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.
------------------------------------
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.”
• No question asked. No consultation. No negotiation. No talk. Nehemiah wasted no time in throwing Tobiah’s stuff out of the Temple and consecrated the rooms.
• He restored everything back, bringing in the vessels, the grain offerings and the frankincense; everything used for the Temple worship was brought back.
Nehemiah has not changed, despite his long absence from Jerusalem. His passion for God’s glory in chapter 1 remains the same in chapter 13.
• While the priests, the Levites and the people drifted away from God so quickly over this period, Nehemiah’s commitment to please God remains undiminished with time.
• It is his life. It is a choice he made. Just like Joshua when he said, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Josh 24:15). “But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Staying faithful to God is a choice.
• Nehemiah and the people faced the same challenges, the same temptations, the same problems, the same enemies, but he chose to honour God and obey Him.
And why were these rooms vacant (and as such, allowing Tobiah to move in)?
• Nehemiah discovered a related problem. Read Neh 13:10-14.
The people had stopped bringing in their tithes and offerings to the Temple.
• And because there weren’t enough grains for the Levites and singers, they were forced to look for their own fields to support themselves.
• The priests are likely affected too because they survive on the tithes from the Levites.
This neglect resulted in those who were responsible for the Temple worship having to leave their posts to earn a living in the fields.
• Clearly the Temple worship was compromised, if not abandoned.
• Nehemiah rebuked them: “Why is the house of God neglected?” (13:11). It’s the exact reverse of what they promised: 10:39b “We will not neglect the house of our God.”
I find this quite a mockery. When they made the agreement before God, back in 9:38. You see how it was stressed: “In view of all this [the great things that God has done for us], we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it.”
Such a big fuss. All that they wrote in chapter 10 were compromised in chapter 13.
What’s the use of an agreement, putting in writing, having it sealed? What the use of a piece of paper? What the use of the marriage certificate or any contract, if we are not prepared to keep it.
All of these “papers” reflect the weakness of man, or the sin of man. We just cannot keep our promise. We cannot keep our word. Jesus says, let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matt 5:37, cf. 5:33-37). I would rather we seal it in our heart, not on paper.
Keep our word. If it is God’s will, we obey Him. We seek God’s grace to keep it.
This explained Nehemiah’s anger. It wasn’t just a problem of the lack of food for the Levites and singers. The Temple worship has been compromised.
The need to provide for the Levites wasn’t a man-made idea but the command of God, given to Moses for the people of Israel.
• They were instructed to take care of the Levites because of their dedicated call to serve in the house of God.
• Deut 12:19 “Be careful not to neglect the Levites as long as you live in your land.”
• Deut 14:27 “And do not neglect the Levites living in your towns, for they have no allotment or inheritance of their own.”
• Deut 18:1-5 “1The priests, who are Levites - indeed the whole tribe of Levi - are to have no allotment or inheritance with Israel. They shall live on the offerings made to the LORD by fire, for that is their inheritance. 2They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the LORD is their inheritance, as he promised them. [3This is the share due the priests from the people who sacrifice a bull or a sheep: the shoulder, the jowls and the inner parts. 4You are to give them the firstfruits of your grain, new wine and oil, and the first wool from the shearing of your sheep,] 5 for the LORD your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the LORD's name always.
Nehemiah restores everything back. He recalled the Levites and “stationed them at their posts” (13:11). And he got the people to bring in their tithes and offerings again.
• With the inflow of offerings coming in and the Levites and singers back on duty, the Temple worship can continue without interruption.
Nehemiah re-appointed new gatekeepers (treasurers) over the storehouses.
• Neh 13:13 “I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy (ESV reliable). They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.”
• 4 men – a priest, a scribe, a Levite and an assistant (layman). The only thing they had in common is this – they are all trustworthy, reliable.
• That’s the Parable of the Talents (Matt 25), whether you have 5 talents, 2 talents or 1 talent, given based on different abilities, we just use what is given and be faithful.
Nehemiah was wise to assign a team. Appointing 4 men means there is accountability and that attention will be given to the inflow and outflow of the supplies.
Building the wall is much easier. You work for 52 days and it’s done. Building a godly community takes much more. It has to do with relationship with God.
• As in all relationships, it takes time, effort and hard work. It’s not an event. It’s not for a day.
• Charles Spurgeon: “Godliness is a life-long business.” There is no quick fixes.
• We keep our guard up. We stay close to Jesus. We read His Word and understand His will. We listen to Him and stay vigilant.
Paul puts it this way - Phil 2:12-13 “12Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed - not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence - continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose.” It takes hard work but God will help us.
We are prone to wander, prone to leave the God we love.
• This is the line comes from the hymn, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, written by Robert Robinson. He was 22 years old when he penned these words in 1757. 4th stanza:
Oh, to grace how great a debtor, daily I'm constrained to be
Let that goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it; seal it for Thy courts above
May this be our prayer to God.
