Wesley Corpus

Chapter XIII The Israelites are separated from the mixt multitude, ver. 1 - 3. Nehemiah cleansed the chambers of the temple, ver. 4 - 9. He recovers and secures the portion of the priests and Levites, ver. 10 - 14. Contends with the nobles concerning the sabbath, and takes care for the due observance of it, ver. 15 - 22. Restrains them from marrying strange wives, ver. 23 - 31. That day - Not presently after the dedication of the wall and city, but upon a certain day, when Nehemiah was returned from the Persian court to Jerusalem, from which he had been absent for some considerable time, in which some errors and abuses had crept in. Not come - Not be incorporated into the common - wealth of Israel, nor be joined with any Israelite in marriage. Multitude - All the heathenish people with whom they had contracted alliance. Eliashib - The high - priest. Chamber - Of the chambers, the high - priest having the chief power over the house of God, and all the chambers belonging to it. Tobiah - The Ammonite, and a violent enemy to God's people. Prepared - By removing the things out of it, uniting divers small chambers into one, and furnishing it for the use of Tobiah when he came to Jerusalem: whom he seems to have lodged there, that he might have more free communication with him. But, &c. - Eliashib took the occasion of my absence to do these things. Came I - From Jerusalem; where he had been once and again. Grieved me - That so sacred a place should be polluted by one who in many respects ought not to come there, being no priest, a stranger, an Ammonite, and one of the worst of that people; and that all this should be done by the permission and order of the high - priest. Not given - Which might be either, from this corrupt high - priest Eliashib, who took their portions, as he did the sacred chambers, to his own use, or employed them for the entertainment of Tobiah, and his other great allies.