Then said they, We will restore [them], and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise.
Ver. 12. Then said they, We will restore them] This was well said; and Nehemiah took course it should be as well done, ne dicta factis erubescerent, as Tertullian phraseth it; that their saying and doing might he alike.
And will require nothing of them] But be of those that lend, looking for nothing again, no, not the principal, Luke 6:35 .
So will we do as thou sayest] Denying ourselves, and all worldly lusts, that we may get and keep a good conscience, that most precious jewel that ever the heart of man was acquainted with.
Then I called the priests] As fittest to tender so solemn an oath, and to bear witness in a case of that nature.
And took an oath of them] That is, of them that had promised restitution; that they might not start back, nor repent them of their good resolutions. Our hearts are deceitful, and must be by all good means held up to duty, Quo teneas vultus mutantem Protea nodo? else they will slip collar, as those slippery Jews, Jeremiah 34:10,11, retracted and repealed their vow. It was therefore well and wisely done of Nehemiah to bind them thus to the good behavior; as Asa and Josiah had done before him. An oath is a hedge which a man may not break; which yet that great deviate of Rome maketh a sport of. For when the cardinals meet to choose a new pope, they make him swear to certain articles. And Sleydan saith, that no sooner is he chosen but he breaks them all, and checks their insolencies, as if they went about to limit his power, to whom all power is given in heaven and earth. Is not this that ανομος, that lawless, yokeless, masterless monster St Paul speaketh of; 2 Thessalonians 2:8 .