Nehemiah 10:32

32 We also lay on ourselves the obligation to charge ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

Nehemiah 10:32 Meaning and Commentary

Nehemiah 10:32

Also we made ordinance, for us
Laws among themselves, binding them to that which the laws of God did not:

to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel, for the
service of the house of our God;
the particulars of which follow in the next verse; for the defraying of which there used to be a treasury in the temple; but now there was none, and therefore they took this method to assess themselves; and being poor, instead of the half shekel, which in some cases was required, they only charged themselves with the third part of one; though Aben Ezra thinks this was added to the half shekel, and was paid over and above that; according to Brerewood ^F1, it was of the value of ten pence of our money: Waserus ^F2 has given us the figure of one of these coins, with this inscription, a "third" part of a shekel of Israel.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F1 De Pond. & Pret. Vet. Num. c. 1.
F2 De Antiqu. Num. Heb. l. 2.

Nehemiah 10:32 In-Context

30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons;

31 and if the peoples of the land bring in merchandise or any grain on the sabbath day to sell, we will not buy it from them on the sabbath or on a holy day; and we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.

32 We also lay on ourselves the obligation to charge ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:

33 for the rows of bread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed festivals, the sacred donations, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.

34 We have also cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, by ancestral houses, at appointed times, year by year, to burn on the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law.