Nehemiah 5:8
And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer.
And I said unto them,.... The nobles, and rulers, and other rich persons that exacted usury of the poor:
We after our ability; speaking of himself in the plural number, which now obtained in the court of Persia; or of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and others, who, according as their worldly circumstances, having been captives, would admit of:
have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; not that they had given a ransom for them to Cyrus, or any other king of Persia, which would be contrary to the prophecies concerning their redemption, Isaiah 45:13 but such who had sold themselves to particular persons in Babylon, who, without being redeemed, could not take the advantage of the liberty granted by Cyrus, and his successors; and it may be there were others also in the like circumstances, in other neighbouring nations, that had been redeemed this way. The Jewish canon {i} now is, he that sells himself, and his children, to Gentiles, they do not redeem; but they redeem the children after their father's death; which the commentators {k} explain of the third time that he sells himself:
and will you even sell your brethren? their lands and vineyards mortgaged to them, and even their persons:
or shall they be sold unto us? must we be obliged to buy them, and to redeem them:
then they held their peace, and found nothing to answer; being convinced they had done wrong, by the arguments used, to which they could make no reply.
{i} Misn. Gittin, c. 4. sect. 9.
{k} Maimon. & Bartenora in ib.