Complacency And Compromise Series

It will be so good if this book ends with chapter 12 on a high and glorious note.

• With the city rebuilt and the people celebrating the completion with a grand dedication service, and the sound of rejoicing and praise reaching beyond Jerusalem.

• The chapter ended with the Levites and priests back at their respective posts serving the Lord in the Temple and the people bringing in their tithes and offerings.

• 12:47 “So in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside the portion for the other Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron.”

• The Temple chambers (storerooms) are amply supplied to meet the needs of those who are serving, namely the Levites and priests.

This would have been an ‘almost perfect’ end to this book, but sadly history tells us otherwise. The people failed to keep their promises and stay faithful. Read Neh 13:1-9.

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Neh 13 happened sometime later. Nehemiah left the scene after chapter 12.

• 13:6-7 “But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7and came back to Jerusalem.”

• Nehemiah came in the 20th year and left in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes. He spent 12 years in Jerusalem as the governor of Judah, he mentioned in 5:14.

• He went back to the King in Susa for a period of time. We do not know for how long he was gone, but “some time later” (13:6) he returned to Jerusalem.

And this was what he saw – chapter 13 – the people had fallen back to their old ways.

• He mentioned FOUR problems that had resurfaced: (1) the priests had become corrupt, (2) the tithes were not brought in, (3) the Sabbath rest was ignored, and (4) the people had intermarried with foreigners and following their practices.

• Looking at all that has happened, Nehemiah’s absence was probably long.

• These are not small mistakes or deviations that can happened overnight.

Sadly they are NOT even a new set of problems. They are problems that we’ve read the early chapters of Ezra and Nehemiah. These are old habits resurfacing.

• And it was not that they do not understand God’s ways.

• They had the Law read out to them in chapter 8. They were reminded and they confessed their sin in chapter 9. They renewed their vows before God in chapter 10.

• And these are their pledges: To obey God’s commands, not to intermarry with foreigners, observe the Sabbath rest, not to neglect the needs of the house of God.

• We see a reversal of all these in chapter 13.

It’s easy to make promises. To keep them is another thing.

• We can be passionate when we take a stand, but staying on course is quite a different matter altogether.

• We can be singing and praising God one moment, but to remain faithful and obedient to God is completely a different thing.

• We can say our vows on a wedding day in a minute, but to keep them takes a lifetime.

• We cannot let our guard down. When complacency sets in, compromises happen.

Nehemiah saw the corruption of the priesthood (13:4-9).

• Eliashib, the high priest, with whom Nehemiah had worked with in the rebuilding (Neh 3), was influenced by Tobiah, an Ammonite, a foreigner and Nehemiah’s old enemy.

• He provided Tobiah with a large room in the Temple that was to be used to store the offerings of the people and the material used for the worship (incense and articles).

The high priest should have known better, but 13:4 “He was closely associated with Tobiah.” They were friends. And Tobiah had great influence.

• 6:17-19 “17Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shecaniah son of Arah (FIL Jewish), and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah (DIL Jewish). 19Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds [impressive works] and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.”

• Tobiah has status and connections among the nobles of Judah. He was VIP of Judah.

Nehemiah’s response? When he got to know of this desecration:

• 13:7b-9 “Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased (ESV very angry) and threw all Tobiah's household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.”