Nehemiah 10:31

Neh 10:31 And [if] the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, [that] we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and [that] we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Ver. 31. And if the people of the land bring any ware] As they might without the Jews’ leave; and did, Neh 13:16, and some of those Jews, forgetting their covenant, bought of them too; even the children of Judah in Jerusalem, ib., as if they had been of her religion in the tragedy, who said,

η γλωττ ομωμοχ η δε φοην ανωμοτος.

that is, I swore with my tongue, but not with my heart. But shall they thus escape by iniquity? Be not deceived, God is not mocked; a God of truth, and without iniquity; just and right is he, Deu 32:4.

That we would not buy it of them] Lest we should trouble and disquiet that holy rest; and God should sue us upon an action of waste; "For the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God," Exo 20:10 Jer 17:12.

Or on the holy day] Now abrogated, Col 2:16.

And that we would leave the seventh year] That Sabbatical year, prefiguring the year of grace, the kingdom of Christ, Qui noxas et nexus omnes solveret, who giveth his people a general release, Deu 15:2, and comes not over them again with a later reckoning, Peccata non redeunt. The land also was to rest from tillage this year, Exo 23:11.

And the exaction of every debt] For that year, at least, and the next too, if the debtor were not able to pay; the lender was to expect a recompense from God, Deu 15:6.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh_10:31

And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to all

The profit of Sabbath-keeping

John Brand was an old Cornish fisherman.

The fishing had not been good for some days, the water had been wild and stormy; but at length, on the Sunday, the weather became fine, and the other fishermen said, We would keep Sunday--but--we have had so few fish lately; and we are sorry to go out to-day--but--the weather is so good. It is a pity; we would not go if we were not so poor. What! said honest John, are you going to break Gods laws with your ifs and buts? Better be poor than be wicked. My religion is not the kind that shifts with the wind. Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy--that is enough for me. So he persuaded them, and they took his advice, and spent the day in worshipping God. And it was well they did so; for that night, just when the boats would have been coming back, a terrible storm suddenly burst over the deep, and lasted two days. Any boat out in that weather would certainly have been wrecked. But two days after the beautiful weather returned, and more fish were taken then than had been caught for weeks before. No; no one ever yet lost by obeying God. Be you like John Brand; be thorough, honest, and God-fearing in and out; do not have a religion like a weathercock that shifts with the wind, or one that can be broken with An if or a but. (J. Reid Howatt.)

The Sabbath beneficial

In a prize essay on the Sabbath written by a journeyman printer in Scotland, there appears the following striking passage: Yoke-fellows, think how the abstraction of the Sabbath would hopelessly enslave the working-classes with whom we are identified. Think of the labour thus going on in one monotonous, and continuous, and eternal cycle--limbs for ever on the rack, the fingers for ever plying, the eyeballs for ever straining, the brow for ever sweating, the feet for ever plodding, the brain for ever throbbing, the shoulders for ever drooping, the loins for ever aching, and the restless mind for ever scheming! Think of the beauty it would efface, of the merry-heartedness it would extinguish, of the giant strength it would tame, of the resources of nature it would exhaust, of the aspirations it would crush, of the sickness it would breed, of the projects it would wreck, of the groans it would extort, of the lives it would immolate, of the cheerless graves it would prematurely dig! See them toiling and moiling, sweating and fretting, grinding and hewing, weaving and spinning, sowing and gathering, mowing and reaping, raising mad building, digging mad planting, unloading and storing, striving and struggling--in the garden and in the field, in the granary and in the barn, in the factory and in the mill, in the warehouse and in the shop, on the mountain and in the ditch, on the roadside and in the wood, in the city and in the country, on the sea and on the shore, on the earth in days of brightness and of gloom. What a sad picture would the world present if we had no Sabbath!

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neh 10:31. And if the people of the land — The heathen; bring ware or victuals on the sabbath day to sell, we would not buy it — They not only would not sell goods themselves for gain on that day, but they would not encourage the heathen to sell by buying of them, no, not victuals, under pretence of necessity, but would buy in their provisions for their families the day before. They that covenant to keep all the commandments of God, must particularly covenant to keep the sabbath holy. For the profanation of this is a sure inlet to all manner of profaneness. Or on the holy day — That is, on days of rest from labour, such as the passover, the first and seventh day of unleavened bread, Exo 12:16, the feast of trumpets, Lev 23:25, and others. And that we would leave the seventh year — Let the land rest from ploughing or tilling in that year, and leave the fruit of it, which grew of itself, for the poor, as the law required. See the margin. And the exaction of every debt — Would remit, in that year, the debts owed by the poor. The Hebrew משׂא כל יד, masse cal jad, is literally, the burden of every hand. Debts may be so called, because they are commonly contracted or confirmed by a bill, declaration, or promise, given under the debtor’s hand. Or the meaning is, as in Isa 58:6, that they engage to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and to break off every yoke.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10:31 Ceasing trade on the Sabbath was necessary for covenant faithfulness (cp. 13:15-22; see Exod 16:29; 20:8-11; 31:15; Num 15:32-36; Amos 8:5). • Every seventh year: See Exod 23:10-11; Lev 25:2-7; Deut 15:1-3.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Which notwithstanding they brake soon after, as Neh. 13:15.

Hebrew, hand.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 31. 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 Ex 23:10-11.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(31) Or on the holy day.—On the great festivals, equally with the Sabbath days of rest.

Leave the seventh year.—The Sabbatical year naturally follows; in it the ground should be left untilled.

The exaction of every debt.—The “Lord’s release” of the seventh year (Deu_15:2).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

31. Prohibition of Traffic on the Sabbath; and Observance of Sabbatic Year

people] R.V. peoples. ‘The peoples of the land (’ammey haârec̣) are the heathen dwellers in the land. The title ‘the people of the land’ (’am haârec̣) was used in later days of the unlearned multitude ‘which knoweth not the law’ (Joh_7:49).

ware] The Hebrew word occurs only here in the O.T. (LXX. ἀγορασμούς, Vulg. ‘venalia’).

on the sabbath day] The prohibition is not found in so many words in the Pentateuch. But it represents the natural expansion of the command to keep the Sabbath holy. Pollution would most easily be contracted by the interchange of wares with the heathen.

Complete abstention from such occupation was the only safeguard for the purity of the people, as well as for the observance of the Sabbath as a day of rest, cf. Neh_13:15. This abstention was practised in the kingly period in respect of the sabbath and the new-moon days. Amo_8:5, ‘When will the new moon be gone that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat?’

on the holy day] R.V. on a holy day. The days set apart to be observed as ‘holy-days’ are described in Numbers 28, 31.

That these were to be observed as ‘days of rest,’ and were thus on the same footing with the Sabbath-days argues the acquaintance of the writer with the Levitical Law of the Priestly Code.

leave] R.V. forgo. The same word that is used in Exo_23:11 for ‘let lie fallow.’ LXX. ἀνήσομεν.

the seventh year] See Exo_23:10-11, ‘And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the increase thereof; but the seventh year thou shalt let it rest (marg. ‘release it’) and lie fallow.’ This observance of the Sabbatic year is not referred to in the Deuteronomic Law which only speaks of it as the year of release from debt (Deuteronomy 15). But the Priestly Law in Lev_25:2-7 enters with some minuteness into the agricultural ‘rest’ of the seventh year. This regulation was not, for practical reasons, scrupulously carried out; its neglect is the subject of rebuke, Lev_26:34-35; Lev_26:43; 2Ch_36:21. It seems to have been observed in later times, cf. 1Ma_6:49; 1Ma_6:53; Jos. Ant. xi. 8. 6, xiii. 8. 1, &c. Tacitus, who is prejudiced against the Jews, attributes the custom to national laziness, Hist. Neh_10:4.

and the exaction of every debt] This is a technical expression taken from Deu_15:2, and constitutes the expansion, for the requirements of a more developed time, of the principle laid down in the agricultural Law of the Sabbatic Year (Exodus 23). By a common error it has been supposed that debts were on this year altogether remitted. The analogy of the ‘fallow’ land shows that the debts remained, but were not exacted; payment was ‘hung up’ for a whole year. Some render ‘the exaction of every man’s pledge.’ The versions are literal, LXX. ἀπαίτησιν πάσης χειρός. Vulg. ‘exactionem universae manus.’ The remission of ‘the exaction of debt’ on the seventh or Sabbatic year is found in the Deuteronomic, but not in the Levitical Laws. The covenant to which the Israelites were now subscribing did not rest on a Levitical code alone, but recognised the authority of other portions of the Pentateuch.

This is one indication among others that the Law, which Ezra administered, contained substantially all the component parts of our Pentateuch, though not necessarily every item, as we now have it, in each component part.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Also we made ordinance, for us,.... Laws among themselves, binding them to that which the laws of God did not:

to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel, for the service of the house of our God; the particulars of which follow in the next verse; for the defraying of which there used to be a treasury in the temple; but now there was none, and therefore they took this method to assess themselves; and being poor, instead of the half shekel, which in some cases was required, they only charged themselves with the third part of one; though Aben Ezra thinks this was added to the half shekel, and was paid over and above that; according to Brerewood (a), it was of the value of ten pence of our money: Waserus (b) has given us the figure of one of these coins, with this inscription, a "third" part of a shekel of Israel.

(a) De Pond. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 1. (b) De Antiqu. Num. Heb. l. 2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Bring ware ... on the sabbath day - Compare Neh 13:16, where this desecration of the Sabbath is shown to have commonly taken place.

Leave the seventh year ... - i. e., “let the land rest in the sabbatical year” (margin reference) and give up the “pledge-taking” Neh 10:2-10.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Holy day. The contrary practice is therefore sinful. (Haydock) --- Year. Not cultivating the land, Leviticus xxv. 4. --- Hand. No debts were to be demanded, Deuteronomy xv. 1. (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That we would leave the seventh year, i.e. leave the land at rest from ploughing or tilling it in that year, according to God’s command, Exo 23:10,11; Le 25:4.

The exaction of every debt, Heb. hand: debts are called hands, because they are commonly contracted or confirmed by a bill under the hand of the debtor.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

31. We would not buy… on the sabbath — Such breaking of the Sabbath had prevailed among them before this.

Or on the holy day — The day of any of the great religious festivals, on which the law forbade all servile work. Num_29:1-7; Num_29:12.

Seventh year — See the law in Exo_23:11; Lev_25:4.

Exaction of every debt — Literally, the debt of every hand. “So called either because the debtor promised to pay by giving his right hand, or because the hand is the instrument and emblem of deposit, trust. Some editions read here משׁא, burden, which is less well.” — Gesenius. See the law in Deu_15:1-2.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If the people of the land bring ware ... on the sabbath. If the heathen of this region will insist on bringing their wares into our cities and offering them for immediate sale on the sabbath, we Jews bind ourselves not to deal with them on that day. Subsequently, Nehemiah carried out more stringent regulations. (Neh_13:15-22) Or on the holy day. Rather, "or on a holy day." The people bind themselves to abstain from trade not only on the sabbath, but on any holy day. That we would leave the seventh year. By leaving the seventh year," leaving the lands untilled every seventh or sabbatical year is meant. This precept of the law had been frequently neglected during the times of the monarchy, and its neglect was one of the sins which the captivity was expressly intended to punish. (2Ch_36:21) It now appears that after the return the precept had been again disobeyed. The exaction of every debt. Literally, "the pledge of every hand." Compare Neh_5:2-13, and note that, notwithstanding Nehemiah"s curse and the people"s assent to it (ver. 13), the practice of lending upon pledge had recommenced.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

People of the land - The Heathens. On the sabbath - They that covenant to keep all the commandments of God, must particularly covenant to keep the sabbath holy. For the profanation of this is a sure inlet to all manner of profaneness.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.