15 In those days I saw in Judah some who were treading wine presses on the sabbath , and bringing in sacks of grain and loading them on donkeys , as well as wine , grapes , figs and all kinds of loads , and they brought them into Jerusalem on the sabbath day . So I admonished them on the day they sold food . 16 Also men of Tyre were living there who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise , and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath , even in Jerusalem .
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Nehemiah 13:15-16
Commentary on Nehemiah 13:15-22
(Read Nehemiah 13:15-22)
The keeping holy the Lord's day forms an important object for their attention who would promote true godliness. Religion never prospers while sabbaths are trodden under foot. No wonder there was a general decay of religion, and corruption of manners among the Jews, when they forsook the sanctuary and profaned the sabbath. Those little consider what an evil they do, who profane the sabbath. We must answer for the sins others are led to commit by our example. Nehemiah charges it on them as an evil thing, for so it is, proceeding from contempt of God and our own souls. He shows that sabbath-breaking was one of the sins for which God had brought judgments upon them; and if they did not take warning, but returned to the same sins again, they had to expect further judgments. The courage, zeal, and prudence of Nehemiah in this matter, are recorded for us to do likewise; and we have reason to think, that the cure he wrought was lasting. He felt and confessed himself a sinner, who could demand nothing from God as justice, when he thus cried unto him for mercy.