The Governor's Table
14 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor. 15 But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, plus forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people, but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God. 16 Yes, I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn’t buy any land. All my servants were gathered there to the work. 17 Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, in addition to those who came to us from among the nations that were around us. 18 Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep. Also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days a store of all sorts of wine. Yet for all this, I didn’t demand the governor’s pay, because the bondage was heavy on this people. 19 Remember me, my God, for all the good that I have done for this people.
Twelve years of refused allowances are itemized, and the only payment requested is God's memory.
The memoir steps back to give the account books, and the span is stated first: governor from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, that is, twelve years — and in all of it, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.
The bread of the governor was the office's lawful expense account: provisions levied from the governed, plus forty shekels of silver, and the previous administrations had taken it in full — yes, even their servants ruled over the people. The staff of former governors had been a second layer of appetite. Nehemiah's reason for refusing all of it is the book's standing motive: because of the fear of God.
The verse that follows adds the positive side of the ledger: I also continued in the work of this wall. We didn't buy any land. A governor with advance knowledge of which city was about to become defensible again did not spend the knowledge — no speculation, no estate. His servants worked on the wall like everyone else's sons.
Then the table, counted: one hundred fifty men of the Jews and the rulers daily, plus visitors from the surrounding nations. Provisioned at one ox and six choice sheep a day, with fowls, and wine in bulk every ten days — a real governor's hospitality, paid out of his own means, because the bondage was heavy on this people. The man who had just outlawed profiting from his neighbors' distress Nehemiah 5:11 would not bill his own hospitality to it either.
And then, for the first time, the prayer that will close the book: remember me, my God, for all the good that I have done for this people.
Read against the ledger above it, the prayer finds its sense. Twelve years of refused income is precisely the kind of cost that leaves no record anywhere on earth — no monument lists what a man declined to take. The only ledger it can appear in is God's, and Nehemiah asks for exactly that entry. The book's last chapter will add the clause that keeps the request from being a bill: spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness Nehemiah 13:22.
settled What this mark means