Nehemiahchapter 10
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Key verse
Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah,
It stands in scene A of the chapter, verses 1 to 27.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The sealed covenant, its signatories listed first: Nehemiah the governor, then priests, Levites, and chiefs of the people. The rest, with their wives, sons, and daughters, every one that had knowledge and understanding, clave to their brethren and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law given by Moses. The terms are specific: no intermarriage with the peoples of the land; no buying on the sabbath from those who bring wares; release of the land and of every debt in the seventh year; a yearly third of a shekel for the temple service; the wood-offering by lot; firstfruits, firstborn, and tithes brought in. 'We will not forsake the house of our God.'
Context
History · Nehemiah · Nehemiah overview
Where the chapter sits
Nehemiah 10 falls in Covenant renewal under Ezra's teaching (chapters 8–10). Ezra reads the Law at the Water Gate; ‘so they read … distinctly, and gave the sense’ (8:8); the Feast of Tabernacles kept; covenant formally renewed and signed.
Before it: Rebuilding the walls, chapters 1–7. After it: Organizing the restored community; second reform, chapters 11–13.
The whole shape of Nehemiah→The world behind this chapter
Nehemiah 10The history
This is a legal instrument, not a feeling. Ancient agreements were written, rolled, tied and stamped with personal seals, and hundreds of clay seal impressions from this general period have been dug up in the region, a man's seal was his signature. Eighty-four names are listed: the governor, priests, Levites and the chiefs of the people.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The obligations are concrete and each one is aimed at a known failure. No intermarriage with the surrounding peoples. No buying on the Sabbath from traders who bring goods in on that day. Release of debts and rest for the land every seventh year.
The rest is temple finance, which had been quietly collapsing. They bind themselves to a yearly third of a shekel for the service of the house of God, listing what it pays for, the showbread, the daily offering, the feasts, the sin offerings. They organise a wood offering by lot, family by family, year by year, because the altar burned through a great deal of timber. And they commit the firstfruits and the tithes, "and we will not forsake the house of our God."
What it meant to them
The striking thing is how ordinary the promises are. No visions, no campaigns, a market rule, a tax, a delivery rota for firewood.
That was the lesson of the exile applied. The nation had not fallen through one dramatic apostasy but through a thousand small neglects, and the generation that rebuilt the wall tried to close the gaps with a signed list.
Sources cited
- K. A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (public domain)
- Edwin Yamauchi, Persia and the Bible
A. The names sealed to the covenant, from Nehemiah on down
1. (vv. 1-8)
Nehemiah 10:1, 3 voicesWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Nehemiah 10:1
“But the signatories were Nehemiah the Tirshatha, etc. Another translation has, Nehemiah, who is the Tirshatha; for Nehemiah had two names. Hence it is uniquely added, the son of Hacaliah; which is more clearly indicated above, where it is said: But Nehemiah said, he is …”
Bede· written before 735· Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiahpatristic
Nehemiah 10:1
“The “Zidkijah” of this passage is probably the same as “Zadok” Neh 13:13. “Zadok” is expressly called “the scribe,” and it was probably as the scribe who drew up the document that “Zidkijah” signed it immediately after Nehemiah.”
Nehemiah 10:1
“It may seem strange that Ezra doth not appear among them. But that might be because he was prevented, by some sickness, or other extraordinary impediment. It is true, we meet with Ezra after this, at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, chap. xii, 36, and therefore he was then freed from this impediment, whatsoever it was.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Nehemiah 10:2, 1 voice
Nehemiah 10:2
“The names are not personal, but designate families. The seal of the high-priestly house of Seraiah was probably appended either by Ezra or Eliashib, both of whom belonged to it.”
a.Nehemiah, the Tirshatha: Nehemiah's own name leads the list of seals, styled the Tirshatha, the Persian governor's title he already carries at 8:9 and 12:26, and named son of Hachaliah as at 1:1. Twenty-one priestly names follow him to the close of the roll at verse 8, the priesthood sealing first as it does again at the wall's dedication. Ezra's name is absent from the seals; Wesley reads sickness or some other hindrance as the reason, since the narrative meets him again at the dedication in 12:36.
2. (vv. 9-13)
a.Jeshua the son of Azaniah: The Levites follow the priests, headed by Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad and Kadmiel, names that reach back to the first return under Zerubbabel where Jeshua and Kadmiel already lead the Levitical courses. Their brethren follow by name through verse 13, the same office sealing the same covenant a generation after it first sang at the foundation of Ezra 3:10-11. The roll keeps the temple's two orders, priest and Levite, in their fixed order.
3. (vv. 14-27)
a.The chief of the people: The lay heads of families close the roll of seals, more than forty names beginning with Parosh and Pahathmoab, the same family names that head the registry of the first return in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7. The generation that came up under Zerubbabel and the generation that seals the covenant under Nehemiah are shown to be the same houses, not a new people but the old remnant still standing. The list's own work is this continuity; no single name here is singled out for further comment.
B. No mixed marriages, and no buying on the sabbath day
1. (vv. 28-29)
Nehemiah 10:28, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:28
“And the rest of the people - All had, in one or other of the classes which sealed, their representatives; and by their sealing they considered themselves bound.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 10:28
“THE REST OF THE PEOPLE BOUND THEMSELVES TO OBSERVE IT. Those who were not present at the sealing ratified the covenant by giving their assent, either in words or by lifting up their hands, and bound themselves, by a solemn oath, to walk in God's law, imprecating a curse upon themselves in the event of their violating it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Nehemiah 10:29, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:29
“They clave to their brethren - Though they did not sign this instrument, yet they bound themselves under a solemn oath that they would fulfill the conditions of the covenant, and walk according to the law of Moses.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 10:29
“Thus David swore that he would keep God's righteous judgments, Ps. cxix. Our own covenant binds us to this, if not more strongly, yet more sensibly, than we were before bound, and therefore we must not think it needless thus to bind ourselves.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a.unto the law of God: Verse 28 widens the covenant past the sealed names: the rest of the people, priests, Levites, porters, singers and Nethinims, join with all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands UNTO THE LAW OF GOD, their wives, sons and daughters, every one having knowledge and understanding. Clarke reads the clause as giving every class its representative among the seals, so that none stand outside the vow by claiming they never signed it. They clave to their brethren, the nobles, and entered into a curse and an oath to walk in God's law and observe all his commandments, judgments and statutes, which Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read as binding the whole assembly so firmly that none could later plead ignorance of what was sworn.
2. (v. 30)
Nehemiah 10:30, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:30
“And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons,.... Intermarry with them as they had done, and were prone to do, and even did after this, Neh 13:23.”
Nehemiah 10:30
“Many of them had been guilty of this, Ezra ix. In our covenants with God we should engage particularly against those sins that we have been most frequently overtaken in and damaged by.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a.not give our daughters: The first ordinance named is the oldest wound in the book: they will not give their daughters to the people of the land nor take the land's daughters for their sons, the very failure Ezra 9 had confessed and the failure Nehemiah will find repeated at 13:23-28 within his own lifetime. Gill notes that this had been done before and would be done again, so the covenant names its own besetting sin first, ahead of every other ordinance. The vow is stated once, plainly, without the public grief of chapter 9's confession.
3. (v. 31)
Nehemiah 10:31, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:31
“Bring ware ... on the sabbath day - Compare Neh 13:16, where this desecration of the Sabbath is shown to have commonly taken place. Leave the seventh year ... - i. e., “let the land rest in the sabbatical year” (margin reference) and give up the “pledge-taking” Neh 10:2-10.”
Nehemiah 10:31
“Note, Those that covenant to keep all God's commandments must particularly covenant to keep sabbaths well; for the profanation of them is an inlet to other instances of profaneness. The sabbath is a market day for our souls, but not for our bodies.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a.bring ware or any victuals: The second ordinance forbids buying from the land's people on the sabbath or holy day when they bring wares to sell, a market Nehemiah will find standing open at the gates in 13:15-22 and shut himself. The same verse adds the seventh year's release, the land left to rest and every debt let go, the sabbatical law of Exodus 23 and Leviticus 25 taken up as a civic obligation rather than a memory. Henry calls the sabbath a market day for the soul and not for the body, and the ordinance treats worship and commerce as one commandment.
C. Wood, firstfruits, and tithes: we will not forsake the house of our God
1. (vv. 32-33)
Nehemiah 10:32, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:32
“Charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel - According to the law, every one above twenty years of age was to give half a shekel to the sanctuary, which was called a ransom for their souls. See Exo 30:11-16. But why is one third of a shekel now promised instead of the half shekel, which the law required?”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 10:32
“When Israel was first brought into covenant with God it was done by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, Exod. xxiv. But here it was done by the more natural and common way of sealing and subscribing the written articles of the covenant, which bound them to no more than was already their duty.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a.the third part of a shekel: The third ordinance funds the temple itself: a third of a shekel charged yearly for its service, less than the half shekel of Exodus 30:11-16 that the law had required of every man over twenty. Clarke weighs the difference and reads it as the smaller purse of a returned and rebuilding people rather than a smaller law. Verse 33 lists what the money buys, the shewbread, the continual offerings of morning and evening, the sabbaths and new moons, the set feasts, and the sin offerings that make atonement for Israel, the whole calendar of worship underwritten by a covenant now signed in coin.
2. (v. 34)
Nehemiah 10:34, 1 voice
Nehemiah 10:34
“Cast the lots - for the wood-offering - There does not appear to have been any wood-offering under the law. It was the business of the Nethinim to procure this; and hence they were called hewers of wood and drawers of water to the congregation.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a.cast the lots among the priests: The fourth ordinance casts lots among the priests, the Levites and the people for the wood offering, timber brought to the house of God at appointed times to keep the altar's fire burning as the law requires. Clarke notes that the law of Moses names no wood offering directly; the Nethinim had supplied it as their appointed labor, and casting lots now spreads a duty the old order had assigned to the lowest hands. The vow writes into covenant what the returned community must otherwise scramble to supply each year.
3. (vv. 35-36)
Nehemiah 10:35, 1 voice
Nehemiah 10:35
“And to bring the firstfruits of our ground,.... Not that they cast lots to do this, but they bound themselves with an oath, according to the law, to do it; this is the first of all the fruits of the earth, Exo 23:19, though Aben Ezra restrains it to the sheaf of the firstfruits, and to the two wave loaves, Lev 23:10, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees; which, as Aben Ezra observes, their wise men restrain to the seven kinds only mentioned in Deu 8:8.”
Nehemiah 10:36, 1 voice
Nehemiah 10:36
“Also the first-born - See this law, and the reasons of it, Exo 13:1-13. As by this law the Lord had a right to all the firstborn, instead of these he was pleased to take the tribe of Levi for the whole; and thus the Levites served at the tabernacle and temple, instead of the first-born of all the tribes.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
a.firstfruits of our ground: The fifth and sixth ordinances bring the firstfruits of the ground and of every tree yearly to the house of the Lord, and the firstborn of sons and of cattle, herds and flocks, to the priests who serve there, both laws written in Moses and both now sworn again. Gill records that later teaching narrowed the fruit-tree offering to the seven kinds of Deuteronomy 8:8, a reading beyond the plain word but carried by the tradition that received it. The firstborn clause recalls Exodus 13, where the Lord's claim on every firstborn is answered by the standing substitution of the Levites for the nation.
4. (vv. 37-39)
Nehemiah 10:38, 2 voices
Nehemiah 10:38
“Tithe of the tithes - The tithes of all the produce of the fields were brought to the Levites; out of these a tenth part was given to the priests. This is what is called the tithe of the tithes. The law for this is found, Num 18:26.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Nehemiah 10:38
“This was the law ( Num. xviii. 21-28 ); but these dues had been withheld, in consequence of which God, by the prophet, charges them with robbing him ( Mal. iii. 8, 9 ), at the same time encouraging them to be more just to him and his receivers, with a promise that, if they brought the tithes into the store-house, he would pour out blessings upon them,”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Nehemiah 10:39, 1 voice
Nehemiah 10:39
“It was a constant charge to provide show-bread for the table, two lambs for the daily offerings, four for the sabbaths, and more, and more costly, sacrifices for other festivals, occasional sin-offerings, and meat-offerings, and drink-offerings for them all.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
a.firstfruits of our dough: The last ordinance brings the firstfruits of dough, the fruit of every tree, the wine and oil, to the priests, and the tithe of the ground to the Levites in every city of their labor, with the priest standing by when the Levites take the tithe, so that the Levites in turn bring up a tithe of the tithe to the treasure house, the check Numbers 18 had built into the system to keep the higher tithe honest. The corn, wine and oil are stored where the vessels of the sanctuary, the priests, the porters and the singers all have their place, the temple economy gathered under one roof. The chapter closes on the vow the covenant was written to keep, WE WILL NOT FORSAKE THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD, a sentence chapter 13 will test within Nehemiah's own return.
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Nehemiah 10. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
This page draws on 10 works. Open for the list.
This page draws on Adam Clarke; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bede, Commentary on Ezra and Nehemiah; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871); John Gill; John Wesley; Keil, The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther; Matthew Henry and W. F. Adeney, Ezra, Nehemiah and Esther (Expositor's Bible).