Nehemiah 13:3

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

Nehemiah 13:3. They separated from Israel all the mixed multitude — All the Ammonites, Moabites, and other heathenish people, with whom they had contracted alliances. All these were cast out from the congregation of Israel, together with the children born of them; that is, they would not look upon them as Israelites, or as entitled to the same privileges with themselves.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

13:1-9 Israel was a peculiar people, and not to mingle with the nations. See the benefit of publicly reading the word of God; when it is duly attended to, it discovers to us sin and duty, good and evil, and shows wherein we have erred. We profit, when we are thus wrought upon to separate from evil. Those that would drive sin out of their hearts, the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it; and take away all the things that are the food and fuel of lust; this is really to mortify it. When sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, let the blood of Christ be applied to it by faith, then let it be furnished with the graces of God's Spirit, for every good work.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A separation like that made by Ezra, some 20 years previously Ezra 10:15-44, seems to be intended. The pagan wives were divorced and sent back, with their offspring, to their own countries.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 13

Ne 13:1-9. Upon the Reading of the Law Separation Is Made from the Mixed Multitude.

1. On that day—This was not immediately consequent on the dedication of the city wall and gates, but after Nehemiah's return from the Persian court to Jerusalem, his absence having extended over a considerable period. The transaction here described probably took place on one of the periodical occasions for the public readings of the law, when the people's attention was particularly directed to some violations of it which called for immediate correction. There is another instance afforded, in addition to those which have already fallen under our notice, of the great advantages resulting from the public and periodical reading of the divine law. It was an established provision for the religious instruction of the people, for diffusing a knowledge and a reverence for the sacred volume, as well as for removing those errors and corruptions which might, in the course of time, have crept in.

the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever—that is, not be incorporated into the Israelitish kingdom, nor united in marriage relations with that people (De 23:3, 4). This appeal to the authority of the divine law led to a dissolution of all heathen alliances (Ne 9:2; Ezr 10:3).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

i.e. All the heathenish people with whom they had contracted alliances. See Nehemiah 9:2 Ezra 10:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law,.... Or the law concerning the Ammonite and the Moabite, and which included other nations also, and forbad marriage with them:

that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude; all of these, and other nations, they had contracted affinity with.

Geneva Study Bible

Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel {a} all the mixed multitude.

(a) That is, all who had joined in unlawful marriage and also those with whom God had forbidden them to mingle with.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. Now] R.V. And. The A.V. begins a new paragraph with this verse; which however continues the preceding verses, giving the result of the action taken.

they separated] ‘They,’ impersonal, but evidently the leaders of the people are referred to. It does not appear whether the words ‘they separated from Israel’ denote merely ceremonial exclusion from participation in the worship and festivals of the holy people, or the forcible ejectment from their borders. The practical impossibility of so summary a policy is an objection to the latter interpretation. The parallel in Nehemiah 9:2 gives some support to the former alternative; and the instance recorded by Nehemiah in the following Nehemiah 13:4-14, shows that Nehemiah’s anger was kindled not at the presence of a stranger but at his connexion with the high-priest, and at the fact of his not being ‘separated from’ the Temple.

all the mixed multitude] The use of the Hebrew word ‘’ereb’ here without an article may be illustrated by Exodus 12:38. There, as here, the word denotes the large body of strangers, members of other races, attached by ties of marriage or by commercial interests to the people of Israel. Their proneness to lead the Israelites astray was proverbial, cf. Numbers 11:4.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - They separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. Some lengthy process, like that pursued by Ezra (Ezra 10:10-19), is probably glanced at in these words, and again in the opening words of ver. 30 - "Thus cleansed I them from all strangers." The rebukes of Nehemiah (vers. 25-27) did not suffice to produce a voluntary putting away of the foreign wives. Judicial proceedings had to be taken, and the "mixed multitude" separated off by authority. Nehemiah 13:3

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

This law being understood, all strangers were separated from Israel. ערב is taken from Exodus 12:38, where it denotes the mixed multitude of non-Israelitish people who followed the Israelites at their departure from Egypt. The word is here transferred to strangers of different heathen nationalities living among the Israelites. The date of the occurrence here related cannot be more precisely defined from the ההוּא בּיּום. Public readings of the law frequently took place in those days, as is obvious from Nehemiah 8 and 9, where we learn that in the seventh month the book of the law was publicly read, not only on the first and second days, but also daily during the feast of tabernacles, and again on the day of prayer and fasting on the twenty-fourth of the month. It appears, however, from מזּה לפני, Nehemiah 13:4, compared with Nehemiah 13:6, that the reading Nehemiah 13:1-3 took place in the interval between Nehemiah's first and second stay at Jerusalem. This view is not opposed by the facts mentioned Nehemiah 13:4. and 23f. The separation of the ערב could not be carried out at once; and hence, notwithstanding repeated resolutions to sever themselves from strangers (Nehemiah 9:2; Nehemiah 10:31), cases to the contrary might be discovered, and make fresh separations needful.