Nehemiah 10:39

For Explaining the mention of -the chambers" as the receptacles of all these offerings.

the children of Israel i.e. the laity as distinguished from the priests and the Levites.

the offering R.V. heave offering. This -heave offering" includes both -the firstfruits" of the children of Israel (Nehemiah 10:36) and -the tithe of the tithe" paid by the Levite to the priests (37). It is the special designation of the tithe paid both by Israel and by the house of Levi in Numbers 18:24-28.

the new wine R.V. the wine. Marg. -Or, the vintage." the word in the Hebrew is the same as that used in Nehemiah 10:37.

and the oil R.V. and of the oil.

On -the chambers" see especially Nehemiah 13:4-12.

the vessels of the sanctuary In Nehemiah 13:9 it is again mentioned that -the vessels of the sanctuary" were stored in these chambers. What they were, we are not told; but that they comprised instruments for sacrifice, vessels for libations and lustrations, and plate for sacred feasts, would appear from the short inventory in Ezra 1:9-10.

priests … porters … singers i.e. the Aaronic house and those of the Levites whose work was especially connected with the maintenance of the Temple and the Temple worship. From this combination we might conclude (1) that the Levitical community, with the exception of the -porters" and -singers," were for the most part in Nehemiah's time not resident at Jerusalem, but quartered in the country districts, cf. Nehemiah 11:20; Nehemiah 12:27; (2) that the porters and singers participated with the priests in the offerings of the people.

we will not forsake The object of the new regulations is to maintain the efficiency of the Temple worship and to provide for the welfare of those that ministered in it; -we will not forsake" is equivalent to -we will not neglect or diminish the contributions to the Temple, which we have publicly undertaken."

Note on -the Tithe." It must be noticed that -the tithe" spoken of in this context is described as -tithes of our ground," -tithes in all the cities of our tillage," and is probably here (Nehemiah 10:39) represented along with -the heave offering," as consisting of corn, wine and oil, as indeed it is spoken of in Nehemiah 13:5; Nehemiah 13:12. In other words -the tithe" is a vegetable one; and this is also the impression which we gather from the description of -tithe" in Numbers 18 and Malachi 3:8-11.

Now in Leviticus 27:32-33 -a tithe of the herd or the flock" is called -holy to the Lord," and with this agrees the mention of -the tithe of oxen and sheep" in 2 Chronicles 31:6. It is needless to point out what an enormous addition this -tithe of the herd or the flock" would make to the wealth of the Priesthood and the treasury of the Temple. How then does it come to pass that neither in the regulations contained in Numbers 18 and Deuteronomy 14, nor in Nehemiah 10:12; Nehemiah 10:13 is any allusion made to the tithe of herd and flock? Two explanations are forthcoming:

(1) It is possible that Leviticus 27:32 embodies a primitive pastoral law of tithing, which having fallen into desuetude was omitted at the time of the codification of the laws in Numbers 18 and Deuteronomy 14. In support of this view it should be remembered that Jacob's vow to dedicate a tenth (Genesis 28:22) certainly referred to the tithe of property in herds and flocks, while the possibility of exacting a -tenth" of the flocks even for civil purposes is contemplated in 1 Samuel 8:17. According to this view, Hezekiah would have revived a religious custom, which was inherited from the time when the nation was more pastoral than agricultural. It is natural to suppose that the Jewish community at Jerusalem in Nehemiah's days was too poor to maintain this additional burden. The objection to this explanation is that the appearance of Leviticus 27:32 in relation to its immediate context is not that of a survival from an earlier legislation; while the children of Israel could never have so far abandoned the pastoral in favour of agricultural life as to make it worth while to surrender the claim to so important a source of revenue for the service of the Temple.

(2) It is possible, as is maintained in some quarters, that -the animal tithe-law" of Leviticus 27:32 may be an interpolation later than Nehemiah's time, made in the interest of the Priesthood. There is more to be said for this startling supposition than might perhaps be expected. A close inspection of Leviticus 27:30-33 shows that Nehemiah 10:32 is strangely and abruptly introduced between Nehemiah 10:31 and Nehemiah 10:33, which deal with the subject of the redemption of the vegetable-tithe mentioned in Nehemiah 10:30. Again, in 2 Chronicles 31 we find that, after the mention in Nehemiah 10:5 of -tithe of all things" being given by -the children of Israel", another sentence (Nehemiah 10:6) tells us that -the children of Israel and Judah that dwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen and sheep and the tithe of consecrated things, &c." which is not improbably a later expansion of the previous words. It is obviously an objection to this view that the insertion of a clause making so large a claim upon the property of the Jews could rarely at any time have been secretly foisted into the text of the Pentateuch; and that, supposing it to have been possible, such an interpolation made in the interest of the Priestly families would have had the smallest chance of success at a time when the Scribes controlled the transcription of the text.

The solution of the problem has not yet been reached. The difficulty illustrates the variations in Israelite law, in which are reflected the altered circumstances of different centuries. It must be admitted that Leviticus 27:32 wears an appearance not altogether free from suspicion; and an interpolation in an age, when, as we know from the LXX. version, the text of the Pentateuch was not yet fully settled, is not outside the range of probability.