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).