נחמיה, פרק ה׳, פסוק י״ב

Shaken by a piercing rebuke, the people respond with complete agreement, taking it upon themselves to right their past wrongs. They commit to returning the fields and property they had taken, alongside a complete cancellation of the debts owed to them. They promise to drop any further demands, specifically agreeing to forfeit the interest and heavy financial burdens they had previously imposed on the borrowers [אבן עזרא]. By repeating their promise, the people highlight the seriousness of their intentions and strengthen their pledge to act exactly as instructed [מצודת דוד].

Despite this clear agreement, Nehemiah takes an additional step by calling upon the priests to administer a formal oath to the public. The priests are brought in for this task because they are the officials traditionally responsible for administering oaths in biblical procedures [אבן עזרא]. Having a priest oversee the swearing-in process elevates the severity of the vow, giving it much greater force and authority [מלבי״ם]. Another perspective suggests that Nehemiah did not just use the priests to administer the oath to the public, but actually made the priests themselves swear to the agreement, ensuring that they too would cancel the debts owed to them [רש״י].

A question naturally arises as to why a formal oath is necessary when the people have already given their full consent. From a legal standpoint, agreeing to give a gift to the poor is already considered a binding vow, and forgiving a debt does not require any formal act of acquisition to take effect. However, the oath is designed to prevent the lenders from making future claims that their agreement was invalid. Without it, they might later argue that they only agreed out of shame and embarrassment in front of Nehemiah, rather than from their own free will. By taking a formal oath, the commitment is locked in absolutely, ensuring that no one can retract their words [חומת אנך].