Nehemiah's refraining from demanding the food allowance of the governer because the service was too heavy on this people
is the punch line that undergirds Nehemiah’s thinking in his task as governor. This people
is a reference to the population of the district entrusted to his care, specifically, the land of Judah
(Nehemiah 5:14). The word translated as service
refers to the taxation the Persian government imposed on them (which recent governors had made even heavier through their selfishness). Nehemiah understood that the people could never flourish, let alone succeed in building up their economy and the nation’s well-being, as long as this heavy service
remained. His decision to forego the food allowance of the governor was driven by his desire to see his people flourish.
18 Now what was prepared at my expense for each day was one ox and six choice sheep and birds, and every ten days all kinds of wine in abundance. Yet for all this I did not demand the food allowance of the governor, because the service was too heavy on this people.