The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther by Edwin M. Yamauchi & Elaine Phillips

Author:Edwin M. Yamauchi & Elaine Phillips [Yamauchi, Edwin M. & Phillips, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: REL006060 Religion / Biblical Commentary / Old Testament
Publisher: HarperCollins Christian Publishing

COMMENTARY

14 The thirty-second year of Artaxerxes I ran from April 1, 433 BC, to April 19, 432 BC. Nehemiah served his first term as governor for twelve years before being recalled to court (13:6), after which he returned for a second term of indeterminate length.

Provincial governors normally assessed the people in their provinces for their support, e.g., “food allotted to the governor.” But Nehemiah, like Paul, bent over backwards and sacrificed even what was normally his due to serve as an example to the people (1Co 9; 2Th 3:8).

15 “Governors” is the plural of peḥâ (the same in Aram.), which is used of Sheshbazzar (Ezr 5:14), Zerubbabel (Hag 1:1, 14; 2:2), and various Persian officials (Ezr 5:3, 6; 6:6–7, 13; 8:36; Ne 2:7, 9; 3:7 et al.).

Nehemiah was certainly not referring here to Ezra and Zerubbabel. K. Galling (“Serubbabel und der Wiederaufbau des Tempels,” in Verbannung und Heimkehr [ed. A. Kuschke; Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr, 1961], 96) believes that Judah did not have governors before Nehemiah and suggests that this refers to governors of Samaria. New archaeological evidence, however, confirms that the reference is to previous governors of Judah.

“Placed a heavy burden” means literally “made heavy [the burden of taxation].” The KJV’s “were chargeable” is an inadequate rendering. Persian practice usually exempted temple personnel, thus making the burden on the laity much heavier.

“Forty shekels of silver from them in addition to food and wine” is literally “of them for bread and wine after [ʾaḥar] forty shekels of silver.” The NIV follows the lead of the KJV/RSV/NRSV (“besides”) in rendering the preposition “in addition.” Other scholars and versions follow the Vulgate, which reads “daily,” that is, the cost of feeding the entourage amounted to about forty shekels per day (cf. comment on v.2).

If the governors themselves were extortionate, their “assistants” often proved even more oppressive (cf. Mt 18:21–35; 20:25–28).

16 Nehemiah’s behavior as governor was guided by principles of service rather than by opportunism. In the Roman period honest governors like Cicero were exceptional. Roman governors who came to Palestine were rapacious (cf. Josephus, J.W. 2.272–73 [14.1]).

17 When Solomon became king, he sacrificed 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep and held a great seven-day feast for the assembly (1Ki 4:23; 8:62–65). A text found at Nimrud has Ashurnasirpal II feasting 69,574 people for ten days (D. J. Wiseman, “A New Stele of Aššurnasirpal II,” Iraq 14 [1952]: 24–44).

As part of his social responsibility, a governor or ruler was expected to entertain lavishly. R. North (“Civil Authority in Ezra,” in Studi in onore di Edoardo Volterra [Milan: A Giuffre, 1971], 436) comments, “The generosity of Nehemiah as of wealthy Bedouin sheiks is felt to consist in the fact that they let any number of poor relations come to dinner.”

18 Compare Nehemiah’s daily provisions with Solomon’s (1Ki 4:22–23). The people of Judah were afraid to present a defective sheep to Nehemiah’s predecessor, but they were not above offering such an animal to the Lord (Mal 1:8).

“Poultry” (ṣipporîm, “birds”) was domesticated in the Indus River valley by 2000 BC and was brought to Egypt by the reign of Thutmose III (fifteenth century BC).

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