In some ways I wish that the book of Nehemiah had ended with chapter 12. There we saw the prepared, participating, purified passionate praise of the people that permeated their culture. No doubt that was one of those mountaintop experiences that we find throughout the Scriptures.
On the other hand I’m glad that the Bible is realistic enough to show that we can’t live on the mountaintops all the time. And this is certainly what we see in Nehemiah chapter 13. So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to the last chapter of the book of Nehemiah.
Let’s set the stage a bit before we dive into the text. As I mentioned at the very beginning of our journey through Nehemiah, the first 12 chapters of the book record the events that take place over a time period of less than one year. The events recorded in those chapters begin with Nehemiah praying and preparing to return to Jerusalem to lead the rebuilding of the walls. Then after a journey that probably took several months, Nehemiah arrives at Jerusalem and, after surveying the conditions, leads the people in the process of rebuilding the walls. In spite of constant opposition, the construction is completed in only 52 days.
Several days later the people assemble to listen to Ezra read the Scriptures and the people respond by obeying what they hear and they observe the Feast of Booths a short time later. After that the people gather to confess their sins and then make a covenant with God to obey His Word. In that covenant in chapter 10, the people make 4 promises to God:
• They promise to submit to God’s Word
• They promise to live in a manner that is distinct from the surrounding nations
• They promise to observe the Sabbath as God commanded
• They promise to take care of God’s house – the Temple
You’ll want to keep those promises in mind as we look at chapter 13 this morning.
Finally, in chapters 11 and 12, we see the people gather once again and engage in passionate corporate worship.
Although there is a bit of ambiguity about the exact order in which the events in chapter 13 take place, we can get a pretty good idea of the general time frame. Look with me at verses 6 and 7:
While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem…
(Nehemiah 13:6-7 ESV)
We know from chapter 2 that Nehemiah originally travelled to Jerusalem in the 20th year of the reign of King Artaxerxes. So after serving for governor there for 12 years, Nehemiah returned to his duties in Susa. Sometime later – we’re not exactly sure how long – Nehemiah apparently retires from his service to the king and returns to Jerusalem. As we’ll see this morning, during his absence, the people had turned away from the commitments they had made to God, so Nehemiah is returning to a Jerusalem that is much different than the one he left a few years earlier. It is probably during this time that the prophet Malachi ministers and he addresses many of the same issues Nehemiah is going to confront on his return.
So with that background in mind, let’s read through chapter 13 together. I’m only going to make a few brief comments as we read through the chapter and then we’ll wrap up by developing some principles that we can apply in our own lives.
On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.
(Nehemiah 13:1-3 ESV)
The phrase “on that day” is the one that leads to some ambiguity when it comes to the exact order things took place. It’s pretty evident this is not on the same day as the worship gathering in chapter 12, but rather takes place after Nehemiah’s return to Jerusalem. And it seems likely that based on the first phrase in verse 4 that this takes place after the events in the rest of chapter 13.
While we don’t have time this morning to explore this section in great detail, what we do note here again is that the people immediately took action to obey God’s Word when they were exposed to it.
Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 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. While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
(Nehemiah 13:4-9 ESV)
Notice that this next section begins with the phrase “Now before this…” That seems to imply that the events in the rest of the chapter took place before what we just saw in the first 3 verses of the chapter.
When Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem, he finds that Eliashib, the priest, has profaned the house of God by taking a place that was to be used for holy purposes and turning it into living quarters for the man who had been the enemy of the Jews in Jerusalem since the beginning of the rebuilding project – Tobiah. Apparently Eliashib had made that accommodation to Tobiah because he was somehow related to him. And as we see later in the chapter, this was not the only way Eliashib had conspired with Judah’s enemies through intermarriage:
And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
(Nehemiah 13:28-29 ESV)
Nehemiah’s reaction here reminds us of how Jesus dealt with those who profaned the Temple during His earthly ministry. Both of them responded with righteous anger at the way God’s house had been profaned.
But Nehemiah also takes the additional step of putting into place a plan to prevent that from happening again by cleansing the chambers and bringing back the sacred vessels that had been removed.
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. 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. Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.
(Nehemiah 13:10-14 ESV)
The next thing Nehemiah discovers is that the people were no longer making provision for the operation of the Temple, so the Levites and singers had returned to their fields in order to provide for their families. So the corporate worship of the people had been impaired as a result.
Once again, Nehemiah’s response is twofold. First he directly confronts the sin and then he puts into place a plan to make sure it didn’t happen again. And the people immediately responded by once again bringing their tithes into the storehouses.
We also see here the first of three prayers in this chapter in which Nehemiah asks God to remember him and what he is doing. Each of those prayers may seem a bit self-serving to us. But given what we’ve seen in the entire book, I believe Nehemiah is actually acknowledging his own frailty and his dependence on God and not on his own actions in his relationship with God.
So far, we have seen that the people have violated two of the vows they had made to God back in chapter 10 – the promise to submit to His Word and the promise to take care of God’s house. In the next section, we’ll see them violate a third vow - their promise to follow God’s commands concerning the Sabbath.
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. 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! Then I confronted the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day? 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.”
As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day. Then the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I warned them and said to them, “Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you.” From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves and come and guard the gates, to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.
(Nehemiah 13:15-22 ESV)
Once again we see Nehemiah address this sin in two steps. He first confronts the sin head on. He reminds the people that the whole reason they had be conquered by the Babylonians and taken into exile is that they had profaned the Sabbath.
But apparently there were still some who didn’t recognize the seriousness of their sin and who thought maybe they could get away with selling their good just outside the city walls on the Sabbath. So once again, Nehemiah takes the second step of putting into place a plan to minimize the possibility of the people reverting right back into that sin.
And once again, Nehemiah prays and asks God to remember his actions. In this prayer, we really see Nehemiah’s humility and his understanding of his need of God’s grace and mercy.
The people have now violated three of the four vows they made back in chapter 10. They are now about to make it four for four:
In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 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. And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves. Did not Solomon king of Israel sin on account of such women? Among the many nations there was no king like him, and he was beloved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless, foreign women made even him to sin. Shall we then listen to you and do all this great evil and act treacherously against our God by marrying foreign women?”
(Nehemiah 13:23-27 ESV)
In spite of their promise not to do so, the people had continued to intermarry with the surrounding nations. And as a result half their children couldn’t even understand the Hebrew and Aramaic language that would have allowed them to participate in the worship of the community.
Once again, we see Nehemiah confront the sin. Obviously this was a serious sin in God’s eyes and it required a serious response. But I’ll be real honest here. To me, it seems like Nehemiah takes his confrontation a bit too far, even to the extent of beating people and pulling out their hair. What I can say confidently is that this passage is not carte blanche approval for us to confront sin in the same manner. But at the same time it does point out the need to sometimes take drastic actions when somebody is about to sin in a manner that is going to do significant, lasting harm.
And, not surprisingly, we also see Nehemiah put into place a specific plan to keep the people from returning to their sin. He reminded them of how intermarrying had been Solomon’s downfall and led to the destruction of the unified commonwealth of Israel. And then he made them swear a public oath before God that they would no longer engage in that practice.
We’ve already looked at verses 28-29, so let’s skip ahead to verse 30:
Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
(Nehemiah 13:30-31 ESV)
Nehemiah closes the book by summarizing how he had put in place plans to help the people remain faithful to God. And he also points out that he hadn’t just told everyone else how to remain faithful to God, he was doing that in his own personal life by providing for the needs of the worshiping community out of his own personal resources. And then he closes with one last prayer, asking God to remember him once again.
In many ways the book of Nehemiah has been a picture of the entire history of Israel and, if we’re honest, a picture of our spiritual lives, both individually and corporately. There are those times of brokenness that require a major rebuilding effort. And often out of those times of rebuilding we come to those mountaintop experiences in which we naturally break into spontaneous worship and praise. But we can’t live on the mountaintops for long, so we often return to those valleys where we feel so far from God and find it hard to live in obedience to Him.
To me, what Nehemiah shows as much as anything is that ultimately our relationship with God hinges largely on how we handle those valleys and especially how we ultimately remain faithful to God even after we’ve failed Him. So let’s wrap up this chapter and the book by discussing three important actions we can take to help us do that.
HOW TO REMAIN FAITHFUL TO GOD
• Turn my preferences into convictions
The great Bible teacher Howard Hendricks once described the difference between beliefs and convictions like this:
A belief is something you will argue about. A conviction is something you will die for!
Interestingly, in the 1972 case of Wisconsin vs. Yoder, the Supreme Court actually came to that some conclusion. In that case, the Court concluded that the only religious beliefs protected under the Constitution are convictions, not preferences. In their opinion the justices said that every religious belief a person has is either a conviction or a preference. If a person is willing to even discuss the negotiation of one’s faith, then it is merely a preference. By contrast a conviction is non-negotiable.
Even more specifically, the Court said that for a belief to be considered a conviction, a person must be prepared to die for that belief. If the threat of death can cause you to change your belief, then it is nothing more than a preference. It may be a very strong preference, but it doesn’t pass the test of a conviction.
The writer of Hebrews confirms the idea that faith is not merely a matter of preferences, it is a matter of convictions:
Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.
(Hebrews 11:1 ESV)
The Jews of Nehemiah’s day had lots of preferences, but very few convictions. They even expressed those preferences in a covenant with God that they signed publicly. And I’m sure they did that with every intention of fulfilling that covenant. But at some point those commitments became inconvenient.
• For Eliashib, the priest, it was easier to just keep the peace in the family by allowing Tobiah to live in a room in the Temple that should have been used for holy purposes.
• Though the people knew God’s command concerning the Sabbath, they began to look for ways to get around those rules for their own convenience. At first they just began to buy what the merchants of Tyre were selling. After all those merchants weren’t Jews so they weren’t subject to the Sabbath restrictions so just buying their goods wasn’t technically violating the Sabbath. Besides some of what they were buying was food that would spoil if they waited to buy it the next day. Eventually the Jews saw what an economic hardship it was for them to compete against all these foreigners who could sell their goods an extra day every week, so they began to compromise their beliefs.
• The people knew they were to contribute to the operation of the Temple, but they were struggling financially so they just gradually quit giving their firstfruits and their tithes until everyone had stopped giving altogether.
• The people knew they were not to intermarry, but the economic and political benefits they derived from those arrangements were just too hard to give up.
It is ultimately our convictions that determine our conduct. When we first become Christians often our conduct is based on what are told or what we see other Christians modeling for us. So we might read the Bible, or pray or gather for worship merely for those reasons. That is fine for a new Christian. After all that’s the same way little children learn. But if we don’t mature and begin to turn those preferences into convictions, when we face difficulties and trials in our lives we’re going to be just like the Jews of Nehemiah’s day and return to what is most familiar and convenient and easy.
We could probably spend an entire message just dealing with how to develop convictions. But let me just day for now that developing convictions must always begin with an unwavering commitment to the Word of God. The only convictions that will last are those that are based on the truth of God’s Word. That is why Jesus prayed this for all of us:
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.
(John 17:17 ESV)
In many ways, sanctification is just another word for developing convictions. That is what happens when we are set apart for service to God. And the way we are sanctified is by the truth of God’s Word.
• Develop a plan to contend
Remaining faithful to God doesn’t just happen on its own. It takes hard work. A couple of New Testament passages from Jude and Paul certainly remind us of that.
Beloved, although I was very eager to write to you about our common salvation, I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints. For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
(Jude 1:3-4 ESV)
Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
(Philippians 2:12-13 ESV)
Nehemiah certainly understood that so he developed some very practical, concrete plans that he put in place to help the people remain faithful to God. Since those plans were specific to the unique circumstances he faced, we can’t just use his same plans, but we certainly can benefit from the overall principle.
Each of us have our own areas of life where we struggle with remaining faithful to God. We each have unique areas where we’re working to develop convictions. So our plans are going to look quite different. But the key thing to take away from our study today is to make sure we do have specific, practical plans that both serve as gatekeepers to protect us from reverting to sin in those areas where we tend to struggle and also provide positive steps we can take to develop practical ways to follow God in our everyday lives.
• Take pause to connect
Throughout the book of Nehemiah, there is a lot of attention given to the Sabbath. While we are no longer under the Old Testament regulations concerning the Sabbath, the concept of Sabbath rest is certainly relevant to us.
Once again we don’t have time to even scratch the surface when it comes to the idea of Sabbath rest. But the Old Testament Scriptures reveal two important aspects of the Sabbath:
• It is a time of physical rest that is based on God’s example in creation. Obviously God didn’t need to rest from His work of creation because He was tired. He rested because His work of creation was finished. With the Sabbath, God is teaching us is that there also needs to be a limit to our work – a time when we let go and let the body, mind and spirit recognize their limitations and to be content with that and rest.
• The second aspect of the Sabbath is that it was to be a time to remember God bringing His people out of bondage in Egypt. It was to be a reminder that God had done for His people what they could not do for themselves.
When we don’t take time to connect with God in that manner, we become much more vulnerable to sin our tendency to stray from God. I certainly know that is true in my own life. When I don’t take time to rest my body and mind I am much more prone to give into temptation and sin. And when I fail to take time to focus on what God has done for me through Jesus, I am also much more likely to rebel against God.
The Sabbath was also a time for the Jews to connect with their fellow Jews. God didn’t design them nor did He design us to live in isolation. We need each other in order to remain faithful to God. And when we forsake the assembling together with our brothers and sisters in Christ we are just setting ourselves up for failure. That is certainly a principle that we’ve seen consistently in Nehemiah.
The book of Nehemiah is a great reminder of how important it is to put these kinds of safeguards into place and into practice in our lives. Remaining faithful to God is not easy, but if we’ll turn our preferences into convictions, develop a plan to contend and take pause to connect with God and with each other, it is something that is possible for us to do consistently, even if we can’t do it perfectly. And I am confident that a life lived liked that will give glory to God and be a blessing for us.
