Nehemiah 10:32

FURTHER PROVISIONS OF THE COVENANT

"Also we made ordinances for us to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of God; for the showbread, and for the continual meal-offering, and for the continual burnt-offering, for the sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin-offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of God."

"Also we made ordinances for ourselves" (Nehemiah 10:33). "This was merely a revival of a charge levied by Moses upon every Israelite twenty years old and upward to pay a half shekel (Exodus 30:13),"[8] the only difference being in their reduction of it to one third of a shekel.

This one-third of a shekel annual tax was levied against every Israelite and continued in force until the Roman destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 70. Of course, through the years, the tax increased to the original half a shekel. Jesus Christ himself paid this tax for himself and the apostle Peter, in spite of our Lord's being exempt from it. This he did by sending Peter to take up the fish out of the sea of Galilee with a whole shekel in its mouth (Matthew 17:24-27). By this action, the Christ endorsed and approved the ordinance mentioned here. It was God's ordinance, despite the statement in Nehemiah 10:33 that "we made it." They only renewed an old duty.

The mention here of the showbread and of various kinds of sacrifices is only a detailed way of saying that the tax was for everything connected with the work in the house of God. For comments on the various things mentioned here, see our commentaries on the Pentateuch where all these things are first mentioned.