Nehemiah 13:14

Remember me, O my God, concerning this,.... Not in a way of strict justice, as if he thought he merited anything at the hand of God for what he had done; but in a way of grace and mercy, that he

Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. No JFB commentary on these verses.

Concerning this: what I have done with an upright heart for thy house and service be pleased graciously to accept, and remember for my good, according to thy promise.

Nehemiah 13:14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and wipe not out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for the offices thereof.Ver. 14. Remember me, O my God] See Nehemiah 5:19. And wipe not out my good deeds] Forget not my labour of love: God requireth us to be his remembrancers, who yet needeth it not, Hebrews 6:10; there is a book of remembrance written before him, Malachi 3:16, and good Nehemiah would not be wiped out of that book, nor blotted out of the book of life, Revelation 3:5. That wretched monk died blasphemously who said, Redde mihi aeternam vitam quam debes, Give me heaven which thou owest me. That I have done] Sure it is, saith Austin, that we do what good we do; but it is God alone who causeth us so to do. Say, therefore, Not unto us, Lord, not to us; but to thy name be the praise.

(14) Remember me.—Once more the faithful servant of God begs a merciful remembrance of what he had done for the honour of God in the “observances” of His Temple.

Verse 14. Wipe not out my good deeds] If thou wert strict to mark what is done amiss, even my good deeds must be wiped out; but, Lord, remember me in thy mercy, and let my upright conduct be acceptable to thee!

14. Remember me] For this ejaculation see note on Nehemiah 5:19, and cf. Nehemiah 13:22; Nehemiah 13:31; Psalms 106:4. wipe not out my good deeds] R.V. marg. ‘Heb. kindnesses’. The actual phrase is not found elsewhere in the O.T. The metaphor, which is that of sponging off from the leathern roll of record, is familiar to us from Exodus 17:14; Exodus 32:32-33. my good deeds] Literally, ‘my mercies or kindnesses’ (LXX. ἔλεος, Vulg. ‘miserationes’). At first sight the word seems scarcely appropriate. Does it signify Nehemiah’s acts of kindness on behalf of the Levites? or his acts of love and reverence, ‘good deeds,’ towards his God? The word in the Hebrew ‘khesed’ is the one commonly used of God’s mercy towards mankind and of the loving-kindness of man towards man. It occurs however also, though more rarely, of man’s love responding to the Divine mercy. In this sense probably it is found, as here, in the plural in 2 Chronicles 32:32 ‘the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds,’ 2 Chronicles 35:26 ‘the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds.’ These ‘good deeds’ (the plur. of ‘khesed’) are clearly the efforts of these two kings to live in more thorough compliance with the ceremonial of the Law. We may remember too that the ‘pious’ Israelite was the ‘khasξd,’ and in the 2nd cent. b.c. ‘Asideans’ (khasidim) was the name given to the most fanatical of the forerunners of the Pharisees. It is not likely that Hosea’s use of the word in the singular (Nehemiah 6:4 ‘your goodness is as a morning cloud,’ 6 ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice’) throws any light upon its usage in the present verse beyond showing that it was possibly applied in his time to man’s attitude towards God; but this interpretation is very doubtful. The Rabbinical teaching on the subject of khasadim made ‘the bestowal of kindness’ equivalent to ‘man’s duty to his neighbour.’ Compare the saying of Simon the Just quoted in the note on Nehemiah 10:37, and see Taylor’s note in Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 26, 27. the house of my God] See on Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 2:12. As compared with ‘the house of our God’ in Nehemiah 13:4, the phrase is appropriate to the writer’s change from narrative to soliloquy. the offices] R.V. the observances. The word means literally ‘that which is or is to be kept,’ cf. Nehemiah 13:30 and Nehemiah 12:9; Nehemiah 12:24 (= ‘ward’). Its meaning here is probably quite general, denoting ‘observances,’ ‘customs,’ and ‘usages,’ and not any particular functions as Vulg. ‘cζrimoniis.’ LXX. omit.

14. Remember me — Comp. Nehemiah 5:19, note. Wipe not out — Nehemiah conceives of his work as recorded in a book, and prays that it may not be erased, nor blotted out and forgotten.