Nehemiah 5:16

Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall,.... Of building the wall of Jerusalem; here he gave his constant attendance to direct and encourage the workmen, and see that they kept to their work,

Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered thither unto the work. No JFB commentary on this verse.

In the work of this wall; overseeing, directing, and encouraging the workmen, which was my whole business; and this at my own cost. Neither bought we any land of our poor brethren, whose necessities gave me abundant opportunity of enriching myself with good bargains. But I durst not build my house upon other men’ s ruins.

Nehemiah 5:16 Yea, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants [were] gathered thither unto the work.Ver. 16. Yea, also I continued in the work] He meaneth, saith Lyra, that he wrought with his own hands to draw on others the more, when they should see their governor himself so intent to the work. He was constant at it, and held out till all was finished. And this he recordeth, not out of ostentation, but to show that the love and fear of God constrained him; as it did afterwards Paul, that spiritual builder, who laboured more than they all, and denied himself to bring others to heaven, as himself setteth forth, 2 Corinthians 11:1-33. In praising ourselves, our end must be, that our light may be seen, not ourselves seen, Matthew 5:16. Men’ s praise may be sought, modo tibi non quaeras, sed Christo, Seek not for yourself, but Christ. saith Aretius, so that Christ be thereby set up and served. Neither bought we any land] As easily we might have done with the surplusage of our revenue; especially if we had exacted the utmost of our right. But public spirits mind not their own interests. Joshua divided the land to Israel, and left none to himself; and that portion that was given him, and he content with, was but a poor one in the barren mountains, as Jerome observes. The late victorious king of Sweden (a second Joshua), in his reprehensory speech to the German plunderers, hath this passage: I protest, before God, that I have not by all this war enriched myself so far as a pair of boots cometh to; yea, I had rather ride without boots than in the least degree enrich myself by the damage of poor people (Mr Clark, in his Life).

(16) I continued.—I repaired: that is, as superintendent. His servants and himself did not take advantage of the people’s poverty to acquire their land by mortgage; they were, on the contrary, absorbed in the common work.

Verse 16. Neither bought we any land] Neither he nor his officers took any advantage of the necessities of the people, to buy their lands, &c. He even made his own servants to work at the wall.

16. Yea also I continued in the work, &c.] R.V. marg. ‘Heb. held fast to’. It does not appear certain whether Nehemiah here refers to his continuous supervision of the building or to his personal share in the work of restoration at his own cost of some portion of it. The word rendered ‘continued’ (used in its literal sense of ‘held’ in Nehemiah 4:16) admits of either application. neither bought we any land] In connexion with the previous and the following clauses, these words should be taken to mean that Nehemiah and his friends were too strenuously occupied to interest themselves in the purchase of lands. Former governors had possibly made investments in good land. Such transactions were incompatible with Nehemiah’s ceaseless devotion to the work. But it is necessary also to regard the words as an allusion to the substance of Neh 5:10. Although they had abundant opportunity to make private gain out of mortgaged property, they withstood the temptation of enriching themselves out of their fellow-countrymen. The word ‘land’ is the same as that which in the Plur. the R.V. has altered to ‘fields’ in Nehemiah 5:3-5; Nehemiah 5:11. all my servants were gathered] Their work at the wall and in Nehemiah’s employ was too incessant to permit of the inspection of purchaseable land or of its proper cultivation if they had purchased it.

I continued ... land - i. e. - “I took my share in the work of the wall, as general superintendent. I did not take advantage of the general poverty to buy poor men’s plots of ground.”

16. Neither bought we any land — By taking advantage of the distress of the people, as the nobles and rulers had done. Comp. Nehemiah 5:10, note. My servants… unto the work — And were not allowed to tyrannize over the people.