Nehemiah 10:33

This verse gives in detail -the service of the house of God." (Nehemiah 10:31).

the shewbread See Exodus 25:23-30; Exodus 37:10-16; Leviticus 24:5-9. The shewbread consisted of 12 unleavened cakes of fine meal, which were laid fresh every Sabbath in two rows of six upon the table in the Holy Place. Their preparation fell to the duty of the Kohathite Levites (1 Chronicles 9:32). The antiquity of this rite is shown by the story of David. 1 Samuel 21:2-7. The name by which -the shewbread" is here designated is -bread of arrangement," -lekhem hammaa-reketh" (Vulg. -panes propositionis). The LXX. renders εἰς ἄρτους τοῦ προσώπου, -bread of the face," which is the translation of the other Hebrew name by which it was known, -lekhem happânîm:" we should have expected εἰς ἄρτους προθέσεως.

for the continual meat(R.V. meal) offering, and for the continual burnt offering We have mention of -the continual meal offering" or - minkhah," which was offered every evening, in 1 Kings 18:29; 1Ki 18:36; 2 Kings 16:15; Ezra 9:4; Daniel 9:21. In 2 Kings 16:15 we find -the morning burnt offering (olah)," as well as -the evening meal offering," spoken of. Now in the Priestly Laws (Exodus 29:38-42; Numbers 28:3-8) we find the regulations for a burnt offering, with a meal offering, morning and evening. This is what is probably intended in the present passage, in Ezra 3:3; Ezra 3:5, and in the Books of Chronicles, e.g. 2 Chronicles 31:3. We need not expect to find so full a ritual in practice before, as there was after, the influence of Ezra's work made itself felt: nor can we hope to find in the historical narrative full illustration of all the details of worship required by the ideal of the Priestly Law.

Sacrifices were -continual" (tamidh) in the sense of being regular and at stated times, as distinct from occasional, voluntary, and irregular offerings. Thus the -shew-bread" is -continual bread," - lekhem hattamidh" (Numbers 4:7).

of the sabbaths, of the new moons i.e. for the -continual offering" of the sabbath and of the new moon, and for the special offerings required for those days, as recorded in Numbers 28:9-10 (Sabbath), 11 15 (new moon), from which the rule in Ezekiel 46:4; Ezekiel 46:6 differs considerably.

for the set feasts A description of these -days of holy convocation" is found in Numbers 28:16 to Numbers 29:38.

for the holy things Such, for instance, as -the thankofferings" of the community. Cf. 2 Chronicles 29:33, -And the consecrated things were six hundred oxen and three thousand sheep," 2 Chronicles 35:13, -the holy offerings."

the sin offerings i.e. Those offered for the community, (a) regularly, along with the burnt offerings, Numbers 28:29, (b) on exceptional occasions of national transgression, Leviticus 4:13.

for all the work, &c. The preposition -for" is carried on from the beginning of the verse. This general expression -all the work" completes the list of objects upon which the ⅓ shekel tax was expended. LXX. εἰς ἔργα. Vulg. -in omnem usum."