Nehemiah 13:31

And for the wood offering, at times appointed,.... Of which see Ne 10:34.

And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

For the wood-offering and the first-fruits; and particularly I took care for these things, because they had been lately neglected.

Nehemiah 13:31 And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.Ver. 31. And for the wood offering] See Nehemiah 10:34-35. Remember me, O my God, for good] See Nehemiah 5:19; Nehemiah 13:15; Nehemiah 13:22. He brags not, but prays, producing his good deeds as testimonies of his sincerity, whereof he begs acceptance. And this is a sweet close of the Old Testament (say our last and largest annotations upon the Bible), for this was the last history and book thereof, though the Book of Esther be set after it. Malachi prophesied anon after the temple was built, as we see (saith Master Pemble) by his reproving of that sin, in corrupting the holy seed by marrying strangers. Sixtus Senensis placeth him as low as about five hundred years before Christ. Many of the ancients make him to be the same with Ezra. Nehemiah then, as it may seem, hath the honour of putting a perclose to the Old Testament; and he doth it with this short but pithy prayer, which he uttereth (as Luther used to pray), tanta reverentia, ut si Deo; et tanta fiducia, ut si amico; with so great reverence, as to God; and yet with so great confidence, as to his God, a God in covenant with him. "Remember me, O my God, for good." Fiat, Fiat. Let him do, let him do.

(31) Remember me, O my God, for good.—With these words Nehemiah leaves the scene, commiting himself and his discharge of duty to the Righteous Judge. His conscientious fidelity had brought him into collision not only with external enemies but with many of his own brethren. His rigorous reformation has been assailed by many moralists and commentators in every age. But in these words he commits all to God, as it were by anticipation.—It may be added that with these words end the annals of Old Testament history.

Verse 31. For the wood-offering] This was a most necessary regulation: without it the temple service could not have gone forward; and therefore Nehemiah mentions this as one of the most important services he had rendered to his nation. See Ne 10:34. Remember me, O my God, for good.] This has precisely the same meaning with, O my God, have mercy upon me! and thus alone it should be understood. OF Nehemiah the Jews speak as one of the greatest men of their nation. His concern for his country, manifested by such unequivocal marks, entitles him to the character of the first patriot that ever lived. In the course of the Divine providence, he was a captive in Babylon; but there his excellences were so apparent, that he was chosen by the Persian king to fill an office the most respectable and the most confidential in the whole court. Here he lived in ease and affluence; he lacked no manner of thing that was good; and here he might have continued to live, in the same affluence and in the same confidence: but he could enjoy neither, so long as his people were distressed, the sepulchres of his fathers trodden under foot, the altars of his God overturned, and his worship either totally neglected or corrupted. He sought the peace of Jerusalem; he prayed to God for it; and was willing to sacrifice wealth, ease, and safety, and even life itself, if he might be the instrument of restoring the desolations of Israel. And God, who saw the desire of his heart, and knew the excellences with which he had endowed him, granted his request, and gave him the high honour of restoring the desolated city of his ancestors, and the pure worship of their God. On this account he has been considered by several as an expressive type of Jesus Christ, and many parallels have been shown in their lives and conduct. I have already, in several notes, vindicated him from all mercenary and interested views, as well as from all false notions of religion, grounded on human merit. For disinterestedness, philanthropy, patriotism, prudence, courage, zeal, humanity, and every virtue that constitutes a great mind, and proves a soul in deep communion with God, Nehemiah will ever stand conspicuous among the greatest men of the Jewish nation, and an exemplar worthy to be copied by the first patriots in every nation under heaven. It has already been observed that, in the Jewish canon, Ezra and Nehemiah make but one book; and that both have been attributed, but without reason, to the same author: hence the Syriac version ends with this colophon-The end of the book of Ezra, the scribe, in which are contained two thousand three hundred and sixty-one verses. MASORETIC NOTES. Ezra and Nehemiah contain six hundred and eighty-eight verses. Middle verse is Ne 3:32. Sections, ten.

31. and for the wood offering] Cf. Nehemiah 10:35. the firstfruits] Cf. Nehemiah 10:36-39. The special mention of these practical measures of reorganization perhaps implies that they remedied two principal causes of discontent and points most liable to abuse from negligence. Remember me, O my God, for good] Cf. Nehemiah 13:14; Nehemiah 13:22, Nehemiah 5:19. Additional Note on Nehemiah 13:6. Prof. Kirkpatrick suggests that Nehemiah’s first Mission lasted ‘perhaps for not more than a year,’ and that he then returned to Susa. The words ‘I went to the king’ he explains of Nehemiah’s going to serve his turn as cupbearer; and ‘at the end of certain days’ he would refer to the close of his term of office. This explanation has the merit of allowing an interval of 12 years between Nehemiah’s two visits to Jerusalem. The objection arising from the date in Nehemiah 5:14 he meets by the conjecture that the Compiler has inserted it from a misunderstanding of ch. Nehemiah 13:6, or ‘that Nehemiah continued to be nominal governor … though not resident in Judæa.’ (‘Doctrine of the Prophets,’ London, 1892, pp. 508, 509.)

31. For the wood offering… and for the firstfruits — See Nehemiah 12:44; Nehemiah 10:34; Nehemiah 10:38.