On that day: This occurred on the day mentioned below, when Nehemiah threw out Tobiah’s belongings. Tobiah was also an Ammonite and was related by marriage to the leaders of the people, who had intermarried with him, as stated above (6:18). Nehemiah then commanded that they read from the Book of Moses—that is, Deuteronomy, which Moses delivered and which contains this prohibition.

For they did not meet them: If they were genuinely afraid of you—which might have provided some excuse for their subsequently hiring Balaam—they should instead have met you with bread and water and sought peace and a covenant with you. If they withheld bread because they were not afraid of you, then why did they hire Balaam? Nor can one argue that Balaam’s curse was ineffective and therefore caused no harm, for the verse says, “Our God transformed the curse into a blessing.” Had God not done so, Balaam’s curse would have caused harm.

And it came to pass: They then separated from Israel the entire mixed multitude—that is, the Ammonite and Moabite converts who had mingled among them. Although we maintain that the nations have now become intermixed and that anyone who separates from a group is presumed to come from its majority, as Rabbi Joshua states in tractate Yadayim and as cited in Berakhot 28a, it may be that at that time certain Ammonites were still identifiable by their lineage. The principal intermingling of the nations was caused by Nebuchadnezzar, as Tosafot explain in Megillah 12b and Yevamot 76b. Although this occurred after the destruction, some members of these nations still remained unmixed and identifiable.

And before this: The text explains what prompted them to read from Deuteronomy on that particular day. Eliashib the priest had his chamber near Tobiah’s chamber, for he had prepared a large chamber for Tobiah beside his own. Previously, that chamber had been used to store the grain offering and the other sacred provisions. At that time, however, the people had ceased giving the terumot and tithes, leaving the chamber empty, so the priest allowed Tobiah to live there.

And during all this: This occurred while I was absent from Jerusalem, when these breaches in observance arose. And after some time: The king had summoned Nehemiah and commanded him to remain at his side for a fixed period. When that period ended, I requested leave from the king—that is, I obtained his permission to return. And I came to Jerusalem and perceived the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah: He had acted for Tobiah’s benefit by desecrating the Temple.

And it displeased me greatly, and I threw out: Because Tobiah’s relatives and the officials protested against Nehemiah’s action, he ordered the Torah to be read aloud to show them that Tobiah was forbidden to enter the congregation.

And I said, and I restored the vessels of the House of God there: This chamber had originally contained the vessels, the grain offering, and the frankincense, as explained above in verse 5, and Nehemiah returned these items to their proper place. He also wished to restore there the tithes and terumah that had previously been stored there. From this, he discovered that the people were no longer giving their tithes and terumot, as the following verse explains.

And I learned that the portions of the Levites—that is, their allotted shares—had not been given. The singular form refers to the act of giving. And they fled: Consequently, the Levites abandoned their assigned duties and went away to work in their fields.

And I gathered them: I assembled the Levites and restored them to their assigned duties. All Israel then began giving the tithes as they had previously.

And I appointed as treasurers: The verb is transitive even though it appears in the simple qal conjugation. Many verbs that ordinarily occur only in the qal may sometimes be intransitive and sometimes transitive. This differs from Radak’s interpretation.

Remember me: Nehemiah now relates that the people violated all three obligations they had accepted upon themselves under oath above in chapter 10: bringing the tithes, observing the Sabbath, and separating from foreign women. They transgressed all three while Nehemiah was absent from Jerusalem, and he restored each one to its proper observance. The first time, they had accepted these obligations through Ezra or on their own initiative, so the merit had not been attributed to Nehemiah. Now, however, after observance had broken down, Nehemiah erected a protective fence, stood in the breach, and restored everything to its proper state. He therefore asked that this merit be credited to him as an act of righteousness, as though he had established the entire observance from the beginning. Thus he says, “for this”—because I repaired the breach, remember the entire accomplishment as though I alone had brought it about.

In those days: This observance likewise broke down while Nehemiah was away from Jerusalem. Treading: The verse lists the transgressions from the most severe to the less severe. Treading winepresses on the Sabbath is an offense punishable by stoning. Bringing heaps of produce and loading them: It may be that they loaded the produce on Friday and transported it on the Sabbath, thereby violating the obligation that one’s animals rest. And I warned them on the day when they sold provisions: They had designated the Sabbath as market day. Nehemiah therefore warned them on the day regularly appointed for selling food and provisions that they must not sell on that day.

And the Tyrians: Consequently, foreign merchants came, settled there, and sold their goods on the Sabbath, because they paid no heed to the prohibition against buying and selling, which is not explicitly stated in the Torah.

And I contended: He therefore rebuked the officials for failing to protest against this conduct, since responsibility for the transgression rested upon them.

When the shadows fell: That is, when the shadows lengthened on Friday afternoon, after midday. No one should enter: The phrase “and I said” applies to this clause as well. Nehemiah said that no burden should enter—the gate was not to be opened for anyone carrying a burden.

And they lodged outside: They remained there so that the city’s inhabitants could come out, purchase small items from them, and smuggle them into the city.

And I said: He commanded that the Levites guard the gates on the Sabbath. He explained that this formed part of the Sabbath’s sanctity: its guards should be Levites, who were purer, more careful to avoid wrongdoing, and more vigilant in preserving the Sabbath’s holiness.

Also: The text now relates that they violated the third obligation they had accepted under oath by marrying foreign women.

And half of their children: The meaning is that they spoke half in the language of Ashdod. Their speech was a mixture—half Judean and half Ashdodite. Consequently, they did not know any language properly: they could neither speak Judean nor speak the language of any particular people, because their speech combined two languages, the language of their father and that of their mother.

And I contended with them: Afterward, I cursed them, and then I struck some of them. He progressively increased the severity of the punishments.

Was it not: Because the Torah explains the prohibition by saying, “For he will turn your son away from following Me,” they claimed that they could be trusted not to abandon the Torah because of their foreign wives. Nehemiah replied: Did Solomon not likewise say, “I will sin, but I will not turn away”? It should have been easier for him than for anyone else to remain faithful—both because of his greatness, for there was no king like him, and because of his righteousness, for he was beloved by his God. Nevertheless, he did not maintain his righteousness, and the foreign women caused even him to sin. Shall we then listen to you and accept your claim that your hearts will not turn away, thereby allowing you to commit all this great evil and act unfaithfully toward our God by marrying foreign women?

And I drove him away: Nehemiah could not strike him because he was a powerful and violent man. He therefore said: Since I could not compel him by force, may God punish him for defiling the priesthood. Through his actions, he became polluted and excluded both from the priesthood, so that he could no longer serve in the Temple, and from the covenant of the priesthood, for he forfeited his priestly lineage and his children became non-priests.

And I purified them: After purifying them from every foreign influence, I established the priestly and Levitical watches.

And for the wood offering: After restoring everything they had undertaken by oath above in chapter 10, Nehemiah also restored these practices, for there they had sworn concerning the wood offering (verse 35) and the first fruits (verse 37). Therefore, he said, “Remember me, my God, for good,” as explained above in verse 14.