the wood offering. Hebrew the offering of wood. Figure of speech Hypallage. App-6 . Not prescribed by the law. Josephus calls it Xylophory, or wood-bearing. A feast kept on the 22nd of Ab, and at other times. burn. Hebrew. ba'ar, to consume. Not yazath (as in Nehemiah 1:3 ; Nehemiah 2:17 ); or saraph (as in Nehemiah 4:2 . App-43 .) written in the law. See note on Exodus 17:14 , and App-47 . read more
THE WOOD-OFFERING; THE FIRST-FRUITS; AND THE TITHES"And we cast lots, the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood-offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers' houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn upon the altar of Jehovah our God, as it is written in the law; and to bring the first-fruits of our ground, and the first-fruits of all fruit of all manner of trees, year by year, unto the house of Jehovah; also the first-born of our sons, and of... read more
34. we cast the lots . . . for the wood offering—The carrying of the wood had formerly been the work of the Nethinims. But few of them having returned, the duty was assigned as stated in the text. The practice afterwards rose into great importance, and JOSEPHUS speaks [The Wars of the Jews, 2.17, sect. 6] of the Xylophoria, or certain stated and solemn times at which the people brought up wood to the temple. read more
3. The renewed commitment of the people ch. 10Nehemiah explained the agreement he previously referred to in Nehemiah 9:38 in this chapter. Conviction of sin (ch. 8) led to confession of sin (ch. 9) and resulted in a covenant with God (ch. 10)."Nehemiah 10, despite its forbidding portal of 27 verses of proper names, is in reality a small treasure house of post-exilic interpretations of earlier Israelite law." [Note: David Clines, "Nehemiah 10 as an Example of Early Jewish Biblical Exegesis,"... read more
The pledge to keep the Law 10:28-39The rest of the restoration community joined those who signed their names pledging to obey the Mosaic Law (Nehemiah 10:28-29). The "curse" they took on themselves was submission to the curse that God promised would come on those who did not keep His Word (Nehemiah 10:29; Deuteronomy 28:15-68). "Law" (Heb. torah) refers to all God’s instructions, "commandments" are His rules, "ordinances" are His judicial pronouncements, and "statutes" are His permanent decrees... read more
List of Those Who Participated in the Covenant1. Now those that sealed were] The names that follow ZidMjah’s are those of families whose living representatives sealed on behalf of their houses. Several of these family names occur in the list of those who accompanied Zerubbabel to Jerusalem (Nehemiah 12). Zidkijah] The fact that his name is coupled with Nehemiah’s suggests that he was a person of importance, but nothing is known of him.29. To walk in God’s law, etc.] The enactments of the Law... read more
(28-39) The points of the covenant. read more
(34) As it is written in the law.—Leviticus 6:12 prescribes that the fire on the altar should be kept burning by wood. But here we have the origin of the “feast of the wood-offering”—a special day, subsequently substituted for the “times appointed year by year.” The lot determined the order in which the various classes should supply the wood. read more
THE COVENANTNehemiah 10:1-39THE tenth chapter of Nehemiah introduces us to one of the most vital crises in the History of Israel. It shows us how the secret cult of the priests of Jehovah became a popular religion. The process was brought to a focus in the public reading of The Law; it was completed in the acceptance of The Law which the sealing of the covenant ratified. This event may be compared with the earlier scene, when the law book discovered in the temple by Hilkiah was accepted and... read more
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Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Nehemiah 10:1-39
Israel’s confession and oath (9:1-10:39)Two days after the end of the Feast of Tabernacles (which lasted from the fifteenth day to the twenty-second day of the month; see 8:18; Leviticus 23:34), the people reassembled for another reading of the law. After this came a time of confession and worship led by the Levites (9:1-5).The prayer began by exalting God as the great Creator, and by praising him for choosing Abraham and making his covenant with him (6-8). God was faithful to his people... read more