And Shabbethai and Jozabad, of the chief of the Levites, had the oversight of the outward business of the house of God.

Wesley's Notes

11:16 Outward - For those things belonging to the temple and its service, which were to be done without it, or abroad in the country, as the gathering in of the voluntary contributions, or other necessary provision out of the several parts of the land.

King James Translators' Notes

had...: Heb. were over

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

16. the oversight of the outward business of the house of God-that is, those things which were done outside, or in the country, such as the collecting of the provisions (1Ch 26:29).

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

11:1-36 The distribution of the people. - In all ages, men have preferred their own ease and advantage to the public good. Even the professors of religion too commonly seek their own, and not the things of Christ. Few have had such attachment to holy things and holy places, as to renounce pleasure for their sake. Yet surely, our souls should delight to dwell where holy persons and opportunities of spiritual improvement most abound. If we have not this love to the city of our God, and to every thing that assists our communion with the Saviour, how shall we be willing to depart hence; to be absent from the body, that we may be present with the Lord? To the carnal-minded, the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem would be still harder to bear than the holiness of God's church on earth. Let us seek first the favour of God, and his glory; let us study to be patient, contented, and useful in our several stations, and wait, with cheerful hope, for admission into the holy city of God.