Nehemiah 10:34-39

4. The people also arranged support for the Levites, who in turn would support the priests.

TEXT, Nehemiah 10:34-39

34

Likewise we cast lots for the supply of wood among the priests, the Levites, and the people in order that they might bring it to the house of our God, according to our fathers-' households, at fixed times annually, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God as it is written in the law;

35

and in order that they might bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all the fruit of every tree to the house of the LORD annually,

36

and bring to the house of our God the first-born of our sons and of our cattle, and the first-born of our herds and our flocks as it is written in the law, for the priests who are ministering in the house of our God.

37

We will also bring the first of our dough, our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the new wine and the oil to the priests at the chambers of the house of our God, and the tithe of our ground to the Levites, for the Levites are they who receive the tithes in all the rural towns.

38

And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes, and the Levites shall bring up the tenth of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.

39

For the sons of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of the grain, the new wine and the oil, to the chambers; there are the utensils of the sanctuary, the priests who are ministering, the gatekeepers, and the singers. Thus we will not neglect the house of our God.

COMMENT

Nehemiah 10:34 makes provision for a supply of wood. A fire was to be kept constantly burning on the altar (Leviticus 6:12 f). There is no previous mention of where this wood came from; what has been everybody's business may have become nobody's business; so now they made a personal pledge outside the framework of the Law, and arrived at a fair means for replenishing the supply periodically through the year. Wood was always in short supply in Israel; houses of stone were much less expensive than those made of wood; so this was no small item. All the clans (fathers-' households) would draw straws or use some other random method merely to determine the part of the year in which they would fulfill this obligation.

In Nehemiah 10:35 they accepted a similar obligation to supply food. A part of each field crop, and one year's crop from each new tree, had been specified by the Law as the Lord's portions (Exodus 23:16; Leviticus 19:24; Leviticus 23:14). They recognized this as a necessity for the support of the Levites.

Nehemiah 10:36 reflects their knowledge of the law that all firstborn belonged to the priests; for sons, a redemption price of five shekels was substituted (Numbers 18:15 f).

Nehemiah 10:37 indicates that certain rooms of the Temple were used for the storage of these crops. A distinction is made between the first fruits, which went to the priests, and the tithes, the tenth portion of all their yearly increase, which were designated for the Levites. It was the responsibility of the Levites to teach religion throughout the land and not in Jerusalem only.

Nehemiah 10:38 adds a new detail to facilitate these collections. A priest would be on hand so that the Levites could quickly take a tenth of the tithe which they received and pass it along to the priests (Numbers 18:26). Thus those who received tithes would in turn give tithes.

In Nehemiah 10:39 the people pledged to relieve the priests of the responsibility of collecting or transporting the contributions; they would bring them to the storage chambers of the Temple where all the utensils used in the service of worship (see Ezra 1:9-10) were kept. Priests, gate keepers, and singers would be available to add in handling the produce.

The pledge is closed with the people's promise not to neglect any of these things, which would be tantamount to neglecting the house of God.

WORD STUDIES

DOCUMENT: see AMEN, in the Word Studies for chapter 8. SABBATH (Nehemiah 10:31): the basic idea is to cease, interrupt, stop; thus the manna ceased (the verb form of this word): Joshua 5:12. If work stops, there is rest (Exodus 23:12).

The word applied to the seventh day (Exodus 20:11); to the seventh years, when no crops were to be sown (Leviticus 25:2); to the first and last day of the festivals that lasted for a week, regardless of the day of the week (Leviticus 23:39); to the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:32) or Feast of Trumpets (Leviticus 23:24); or in the plural as a synonym for weeks (Leviticus 23:15) or for seven-year periods (Leviticus 25:8).

SUMMARY

A document was drawn up and sealed with the names of Nehemiah, the heads of priestly families, Levites, and leaders of the people, in behalf of all the adult religious community, male and female. This pledged them to walk in God's Law, specifically to keep all His commandments and not to intermarry with foreigners nor to violate the Sabbath or holy days by trading with them on those days. They would also keep the Sabbatical year.
They pledged also to support the Temple with money and materials, to provide wood for the continual fire on the altar, to bring the firstfruits of their crops and herds to the priests, to offer their tithes to the Levites who in turn would give a tenth to the priests, and to see that the needs of the house of their God were not neglected.