If you recall- and don't worry if you don't, because this has all been more about application than storyline- Nehemiah had gotten the assignment as Governor AFTER he had set a firm time to return to the King's service- 12 years. When the 12 years were up, and the services turned back to Ezra (who apparently passed on before Nehemiah returned), Nehemiah went back to serve Artaxerxes in Babylon. The Scriptures do not give a time of Nehemiah's return, only saying, And after some time I asked leave of the king (Neh. 13:6b). By the time he returned, all hell had broken loose. There were a list of crimes the people had committed in the meantime.
1- A room for the enemy
Neh 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah,
Neh 13:5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.
So for one thing, a room that was Holy to the Lord was given over to an enemy of God- by the High Priest himself! There was corruption in their 'church'; and that which was to be saved for God was given to man. But wait, there's more...
2- Forsaking of duty
Note the phrase,"where they had previously put the grain offering", etc. So now we know the tithe was not being collected...
Neh 13:10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.
Neh 13:11 So I confronted the officials and said, "Why is the house of God forsaken?" And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.
With no tithe, and no other means of support, Eliashib had effectively starved the faithful out of the Temple. Now this was essentially a tax in a theocratic state, and so it was the corruption of the OFFICALS- ie the government- that was now on the table. But wait, there's more...
3- Opening the Gate
Neh 13:15 In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food.
Neh 13:16 Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!
The Sabbath, with no priests or Levites to enforce it, was the next Commandment to fall. As the leaders, so the people. In application, this is me going back to the same old way of doing things, living just as if God didn't matter. For me, this means I need to get God back in the forefront. For them, it meant the leaders of all stripes were gonna get it...
Neh 13:17 Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?
Neh 13:18 Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."
You may not realize this, but the reason God exiled the people for 70 years was the sabbaths they had forsaken:
2Ch 36:20 He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until the establishment of the kingdom of Persia,
2Ch 36:21 to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed its Sabbaths. All the days that it lay desolate it kept Sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.
But these people were IGNORING it. They were heading for another exile- one that would begin in about 500 years and last for almost 2,000! Do I really want to go back to the way it was?
But that wasn't yet the worst...
4- and now, the 7th Commandment
Neh 13:23 In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab.
Neh 13:24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people.
This may not have been physical, legal adultery, but it was spiritual in the worst way- they were in process of erasing themselves as a separate people! They were removing WHAT MADE THEM DIFFERENT FROM EVERYONE ELSE. God had made them "a peculiar people"-
Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exo 19:6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
-and they were un-making it! And once again, it was the leaders- Eliashib's grandson and eventual successor was married to a daughter of Sanballat! Everything God had helped Nehemiah and Ezra repair was ruined.
Only thing left was the Wall. And its gate was open.
This was also a reminder to the quick of study. The wall, I found out, was finished on the same day the Jews recognized as the first day of Creation. The same Creation that fell without God. The wall isn't the key, God is. That's where Nehemiah messed up, though not his fault. He thought the wall was the #1 thing needed to save his people. But GOD was what was needed all along. And he realized it in his answer to the sinning people:
Neh 13:25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.
Neh 13:26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin.
Neh 13:27 Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives?
Even the greatest of men will fall if they stray from God. Whether it be from unholy friendships, corrupt leaders, forsaking of your relationship with Jesus, acting like "everyone else", or losing your identity in Christ to the world. So how did Nehemiah fix these things?
1- Just like the first time, he grieved over the sin- and allowed that grief to initiate action...
Neh 13:8 And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber.
Neh 13:9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.
2- Next, he got tough:
Neh 13:11 Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.
Neh 13:12 Then brought all Judah the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil unto the treasuries.
3- Then, he closed the gates, and scared off the ones waiting to get in:
Neh 13:19 And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
Neh 13:20 So the merchants and sellers of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.
Neh 13:21 Then I testified against them, and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the sabbath.
(Subtitle this one, 'Stop messing around!')
4- Next, he made sin painful:
Neh 13:25 And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves.
(Subtitle this one, 'Remember the consequences')
5- Next, it was, "No excuses, remove the causes of sin":
Neh 13:28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me.
Dear Jesus, as I close this study, let me remember, there is no wall, no gate, no rule that can help me as much as YOU can. Because I love You, let me grieve at the sin I allow; help me guard against the influences that lead me astray; but most of all, lead my mind and heart to follow you, and bar my soul from sin.
