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, Nehemiah 13:23 . read more
And if the people of the land bring ware ,.... Any thing to be sold, any sort of goods, that being sold might be taken away, as the word signifies: or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell ; anything to make food of; wheat or barley, as Aben Ezra interprets it; the same word is rendered corn; see Gill on Genesis 42:1 ; to sell which was not lawful on the sabbath day, see Amos 8:5 that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day ; any festival, as the feast of... read more
Not give our daughters - Make no affinity with the people of the land. read more
Bring ware - We will most solemnly keep the Sabbath. Leave the seventh year - We will let the land have its Sabbath, and rest every seventh year. See on Exodus 23:10-11 ; (note). read more
1. The prohibition of intermarriage with the neighbouring idolatrous nations (verse 30); 2. The command to hallow the sabbath; 3. The law concerning the sabbatical year (verse 31); 4. The law of firstfruits (verses 35-37); 5. The obligation to pay tithes to the sacerdotal order (verses 37, 38). Finally, they undertook certain new obligations, not expressly contained in the law, but perhaps regarded as flowing from it by way of natural consequence, or else as desirable... read more
A solemn covenant. The public confession and recital of God's dealings with Israel, recorded in the previous chapter, concluded with a declaration of the making of "a sure covenant," written and sealed. This chapter contains a particular account of the transaction. I. WHY THE COVENANT WAS MADE . 1. For the reasons contained in the previous confession. "Because of all this" ( Nehemiah 9:38 ). 2. In the hope that so solemn an engagement would greatly aid in insuring... read more
Entering into covenant. Nehemiah and Ezra, and those who acted with them, showed true insight into character when they provided— I. THAT STRONG RELIGIOUS FEELING SHOULD TAKE DEFINITE FORM . "Because of all this we make a sure covenant, and write it; and our princes, Levites, and priests, set their seal unto it" ( Nehemiah 9:38 ). And Nehemiah and Zidkijah (Zadok), and many others, priests, Levites, and heads of families, formally signed and sealed a solemn covenant,... read more
Solemn engagement to maintain the house of God. I. ALL SHOULD PLEDGE THEMSELVES "not to forsake the house of our God." Those who are first in position, influence, capability should be leaders in caring, for God's house. Distinction of rank is lost in the unity of dedication. The service of God will call to itself all the variety of human faculty. Where there is the heart "to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God," there will be found an office or a post for each... read more
That we would not give our daughters , etc. On the recurrence of the mixed marriages so soon after the reformation of Ezra, see the comment on Nehemiah 13:23 . read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Nehemiah 10:1-31
When Israel was first brought into covenant with God it was done by sacrifice and the sprinkling of blood, Exod. 24:1-8 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. Now here we have, I. The names of those public persons who, as the representatives and heads of the congregation, set their hands and seals to this covenant, because it would have been an endless... read more