Nehemiah · WEB-C
Nehemiah
5
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Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews. See also: Isaiah 5:7Deuteronomy 15:7-11Luke 18:7For there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.” See also: Psalms 128:2-4Malachi 2:2Genesis 42:2There were also some who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.” See also: Leviticus 25:35-39Malachi 3:8-11Deuteronomy 15:7There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral. See also: Ezra 4:13Ezra 4:20Deuteronomy 28:47-48Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring our sons and our daughters into bondage to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage. It is also not in our power to help it, because other men have our fields and our vineyards.” See also: Leviticus 25:39-432 Kings 4:1Isaiah 58:7I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. See also: Exodus 11:8Nehemiah 13:25Numbers 16:15Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them. See also: Deuteronomy 23:19-20Leviticus 25:36Exodus 22:25I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found not a word to say. See also: Leviticus 25:47-492 Corinthians 8:12Deuteronomy 24:7Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the nations, our enemies? See also: Leviticus 25:362 Samuel 12:14Romans 2:24I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury. See also: 2 Corinthians 6:1Exodus 22:25-272 Corinthians 5:11Please restore to them, even today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you are charging them.” See also: Isaiah 58:6Leviticus 6:4-51 Samuel 12:3Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them. We will do so, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise. See also: Ezra 10:5Jeremiah 34:8-10Ezra 10:12Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So may God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that doesn’t perform this promise; even may he be shaken out and emptied like this.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised the LORD. The people did according to this promise. See also: Acts 18:6Matthew 10:14Zechariah 5:3-4Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. See also: Nehemiah 13:61 Corinthians 9:4-152 Thessalonians 3:8-9But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people, but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God. See also: Nehemiah 5:9Proverbs 16:6Isaiah 50:10Yes, I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn’t buy any land. All my servants were gathered there to the work. See also: Galatians 6:9Philippians 2:20-211 Thessalonians 2:5-6Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, in addition to those who came to us from among the nations that were around us. See also: 1 Kings 18:192 Samuel 9:71 Peter 4:9-10Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. See also: 1 Kings 4:22-23Psalms 37:21Psalms 37:26Remember me, my God, for all the good that I have done for this people. See also: Nehemiah 13:31Psalms 106:4Nehemiah 13:14
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Notes · Haydock (1859, public domain)15 notes
Notes in English 19th-century Catholic commentary by Fr. George Leo Haydock, shown as published.
These notes keep the polemics of their time: some speak harshly of the Jewish people or of other Christians. The Church teaches otherwise today. The Jewish people may not be blamed for the death of Christ (Nostra Aetate 4; Catechism 597–598), and Christians of other communities are our brothers and sisters in the Lord (Unitatis Redintegratio 3). Christian unity
Nehemiah 5:1
Ver. 1. Cry. V. Bede (iii. 21.) complains of some pastors who neglect the flock, but exacted revenues. May not the same complaint still be made? W.
↑ 1Nehemiah 5:2
Ver. 2. Very. Syr. "and our brethren are too numerous" to find meat. --- For, &c.
Heb. Sept. &c.
"by force." Abenezra, &c. --- Yet most people explain it in the sense of the Vulg.
It was permitted to sell children in extreme distress, Ex. xxi. 7. Grot. C.
↑ 2Nehemiah 5:3
Ver. 3. Let us. Prot. "We have mortgaged." --- Famine, or "hunger." H.
↑ 3Nehemiah 5:4
Ver. 4. Let us. Sept. Mont. "We have borrowed" on usury, contrary to Ex. xxii.
25. The Jews were still obliged to pay tribute.
↑ 4Nehemiah 5:5
Ver. 5. Brethren, who are still in captivity, or we are of the same nature as the rich, (C.) who so cruelly oppress us. M.
↑ 5Nehemiah 5:7
Ver. 7. Against them, as a private rebuke would not suffice. T.
↑ 7Nehemiah 5:8
Ver. 8. Redeemed, by paying the ransom to the Babylonians, or by using all our endeavours to procure the releasement of our brethren. C. --- For us. Prot. "or shall they be sold unto us?" H.
--- A true pastor practises what he preaches to others. W.
↑ 8Nehemiah 5:11
Ver. 11. For them, to the Persian governors, v. 14. H. --- Nehemias remits this pension, which was before paid by the people, and exacted by the rich.
Wolphius. --- Du Moulin asserts that there is no question of usury, which the Jews always abhorred, much less of that which the Romans called the 100th, (C.) consisting in the payment of 12 per cent, (T.) or one every month.
M. --- Heb. "Give back to them, " (H.) that they may enjoy those things.
↑ 11Nehemiah 5:12
Ver. 12. Oath of them. Priests, in private, (M.) who were not innocent; (T.) or these were witnesses of the oath taken by the rich. Piscator.
↑ 12Nehemiah 5:13
Ver. 13. Lap, or skirt of my robes. T. --- Such figurative actions were very common. Thus a Roman ambassador at Carthage, folding up his garment, said he brought peace or war. Livy xxi.
18. C. --- Said. Behold how easily was that effected at Jerusalem, which the Romans could never perfectly bring about, after the most violent riots! T.
↑ 13Nehemiah 5:14
Ver. 14. Not eat, out of pity for the poor. M. --- He was supported by the king, (C.) or by his own patrimony. H. v. 11.
↑ 14Nehemiah 5:16
Ver. 16. Wall, pleading no exemption, but making my servants work. C. ---
Though no particular portion was assigned to him, he helped all. T. --- No land, as I might have done, on advantageous terms. H. --- Rare example of disinterestedness! He praises himself without vanity, only to induce others to follow the same course. So Moses, David, S. Paul, and others acted. Num. xii.
3. &c.
↑ 16Nehemiah 5:17
Ver. 17. Men, my brethren, not (C.) Persians. Grot. --- Them; ambassadors. M.
--- If Nehemias behaved with such generosity for twelve years, he must have been very rich; or he received a great pension from the king, or voluntary and abundant contributions from the rich.
↑ 17Nehemiah 5:18
Ver. 18. Wines. This was only produced, in abundance, on extraordinary occasions; for the people of the East do not drink wine at every feast. Eccli.
xxxi. 17. C. --- Yearly. Sept.
"Moreover, loaves of extortion I did not seek, because a hard servitude lay upon this people." H.
↑ 18Nehemiah 5:19
Ver. 19. Good. A good conscience confidently hopeth for a reward. W.
↑ 19License: Notes by Fr. George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), from the Douay-Rheims Bible with Haydock's commentary (first ed. Thomas Haydock, Manchester/Dublin, 1811–1814; New York: Edward Dunigan & Brother, 1859); New Testament notes compiled with Fr. Benedict Rayment. Public domain. Digital text: "The Haydock Bible", Internet Archive (archive.org/details/TheHaydockBible), uploaded 2011 under the Public Domain Mark. · Credits and licenses