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy." He who asks to be "spared" must know himself in peril of destruction; and he who invokes "mercy" must think that, if he were dealt with according to justice, he would be in evil case. So the consciousness of weakness and sin is an integral part of this prayer, and that takes all the apparent self-righteousness out of the previous petition. However worthy of and sure of reward a Christian man's acts of love and efforts for the spread of God's honor may be, the doer of them must still be "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." A. M. 23-28. But the chief struggle in this second reformation of Nehemiah's was the same as that which had engaged and absorbed the attention of Ezra when he first visited Judea—the contention with regard to the mixed marriages. Here men's feelings were excited to the highest possible pitch, and here he had for open antagonists persons of the very highest rank and position. Where the culprits belonged to the common herd he brooked no opposition. But a son of Joiada, and grandson of Eliashib the high-priest, Manasseh by name, had not only contracted one of the prohibited marriages (10 : 30), but had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, the chief of the foreign adversaries of Nehemiah (2 : 10, 19 ; 4 : 1, 7 ; 6 : 1, 2, 5, 12), and therefore a person peculiarly obnoxious to him. Nehemiah required him to put this woman away. Bolder than his grandfather, he met the command of the governor with a determined resistance—he would not part with his wife. Supported by a certain number of his order (13 : 29), he defied the Tirshatha. Nehemiah on his part was equally stanch—in his capacity of civil governor he passed on his opponent a sentence of exile (verse 28). The recalcitrant priest did not dare to remain ; but, in quitting the country, he seems to have formed a resolution to take refuge in Samaria with his father-in-law, and to establish there a worship and a temple, which should be permanent rivals of the worship and Temple at Jerusalem, should be always open to discontented members of the Judean community, and should present to the world a form of the Jehovistic religion less severe than that of the Judeans, simpler and more attractive. The result was the erection, on the lofty eminence known as Mount Gerizim, of the Samaritan sanctuary of Jehovah, wherein Manasseh was installed as high-priest, which continued for three centuries to be a thorn in the side of Judah, a refuge for traitors and renegades, a centre of hostility and antagonism, a constant source of trouble and difficulty. Manasseh, no doubt, from one point of view, had his revenge ; but, from another, it may be questioned whether he did not render, quite involuntarily, an important service to Judaism. As Kuenen remarks, "Had not Samaria stood open to the discontented Jews, perhaps the field would not have been cleared and the resistance to the new tendency" (i.e., to Nehemiah's reforms) "quelled so easily. Now that a refuge had been opened to them in the immediate neighborhood, they could the sooner resolve to give up the struggle—from which they could scarcely hope to come out as conconquerors." The practical result is, that with Manasseh's withdrawal opposition ceases ; the reforms are established ; and the newly freed nation grows up upon the lines which Ezra and Nehemiah have laid down, not upon those which would have been preferred by Manasseh and Eliashib. G. R. 23,24. We do not know what "the Jews' language" was at the time, whether it was Hebrew or Aramaic. Considering, however, how large a proportion of the returned exiles belonged to the priestly order, we might presume that Hebrew would still be used in the upper ranks of the community, and this presumption is borne out by the fact that nearly all the post-exilic books are in the old language of Israel. On the whole, it seems most probable that the Hebrew of the Old Testament did not become wholly extinct as a living tongue until contact with the Greeks had introduced another rival to it in the shape of Greek. Hebrew disappeared before the influence of Aramaic and Greek, just as completely as Aramaic and Greek themselves have since disappeared in Palestine before the influence of Arabic. Long before this happened, Old Testament Hebrew had naturally become filled with "Aramaisms"—that is, with words or forms of words and expressions which were borrowed from Aramaic. Sayce. 28. From this verse and from Ezra 10 : 18-22, it is evident that the priests especially were subjected to the severe discipline exercised by Ezra and Nehemiah with respect to mixed marriages. Such discipline was the more needful in proportion as the needy condition of the colony affected the state of public worship, and begot indifference and discouragement among the priesthood (see Mal. 1 : 6 ; 2 : 9). Oehler. 31. Nehemiah refers himself to God to recompense him, takes Him for his paymaster, and then doubts not but he shall be well paid. This may well be the summary of our petitions ; we need no more to make us happy than this, "Remember me, O my God, for good." H. Ezra and Nehemiah are brought before the reader somewhat fully. Their personal characters stand out in the strong light of words spoken, deeds done, sympathies manifested. It is rare that we meet with nobler men, of purer motive, more earnest spirit and of more unselfish natures. How eminently prayerful ! How pure and sweet is the simplicity of their devotion to the cause of God ! It is refreshing to come into contact with such men, to feel the power of such examples, and the inspiration of such spirits. They may have had blemishes of character, or sins of life; but if so, the record passes them unnoticed. Let us be thankful for such recorded lives. H. C. Probably in the later portion of his civil governorship Nehemiah was brought into contact with the last of the prophets, Malachi, a man thoroughly after his heart. Malachi denounces, with a vigor worthy of Isaiah himself, those special sins against which Nehemiah was never tired of contending—the intermarriage with heathen women, involving, as it too often did, repudiation of innocent and loving Jewish wives, whose unhappy lot caused them to bathe the altar with their tears (Mal. 2: 13); the withholding of tithes and offerings, which he regards as absolute robbery of the Almighty (ibid. 3: 8, 9); the oppression of the poor (ibid., verse 5), against which Nehemiah so strenuously exerted himself; the demoralization of the priesthood (Mal. 1: 6; 2: 1-10), patent in the cases of Eliashib and Manasseh, and the general irreligion and laxity (Mal. 1: 13, 14; 2: 17; 3: 5, 7). He re-echoes Nehemiah's condemnations, but even in stronger terms. He tells the priests that they "despise" and "profane God's name" (ibid. 1: 6, 12), that they "are departed out of the way" (ibid. 2: 8), have "corrupted the covenant of Levi," have "caused many to stumble," and have been "partial" in their exposition of the law (ibid. 2: 9). He calls the people "thieves and robbers" (ibid. 3: 8, 9), "adulterers, sorcerers, false swearers, treacherous dealers" (ibid. 2: 14), "committers of abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem" (ibid. 2: 11). He tells them that they are "cursed with a curse." G. R. Seven cities, each famous in history, have, during a period of more than four thousand years, been successively reared on the site of the four hills and intervening valleys, that are known by the common name of Jerusalem. With regard to the original city, its antiquity as a walled town dates at least forty centuries before our time. The Jebusites, after the conquest of Palestine, lay safe behind the colossal walls of Zion for four hundred and fifty years, till David surprised the stronghold by gaining admission through a water-course. Twenty-two years after the storming of Zion, the Jebusite Araunah, "as a king," ceded to the king of Israel the site which was afterward divided between the precincts of the Temple and the courts and gardens of the palace; and enormous wrought stones, artificially channelled (that their monolithic grandeur might not dwarf the smaller though yet gigantic blocks of the masonry of Solomon), yet tell why one of the neighboring ravines was called the "valley of the giants." David, Solomon, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Manasseh were the builders of regal Jerusalem. They enclosed and adorned Moriah, defended Ophel by a wall that united the fortification of Zion to Moriah; drew around the base of the hill, to the north and west, the wall known as the first wall of Josephus, and constructed a subterranean conduit. The peculiar features of the work of Solomon, the rusticated megalithic ashlar, the shouldered lintels, hollowed into the resemblance of true arches, the rude Phonician letters traced by the quarrymen and stone-hewers of Hiram, the cisterns and culvert of the conduit are yet to be recognized by the character no less than by the localities of the work. Regal Jerusalem stood for four hundred and sixty-six years. Sacerdotal Jerusalem dates from the restoration inaugurated by Zerubbabel, after the partial demolition effected by Nebuchadnezzar, to the more complete destruction resulting from the siege by Titus, a period of six hundred and six years. Nehemiah "the Tirshatha," Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, Hyrcanus, Herod the Great and Agrippa, the fourth Idumean king, were the principal builders during this period. Hadrian and Constantine, Julian and Justinian, were the builders of Roman Jerusalem. There is no mistaking the traces of their handiwork. Altars, entablatures, deeply incised rude Roman inscriptions, architectural fragments, even one or two portions of statues, or of statuettes, attest their pagan origin. Crosses and Christian inscriptions, and the introduction of a cruciform plan for buildings, yet to be traced in the foundations, commenced during this period of five centuries. The Persian and Arabic rule over the holy city endured, including the brief interval of restored Christian sway under Heraclius, for four hundred and eighty years. Moorish tiles are almost the only relics of this period to be distinguished in the museum. On the actual site exists very much that tells of the Arab occupation. The ninety years of the crusaders and of the Norman kings of Jerusalem have left relics remarkable for their value, if not for their number. The seventh permanent occupation of Jerusalem has been that of the Moslem, commencing with the capture by Saladin, and enduring, first under the Saracens and then under the Turkish caliphs, to our own day. Dilapidation, dirt, misery and decay have waited on the Turkish rule; and it is no trifling achievement to have obtained authority from the sultan to raise any portion of the veil which long neglect has drawn over the relics of Jerusalem. Brit. Quarterly.  Outline of Ancient Jerusalem. (Robinson modified.) THIS is a book of Divine providence. It is written to show how God, without manifesting Himself as He had done in Judea, watched over the Jews in a strange land, and under the power of the heathen. The charm of the history is this, that while everything proceeds in a manner quite natural, and there is no introduction of miracles or prodigies, all the incidents are so nicely adjusted to the production of the great result, that if one had been wanting, or been otherwise than it was, the whole plan would have been deranged, and the issue could never have been reached. The time occupied by this story falls in between the going up of Zerubbabel from Babylon to Jerusalem, and that of Ezra. The Persian empire, in which Babylon was then included, was at its height of greatness, extending from the Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Caspian to Arabia. The Ahasuerus who occupied the throne was most probably the Xerxes of profane history. His winter palace was at Susa or Shushan, and his court was luxurious and extravagant to a degree which we can scarcely conceive. D. F. The Book of Esther stands in the English Bible at the close of the historical books; it does not, however, form a link in the connected series, as it only relates to an episode in the history. It has, moreover, features of its own which distinguish it broadly from the historical books, and indeed from all the other books of the Old Testament. It takes its name from the Jewish maiden who became queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus, and it was written doubtless with the primary purpose of explaining the institution of the feast of Purim, which originated mainly through her means. In the Hebrew Bible it stands among the Hagiographa, the third division of the canonical books, as one of the five rolls, and by the later Jews has come to be esteemed almost as highly as the law itself. J. Robertson. The Book comes to us with an external record that is above suspicion. We receive it from those vigilant and scrupulous guardians of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish people; and with the most assuring commendation on their part. Their learned rabbis are united in including it among those Scriptures distinguished as the Hagiographa, the emphatically sacred books; and even among these, assigned it the first rank. The internal evidence is equally satisfactory. Like the other books of the Hebrew canon, it deals with the fortunes of the Jewish people, and is fully in keeping with their well-known characteristics. Mordecai and Esther were Jews of the clearest and most unquestionable type. The providence of God, in the deliverance of His people, stands out in this book in as distinct outline as in their rescue from the Egyptian bondage or from the Babylonian captivity. The record is everywhere true, moreover, to the Medo-Persian dynasty and character. It shows us just what the profane histories show us, only with greater minuteness and fidelity. Street. The Book of Esther relates an episode in Jewish history of intense interest to the entire nation at the time, since it involved the question of its continuance or destruction, but an episode which stood quite separate and distinct from the rest of Jewish history, unconnected with anything that preceded or followed, and which, but for the institution of the feast of Purim, might as easily have been forgotten by the people as escaped perils too often are by individuals. The main scene of the narrative is Susa, the Persian capital; the dramatis personæ are either Persians or "Jews of the dispersion." There is no mention, in the whole Book, of Palestine, or Jerusalem, or the Temple, or the provisions of the law, nor any allusion to any facts in previous Jewish history, excepting two: 1. The Captivity under Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 2: 6). 2. The subsequent dispersion of the Jews over all the various provinces of the Persian empire (chap. 3 : 8). Thus the events related belong, primarily, not to the history of the Palestinian Jews, but to that of the “Jews of the dispersion ;” and it is as indicating that those Jews were, no less than their brethren in Palestine, under the Divine care, that the Book appealed to the hearts of the Jewish race generally, and claimed a place in the national collection of sacred writings. The mere process of eliminating impossible kings conducts us to Xerxes, the son of Darius, and father of Longimanus, as the personage really meant. And here we find, in the first place, that the names are identical, the Hebrew Akhashverosh corresponding letter for letter with the Persian Khshayarsha, which the Greeks turned into Xerxes. Secondly, the resemblance of character is most striking, and is admitted on all hands. Thirdly, the notes of time exactly accord with the chronology of Xerxes’ reign. “In the third year of Xerxes’ reign was held an assembly at Susa to arrange the Grecian war (Herod. vii. 7). In the third year of Ahasuerus was held a great feast and assembly at Shushan the palace (Esth. 1 : 3). In the seventh year of his reign Xerxes returned defeated from Greece, and consoled himself by the pleasures of the harem (Herod. ix. 108). In the seventh year of his reign ‘fair young virgins were sought’ for Ahasuerus (Esth. 2 : 2-15).” We may therefore confidently regard the Ahasuerus of Esther as the well-known invader of Greece and scourger of the Hellespont, who has come down to us in profane history as “Xerxes.” P. C.—From the cuneiform alphabet of the ancient Persians we learn that Ahasuerus or Akhashverosh is the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha, called Xerxes in Greek. Two kings of this name ruled over Persia ; but as the second reigned for only a couple of months, he cannot possibly be the Ahasuerus of Esther. The latter must be the famous monarch of Greek story, whose huge armaments melted away before Greek valor at Salamis and Platæa. The character of Ahasuerus, too, agrees well with that of Xerxes I. Weak, vain, cowardly and capricious, Xerxes I. was the only Persian monarch known to us who could have acted in the way described in the Book of Esther. Xerxes has left inscriptions at Persepolis, at Elvend (near Ekbatana), and at Van in Armenia, which are couched in the same language as those of his father, Darius. Sayce. The reader will notice that, taking Ahasuerus to be Xerxes, the events of this Book fall after the dedication of the second Temple (second year of Darius) and before the labors of Ezra and Nehemiah (from the seventh to the thirty-second or some later year of Artaxerxes Longimanus). As to locality, the reader will see that these events transpire, not in Judah, and not where they would directly affect the colony there save through sympathy ; but in Shushan, the capital of the Medo-Persian empire. The Book shows that Jews in considerable numbers were scattered over that empire, many in Shushan itself. Of their fortunes under a special exigency during the reign of Xerxes this book gives an account. The name of the author of this book cannot be ascertained with any certainty. He gives details so minutely that he must have lived on the spot. His allusions to Persian life and manners, luxury, customs and history, harmonize so entirely with what comes to us through the Greek historians as to compel the same conclusion. The writer knew too much of the Persians to have lived elsewhere than there and then. Some think the book was written by Mordecai. It is probably safe to say—by him, or at least under his eye. As to purpose and aim, the author recognizes the feast of Purim ; indeed, makes great account of it as an established institution ; probably was active in making it such ; and consequently prepared this history of the events that culminated in that commemorative festival. Those events were worthy of this commemoration. God’s hand in them from first to last was so signally manifest, the lessons they taught could not fail to be at once impressive and instructive. But though God’s hand was in these events too plainly manifest to be mistaken or unnoticed, yet His name is not here, not being even once written in this Book. We are left in no doubt that Mordecai believed in God’s covenant with His people and in His promises of salvation in their behalf (4 : 14), and that both he and Esther believed in prayer, though they do not name prayer, but only fasting, when it seems plain enough that prayer is in their thought as truly as fasting. H. C. The language of the Book closely resembles that of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, which were all written about that time. The minute and particular accounts of many matters which would be known primarily only to Esther and Mordecai, and would certainly not have been written in the “Book of the Chronicles,” as Mordecai’s genealogy (2 : 5), Esther’s messages to Mordecai and Mordecai’s to her through Hatach (4 : 5-16), the circumstances of the two banquets given by Esther to Ahasuerus and Haman (5:6-8; 7:2-8), etc., make it probable that the writer was contemporary with the events narrated, and derived his information from Mordecai or Esther, or both. Further, the individuals who have been mentioned as the writers of the Book—Mordecai himself and the high-priest Joiakim—lived about this time. Altogether, it seems most probable that the work was composed about the middle of the fifth century B.C., or a little later, when Xerxes had been dead about twenty years. P. C.—The minuteness of the details, and the frequent reference to events and persons which presuppose an acquaintance with Persia, go to show not only that the author lived in Persia—which indeed is admitted on all sides—but also that he lived before the overthrow of the Persian power. At the same time it is evident from the first verse of the Book that the reign of Xerxes was already over, as well as from the last verse but one, where it is stated that “all” his acts were written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia. As we have seen, the character of the language of the book would tend to make it a little later than the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and we may therefore assent to the opinion of those commentators who place its composition toward the end of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 425). Sayce. It is remarkable that the name of God is not once mentioned in Esther. The only religious ideas introduced with any distinctness are the efficacy of a national humiliation (4:1-3), the certainty that punishment will overtake the wicked, and a feeling of confidence that Israel will not be forsaken (4:14). Various conjectural reasons have been given for this reticence. One thing is clear, that a Jew of later times would have taken care not to raise suspicion against his work by such an omission. . . . It would seem that the reticence of the author of Esther respecting his religious views was the result of habit. The Jews, bred up among the heathen, and living in constant intercourse with them, learned by degrees to keep back the expression of their religious convictions, to assimilate themselves externally to their masters, to eliminate from their ordinary discourse all that would mark them for Jews, while they clung internally to their old belief, and practised secretly their old customs. A century and a half of this dissimulation made it so habitual that it was not laid aside, even where there was no occasion for it. The Jew of the dispersion kept his religion in his heart of hearts, and spoke of it as little as possible. It may have helped to keep Esther free from the religious element, if it was in the main extracted from the Persian archives. We do not know on what scale these were written, but it is quite possible that they contained most of our present Esther. At any rate, if the author took them for his basis, and found them, as he might, altogether secular in tone, he would be naturally led to assimilate to them his own portions of the work. Finally, it must be granted that the whole difficulty is not overcome by these considerations, and it may well be that other circumstances also, which cannot be particularized, prevented the author from giving expression to the religious feelings and beliefs which he entertained, and which underlie his narrative. This entry is longer than a Bible module can hold. The rest is at https://www.sermonindex.net/commentary/butler/ 11:1 AND the princes of the people dwelt in Jerusalem: the rest of the people also cast lots, to bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem the holy city, and nine parts in the other cities. 2 And the people blessed all the men that willingly offered themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. Verses 3-36 include lists of chief dwellers in Jerusalem and in the country towns and villages. Chap. 12:1-26 contains lists of priestly and Levitical houses. These lists are sufficiently described in the first general note. 12:27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites out of all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem, to keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgivings, and with singing, with cymbals, psalteries, and with harps. And the sons of the singers gathered themselves together, both out of the plain round about Jerusalem, and from the villages of the Netophathites; also from Beth-gilgal, and out of the fields of Geba and Azmaveth: for the singers had builded them villages round about Jerusalem. And the priests and the Levites purified themselves; and they purified the people, and the gates, and the wall. Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the wall, and appointed two great companies that gave thanks and went in procession; whereof one went on the right hand upon the wall toward the dung gate: and after them went Hoshaiah, and half of the princes of 33, 34 Judah, and Azariah, Ezra, and Meshullam, Judah, and Benjamin, and Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shemaiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zaccur, the son of Asaph; and his brethren, Shemaiah, and Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, and Judah, Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God; and Ezra the scribe was before them: and by the fountain gate, and straight before them, they went up by the stairs of the city of David, at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward. And the other company of them that gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, with the half of the people, upon the wall, above the tower of the furnaces, even unto the broad wall; and above the gate of Ephraim, and by the old gate, and by the fish gate, and the tower of Hananel, and the tower of Hammeah, even unto the sheep gate: and they stood still in the gate of the guard. So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God, and I, and the half of the rulers with me: and the priests, Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; and Maaseiah, and Shemaiah, and Eleazar, and Uzzi, and Jehohanan, and Malchijah, and Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang loud, with Jezrahiah their overseer. And they offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women also and the children rejoiced: so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off. And on that day were men appointed over the chambers for the treasures, for the heave offerings, for the firstfruits, and for the tithes, to gather into them, according to the fields of the cities, the portions appointed by the law for the priests and Levites: for Judah rejoiced for the priests and for the Levites that waited. And they kept the ward of their God, and the ward of the purification, and so did the singers and the porters, according to the commandment of David, and of Solomon his son. For in the days of David and Asaph of old there was a chief of the singers, and songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God. And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel, and in the days of Nehemiah, gave the portions of the singers and the porters, as every day required: and they sanctified for the Levites; and the Levites sanctified for the sons of Aaron. 13:1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God for ever; because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, to curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. And it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 4. Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of 5 our God, being allied unto Tobiah, had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, and the singers, and the 6 porters; and the heave offerings for the priests. But in all this time I was not at Jerusa- lem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went unto the king, 7 and after certain days asked I leave of the king: and I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the 8 house of God. And it grieved me some: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of 9 Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meal offerings and the 10 frankincense. And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given them; so 11 that the Levites and the singers, that did the work, were fled every one to his field. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered 12 them together, and set them in their place. Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn 13 and the wine and the oil unto the treasuries. And I made treasurers over the treasuries, Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedalah: and the next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah: for they were counted faithful, and 14 their business was to distribute unto their brethren. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the observances thereof. 15 In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses therewith; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the 16 day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought in fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jeru- 17 salem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing is 18 this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by 19 profaning the sabbath. And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, 20 that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers 21 of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on 22 you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the sabbath day. Remember unto me, O my God, this also, and spare me accord- ing to the greatness of thy mercy. 23 In those days also saw I the Jews that had married women of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of 24 Moab: and their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the 25 Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters 26 for your sons, or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, and he was beloved of his God, and God 27 made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did strange women cause to sin. Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to trespass against our God in marrying 28 strange women? And one of the sons of Jolada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son 29 in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood, and of the 30 Levites. Thus cleansed I them from all strangers, and appointed wards for the priests and 31 for the Levites, every one in his work; and for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good. The Closing Sections of the Book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah's narrative in the first person, broken off at Neh. 7:5 for the insertion of the 1st of the returned exiles, resumed, perhaps, in 11: 1, 2, and again interrupted by the genealogical note (11:3 to 12:26), is finally resumed with the account of the dedication of the wall (12: 27). This closing part of it consists of three sections, each ending with the precalve clause, "Remember me, O my God," etc. (13:14, 22, 31). The first section describes the dedication of the wall, the renewed separation from for- eigners, the renewed provision for the Levites, and, parenthetically, the reaction which had taken place during Nehemiah's absence, and which rendered these renewed arrangements necessary. It follows that the events of this section occurred partly during the interval be- tween the two administrations of Nehemiah, and partly soon after his return for his second administration. The second section describes a struggle for legalized Sabbath-keeping that oc- curred at some unknown later date. The third section is mainly concerned with two incidents in a renewed struggle against the practice of intermarriage with foreigners, but closes with a more general statement as to the work of Nehemiah. These statements touching foreign marriages perhaps cover a considerable interval of time. At all events, the latest incident mentioned, the marriage of a descendant of Joiada the high-priest with a woman of the family of Sanballat (Neh. 13:28), probably occurred some decades after the beginning of the second administration of Nehemiah. The opening chapters of Nehemiah's narrative are relatively full, covering in all only a few months. The closing sections are relatively brief, belonging to three different points of time, and covering, in all, many years. The dedication of the wall belongs to Nehemiah's second administration. The matters in the section (11:3 to 12:26) do not lead up to the account of the dedication. That section is in part a duplicate of 1 Chron. 9. It is a series of genealogical notes, including the names of men of at least six generations. Most of the men of the two youngest of these generations were not yet born when the wall was dedicated, and the names of those who participated in the dedication are in no way made prominent in these notes. There is a clear break between this genealogical section and what follows it. And, on the other hand, the account of the pageant at the wall is closely connected with the events related directly afterward. It was "on that day" that they made the arrangements described in 12:44. It was still "on that day" (13:1) that they read in the law in regard to the exclusion of Moabites and Ammonites from the assembly of Jehovah. It is necessarily to these events that the phrase "before this" of 13:4 applies. Hence the affirmation there made is that Nehemiah's absence from Jerusalem took place before these events; that is, before the dedication of the wall and the reading of the law which accompanied it. And this is equivalent to saying that the dedication occurred after Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem for his second administration. Just at that time there were reasons why Nehemiah should devise such a public occasion as this. He could make use of it as a means of influencing the people for resisting the reactionary movement that had set in during his absence. This is a sufficient reply to the argument sometimes used, that it is not likely that they would so long have postponed the dedication of the wall. A city wall is not a temple, and does not necessarily demand dedication. There is no reason to think they would have dedicated it at all, save as there might be value in the dedicatory solemnities themselves. Nehemiah's Two Administrations. According to the record in the first ten chapters, Nehemiah accomplished two great things in the first seven months of the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. The first was the rebuilding of the wall, and the second the establishment of internal affairs on a sound basis. The points of internal administration that are most emphasized are, first, the abolishing of marriages with foreigners (Neh. 10:30); second, the stopping of trade on the Sabbath and the holy days (Neh. 10:31); third, the securing the observance of "the seventh year" (both by letting the soil rest and by releasing debts, doubtless, Ex. 23:10, 11; Lev. 25:3-7; De. 15:1, 2; Neh. 10:31); fourth, the breaking up of extortionate practices (Neh. 10:31; chap. 5); fifth, the making of business-like provision for the support of the Temple services and ministers (Neh. 10:32-39). From the close of these seven months, the first administration of Nehemiah lasted eleven or twelve years (Neh. 13:6; 5:14). The time was doubtless employed in working out the problems just mentioned, and the auxiliary problem of securing to Jerusalem a sufficient population to make it a safe city, and suitable for the national Temple and worship (Neh. 7:4; 11:1, 2). In Neh. 5:14-19, we are informed that during all this time Nehemiah lived in a generous and hospitable way in Jerusalem, but without cost to the people over whom he was governor. Doubtless those were to him trying years, but, on the whole, years of success. Steadily his people became more prosperous, and the ideas represented by Ezra and himself more influential among them. At the end of the twelve years Nehemiah went to the king, perhaps thinking that his task in Jerusalem was now accomplished. Thus his first administration closed, B.C. 433. It turned out, however, that he could not be spared, and he was recalled for a second administration (Neh. 13:6). How long he had been gone is a matter of conjecture. Some guess that it was one year, and some that it was several years; but it cannot have been many years. On his return to Jerusalem, he found disintegration in rapid progress. Tobiah had a lodging in the Temple itself. The Jews were again mingling with foreigners. The Sabbath was profaned. The provision for supporting the Temple attendants was neglected, and they had scattered, each to earn his own living. Nehemiah acted promptly and vigorously. He summarily evicted Tobiah. He commenced gathering again the scattered Levites and singers, and insisted that adequate provision should be made for them. The solemnities of the dedication of the wall afforded him an occasion for assembling and thoroughly reorganizing them, and providing for their support, and an equally good occasion for securing the ratification of his policy of excluding foreigners. Perhaps he would have lost a large part of a year's tithes, if he had waited till the feast of booths for a national gathering that should act in these matters. The administration thus vigorously begun was doubtless a long one—how long no one knows. W. J. B. Chaps. 11, 12. The nexus of chap. 11 is with chap. 7:4, 5. Having spoken in that place of the insufficiency of the population of Jerusalem, Nehemiah now proceeds to explain the steps which he took to remedy it. He made, it would seem, a census of the entire nation, and required each town and district to transfer one tenth of its population to the capital. The men in the various localities determined among themselves by lot who should stay and who should go, and Nehemiah no doubt made the necessary arrangements for the reception of the newcomers at Jerusalem. Forced enlargements of capitals by transfers of this kind were not uncommon in the ancient world, where the strength of states was considered to depend very greatly upon the size and predominance of the capital. Thucydides attributes the greatness and prosperity of the Athenian community to an artificial enlargement of the population of Athens which he ascribes to Theseus. Other notorious instances are those of Syracuse, Megalopolis and Tigranocerta. In Jerusalem at this time the special need of an increase in the number of the inhabitants was probably the defence of the walls. These had been rebuilt on the ancient foundations—their circuit was not much less than four miles—and to man them in case of attack, a large population was necessary. From a comparison of the numbers given in this chapter (verses 6–19) with those of 1 Chron. 9:9–22, it may be gathered that the result of Nehemiah's arrangements was to give Jerusalem a population of about twenty thousand souls. Having been led, in speaking of this matter, to give a sort of catalogue of the chief dwellers at Jerusalem (verses 4–19), and another of the country towns and villages occupied at this time by those Israelites who had returned from the Captivity (verses 25–35), Nehemiah is induced to insert, at this point, certain other lists or catalogues which he regards as worthy of being put on record. These lists are four in number, and occupy chap. 12 as far as verse 26. They comprise: (1) a list of the priestly and Levitical houses which returned with Zerubbabel (verses 1–9); (2) a list of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua; (3) a list of the heads of the priestly courses in the time of the high-priest, Joiakim; and (4) a list of the chief Levitical houses at the same period and afterward. Such lists possess at the present day but a very slight and secondary interest. Their formation, however, and safe preservation were, at the time, essential for the continuity of the nation's history, and the maintenance of the priestly order in purity, and without admixture of laic elements. P. C. 11:2. The men that willingly offered themselves. Besides those on whom the lot fell, a certain number volunteered to change their residence and to transfer themselves and families from their country homes to Jerusalem. The people called down blessings upon them for their patriotism. P. C. Chap. 12. This chapter is made up of two portions. From verse 1 to verse 26 it mainly consists of lists of the leading priests and Levites at different periods. Verses 27–47 give an account of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem. This last passage is certainly from the pen of Nehemiah, and was written probably about n.c. 433. The lists which constitute the earlier portion of the chapter are four: (1) A list of the chief priestly and Levitical families, which returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel and Jeshua (verses 1–9); (2) the succession of the high-priests from Jeshua to Jaddua, high-priest in the time of Alexander the Great (verses 10, 11); (3) a list of the actual heads of the priestly families in the time of the high-priest Joiakim, the son of Jeshua (verses 12–21); and (4) a list of the chief Levitical families at the same period (verses 24–26). Of these four lists, Nos. 1, 3 and 4 may have been drawn up in the time of Nehemiah, but No. 2 in its present form must be much later. 22,23. These verses come in very awkwardly, interrupting the account of the Church officers in the time of Joiakim, which is resumed in verse 24. They appear to be an addition to the original text, made about the time of Alexander the Great, when the Books of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah would seem to have first taken their existing shape. The same hand which inserted these verses probably also added to the original text verse 11. The days of Darius the Persian. Modern commentators are generally agreed that Darius Codomannus, the antagonist of Alexander the Great, is intended. This prince ascended the throne B.C. 336, and reigned till B.C. 331. B. C. 27-43. Dedication of the wall. It is not easy to imagine that the author would have separated the dedication of the wall from its completion by five chapters and a half, unless they had been separated in fact by an interval of some duration. The interval seems, by the notes of time contained in chaps. 12, 13, to have been one of nearly thirteen years. Nehemiah's religious reforms were certainly subsequent to the visit that he paid to the Persian court in B.C. 432 (13:6). These reforms grew out of a reading of the law which took place at the time when Nehemiah appointed the Temple officers (13:1), and that appointment followed closely on the dedication (12:44). The dedication of a city wall was, so far as we know, a new thing in Israel; but it had been customary from a remote time to dedicate houses (De. 20:5); and natural piety extended this practice to aggregations of houses, and to the limit or fence by which they were practically made one. The priestly order had shown its sense of the fitness of such a consecration when they raised their portion of the wall, and had at once "sanctified it" (3:1). Nehemiah now, by the ceremony which he planned and carried out, placed the whole circuit of the wall under the Divine protection, confessing in this solemn act the intrinsic worthlessness of mere walls and bulwarks, unless God lends them strength and makes them a protection against enemies. P. C. And now the time was come when, everything having been established in its rightful order, it seemed fitting that there should be a solemn dedication of the wall to Almighty God. It was not the Temple only which was viewed as a sanctuary by the more religious Jews; but the entire city was regarded as holy—as "God's mountain" (Isa. 65:25)—as a sort of outer sanctuary guarding the inner sanctuary, and, therefore, as requiring to be set apart to God by a formal act of consecration. On the day appointed for this important ceremony, Nehemiah arranged two grand processions, which should girdle the city on the right hand and on the left, and meeting together at the Temple, should there sing praise to God, and "offer great sacrifices and rejoice" (verse 43). The Levites were summoned from their country districts, with their full array of the musical instruments, which still bore the name of their royal inventor, David (verse 36); and the minstrels gathered themselves together from their retreats in the hills of Judah and in the deep valley of the Jordan (verses 28, 29). The priests came in their full numbers, carrying the sacred trumpets (verses 35, 41), and the princes of Judah mustered in great strength (verses 31, 32, 40). Nehemiah divided the assembled multitude into "two great companies of them that gave thanks," and placing himself at the head of the one company (verse 40), and "Ezra the scribe" (verse 36) at the head of the other, caused them to ascend the wall and make the circuit of it, part going in one direction and part in the other, rejoicing all the way and giving praise, until they met on the eastern rampart opposite the Temple, and, there taking their stand, brought the ceremony to an end by a loud antiphonal paean of praise, in which the priests blew their trumpets, the Levites sounded their harps, cymbals and psalteries, and the singers, "with Jerahiah their overseer" (verse 42), "sang loud" and "with great joy rejoiced" (verses 42, 43). At the same time, even the women and children joined in the general acclamation, so that "the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off" (verse 43). Ezra and Nehemiah, each at the head of their own half of the procession, stood facing one the other, set before the nation as their almost co-equal guides and rulers, to be alike venerated and alike obeyed. G. R. 27. To keep the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and with singing. Solomon's dedication of the Temple was the pattern followed. As he had made the service altogether one of praise and thanksgiving (2 Chron. 5:13), and had employed in it cymbals, trumpets, psalteries and harps (ibid., verse 12), so Nehemiah on the present occasion. 43. "That day they offered great sacrifices, and rejoiced; for God had made them rejoice with great joy, the wives also and the children rejoiced; so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even afar off." The constituents of true joy are: 1. Thankfulness and praise in the remembrance of the past and in confident anticipation of the future. The people recounted the mercies of the Lord. Their dedication of the completed walls represented their preparation by the grace of God for His worship and service; their defence against assaults from without; their unity and order as a people. So ought all rejoicing to be well founded on the faith which has full possession of our hearts, and the consecrated religious life which maintains that faith in practice. 2. Purification. "They offered great sacrifices and rejoiced." The giving out of the heart in religious worship uplifts the whole strain of the life. A great expenditure of feeling in the pleasures of this world is exhausting to the nature, but religious emotion both purifies and exalts. 3. Fellowship. All rejoiced together—high and low, rich and poor, the strong men, the wives and children. The true joy is not solitary and selfish, but reveals the unity of kindred minds and sympathizing hearts. Family life is elevated by the cultivation of the spirit of social worship and praise, both in the larger circle of the congregation and in the smaller of the household. All joys brighten in the atmosphere of religious joy. 44-47. Nehemiah's arrangements for the Temple service, and appointment of officers. The good resolutions of the people at the time of the renewal of the covenant would have borne comparatively little fruit had they not been seconded and rendered effective by formal action on the part of the civil authority. The people, in the first flush of their zeal, had bound themselves to undertake the conveyance of the tithes, firstfruits and freewill offerings from the country districts to Jerusalem, and the deposition of them in the Temple treasuries (10 : 37-39). But in practice this was found too great a burden (13 : 10). Nehemiah therefore appointed special officers to collect the tithes and other dues throughout the entire territory, and to bring them to Jerusalem, and lay them up in the proper chambers (verse 44). Over the chambers he appointed treasurers, whose duty it was, not only to collect the ecclesiastical dues, but also to distribute the proceeds among the individuals entitled to share in them (13 : 13). Having in this way provided for the sustenance of the clerical body, he was able to insist on their regular performance of all their duties; and the success of his arrangements was such, that under him the Temple service was restored, not merely to the condition established by Zerubbabel (verse 47), but to one not markedly different from that which had been attained in the time of David and Asaph (verse 46). The priests, Levites, singers and porters respectively performed their duties to his satisfaction, purifying themselves, and taking the service in their turns, "according to the commandment of David and Solomon" (verse 45). 13 : 1-31. Nehemiah's efforts for the reform of religion. 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 (10 : 30-39), 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), he felt it necessary to take active steps to put an end to them. In the first place, intermarriages between the Jews and the neighboring heathen, like those which Ezra had dissolved twenty-five years previously (Ezra 10 : 16-44), had again occurred, and a new generation was growing up which could not speak its own language correctly (verse 24). The family of the high-priest, Eliashib, shared in this trespass. He himself was allied by marriage to the Ammonite chief, Tobiah (verse 4), and one of his grandsons had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat, the Samaritan (verse 28). Secondly, the strict observance of the Sabbath had fallen into disrepute. Further, the payment of the tithes was very irregular; and the Levites, who ought to have found their daily food provided for them in the Temple, not receiving their "portions" there, were forced to absent themselves from the daily service, and to support themselves by cultivating their own plots of ground (verses 10, 11). Finally, the Temple had ceased to be regarded as sacred to the Almighty; a portion of it had been converted into a dwelling-house by the order of the high-priest himself (verse 5), and the Ammonite, Tobiah, had been allowed to take possession of it. Nehemiah tells us in this chapter the mode wherein he dealt with these various evils, treating of the mixed marriages in verses 1-3 and 23-28; of the profanation of the Sabbath in verses 15-22; of the non-payment of the tithes in verses 10-13; and of the desecration of the Temple in verses 4-9. The chapter is remarkable for the number of "interjectional prayers" which it contains (verses 14, 22, 29, 31), and for the plainness and roughness of the language (see especially verses 9, 17, 21, 25, 28). The authorship of Nehemiah is universally admitted. P. C. It is tolerably clear that Ezra could not have remained at Jerusalem when Nehemiah took his departure, or the disorders of which we are about to speak would never have arisen. The simultaneous absence from Jerusalem of both Ezra and Nehemiah would necessarily bring Eliashib to the front. Accordingly, he seems to have come forward, and taken the direction of affairs. He proceeded to authorize a general relaxation of the Mosaic ordinances, and especially of those by which Nehemiah had set most store. The people should be free to contract marriage with whomsoever they preferred, and would incur no punishment for doing so. Wives were at once taken by many of the Jews from among the Ammonites, the Moabites, and the Philistines of Ashdod. They were brought to Jerusalem and encouraged to teach their children their own forms of speech. A strange jargon began to be heard in the streets of the holy city, where infantile tongues babbled half in the Aramaic, "half in the speech of Ashdod" (13 : 24), and their mothers addressed them in the one language, their fathers in the other! Such seems to have been the rage for these marriages, that many Jews, carried away by it, wrongfully and cruelly put away their lawful native wives to take to themselves these aliens. To diminish the influence of the priests and Levites, who were the chief support of the reforming party, he seems to have connived at the non-payment of the tithes and firstfruits by those that owed them, which amounted to an absolute "robbery" (Mal. 3 : 8), and so impoverished the sacerdotal order, that they found themselves compelled to leave Jerusalem, and employ themselves in the cultivation of their own fields (verse 10). The service of the Temple must have suffered by this neglect, but Eliashib and his party were bent on amalgamating Judaism with heathenism, or, at any rate, on such a system of mutual toleration as should lead to an ultimate union and fusion. Meanwhile, they allowed the house of God to be "forsaken" (verse 11)—the choral service to be discontinued—the treasuries to become empty—and the once crowded courts to remain without either ministers or worshippers. If Eliashib, and the party which supported him, had remained much longer in power, and had succeeded in completely breaking down the wall of separation so long established between Israel and the heathen, it cannot be supposed that it would have been long before idolatrous altars would have appeared once more in Jerusalem at the corners of the streets, if they were not introduced, as they were under Manasseh, into the Temple itself. G. R. 7-31. When Nehemiah returned and saw this, it "grieved him sore." But he was no mere lamenter, to content himself with sighs and tears; he was a reformer of the most vigorous type. So he purified the Temple. Then he contended with the rulers about the neglect of tithes and offerings, and stopped the traffic which had been permitted on the seventh day, including a Sabbath market which the heathen had actually set up at the gate of Jerusalem. He also repeated the strict measure of discipline which Ezra had previously enforced, insisting on the divorce of heathen wives, whom Jews had illegally married. This he did with a certain vehemence of spirit, recalling the mischief that had followed such intimacy with the heathen on the part of the wisest of their kings. "Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things?" D. F. 7-14. Nehemiah went in person to the Temple, and entering the "great chamber," which Eliashib had assigned to Tobiah the Ammonite, and "prepared for him" (verse 7), he "cast forth"—apparently with his own hands—"all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber" (verse 8). Then he proceeded to give orders that other chambers, similarly desecrated, should be cleansed and restored to their proper uses (verse 9). The "vessels of the house of God" were brought back and once more stored in them, together with the "meat offering and the frankincense." The priests and Levites were recalled from their several "fields," and arrangements were made for their due sustenation by the enforcement of the tithe system as recently modified by the reformers. There was a ready obedience to Nehemiah's orders. "All Judah brought the tithe of the corn, and of the new wine, and of the oil unto the treasuries" (verse 12)—the Levites flocked back, and re-entered upon their old offices—the Temple courts were once more crowded—the choral anthems arose at the set times—and Nehemiah uttered the prayer which he has put on record (verse 14). 15-17. In re-establishing the rightful observance of the Sabbath, again Nehemiah had "the nobles" opposed to him, together with a large portion of the commercial classes. Once more, he tells us, he had to "contend." G. R. 19. When the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath. The Jews have always reckoned their days from sunset to sunset, grounding their practice on the account of the Creation given in the first chapter of Genesis, where "the evening and the morning" are said to constitute each of the six days. There was also a special command that the "Sabbath" of the great day of atonement should be kept "from even to even" (Lev. 23 : 32). I commanded that the gates should be shut. The gates would as a matter of course have been shut at sunset. Nehemiah required that the closing should take place some half-hour earlier, when the shadows were lengthening, and the day was drawing toward a close. He regarded it as a sort of desecration of the Sabbath to carry on secular work to the last allowable moment. That there should be no burden brought in.** Foot passengers were no doubt allowed to enter and leave the city on the Sabbath, Nehemiah's servants being set to see that under no pretence should merchandise be allowed to enter. P. C.—The method adopted may yield suggestions for all who would aim at reforming abuses or public immoralities. One most necessary step is to cut off, as far as possible, opportunities for the sin. There will be no trade if you shut the gates the night before. There will be little drunkenness if there are no liquor shops. It is quite true that people cannot be made virtuous by legislation, but it is also true that they may be saved temptations to become vicious by it. A. M. 20. The merchants lodged without.** The merchants could not leave their wares unguarded; and the wares not being admitted into the town, they were obliged to camp out. Thus a crowd was collected about the gates, and a disturbance and excitement caused, which was unsuitable for the Sabbath. To prevent this, Nehemiah threatened to arrest the merchants, whereupon the practice was given up (verse 21). P. C.—Another hint comes from Nehemiah's vigorous word to the country folk outside the wall. There is need for very strong determination and much sanctified obstinacy in fighting popular abuses. They die hard. It is permissible to invoke the aid of the lawful authority. But a man with strong convictions and earnest purpose will be able to impress his convictions on a mass, even if he have no guards at his back. The one thing needful for Christian reformers is, not the power to appeal to force, but the force which they can carry within them. And it is better when the traders love the Sabbath too well to wish to drive bargains on it, than when they are hindered from doing as they wish by Nehemiah's strong will or formidable threats. A. M. Nehemiah's Views on the Sabbath. It is held by critics of a certain type that the Sabbath, in Nehemiah's time, was essentially a recent institution. But he himself certainly regarded it as ancient (verse 18), and as having been anciently of so much importance that the profaning of it was a reason for the calamities that had befallen Israel. In his mind the obligation to abstain from work on the Sabbath seems to be the same as in the case of the other holy days prescribed in the law (Neh. 10: 31). In any case, Neh. 9: 14 explicitly mentions the Sabbath as one of the institutions given through Moses at Sinai. W. J. B. It is easy to ridicule the Jewish Sabbath and "the Puritan Sunday." No doubt, there have been and are well-meant but mistaken efforts to insist on too rigid observance. No doubt, it has been often forgotten by good people that the Christian Lord's Day is not the Jewish Sabbath. Of course, the religious observance of the day is not a fit subject for legislation. But the need for a seventh day of rest is impressed on our physical and intellectual nature; and devout hearts will joyfully find their best rest in Christian worship and service. The vigor of religious life demands special seasons set apart for worship. A. M. 22. He concludes this passage with a prayer, in which observe the petitions, "Lord, remember me," that is enough; God's thoughts to usward are very precious (Ps. 40: 5). He adds, "Spare me; so far is he from thinking that what he had done did properly merit a reward in strict justice, that he cries earnestly to God to spare him. The best saints, even when they do the best actions, stand in need of sparing mercy, for 'there is not a just man that doeth good, and sinneth not.' The plea, 'According to the greatness (or multitude) of Thy mercies.' H.—After all, and when he had done all, he trusted in nothing that he had either gained or done; but the more he was laden with the fruits of righteousness, the more he felt himself to be laden with infirmities; so that, however illustrious he was in the eyes of his fellow-men, he felt that before his God he had no plea to urge, save 'the mercy that endureth forever.' This, therefore, was his lowly prayer—"Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me, according to the greatness of Thy mercy." Stowell.—Nehemiah had no false notion of his own goodness; for, while he asked for recompense for these good deeds of his, he could not but add, "Spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy." He who asks to be "spared" must know himself in peril of destruction; and he who invokes "mercy" must think that, if he were dealt with according to justice, he would be in evil case. So the consciousness of weakness and sin is an integral part of this prayer, and that takes all the apparent self-righteousness out of the previous petition. However worthy of and sure of reward a Christian man's acts of love and efforts for the spread of God's honor may be, the doer of them must still be "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life." A. M. 23-28. But the chief struggle in this second reformation of Nehemiah's was the same as that which had engaged and absorbed the attention of Ezra when he first visited Judea—the contention with regard to the mixed marriages. Here men's feelings were excited to the highest possible pitch, and here he had for open antagonists persons of the very highest rank and position. Where the culprits belonged to the common herd he brooked no opposition. But a son of Joiada, and grandson of Eliashib the high-priest, Manasseh by name, had not only contracted one of the prohibited marriages (10 : 30), but had taken to wife a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, the chief of the foreign adversaries of Nehemiah (2 : 10, 19 ; 4 : 1, 7 ; 6 : 1, 2, 5, 12), and therefore a person peculiarly obnoxious to him. Nehemiah required him to put this woman away. Bolder than his grandfather, he met the command of the governor with a determined resistance—he would not part with his wife. Supported by a certain number of his order (13 : 29), he defied the Tirshatha. Nehemiah on his part was equally stanch—in his capacity of civil governor he passed on his opponent a sentence of exile (verse 28). The recalcitrant priest did not dare to remain ; but, in quitting the country, he seems to have formed a resolution to take refuge in Samaria with his father-in-law, and to establish there a worship and a temple, which should be permanent rivals of the worship and Temple at Jerusalem, should be always open to discontented members of the Judean community, and should present to the world a form of the Jehovistic religion less severe than that of the Judeans, simpler and more attractive. The result was the erection, on the lofty eminence known as Mount Gerizim, of the Samaritan sanctuary of Jehovah, wherein Manasseh was installed as high-priest, which continued for three centuries to be a thorn in the side of Judah, a refuge for traitors and renegades, a centre of hostility and antagonism, a constant source of trouble and difficulty. Manasseh, no doubt, from one point of view, had his revenge ; but, from another, it may be questioned whether he did not render, quite involuntarily, an important service to Judaism. As Kuenen remarks, "Had not Samaria stood open to the discontented Jews, perhaps the field would not have been cleared and the resistance to the new tendency" (i.e., to Nehemiah's reforms) "quelled so easily. Now that a refuge had been opened to them in the immediate neighborhood, they could the sooner resolve to give up the struggle—from which they could scarcely hope to come out as conconquerors." The practical result is, that with Manasseh's withdrawal opposition ceases ; the reforms are established ; and the newly freed nation grows up upon the lines which Ezra and Nehemiah have laid down, not upon those which would have been preferred by Manasseh and Eliashib. G. R. 23,24. We do not know what "the Jews' language" was at the time, whether it was Hebrew or Aramaic. Considering, however, how large a proportion of the returned exiles belonged to the priestly order, we might presume that Hebrew would still be used in the upper ranks of the community, and this presumption is borne out by the fact that nearly all the post-exilic books are in the old language of Israel. On the whole, it seems most probable that the Hebrew of the Old Testament did not become wholly extinct as a living tongue until contact with the Greeks had introduced another rival to it in the shape of Greek. Hebrew disappeared before the influence of Aramaic and Greek, just as completely as Aramaic and Greek themselves have since disappeared in Palestine before the influence of Arabic. Long before this happened, Old Testament Hebrew had naturally become filled with "Aramaisms"—that is, with words or forms of words and expressions which were borrowed from Aramaic. Sayce. 28. From this verse and from Ezra 10 : 18-22, it is evident that the priests especially were subjected to the severe discipline exercised by Ezra and Nehemiah with respect to mixed marriages. Such discipline was the more needful in proportion as the needy condition of the colony affected the state of public worship, and begot indifference and discouragement among the priesthood (see Mal. 1 : 6 ; 2 : 9). Oehler. 31. Nehemiah refers himself to God to recompense him, takes Him for his paymaster, and then doubts not but he shall be well paid. This may well be the summary of our petitions ; we need no more to make us happy than this, "Remember me, O my God, for good." H. Ezra and Nehemiah are brought before the reader somewhat fully. Their personal characters stand out in the strong light of words spoken, deeds done, sympathies manifested. It is rare that we meet with nobler men, of purer motive, more earnest spirit and of more unselfish natures. How eminently prayerful ! How pure and sweet is the simplicity of their devotion to the cause of God ! It is refreshing to come into contact with such men, to feel the power of such examples, and the inspiration of such spirits. They may have had blemishes of character, or sins of life; but if so, the record passes them unnoticed. Let us be thankful for such recorded lives. H. C. Probably in the later portion of his civil governorship Nehemiah was brought into contact with the last of the prophets, Malachi, a man thoroughly after his heart. Malachi denounces, with a vigor worthy of Isaiah himself, those special sins against which Nehemiah was never tired of contending—the intermarriage with heathen women, involving, as it too often did, repudiation of innocent and loving Jewish wives, whose unhappy lot caused them to bathe the altar with their tears (Mal. 2: 13); the withholding of tithes and offerings, which he regards as absolute robbery of the Almighty (ibid. 3: 8, 9); the oppression of the poor (ibid., verse 5), against which Nehemiah so strenuously exerted himself; the demoralization of the priesthood (Mal. 1: 6; 2: 1-10), patent in the cases of Eliashib and Manasseh, and the general irreligion and laxity (Mal. 1: 13, 14; 2: 17; 3: 5, 7). He re-echoes Nehemiah's condemnations, but even in stronger terms. He tells the priests that they "despise" and "profane God's name" (ibid. 1: 6, 12), that they "are departed out of the way" (ibid. 2: 8), have "corrupted the covenant of Levi," have "caused many to stumble," and have been "partial" in their exposition of the law (ibid. 2: 9). He calls the people "thieves and robbers" (ibid. 3: 8, 9), "adulterers, sorcerers, false swearers, treacherous dealers" (ibid. 2: 14), "committers of abomination in Israel and in Jerusalem" (ibid. 2: 11). He tells them that they are "cursed with a curse." G. R. Seven cities, each famous in history, have, during a period of more than four thousand years, been successively reared on the site of the four hills and intervening valleys, that are known by the common name of Jerusalem. With regard to the original city, its antiquity as a walled town dates at least forty centuries before our time. The Jebusites, after the conquest of Palestine, lay safe behind the colossal walls of Zion for four hundred and fifty years, till David surprised the stronghold by gaining admission through a water-course. Twenty-two years after the storming of Zion, the Jebusite Araunah, "as a king," ceded to the king of Israel the site which was afterward divided between the precincts of the Temple and the courts and gardens of the palace; and enormous wrought stones, artificially channelled (that their monolithic grandeur might not dwarf the smaller though yet gigantic blocks of the masonry of Solomon), yet tell why one of the neighboring ravines was called the "valley of the giants." David, Solomon, Uzziah, Jotham, Hezekiah and Manasseh were the builders of regal Jerusalem. They enclosed and adorned Moriah, defended Ophel by a wall that united the fortification of Zion to Moriah; drew around the base of the hill, to the north and west, the wall known as the first wall of Josephus, and constructed a subterranean conduit. The peculiar features of the work of Solomon, the rusticated megalithic ashlar, the shouldered lintels, hollowed into the resemblance of true arches, the rude Phonician letters traced by the quarrymen and stone-hewers of Hiram, the cisterns and culvert of the conduit are yet to be recognized by the character no less than by the localities of the work. Regal Jerusalem stood for four hundred and sixty-six years. Sacerdotal Jerusalem dates from the restoration inaugurated by Zerubbabel, after the partial demolition effected by Nebuchadnezzar, to the more complete destruction resulting from the siege by Titus, a period of six hundred and six years. Nehemiah "the Tirshatha," Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan, Simon, Hyrcanus, Herod the Great and Agrippa, the fourth Idumean king, were the principal builders during this period. Hadrian and Constantine, Julian and Justinian, were the builders of Roman Jerusalem. There is no mistaking the traces of their handiwork. Altars, entablatures, deeply incised rude Roman inscriptions, architectural fragments, even one or two portions of statues, or of statuettes, attest their pagan origin. Crosses and Christian inscriptions, and the introduction of a cruciform plan for buildings, yet to be traced in the foundations, commenced during this period of five centuries. The Persian and Arabic rule over the holy city endured, including the brief interval of restored Christian sway under Heraclius, for four hundred and eighty years. Moorish tiles are almost the only relics of this period to be distinguished in the museum. On the actual site exists very much that tells of the Arab occupation. The ninety years of the crusaders and of the Norman kings of Jerusalem have left relics remarkable for their value, if not for their number. The seventh permanent occupation of Jerusalem has been that of the Moslem, commencing with the capture by Saladin, and enduring, first under the Saracens and then under the Turkish caliphs, to our own day. Dilapidation, dirt, misery and decay have waited on the Turkish rule; and it is no trifling achievement to have obtained authority from the sultan to raise any portion of the veil which long neglect has drawn over the relics of Jerusalem. Brit. Quarterly.  Outline of Ancient Jerusalem. (Robinson modified.) THIS is a book of Divine providence. It is written to show how God, without manifesting Himself as He had done in Judea, watched over the Jews in a strange land, and under the power of the heathen. The charm of the history is this, that while everything proceeds in a manner quite natural, and there is no introduction of miracles or prodigies, all the incidents are so nicely adjusted to the production of the great result, that if one had been wanting, or been otherwise than it was, the whole plan would have been deranged, and the issue could never have been reached. The time occupied by this story falls in between the going up of Zerubbabel from Babylon to Jerusalem, and that of Ezra. The Persian empire, in which Babylon was then included, was at its height of greatness, extending from the Indus to the Mediterranean, and from the Caspian to Arabia. The Ahasuerus who occupied the throne was most probably the Xerxes of profane history. His winter palace was at Susa or Shushan, and his court was luxurious and extravagant to a degree which we can scarcely conceive. D. F. The Book of Esther stands in the English Bible at the close of the historical books; it does not, however, form a link in the connected series, as it only relates to an episode in the history. It has, moreover, features of its own which distinguish it broadly from the historical books, and indeed from all the other books of the Old Testament. It takes its name from the Jewish maiden who became queen of the Persian king Ahasuerus, and it was written doubtless with the primary purpose of explaining the institution of the feast of Purim, which originated mainly through her means. In the Hebrew Bible it stands among the Hagiographa, the third division of the canonical books, as one of the five rolls, and by the later Jews has come to be esteemed almost as highly as the law itself. J. Robertson. The Book comes to us with an external record that is above suspicion. We receive it from those vigilant and scrupulous guardians of the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish people; and with the most assuring commendation on their part. Their learned rabbis are united in including it among those Scriptures distinguished as the Hagiographa, the emphatically sacred books; and even among these, assigned it the first rank. The internal evidence is equally satisfactory. Like the other books of the Hebrew canon, it deals with the fortunes of the Jewish people, and is fully in keeping with their well-known characteristics. Mordecai and Esther were Jews of the clearest and most unquestionable type. The providence of God, in the deliverance of His people, stands out in this book in as distinct outline as in their rescue from the Egyptian bondage or from the Babylonian captivity. The record is everywhere true, moreover, to the Medo-Persian dynasty and character. It shows us just what the profane histories show us, only with greater minuteness and fidelity. Street. The Book of Esther relates an episode in Jewish history of intense interest to the entire nation at the time, since it involved the question of its continuance or destruction, but an episode which stood quite separate and distinct from the rest of Jewish history, unconnected with anything that preceded or followed, and which, but for the institution of the feast of Purim, might as easily have been forgotten by the people as escaped perils too often are by individuals. The main scene of the narrative is Susa, the Persian capital; the dramatis personæ are either Persians or "Jews of the dispersion." There is no mention, in the whole Book, of Palestine, or Jerusalem, or the Temple, or the provisions of the law, nor any allusion to any facts in previous Jewish history, excepting two: 1. The Captivity under Nebuchadnezzar (chap. 2: 6). 2. The subsequent dispersion of the Jews over all the various provinces of the Persian empire (chap. 3 : 8). Thus the events related belong, primarily, not to the history of the Palestinian Jews, but to that of the “Jews of the dispersion ;” and it is as indicating that those Jews were, no less than their brethren in Palestine, under the Divine care, that the Book appealed to the hearts of the Jewish race generally, and claimed a place in the national collection of sacred writings. The mere process of eliminating impossible kings conducts us to Xerxes, the son of Darius, and father of Longimanus, as the personage really meant. And here we find, in the first place, that the names are identical, the Hebrew Akhashverosh corresponding letter for letter with the Persian Khshayarsha, which the Greeks turned into Xerxes. Secondly, the resemblance of character is most striking, and is admitted on all hands. Thirdly, the notes of time exactly accord with the chronology of Xerxes’ reign. “In the third year of Xerxes’ reign was held an assembly at Susa to arrange the Grecian war (Herod. vii. 7). In the third year of Ahasuerus was held a great feast and assembly at Shushan the palace (Esth. 1 : 3). In the seventh year of his reign Xerxes returned defeated from Greece, and consoled himself by the pleasures of the harem (Herod. ix. 108). In the seventh year of his reign ‘fair young virgins were sought’ for Ahasuerus (Esth. 2 : 2-15).” We may therefore confidently regard the Ahasuerus of Esther as the well-known invader of Greece and scourger of the Hellespont, who has come down to us in profane history as “Xerxes.” P. C.—From the cuneiform alphabet of the ancient Persians we learn that Ahasuerus or Akhashverosh is the Hebrew form of the Persian Khshayarsha, called Xerxes in Greek. Two kings of this name ruled over Persia ; but as the second reigned for only a couple of months, he cannot possibly be the Ahasuerus of Esther. The latter must be the famous monarch of Greek story, whose huge armaments melted away before Greek valor at Salamis and Platæa. The character of Ahasuerus, too, agrees well with that of Xerxes I. Weak, vain, cowardly and capricious, Xerxes I. was the only Persian monarch known to us who could have acted in the way described in the Book of Esther. Xerxes has left inscriptions at Persepolis, at Elvend (near Ekbatana), and at Van in Armenia, which are couched in the same language as those of his father, Darius. Sayce. The reader will notice that, taking Ahasuerus to be Xerxes, the events of this Book fall after the dedication of the second Temple (second year of Darius) and before the labors of Ezra and Nehemiah (from the seventh to the thirty-second or some later year of Artaxerxes Longimanus). As to locality, the reader will see that these events transpire, not in Judah, and not where they would directly affect the colony there save through sympathy ; but in Shushan, the capital of the Medo-Persian empire. The Book shows that Jews in considerable numbers were scattered over that empire, many in Shushan itself. Of their fortunes under a special exigency during the reign of Xerxes this book gives an account. The name of the author of this book cannot be ascertained with any certainty. He gives details so minutely that he must have lived on the spot. His allusions to Persian life and manners, luxury, customs and history, harmonize so entirely with what comes to us through the Greek historians as to compel the same conclusion. The writer knew too much of the Persians to have lived elsewhere than there and then. Some think the book was written by Mordecai. It is probably safe to say—by him, or at least under his eye. As to purpose and aim, the author recognizes the feast of Purim ; indeed, makes great account of it as an established institution ; probably was active in making it such ; and consequently prepared this history of the events that culminated in that commemorative festival. Those events were worthy of this commemoration. God’s hand in them from first to last was so signally manifest, the lessons they taught could not fail to be at once impressive and instructive. But though God’s hand was in these events too plainly manifest to be mistaken or unnoticed, yet His name is not here, not being even once written in this Book. We are left in no doubt that Mordecai believed in God’s covenant with His people and in His promises of salvation in their behalf (4 : 14), and that both he and Esther believed in prayer, though they do not name prayer, but only fasting, when it seems plain enough that prayer is in their thought as truly as fasting. H. C. The language of the Book closely resembles that of Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, which were all written about that time. The minute and particular accounts of many matters which would be known primarily only to Esther and Mordecai, and would certainly not have been written in the “Book of the Chronicles,” as Mordecai’s genealogy (2 : 5), Esther’s messages to Mordecai and Mordecai’s to her through Hatach (4 : 5-16), the circumstances of the two banquets given by Esther to Ahasuerus and Haman (5:6-8; 7:2-8), etc., make it probable that the writer was contemporary with the events narrated, and derived his information from Mordecai or Esther, or both. Further, the individuals who have been mentioned as the writers of the Book—Mordecai himself and the high-priest Joiakim—lived about this time. Altogether, it seems most probable that the work was composed about the middle of the fifth century B.C., or a little later, when Xerxes had been dead about twenty years. P. C.—The minuteness of the details, and the frequent reference to events and persons which presuppose an acquaintance with Persia, go to show not only that the author lived in Persia—which indeed is admitted on all sides—but also that he lived before the overthrow of the Persian power. At the same time it is evident from the first verse of the Book that the reign of Xerxes was already over, as well as from the last verse but one, where it is stated that “all” his acts were written in the chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia. As we have seen, the character of the language of the book would tend to make it a little later than the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and we may therefore assent to the opinion of those commentators who place its composition toward the end of the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus (B.C. 425). Sayce. It is remarkable that the name of God is not once mentioned in Esther. The only religious ideas introduced with any distinctness are the efficacy of a national humiliation (4:1-3), the certainty that punishment will overtake the wicked, and a feeling of confidence that Israel will not be forsaken (4:14). Various conjectural reasons have been given for this reticence. One thing is clear, that a Jew of later times would have taken care not to raise suspicion against his work by such an omission. . . . It would seem that the reticence of the author of Esther respecting his religious views was the result of habit. The Jews, bred up among the heathen, and living in constant intercourse with them, learned by degrees to keep back the expression of their religious convictions, to assimilate themselves externally to their masters, to eliminate from their ordinary discourse all that would mark them for Jews, while they clung internally to their old belief, and practised secretly their old customs. A century and a half of this dissimulation made it so habitual that it was not laid aside, even where there was no occasion for it. The Jew of the dispersion kept his religion in his heart of hearts, and spoke of it as little as possible. It may have helped to keep Esther free from the religious element, if it was in the main extracted from the Persian archives. We do not know on what scale these were written, but it is quite possible that they contained most of our present Esther. At any rate, if the author took them for his basis, and found them, as he might, altogether secular in tone, he would be naturally led to assimilate to them his own portions of the work. Finally, it must be granted that the whole difficulty is not overcome by these considerations, and it may well be that other circumstances also, which cannot be particularized, prevented the author from giving expression to the religious feelings and beliefs which he entertained, and which underlie his narrative. 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