As soon as the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all of foreign descent.
It was the honour of Israel, and the greatest preservation of their holiness, that they were a peculiar people, and were so to keep themselves, and not to mingle with the nations, nor suffer any of them to incorporate with them. Now here we have, I.
Commenting on Nehemiah 13:1-9
And before this,.... Before the above law was read, and observed and acted upon: Eliashib the priest; whom some take to be a common priest; so Bishop Usher (a); but he seems rather to be the high priest, by comparing it with Neh 13:28, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God; which has led some to the notion of his...
Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. (a) That is, all who had joined in unlawful marriage and also those with whom God had forbidden them to mingle with.