Nehemiah 5:13

Neh 5:13 Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labour, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the LORD. And the people did according to this promise.

Ver. 13. Also I shook my lap] By this rite (running into their senses) this holy man runs with terrors into the eyes and hearts of all that should perfidiously forswear themselves, by a direful denunciation of divine vengeance, in all lawful oaths there is an imprecation, though it be not always expressed, Gen 14:23; Heb. iii.

So God cast out every man from his house] See Zec 5:4-5, with the note.

And from his labour] i.e. From his laying up (the fruit of his labour), his lands and estate, got by a diligent hand. The Hebrew word signifieth labour even to lassitude and fainting.

And all the congregation said, Amen] In token of hearty assent and assurance.

And praised the Lord] There was a general joy, and many a humble, cheerful, and thankful heart lifted up to God for sin so redressed, and poor people relieved.

And the people did according to this promise] This was real thankfulness. It is not the fumbling out of a few good words (as, God, I thank thee, praised be God, &c.) that will pass. Thanksdoing is the proof of thanksgiving; and the good life of the thankful is the life of thankfulness. "Offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay thy vows unto the Most High," Psa 50:14.

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 5:13. Also I shook my lap — The extreme parts of my garment, which I first folded together, and then shook it and scattered it asunder. This was one form of swearing then in use. So God shake every man from his house, &c. — Thus he represented, by an external sign, as the manner of the prophets often was, how God would cast them out of their possessions, and of the fruit of their labours, who did not observe this oath. And all the congregation said, Amen! — God so influenced the people’s hearts, that even they who had been guilty of taking usury consented to this imprecation, and wished this mischief to themselves, if they did not do as he required. And praised the Lord — So far were they from promising with regret, that they promised and even took an oath to do as he desired, with all possible expressions of joy and gladness, and with thankfulness to God for giving them such a good governor, and inclining them to submit to him.

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

Verse 13. Also I shook my lap] This was a significant action frequent among the Hebrews; and something of the same nature was practised among other nations. "When the Roman ambassadors entered the senate of Carthage, they had their toga gathered up in their bosom. They said, We carry here peace and war; you may have which you will. The senate answered, You may give which you please. They then shook their toga, and said, We bring you war. To which all the senate answered, We cheerfully accept it." See Livy. lib. xxi., cap. 18; and see Calmet.

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

(13) Shook my lap.—This symbolical act imprecated on every man who broke this covenant an appropriate penalty: that he be emptied of all his possessions, even as the fold of Nehemiah’s garment was emptied. And it is observable that the iniquity thus stopped is not referred to in the subsequent covenant (Nehemiah 10), nor is it one of the offences which the governor found on his second return (Nehemiah 13).

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

13. Also I shook my lap] R.V. Also I shook out my lap. (LXX. ἀναβολήν. Vulg. ‘sinum’.) The word here rendered ‘lap’ only occurs elsewhere in the O. T. in Isa_49:22, R.V. ‘bosom,’ A.V. ‘arms.’ Nehemiah here employs a symbolical gesture, suiting his action to his metaphor. He pressed tightly to his body the loose fold of his mantle, so that it hung like a bag or wallet against him; then with a vehement motion of both hands he suddenly stretched it out and shook it in the sight of all the people, so that anything which it might have before concealed would have been jerked violently from him. Even so, he says, may God cast forth from His protection and love, in home and work, the man who fails to abide by the compact. Cf. Job_38:13, ‘That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it.’ Isa_24:1. The gesture was rhetorical. It would impress itself upon the audience, and emphasize the speaker’s words. For instances of symbolical action comp. 1Ki_11:30; 1Ki_20:35-43; 1Ki_22:11; Jer_13:1-14; Jer_18:1-12; Jer_19:1-13; Mat_27:24; Act_18:6.

that performeth not this promise] Lit. ‘that fulfilleth or establisheth not this word.’ The same phrase in the original as Deu_27:26, ‘Cursed be he that confirmeth not the words of this law to do them.’

from his house, and from his labour] This conjunction of words sounds proverbial, but does not occur elsewhere in the O. T. ‘His labour’ does not mean so much ‘his means of occupation’—the modern idea—as ‘the exercise and even the fruits of his industry.’ The word used is that found in the expression ‘the labour of the hands,’ Gen_31:42; Job_10:3; Psa_128:2; Hag_1:11. Cf. Deu_28:33, ‘The fruit of thy ground, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up.’

promise, even thus] R.V. promise; even thus.

all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord] The people said ‘Amen,’ ratifying the curse of Nehemiah and the condition of the contract: they praised the Lord, because the poor had been succoured and the division of the people healed. The ‘Amen,’ as the people’s assent to the ruler’s proposition, occurs again Neh_8:6. Cf. 1Ki_1:36; 1Ch_16:36, and Deu_27:15.

And the people did, &c.] If we may press the distinction between the two words employed, ‘the people’ in the mass carried into execution the resolutions of ‘the congregation,’ that had approved Nehemiah’s measures.

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.

Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah,.... That is, by the king of Persia, which was not done when he was first sent into Judea; but very probably when he had finished the wall in fifty two days, he returned to Persia, and gave the king an account of his success, and how things stood in those parts, when he judged it necessary to send him again in the character of a governor, and which was still within the same year, as follows: from the twentieth year, even unto the thirty second year of Artaxerxes, that is, twelve years; see Neh 13:6.

I and my brethren have not eaten the bread of the governor; which was fit and proper for him, and used to be given him; neither he, nor those that assisted him in the government, the principal men he brought along with him, and put into posts and places under him.

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

I shook my lap - Compare the marginal references. By “lap” is meant a fold in the bosom of the dress, capable of serving as a pocket. Compare Isa 49:22 margin.

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

Lap, or skirt of my robes. (Tirinus) --- Such figurative actions were very common. Thus a Roman ambassador at Carthage, folding up his garment, said he brought peace or war. (Livy xxi. 18.) (Calmet) --- Said. Behold how easily was that effected at Jerusalem, which the Romans could never perfectly bring about, after the most violent riots! (Tirinus)

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).

I shook my lap, i.e. the lap or extreme parts of my garment, which I first folded together, and then shook it, and scattered it asunder. This was a form of swearing then in use.

From his labour, i.e. from enjoying what he hath got by his labour.

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

13. Shook my lap — Or, shook my bosom; that is, the bosom of my garment. This was a symbolical act to designate, as Nehemiah immediately explains, the casting out from the covenant people those who performeth not this promise. The person using this sign gathered up his garment in his bosom, intimating that there was the seat of confidence and trust, and then, shaking it out, he represented the utter casting off and disowning of any that would violate such a solemn pledge.

The people did — They kept their promise by restoring all they had taken from their brethren.

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

Also I shook my lap. Even the taking of the oath did not seem sufficient to the prudent governor. He would strengthen the oath by a malediction, and a malediction accompanied by a symbolical act, to render it the more impressive. Among the nations of antiquity few things were so much dreaded as falling under a curse. The maledictions of Deu_28:16-44 were the supreme sanction which Moses devised for the Law, whereof he was the promulgator. Curses protected the tombs and inscriptions of the Assyrian and Persian kings, the contracts of the Babylonians, and the treaties of most nations. Nehemiah"s curse is an unusual one, but very clear and intelligible. He prays that whosoever departs from his promise given may be cast forth a homeless wanderer, emptied of all his possessions, as empty as the fold in his own dress, which he first gathers into a sort of bag or pocket, and then throws from him and so empties out. To this the assembly responded by a hearty "Amen," and then praised the Lord for the happy ending of the whole affair; in which they piously traced the directing and over-ruling hand of God, "restraining the fierceness of men," and "turning it to his praise". (Psa_76:10 Prayer-Book version)

Promise-keeping.

"And the people did according to this promise." Nehemiah wrote this, we may be sure, with peculiar satisfaction. It would be well if the history of all promises of amendment, etc. could be thus concluded. But it is far otherwise. Men often "say and do not." Even vows made to God in secret or before the Church, and with solemnities resembling those recorded here, are, alas, often broken. In view of such failures it may be profitable for those who are contemplating a solemn profession of religion to consider how they may best Secure that they shall fulfil their vows.

I BY CARE IN MAKING THEM.

1. With right understanding of their import.

2. With deep conviction of the truths and duties to which they relate.

3. With due deliberation. Not hastily, under the influence of passing emotion, but carefully considering what they involve, and counting the cost of keeping them.

4. Of free and hearty choice. Not merely because of pressing solicitations from others.

5. In dependence on the grace of the Holy Spirit. With consciousness of weakness, and humble reliance on God and prayer to him.

II BY FREQUENT REMEMBRANCE AND RENEWAL OF THEM. "O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord." "Thy vows are upon me, O God." "I have sworn, and I will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgments." Such exercises are especially suitable:

1. In anticipating and celebrating the Lord"s Supper.

2. When assailed by powerful temptations.

3. When called to difficult duties. Such as, though requiring toil and self-denial, are involved in our professed consecration to God.

III BY CONSTANT WATCHFULNESS AND PRAYER. In conclusion, notice

1. The blessedness of those who do according to their promises to God. He will fulfil his promises to them.

2. The guilt of unfulfilled promises.

3. The comfort, under the sense of partial failure, which arises from the Divine compassion and readiness to forgive. "For in many things we offend all." But our God knows and values sincere purpose and endeavour. He knows also our weakness. He accepts imperfect service, and forgives the imperfections of his true-hearted servants.

4. Obligation to piety and holiness is independent of our promises. These recognise obligations, do not create them. Those who "make no profession" must not, therefore, console themselves as if they were guiltless.

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

My lap - The extreme parts of my garment, which I first folded together, and then shook it and scattered it asunder. This was a form of swearing then in use.

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

I also shook out my garment Heb. חָצְנִי, I also shook out my garment. חָצְנִי is like (Isa. 49: 22): “...and they shall bring your sons on the skirt of their garments (בְּחֹצֶן).”

my garment is escrol(l)e in Old French, I shook out, like (ibid. 52:2): “Shake yourself (הִתְנַעֲרִי) from the dust.”

So shall...shake out So shall the Holy One, blessed be He, shake out from the world and from their property those who do not relinquish their debts.

shake out and empty without property.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.