Moreover [there were] at my table an hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came unto us from among the heathen that [are] about us.
Ver. 17. Moreover there were at my table, &c.] He did not eat his morsels alone, as that Pamphagus Nabal; and as many misers today, who, like little children, though they have their hands full and their mouths full, yet will part with none.
Ecce Deo similis vir dapsilis, atque benignus - Palingen.
Beside those that came unto me from among the heathen] Either as state agents, or upon other occasions. Nehemiah entertained them, that they might not lie upon the public charge. And herein he trod in the footsteps of hospitable Abraham, whom Synesius calleth θεου εστιατορα, God's host. The primitive Christians likewise won much upon the heathens by their hospitality towards all, as Julian, the apostate, confessed: all that he could say against them for it was, that they did it all in hypocrisy and vain glory; which was an envious and false charge (πεπλασμενην κατα Aνδρονικ. Chrysost. in Joan. Epist.).