Nehemiah 7:70 Komentář

The success of one good design for God and our generation should encourage us to proceed and form some other; Nehemiah did so, having fortified Jerusalem with gates and walls, his next care is, I. To see the city well kept (Neh 7:1-4). II. To see it well peopled, in order to which he here reviews and calls over the register of the children of the captivity, the families that returned at first, and records it (v. 5-73). It is the same, in effect, with that which we had, Ezra 2. What use he made of it we shall find afterwards, when he brought one of ten to live in Jerusalem, Neh 11:1.

INTRODUCTION TO NEHEMIAH 7 Nehemiah having built the wall, and set up the doors, appointed two persons to take the charge of the city, and set watches for the safety of it, and to take special care about opening and shutting the gates of it, Neh 7:1, and concerned he was for the peopling of it, and having found a register of the first comers to it, gives their names, Neh 7:4 and some account of the freewill offerings made for the work they came about, Neh 7:70.

And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work,.... To be put into the treasure, out of which the expenses of the temple, and service of it were defrayed: twenty thousand drachms of gold; which were so many pounds of our money, and somewhat more: for, according to Bishop Cumberland (f), a drachm of gold was of the value of twenty shillings and four pence: and 2200 pounds of silver; "the maneh", or pound, with the Jews, was of the value of sixty shekels, Eze 45:12 and so is reckoned by our Brerewood (g) to be of our money seven pounds and ten shillings; he reckoning a shekel at half a crown, whereas it was little more than two shillings and four pence; and so sixty of them, or a "maneh", came to about seven pounds; wherefore this sum here was seven times so many pounds of silver. (f) Scripture Weights and Measures, ch. 4. p. 115. (g) De Ponder & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 4.

Nehemiah makes use of proper precautions in guarding the city gates, Neh 7:1-4. He proposes to reckon the people according to their genealogies; and finds a register of those who came out of Babylon, with Zerubbabel, Neh 7:5-7. A transcript of the register, vv. 8-60. Account of those who came from other provinces; and of priests who, because they could not show their register, were put away from the priesthood as polluted, Neh 7:61-65. The sum total of the congregation: of their men-servants and maid-servants; singing men and women; horses, mules, camels, and asses, Neh 7:66-69. The sums given by different persons for the work, Neh 7:70-72. All betake themselves to their several cities, Neh 7:73.

The Tirshatha gave - The Septuagint, particularly the copy in the Codex Alexandrinus, intimates that this sum was given to the Tirshatha, or Nehemiah: Και τῳ Αθερσαθᾳ εδωκαν εις θησαυρον, And to the Athersatha they gave for the treasure, etc. For the meaning of the word Tirshatha, see on Ezr 2:63 (note).

NEHEMIAH COMMITS THE CHARGE OF JERUSALEM TO HANANI AND HANANIAH. (Neh 7:1-4) I gave my brother Hanani . . . charge over Jerusalem--If, as is commonly supposed, Nehemiah was now contemplating a return to Shushan according to his promise, it was natural that he should wish to entrust the custody of Jerusalem and the management of its civic affairs to men on whose ability, experience, and fidelity, he could confide. Hanani, a near relative (Neh 1:2), was one, and with him was associated, as colleague, Hananiah, "the ruler of the palace"--that is, the marshal or chamberlain of the viceregal court, which Nehemiah had maintained in Jerusalem. The high religious principle, as well as the patriotic spirit of those two men, recommended them as pre-eminently qualified for being invested with an official trust of such peculiar importance. and feared God above many--The piety of Hananiah is especially mentioned as the ground of his eminent fidelity in the discharge of all his duties and, consequently, the reason of the confidence which Nehemiah reposed in him; for he was fully persuaded that Hananiah's fear of God would preserve him from those temptations to treachery and unfaithfulness which he was likely to encounter on the governor's departure from Jerusalem.

And some of the chief of the fathers, &c.--With Neh 7:69 the register ends, and the thread of Nehemiah's history is resumed. He was the tirshatha, or governor, and the liberality displayed by him and some of the leading men for the suitable equipment of the ministers of religion, forms the subject of the remaining portion of the chapter. Their donations consisted principally in garments. This would appear a singular description of gifts to be made by any one among us; but, in the East, a present of garments, or of any article of use, is conformable to the prevailing sentiments and customs of society. drams of gold--that is, darics. A daric was a gold coin of ancient Persia, worth £1 5s.