Ver. 1. On that day] That great fast day, Nehemiah 9:1,2, &c. Or, after Nehemiah’s return from the court of Persia, Nehemiah 13:6, so the most expound it. They read in the book of Moses] viz. In Deuteronomy 23:3, called by the Rabbis Sepher tochechoth, the book of rebukes, or of instructions, upon conviction. And therein was found written] Perquam durum est (so it might seem to Ammonites and Moabites), sed ita lex scripta est, The law was perpetual and indispensable; a sign of great wrath. That the Ammonite and the Moabite] Lot’s by-blows and the Church’s constant enemies. Into the congregation of God] i.e. Assemblies of God’s people, whether sacred or civil, unless proselyted.
Ver. 2. Because they met not the children of Israel] A bare omission of observance subjected them to divine vengeance. As God requiteth the least courtesy done to his people, be it but a cup of cold water; so he repayeth the least discourtesy, or but neglect of them, to whom the glorious angels are ministering spirits, and may not think themselves too good to serve them, Hebrews 1:14. But hired Balaam against them] With the rewards of divination, Numbers 22:7, the wages of wickedness, Jude 11 2Pe 2:15, which he greedily ran after; and not so much as roving at God, made the world his standing mark, till he had got a sword in his guts. Howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing] So he did the pope’s curse to Queen Elizabeth, and before her, to Luther. Quo magis illi furunt, eo amplius precedo, saith he in a certain epistle; the more they rage and ban me the more I proceed and prosper. The pope excommunicated him, the emperor proscribed him, &c. Omnium animi tum erant arrecti, quid illa Caesaris et pontificis fulmina essent effectura. All men’s minds were then set an end, and stood on tip-toes, as it were, to see what would be the issue, saith mine author (Scultet. Annal.). A wonderful work of our God surely, and worthy to be chronicled! Luther is conveyed out of the way by the Elector of Saxony for ten months, till he would be hid no longer. Meanwhile Pope Leo dieth, the Emperor Charles V is first called into Spain to suppress seditions there, and afterwards is so busied in his wars with the French king, that he hath no leisure to look after Luther. After this, when the French king was beaten by the emperor, and carried prisoner into Spain, he was released and sent home again, upon the condition that the emperor and he should root out the Lutheran heresy, as they called it. But our God broke their designs, and turned this curse also into a blessing. For the French king returning home, and conceiving that the conditions that he had yielded unto, to get off, were unequal, entereth into a league with the pope and the State of Venice against the emperor. The pope, that he might cover his false dealing with the emperor, sends abroad his Bull and therein calleth knave first. The emperor, on the other side, complaineth of the pope’s malice and double-dealing, exhorteth him to peace, and concludeth that it were fitter for them to unite against the Lutherans. And when he could prevail nothing by writing, he abolished his authority throughout all Spain, sends his armies against him under the duke of Bourbon, claps him up prisoner in St Angelo, proclaims open war against the French, &c. So that religion got ground, and all things fell out rather unto the furtherance of the gospel, Philippians 1:12. Let them curse thy Church, Lord, but do thou bless; when they arise, let them ever be ashamed; but let thy servants rejoice, and speed the better for their ill wishes. So be it, Psalms 109:28.
Ver. 3. Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law] And were transformed into the same image therewith, by the Spirit of grace, who had made their flinty hearts to become fleshy, &c. We used to say, As hard hearted as a Jew. But they that relent not, repent not at the hearing of the word, are worse than these Jews; and it may be feared that the Lord hath a purpose to destroy them. “The law of the Lord,” when but read only, “is perfect, converting the soul,” Psalms 19:7, but woe to the irreformable, 2 Corinthians 4:4. That they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude] Vulgus promiscuum, the rabble of strangers, wherewith this people were haunted and pestered from the very first, Exodus 12:38 Nu 11:4. These, moved with miracles, removed with them out of Egypt, but for a mischief to them, for they drew them into sin then, as those here did also; and were, therefore, worthily put away, as the law required.
Ver. 4. And before this] Before the commandment came as a lamp, and the law a light, [as Proverbs 6:23] causing a reformation. As toads and serpents grow in dark and dirty cellars, so do sinful disorders in ignorant places and persons. Eliashib the priest] The high priest; but such a one as from whom profaneness went forth into all the land, Jeremiah 23:15. The sins of teachers are teachers of sins. Having the oversight of the chamber] i.e. Of all the chambers of the temple, by virtue of his office; and, therefore, thought belike he might do what he wished with them (now in Nehemiah’s absence) without control. Was allied unto Tobiah] A bitter enemy to God’s people, but sly and subtle, seeking to insinuate by alliance and letters of persuasion; such as Cardinal Sadolet wrote to the Genevenses, in Calvin’s absence, and Cardinal Lorraine to the Protestant princes of Germany, that he and his brethren, the Guises (those sworn swordmen of the devil), would embrace the reformed religion.