What happened during Nehemiah’s absence
13
📚On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and it was found written that the Ammonite and the Moabite 📖 should never come into the congregation of God, 2 📚because they did not meet the children of Israel with food and water 📖, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However our God turned the curse into a blessing 📖. 3 📚Now it came about when they heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 4 📚And before this, Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God, was closely associated with Tobiah. 5 📚And he had provided for him a large room, where previously they had put the grain offerings, the frankincense and the vessels and the tithes of grain, the new wine and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and the offerings of the priests.
13:4-5 Here was a man in a very responsible position who acted as a traitor to his people and to God. Tobiah was a fierce enemy of the Jews and fought God’s work tooth and nail – Neh 2:10; 4:3; 6:1, 17, 18. We are not told what was behind Eliashib’s action. Perhaps there was a marriage alliance with Tobiah’s family. Perhaps money was involved. Whatever the reason it is a warning of how low the most respected and trusted people can sometimes sink. He gave a place on God’s temple compound to one of the greatest enemies of the Jews! And in a room formerly used for the things of God! This is what betrayal of Bible truth and principles will bring. Compare 2 Thess 2:3-4. An essential principle for every believer is found in Eph 4:27.⚜
6 📚But during this whole time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon 📖 I went to the king. But after some days I obtained leave from the king, 7 📚and came to Jerusalem, and came to know of the evil thing Eliashib was doing for Tobiah, in providing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. 8 📚And I was very grieved, so I threw all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the room.
13:8 Nehemiah was a man of action – v 25. He could not see God’s enemies having a place in the courtyard of God’s temple and do nothing about it. He believed in fighting sin and evil instead of passively accepting it. Every generation needs a host of such men. Compare Matt 21:12-13; Acts 5:1-11; 1 Cor 5:1-5.⚜
9 📚Then I commanded that the rooms be purified, and they purified the rooms. And I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
13:9 The presence of the Ammonite Tobiah defiled the rooms he entered. All parts of the temple and its compound were to be used only for holy purposes. This is true also of God’s spiritual temple – 1 Cor 3:16-17; 6:13, 19, 20; 2 Cor 7:1.⚜
Nehemiah’s reforms
10 📚And I learned that the portions for the Levites had not been given to them, for each one of the Levites and the singers, who had been doing the work, had gone off to his field. 11 📚So I reprimanded the leaders, and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together, and set them in their places.
13:10-11 They were breaking their oath – Neh 10:37-39. It is much easier to make vows than to keep them.⚜
12 📚Then all Judah brought the tithe of grain and new wine and oil to the storerooms.
13:12 People often respond when leaders take a firm stand.⚜
13 📚And I appointed Shelemiah the priest, and Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah among the Levites, to be in charge of the storerooms, and next to them Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful 📖, and their duty was to distribute portions to their brethren.
14 📚Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds which I have done for the house of my God, and for its services.
15 📚In those days I saw in Judah some treading the wine presses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys, also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of loads, which they were bringing into Jerusalem on the Sabbath 📖 day. And I warned them about selling provisions on that day. 16 📚Also living there were people from Tyre who brought fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah in Jerusalem.
17 📚Then I reprimanded 📖 the nobles of Judah, and said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 18 📚Did not your fathers act so, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you are bringing more wrath 📖 on Israel by profaning the Sabbath”.
19 📚And it came about just before the Sabbath, when it grew dark 📖 at the gates of Jerusalem, I gave a command 📖 that the gates be shut, and ordered that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I placed some of my servants at the gates, so that no load would be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 So once or twice the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. 21 📚Then I reprimanded them and said to them, “Why are you spending the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will seize you”. From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. 22 📚And I commanded the Levites to purify 📖 themselves, and to go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember 📖 me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy.
23 📚In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, from Ammon, and from Moab. 24 📚And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, or the language of one or the other people, and could not speak the Jews’ language.
13:24 Now when believers marry unbelievers (a thing forbidden to Christians – 2 Cor 6:14-18), the children will not know whether to speak the language of faith or the language of unbelief. This is one of the tragedies of mixed marriages.⚜
25 📚And I reprimanded them and pronounced a curse against them, and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them take an oath in God’s name, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons, or for yourselves.
13:25 Deut 25:2. Sometimes strong measures must be taken to root out evil. But the measures Christians now take must not be violent ones, but spiritual and practical ones.⚜
26 📚Did not Solomon king of Israel sin in these things? Yet among the many nations there was no king like him, who was loved by his God, and whom God made king over all Israel. Nevertheless foreign women caused even him to sin. 27 📚Shall we then hear about you that you are doing all this great evil, being unfaithful to our God by marrying strange wives?”
13:27 What some people think of as hardly a sin at all was in the eyes of this man of God “great evil”. This is one difference between those who live close to God and those who do not.⚜
28 📚And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I drove him away from me.
13:28 Here is another example of evil compromise. A grandson of the high priest married to a daughter of Sanballat (Neh 2:10; 4:1, 7, 8)! Compare 2 Chron 18:1.⚜
29 📚Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 📚Thus I cleansed them from all foreigners, and appointed the duties of the priests and the Levites, each one in his service,
13:30 Ezra and Nehemiah in enforcing the principles of God’s law in the face of the sinful compromise of men such as Eliashib were instruments in God’s hands to preserve the faith in the land of Israel.⚜
31 📚and for bringing the wood offering and the firstfruits at the appointed times. Remember me, O my God 📖, for good.