John Trapp on Nehemiah 5:16

Verſe 16. Yea alſo, I continued in the work] He meaneth, ſaith Lyra, that he wrought with his own hands to draw on others the more, when they ſhould ſee their Governour himſelf ſo intent to the work. He was conſtant at it, and held out till all was finiſhed. And this he recordeth, not out of oſtentation, but to ſhew that the love and feare of God conſtrained him; as it did afterwards Paul that ſpiritual builder, who laboured more then they all, and denied himſelf to bring others to heaven, as himſelf ſetteth forth, 2 Cor. 11. In praiſing our ſelves, our end muſt be, that our light may be ſeene, not our ſelves ſeene, Matth. 5.16. Mens praiſe may be ſought, modò tibi non quaeras, ſed Chriſto, ſaith Aretius, ſo that Chriſt be thereby ſet up and ſerved.

Neither bought we any land] As eaſily we might have done with the ſurpluſage of our revenue: eſpecially if we had exacted the utmoſt of our right. But publike ſpirits mind not their own intereſts Joſhua divided the land to Iſrael, and left none to himſelf: And that portion that was given him, and he content withal, was but a meane one in the barren mountains, as Hierome obſerveth. The late victorious King of Sweden (a ſecond Joſhua) in his reprehenſory ſpeech to the German plunderers, hath this paſſage. Mr. Clark in his Life. I proteſt before God, that I have not by all this warre enriched my ſelf ſo farre as a paire of bootes cometh to: yea, I had rather ride without bootes, then in the leaſt degree to enrich my ſelf by the damage of poor people.