Nehemiah — Chapter 13

Scriptum in eo quod

And it was found written therein, that the Ammonites and Moabites should not enter the church of God for ever. — This law is written in Deuteronomy 23:3, where I explained it and taught what is meant by \"church of God\" — namely the dignity, eminence, and magistracy in the assembly of the Israelite people; for to this the Ammonites and Moabites could not be admitted; they could however become proselytes, and thus enter the temple and attend the sacred rites with the Jews, as Ruth the Moabitess did when she married Booz the Israelite. So also among the Spaniards, Moors can become Christians but are not admitted to magistracies.

Et super hoc erat

Now before this, Eliasib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and was near of kin to Tobias. — That is: Eliasib the Pontiff had been appointed as guardian of the law just cited in verse 1, and it was his duty to ensure that no Ammonite should be admitted to public office in Israel. But he so little attended to this that he made Tobias the Ammonite his kinsman by marriage, and therefore put him in charge of the treasury. Thus he who (Eliasib) had been overseer of the chambers of the house of our God was intimate with Tobias the Ammonite servant (as stated in chapter 2:10), an enemy of the Jews though rich and powerful, and with him had contracted a family alliance by marriage. Hence he had appointed him, as his kinsman, over the treasury of the temple — a great dignity and benefit to Tobias, but a greater indignity and harm to Israel, in that an Ammonite servant was elevated to such dignity in Israel contrary to the law of Deuteronomy 23:3. It was also harmful because Tobias diverted the treasury not to the uses of the priests and temple for which it was established, but to his own convenience, storing all his household goods there.

Fecit ergo sibi gazophylacium

He had made him a great store chamber, where before him they laid up gifts and frankincense and vessels. — that is: Eliasib appointed Tobias the Ammonite over all the treasury of the temple, including the first-fruits and tithes and everything brought to the Levites and Priests.

Ut faceret ei thesaurum

That he should make him a store room in the courts of the house of God. — namely the gazophylacium already mentioned, as the Septuagint has it, in which the treasures of the temple were kept. This is clear from the Hebrew.

Projeci vasa domus Tobiae

And I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobias. — that is, the furniture and belongings of Tobias.

Et retuli ibi vasa

And I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back thither the vessels of the house of God, the sacrifice and the frankincense. — that is, things pertaining to sacrifice, such as oil, wine, fine flour, salt, etc.

Feci stare in stationibus

And I set them in their stations. — that is: I restored the Levites and cantors to their places and offices.

Cum quievissent portae Jerusalem

And when the gates of Jerusalem had rested on the sabbath day. — Hebrew: \"when the gates were in shadow,\" that is, when the evening of Friday had arrived; for then the Sabbath began, as I already said. Hence the Septuagint translates \"before the day\" — that is, before the natural day of the Sabbath. Nehemias therefore ordered the gates to be closed for the whole natural day of the Sabbath, for 24 hours, so that no one through them might violate the Sabbath by carrying burdens. \"THAT NO BURDEN MIGHT BE BROUGHT IN\" — through the gates. Hence a gate (porta) is so called because through it burdens are imported and exported, says Cato, and from him Isidorus (Etymol. XV.1.15); though Donatus says gate is named from the carrying of a plow, because in the laying out of cities, where the entrance of the city was to be left, the plow was lifted by hand so as not to make a furrow.

Manum mittam in vos

I will lay hands on you. — that is: I will seize and punish you, and confiscate the merchandise burdens you bring in.

Et filii eorum ex

And their children spoke half in the speech of Azotus. — (For the Azotic language smelled of exotic and Azotic religion. The other half spoke Moabite, or Ammonite, or Midianite,) \"AND SPOKE ACCORDING TO THE LANGUAGE OF THIS OR THAT PEOPLE\" — that is, of the several peoples from whom their mothers were descended; for children, raised by their mothers, imbibed their language with their mothers' milk.

Et maledixi et cecidi

And I cursed them, and beat some of them, and shaved them. — (Complutensian wrongly has \"decalcavi\" = I unshod; the correct reading is \"decalvavi\" = I shaved.) \"I CURSED\" — that is, I anathematized and excommunicated the parents of such children, and indeed them themselves. \"I BEAT (them with rods) AND SHAVED THEM\" — that is, I pulled out their hair, which is a mark of great ignominy. Among whom the most notable was the son of Joiada the Pontiff, concerning whom see verse 28.

De filiis autem Joiada

And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliasib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanaballat the Horonite. — Thus the Roman Bible, though the Complutensian and old Bibles have \"Horonitis\" in the genitive; and so it seems it should be read, for so have the Hebrew, Septuagint, Vatablus, Pagninus, and others; so that the sense is: One of the sons of Joiada had married a daughter of Sanaballat the Horonite and was therefore his son-in-law. \"WHOM I DROVE AWAY FROM ME\" — and from the assembly of Israel, judging it unworthy for Sanaballat the Samaritan and unbeliever to mingle in marriage with Israel, and indeed with the Pontiff's family. Moreover this Sanaballat is different from the Sanaballat who (according to Josephus, Ant. XI.6-7) gave his daughter as wife to Manasses, brother of the Pontiff Jaddo, under Alexander the Great, and made Manasses high priest of the schismatic temple built by schismatics in Samaria on Mount Gerizim — about which temple there was perpetual dispute between Jews and Samaritans, even in Christ's time (John 4:24). That they are different is clear: for this Sanaballat the Horonite was father-in-law to the son of Joiada; but the other was father-in-law to Manasses, brother of Jaddo the Pontiff. Therefore one was not the other. For Joiada was the grandfather of Jaddo (Joiada begot Jonathan; Jonathan begot Jaddo); and Jaddo's brother Manasses was the son-in-law of the later Sanaballat. Perhaps this later one was the son or grandson of the former. \"WHOM I DROVE AWAY FROM ME\" — by \"whom\" understand not so much Sanaballat as the son-in-law of Sanaballat, namely the son of Joiada the Pontiff who had married Sanaballat's daughter; for him Nehemias expelled and deprived of the priesthood on account of the foreign wife he had taken. Thus Sanchez. For Sanaballat himself was not present and was far less subject to Nehemias; but the son of Joiada was present and subject to him — hence he expelled him.