Nehemiah 7:26
men <0582> [The men.]
The Septuagint reads here the same as in the parallel place, [Huioi Baithalem, hekaton eikositris; huioi Atopha (Alex. Anetopha) pentekontaex;] "The children of Bethlehem, one hundred twenty and three; the children of Netophah, fifty and six." Though this reading is not found in any Hebrew MS. yet collated, it is doubtless the true one.
Bethlehem <01035> [Bethlehem.]
[179.]
Nehemiah 5:14
twentieth <06242> [from the twentieth.]
relatives <0251> [I and my.]
food <03899> [the bread.]
Nehemiah 5:18
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.]
