Nehemiah 13:14

Remember me For this ejaculation see note on Nehemiah 5:19, and cf. Nehemiah 13:22; Nehemiah 13:31; Psalms 106:4.

wipe not out my good deeds R.V. marg. -Heb. kindnesses". The actual phrase is not found elsewhere in the O.T. The metaphor, which is that of sponging off from the leathern roll of record, is familiar to us from Exodus 17:14; Exodus 32:32-33.

my good deeds Literally, -my mercies or kindnesses" (LXX. ἔλεος, Vulg. -miserationes"). At first sight the word seems scarcely appropriate. Does it signify Nehemiah's acts of kindness on behalf of the Levites? or his acts of love and reverence, -good deeds," towards his God? The word in the Hebrew - khesed" is the one commonly used of God's mercy towards mankind and of the loving-kindness of man towards man. It occurs however also, though more rarely, of man's love responding to the Divine mercy. In this sense probably it is found, as here, in the plural in 2 Chronicles 32:32 -the rest of the acts of Hezekiah, and his good deeds," 2 Chronicles 35:26 -the rest of the acts of Josiah and his good deeds." These -good deeds" (the plur. of - khesed") are clearly the efforts of these two kings to live in more thorough compliance with the ceremonial of the Law. We may remember too that the -pious" Israelite was the -khasîd," and in the 2nd cent. b.c. -Asideans" (khasidim) was the name given to the most fanatical of the forerunners of the Pharisees.

It is not likely that Hosea's use of the word in the singular (Nehemiah 6:4 -your goodness is as a morning cloud," 6 -I desire mercy and not sacrifice") throws any light upon its usage in the present verse beyond showing that it was possiblyapplied in his time to man's attitude towards God; but this interpretation is very doubtful. The Rabbinical teaching on the subject of khasadimmade -the bestowal of kindness" equivalent to -man's duty to his neighbour." Compare the saying of Simon the Just quoted in the note on Nehemiah 10:37, and see Taylor's note in Sayings of the Jewish Fathers, pp. 26, 27.

the house of my God See on Nehemiah 2:8; Nehemiah 2:12. As compared with -the house of our God" in Nehemiah 13:4, the phrase is appropriate to the writer's change from narrative to soliloquy.

the offices R.V. the observances. The word means literally -that which is or is to be kept," cf. Nehemiah 13:30 and Nehemiah 12:9; Nehemiah 12:24 (-ward"). Its meaning here is probably quite general, denoting -observances," -customs," and -usages," and not any particular functions as Vulg. -cærimoniis." LXX. omit.