Nehemiah 5:17-18
dined <07979> [Moreover.]
He kept open house, and entertained all comers; besides having 150 Jews, who had their food constantly at his table, and at his expense.
dined <07979> [at my table.]
150 <03967> [an hundred.]
prepared <06213> [Now that.]
This was food sufficient for more than two hundred men. Bp. Pococke says that the bey of Tunis had daily twelve sheep, with fish and fowls, soups, oranges, eggs, onions, boiled rice, etc., etc. His nobles dined with him; after they had done, the servants sat down; and when they had finished, the poor took what was left. Here the bey's twelve sheep are equal to Nehemiah's one ox and six choice sheep; and probably the mode of living between the two was nearly alike. It is still the practice in the East to calculate the expenses of the table, not by the money paid, but by the provisions consumed by the guests.
require <01245> [required.]
work <05656> [because the bondage.]
