Nehemiah 10:32

32 And we made ordinances for ourselves, to give the third part of a sicle every year for the work 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.

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Nehemiah 10:32 In-Context

30 And that we would not give our daughters to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons.

31 And if the people of the land bring in things to sell, or any things for use, to sell them on the sabbath day, that we would not buy them on the sabbath, or on the holy day. And that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every hand.

32 And we made ordinances for ourselves, to give the third part of a sicle every year for the work of the house of our God,

33 For the loaves of proposition, and for the continual sacrifice, and for a continual holocaust on the sabbaths, on the new moons, on the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offering: that atonement might be made for Israel, and for every use of the house of our God.

34 And we cast lots among the priests, and the Levites, and the people for the offering of wood, that it might be brought into the house of our God by the houses of our fathers at set times, from year to year: to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law of Moses: