On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;
On that day. This was not immediately consequent on the dedication of the city wall and gates, but after Nehemiah's return from the Persian court to Jerusalem, his absence having extended over a considerable period. The transaction here described probably took place on one of the periodical occasions for the public reading of the law, when the people's attention was particularly directed to some violations of it which called for immediate correction. There is another instance afforded, in addition to those which have already fallen under our notice, of the great advantage resulting from the public and periodical reading of the divine law. It was an established provision for the religious instruction of the people, for diffusing a knowledge and a reverence for the sacred volume, as well as for removing those errors and corruptions which might, in the course of time, have crept in. The Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever. This by no means implied the exclusion of proselytes from either of these nations from the privileges of worshipping the true God in Israel, but only that they could not be incorporated into the Israslitish kingdom, nor united in marriage relations with that people (Deuteronomy 23:3-4). This appeal to the authority of the divine law led to a dissolution of all pagan alliances (Nehemiah 9:2; Ezra 10:3).