---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Nehemiah 10"
description: "CHAPTER 10   :-. THE NAMES
OF THOSE WHO
SEALED THE COVENANT. 1. Nehemiah, the Tirshatha—His
name was placed first in the roll on account of his high offic"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10"
---

CHAPTER 10

. THE NAMES
OF THOSE WHO
SEALED THE COVENANT.

**1. Nehemiah, the Tirshatha**—His
name was placed first in the roll on account of his high official
rank, as deputy of the Persian monarch. All classes were included in
the subscription; but the people were represented by their elders (), as it would have been impossible for every one in the
country to have been admitted to the sealing.
. THE REST
OF THE PEOPLE BOUND
THEMSELVES TO OBSERVE
IT.
Those who were not present at the
sealing ratified the covenant by giving their assent, either in words
or by lifting up their hands, and bound themselves, by a solemn oath,
to walk in God's law, imprecating a curse upon themselves in the
event of their violating it.
. POINTS OF THE
COVENANT.

**29-37. to observe and do all the
commandments,** c.—This national covenant, besides containing a
solemn pledge of obedience to the divine law generally, specified
their engagement to some particular duties, which the character and
exigency of the times stamped with great urgency and importance, and
which may be summed up under the following heads: that they abstain
from contracting matrimonial alliances with the heathen that they
would rigidly observe the sabbath; that they would let the land enjoy
rest and remit debts every seventh year; that they would contribute
to the maintenance of the temple service, the necessary expenses of
which had formerly been defrayed out of the treasury of the temple
([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)), and when it was
drained, given out from the king's privy purse ([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)); and that they would make an orderly payment of the
priests' dues. A minute and particular enumeration of the
first-fruits was made, that all might be made fully aware of their
obligations, and that none might excuse themselves on pretext of
ignorance from withholding taxes which the poverty of many, and the
irreligion of others, had made them exceedingly prone to evade.

**32. the third part of a shekel for
the service of the house of our God**—The law required every
individual above twenty years of age to pay half a shekel to the
sanctuary. But in consequence of the general poverty of the people,
occasioned by war and captivity, this tribute was reduced to a third
part of a shekel.

**29-37. to observe and do all the
commandments,** c.—This national covenant, besides containing a
solemn pledge of obedience to the divine law generally, specified
their engagement to some particular duties, which the character and
exigency of the times stamped with great urgency and importance, and
which may be summed up under the following heads: that they abstain
from contracting matrimonial alliances with the heathen that they
would rigidly observe the sabbath; that they would let the land enjoy
rest and remit debts every seventh year; that they would contribute
to the maintenance of the temple service, the necessary expenses of
which had formerly been defrayed out of the treasury of the temple
([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)), and when it was
drained, given out from the king's privy purse ([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)); and that they would make an orderly payment of the
priests' dues. A minute and particular enumeration of the
first-fruits was made, that all might be made fully aware of their
obligations, and that none might excuse themselves on pretext of
ignorance from withholding taxes which the poverty of many, and the
irreligion of others, had made them exceedingly prone to evade.

**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.

**29-37. to observe and do all the
commandments,** c.—This national covenant, besides containing a
solemn pledge of obedience to the divine law generally, specified
their engagement to some particular duties, which the character and
exigency of the times stamped with great urgency and importance, and
which may be summed up under the following heads: that they abstain
from contracting matrimonial alliances with the heathen that they
would rigidly observe the sabbath; that they would let the land enjoy
rest and remit debts every seventh year; that they would contribute
to the maintenance of the temple service, the necessary expenses of
which had formerly been defrayed out of the treasury of the temple
([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)), and when it was
drained, given out from the king's privy purse ([1 Chronicles 26:20](../../../kjv/1-chronicles/26/20)); and that they would make an orderly payment of the
priests' dues. A minute and particular enumeration of the
first-fruits was made, that all might be made fully aware of their
obligations, and that none might excuse themselves on pretext of
ignorance from withholding taxes which the poverty of many, and the
irreligion of others, had made them exceedingly prone to evade.

**38. the priest the son of Aaron
shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes**—This
was a prudential arrangement. The presence of a dignified priest
would ensure the peaceful delivery of the tithes; at least his
superintendence and influence would tend to prevent the commission of
any wrong in the transaction, by the people deceiving the Levites, or
the Levites defrauding the priests.
**the tithe of the tithes**—The
Levites, having received a tenth of all land produce, were required
to give a tenth of this to the priests. The Levites were charged with
the additional obligation to carry the tithes when received, and
deposit them in the temple stores, for the use of the priests.

**39. and we will not forsake the
house of our God**—This solemn pledge was repeated at the close
of the covenant as an expression of the intense zeal by which the
people at this time were animated for the glory and the worship of
God. Under the pungent feelings of sorrow and repentance for their
national sins, of which apostasy from the service of the true God was
the chief, and under the yet fresh and painful remembrance of their
protracted captivity, they vowed, and (feeling the impulse of ardent
devotion as well as of gratitude for their restoration) flattered
themselves they would never forget their vow, to be the Lord's.

```json
{"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","width":640,"height":370,"caption":"Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Nehemiah 10"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10","name":"Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Nehemiah 10","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10#primaryimage"},"datePublished":null,"dateModified":null,"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"CHAPTER 10   :-. THE NAMES\nOF THOSE WHO\nSEALED THE COVENANT. 1. Nehemiah, the Tirshatha—His\nname was placed first in the roll on account of his high offic","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries","name":"Commentaries"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible","name":"Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah","name":"Nehemiah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/nehemiah/10","name":"10"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]}
```