Nehemiah 13:28

Verse

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.

American Standard Version (1901)

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Bible in Basic English

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: so I sent him away from me.

Douay-Rheims 1899

And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliasib the high priest, was son in law to Sanaballat the Horonite, and I drove him from me.

Free Bible Version

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I expelled him.

Geneva Bible 1599

And one of the sonnes of Ioiada the sonne of Eliashib the hie Priest was the sonne in law of Sanballat the Horonite: but I chased him from me.

King James (Authorized) Version

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Translation for Translators

One of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the Supreme Priest, had married the daughter of our enemy Sanballat, from Beth-Horon town. So I forced Jehoiada’s son to leave Jerusalem.

Unlocked Literal Bible

One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I caused him to flee from my presence.

Noah Webster Bible

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

World English Bible

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

Young's Literal Translation

And [one] of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest, [is] son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, and I cause him to flee from off me.

Context

Intermarriage Forbidden

²⁷Must we now hear that you too are doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”²⁸Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.

Summary

This verse in Nehemiah describes the severity of the situation where Israelites had intermarried with foreign women, a practice that was strictly forbidden by God. The act of intermarriage was seen as a betrayal of their covenant with God and a compromise of their faith. Nehemiah's response was one of righteous anger and he took immediate action to address this sin, highlighting the importance of maintaining purity and faithfulness to God's commands. This passage serves as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience and the need for repentance and restoration in order to remain in alignment with God's will.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Keil-Delitzsch
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

One of the sons of Joiada - This was Manasseh, brother of Jaddua, son of Joiada, and grandson of Eliashib the high priest. I chased him from me - Struck him off the list of the priests, and deemed him utterly unworthy of all connection and intercourse with truly religious people.

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Nehemiah acted with greater severity towards one of the sons of Joiada the high priest, and son-in-law of Sanballat. He drove him from him (מעלי, that he might not be a burden to me). The reason for this is not expressly stated, but is involved in the fact that he was son-in-law to Sanballat, i.e., had married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite (Neh 2:10), who was so hostile to Nehemiah and to the Jewish community in general, and would not comply with the demand of Nehemiah that he should dismiss this wife. In this case, Nehemiah was obliged to interfere with authority. For this marriage was a pollution of the priesthood, and a breach of the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Hence he closes the narrative of this occurrence with the wish, Neh 13:29, that God would be mindful of them (להם, of those who had done such evil) on account of this pollution, etc., i.e., would punish or chastise them for it. גּאלי, stat. constr. pl. from גּאל, pollution (plurale tant.). It was a pollution of the priesthood to marry a heathen woman, such marriage being opposed to the sacredness of the priestly office, which a priest was to consider even in the choice of a wife, and because of which he might marry neither a whore, nor a feeble nor a divorced woman, while the high priest mighty marry only a virgin of his own people (Lev 21:7, Lev 21:14). The son of Joiada who had married a daughter of Sanballat was not indeed his presumptive successor (Johanan, Neh 12:11), for then he would have been spoken of by name, but a younger son, and therefore a simple priest; he was, however, so nearly related to the high priest, that by his marriage with a heathen woman the holiness of the high-priestly house was polluted, and therewith also "the covenant of the priesthood," i.e., not the covenant of the everlasting priesthood which God granted to Phinehas for his zeal (Num 25:13), but the covenant which God concluded with the tribe of Levi, the priesthood, and the Levites, by choosing the tribe of Levi, and of that tribe Aaron and his descendants, to be His priest (לו לכהנו, Exo 28:1). This covenant required, on the part of the priests, that they should be "holy to the Lord" (Lev 21:6, Lev 21:8), who had chosen them to be ministers of His sanctuary and stewards of His grace. Josephus (Ant. xi. 7. 2) relates the similar fact, that Manasseh, a brother of the high priest Jaddua, married Nikaso, a daughter of the satrap Sanballat, a Cuthite; that when the Jewish authorities on that account excluded him from the priesthood, he established, by the assistant of his father-in-law, the temple and worship on Mount Gerizim (xi. 8. 2-4), and that many priests made common cause with him. Now, though Josephus calls this Manasseh a brother of Jaddua, thus making him a grandson of Joiada, and transposing the establishment of the Samaritan worship on Gerizim to the last years of Darius Codomannus and the first of Alexander of Macedon, it can scarcely be misunderstood that, notwithstanding these discrepancies, the same occurrence which Nehemiah relates in the present verses is intended by Josephus. The view of older theologians, to which also Petermann (art. Samaria in Herzog's Realenc. xiii. p. 366f.) assents, that there were two Sanballats, one in the days of Nehemiah, the other in the time of Alexander the Great, and that both had sons-in-law belonging to the high-priestly family, is very improbable; and the transposition of the fact by Josephus to the times of Darius Codomannus and Alexander accords with the usual and universally acknowledged incorrectness of his chronological combinations. He makes, e.g., Nehemiah arrive at Jerusalem in the twenty-fifth year of Xerxes, instead of the twentieth of Artaxerxes, while Xerxes reigned only twenty years.

Nehemiah 13:28

Intermarriage Forbidden

Scripture
Sermons
Commentary

Berean Standard Bible

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada son of Eliashib the high priest had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.

American Standard Version (1901)

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Bible in Basic English

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the chief priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: so I sent him away from me.

Douay-Rheims 1899

And one of the sons of Joiada the son of Eliasib the high priest, was son in law to Sanaballat the Horonite, and I drove him from me.

Free Bible Version

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of Eliashib the high priest, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I expelled him.

Geneva Bible 1599

And one of the sonnes of Ioiada the sonne of Eliashib the hie Priest was the sonne in law of Sanballat the Horonite: but I chased him from me.

King James (Authorized) Version

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

Translation for Translators

One of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the Supreme Priest, had married the daughter of our enemy Sanballat, from Beth-Horon town. So I forced Jehoiada’s son to leave Jerusalem.

Unlocked Literal Bible

One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I caused him to flee from my presence.

Noah Webster Bible

And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.

World English Bible

One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I chased him from me.

Young's Literal Translation

And [one] of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest, [is] son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite, and I cause him to flee from off me.

Adam Clarke
Keil-Delitzsch
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

Nehemiah 13:28

Verse

Context

Intermarriage Forbidden

Summary

Commentary

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

John Gill Bible Commentary

Tyndale Open Study Notes

Nehemiah 13:28

Intermarriage Forbidden

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch Old Testament Commentary

John Gill Bible Commentary

Tyndale Open Study Notes