Once or twice, the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem,
Here is another instance of that blessed reformation in which Nehemiah was so active. He revived sabbath-sanctification, and maintained the authority of the fourth commandment; and a very good deed this was for the house of God and the offices thereof, for, where holy time is over-looked and made nothing of, it is not strange if all holy duties be neglected. Here is, I. A remonstrance of the abuse.
Commenting on Nehemiah 13:15-22
In those days also I saw Jews that married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab. Ashdod, or Azotus, as it is called in Act 8:40, was one of the five cities of the Philistines; which, though none of the seven nations with whom marriage was forbid, yet it was very unfit and improper to marry with them, Jdg 14:3.
THE VIOLATION OF THE SABBATH. (Neh. 13:15-31) In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine-presses on the sabbath--The cessation of the temple services had been necessarily followed by a public profanation of the Sabbath, and this had gone so far that labor was carried on in the fields, and fish brought to the markets on the sacred day.
Commenting on Nehemiah 13:15-31