Nehemiah 13:23

In those days. Compare on v. 15. Nehemiah here records in detail what he had done in the matter of mixed marriages, as recorded in vs. 1-3. Upon his return to Jerusalem his watchful eye observed that many Jews had again fallen into the same sin with which Ezra had had to deal on his arrival at Jerusalem in 457 B.C. (Ezra 9 and 10), and which was especially mentioned in the covenant entered into soon after the beginning of his first term as governor (Neh. 9:38; 10:1, 30). As long as Nehemiah had remained in Judea there was probably no serious violation of the covenant, but as soon as he left Judea foreign wives were apparently once more taken into the families of the Jews.

Wives of Ashdod. Philistine wives, of a race always hostile to Israel, and natives of a city that had recently been allied with Nehemiah’s bitter enemies (ch. 4:7).

Ammon, and of Moab. Compare Ezra 9:1 and Neh. 13:1.