Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Nehemiah 5:8

And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing [to answer].

8. We ] ‘We’ and ‘ye’ in this verse are in emphatic antithesis.

after our ability ] So Vulg. ‘secundum possibilitatem nostram.’ LXX. . Another rendering is ‘according to the number of those that were among us.’

have redeemed ] R.V. marg. ‘Heb. bought ’, i.e. as many as were put up to sale we redeemed. Nehemiah apparently refers to what had been the merciful custom of himself and his countrymen when they were in exile; but possibly also to his action in Jerusalem since his arrival. The word for ‘redeemed’ here would be literally rendered ‘acquired’ or ‘bought.’ The word is used here presumably because the stress of the clause rests not so much on the slavery from which the Jews were delivered, but upon the price that Nehemiah and his companions willingly paid for them.

unto the heathen ] Lit. ‘unto the nations.’

and will you even sell your brethren ] R.V. and would ye, &c.

or shall they ] R.V. and should they. Nehemiah’s indignant question contrasts the conduct of the wealthy money-lenders with his own practice and that of his friends. He in a foreign land redeemed every Jew he could that was being sold to the heathen, and here in Jerusalem itself he finds Jews selling their own flesh and blood, and the market in which they barter their brethren is within the walls of the Holy City. They not only sold Jews as slaves, but bought them as such. They were ready to buy them, not to redeem but to enslave them.

found nothing to answer ] R.V. found never a word. There was no justification either in law or equity for their conduct, in making money out of their brethren’s misfortunes at a time of national danger.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Nehemiah contrasts his own example with that of the rich Jews. He had spent money in redeeming some countrymen in servitude among the pagan; they were causing others to be sold into slavery among the Jews.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen: I, and my, brethren, and predecessors, have used our utmost interest and power, both with the kings of Persia, that our brethren might be redeemed from that bondage into which God had sold them for their sins; and with particular persons in Babylon and Persia, and the adjacent parts, whose bond-slaves the Jews were, and who would not part with them without a price, which we paid for them.

Will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? do you expect that we should pay you a price for them, as we did to the Babylonians? or must we use as much importunity to solicit you for their redemption as we did to their enemies?

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And I said unto them,…. The nobles, and rulers, and other rich persons that exacted usury of the poor:

we after our ability; speaking of himself in the plural number, which now obtained in the court of Persia; or of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others, who, according as their worldly circumstances, having been captives, would admit of:

have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the Heathen; not that they had given a ransom for them to Cyrus, or any other king of Persia, which would be contrary to the prophecies concerning their redemption, Isa 45:13 but such who had sold themselves to particular persons in Babylon, who, without being redeemed, could not take the advantage of the liberty granted by Cyrus, and his successors; and it may be there were others also in the like circumstances, in other neighbouring nations, that had been redeemed this way. The Jewish canon i now is, he that sells himself, and his children, to Gentiles, they do not redeem; but they redeem the children after their father’s death; which the commentators k explain of the third time that he sells himself:

and will you even sell your brethren? their lands and vineyards mortgaged to them, and even their persons:

or shall they be sold unto us? must we be obliged to buy them, and to redeem them:

then they held their peace, and found nothing to answer; being convinced they had done wrong, by the arguments used, to which they could make no reply.

i Misn. Gittin, c. 4. sect. 9. k Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(8) Will ye even sell your brethren?The appeal is a strong one. Nehemiah and his friends had redeemed Jews from the heathen with money; these men had caused Jews to be sold to Jews.

Nothing to answer.They might have replied had the letter of the law been urged; but this argument puts them to shame.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

8. We Nehemiah and other nobles and influential Jews before him, who had been instrumental in procuring the release of the Jews from captivity and permission for them to return to Judea and restore their fallen state.

After our ability Literally, according to the sufficiency in us. Nehemiah and others had used official position and personal influence, which they held with the kings of Persia, to secure the deliverance of their brethren the Jews from their exile among the heathen.

Will ye even sell your brethren Will ye now take advantage of their poverty to involve them into slavery among their own nation and race?

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Neh 5:8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing [to answer].

8. And I said unto them, We after our ability ] This he speaketh, not in a vain glorious vaunting way, or to curry favour with the people; but to convince the contrary minded of their inhumanity to their poor brethren. Good works, saith Chrysostom, are unanswerable syllogisms, invincible demonstrations to confute and convert those that do otherwise. “Let your works so shine before men,” &c.

Which were sold unto the heathen ] This they did in obedience to the law, Deu 28:47-48 .

And will ye even sell your brethren? ] There was no resisting of such a rational reproof, no whit imbittered (as the manner is) with wrath or spite; but carried on with so much modesty and moderation.

Or shall they be sold unto us? ] He makes himself a party, because of the same body politic.

Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer ] Such is the majesty of a reproof rightly administered; it even gags the offender, as Mat 22:12 , and renders him self condemned, Tit 3:11 . Scipio, with his countenance only, quelled and quieted his seditious soldiers. Alexander the Great, and after him Augustus Caesar, and Severus the emperor, did the same, with a few quick words. Adrianus Boxsehafius, preacher of the word at Antwerp, hearing a certain monk railing at Luther out of the pulpit, Tell me, said he, thou perverse monk, and that openly before all this people, where, and when, and in what points Luther hath erred? The monk thus accosted, answered not a word, but got out of the pulpit, and fled away as fast as he could, and never came again into that country (Scultet. Annal.).

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

redeemed = re-purchased. Hebrew. kanah, to acquire by purchase; not ga’al, to redeem by purchase; or padah, to deliver by power. See notes on Exo 6:6; Exo 13:13.

heathen = nations.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

redeemed

(See Scofield “Exo 14:30”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

We after: Mat 25:15, Mat 25:29, 2Co 8:12, Gal 6:10

redeemed: Lev 25:47-49

sell your: Exo 21:16, Deu 24:7

shall they: Rom 14:15, 1Co 8:11

held: Job 29:10, Job 32:15, Mat 22:12, Rom 3:19

Reciprocal: Gen 17:13 – bought Gen 31:15 – sold us Gen 37:27 – sell him Exo 21:2 – an Hebrew Lev 25:48 – General Lev 25:50 – price of his sale Deu 28:68 – there ye shall Neh 9:37 – dominion Job 6:23 – Redeem Psa 44:12 – increase Ecc 10:19 – but Amo 8:6 – General Zec 11:5 – sell Mat 5:22 – his brother Mat 18:25 – commanded Act 11:29 – every 1Co 6:6 – brother Eph 6:9 – ye Rev 18:13 – slaves

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Neh 5:8. We, after our ability, have redeemed our brethren Nehemiah and his predecessors had used their utmost interest and power with the kings of Persia, that their brethren might be redeemed from bondage, whereby they had been restored both to their liberty and to their own country. And it is probable they had, with their money, procured the freedom of such as were slaves to some of the Babylonians, who would not part with them without a price paid for them. Shall they be sold unto us? Do you expect that we should pay you a price for them, as we did to the Babylonians? Or must we use as much importunity to solicit you for their redemption as we used with their enemies? Then held they their peace They made no reply, because they could neither deny the fact nor justify it, an express law of God being against them.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

5:8 And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be {h} sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing [to answer].

(h) Seeing God has once delivered them from the bondage of the heathen, shall we make them our slaves?

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes