Chapter 13
This chapter continues the "flashback", opening with the reading of the Book of Moses. They figured out that they were not to intermarry with Ammon and Moab, because these are the ones who hired Balaam to curse Israel. Once they realized it, they "undid" the damage.
Vs 4 starts with "Now before this..." Seems to mean before the celebration of the completion of the walls. It talks about Eliashib making room in the temple for Tobiah. (MSB note refers us back to Neh 2:10. Tobiah was an Ammonite. Eliashib made it possible for an Ammonite merchant to live in the temple of God. Surely there was room in Jerusalem for him to have a regular house!)
Then vs 6 makes it look like this incident with Eliashib and Tobiah happened much later, while Nehemiah was back in Persia, as he had promised the King. So I can't really decipher the chronology. Almost has to be later. Because Nehemiah says that he returned from Persia yet again, and when he got to Jerusalem, he discovered what Eliashib had done.
Yes, we seem to be seeing the condition of things in 32 of Artaxerxes, as Nehemiah returned the second time. Vs 10 says that the people had stopped supporting the Levites, so that these Levites had to go "home" and farm their own land to survive. The singing and caring for the temple had been abandoned by the people. Nehemiah remedies this, after chastising those who were "leading" the people. Nehemiah also puts "better" people in charge of storage and distribution of the tithes that support the Levites.
2023 - This in vs 11: 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. [Neh 13:11 ESV]. Things had gotten very slack in Jerusalem since Nehemiah went back to Persia. He is angered upon his return that the people are behaving just like they did before the Babylonian captivity, doing the exactly the things that had angered God so much he gave them over to Babylon. It seems that without a strong leader, an almost taskmaster to keep them doing as they ought to do, Israel quickly, predictably, constantly abandons their God and begins to worship whatever other god might be available. I think this can all be traced back to them not knowing what they ought to do. They have the scroll of Moses, but they don't read it. How can they do as they should if they don't know what that is? This is the case with so many Christians today who have Bibles that gather dust. I too was one of these, and I am sure there was much more sin in my life because of my neglect of the word. And sin has consequences, so surely there were more problems in my life and in my family because of my neglect. But I found that it is never too late to start reading the Bible. There are dozens if not hundreds of reading plans available. You don't have to read it in a year if you don't have that kind of time and many do not. Read it in two years - here is a GREAT plan to do that: https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/two-year-bible-reading-plan/. Or read it in five years if that's what it takes! Yep, it's out there: https://www.elimcarlisle.org/reading-plan-bible-in-5-years/. Here's another thing. There are no "Bible reading police" out there to make you wait until January 1 to start this, and you do not get a ticket if you miss a day and have to catch up the next day! Life happens, but it won't keep you from reading your Bible...it just modifies your schedule sometimes! Start today, and just keep going! This passage in Nehemiah shows how quickly, how inevitably Israel falls into sin and idolatry when they don't "read their Bible". We ought not be so arrogant as to say the same won't happen to us.
Possible FB post for...way out there.
And for a second time, he prays that God will remember him for his deeds, for his part in setting this all up. Perhaps this prayer is here to inform us all that it is our responsibility to pay the tithes, because they support the constant worship of God, rather than just the Sunday worship of God? And it may be letting us know that God will bless those who support ongoing worship by giving not just the tithe, but going beyond the minimum.
vs 15 says the people were also profaning the Sabbath by working, by buying and selling from the Tyrians, and so on. This verse:
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." [Neh 13:18 ESV]
Nehemiah sees the pattern repeating. So at least one man recognized that they were making the same old mistakes again, and reminds them of what the consequences were the first time! They knew. They kept on. At this point, I believe it had to be this way because God's wrath required double punishment. I believe they were already spiraling down to the attitudes that would lead to the crucifixion, the rejection of their own Messiah, and to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 AD. So many were killed at that time because the sin was so great, and because God's purpose was to reduce Israel to a remnant.
Nehemiah, as governor, requires that the city gates be locked as the Sabbath starts, and stay locked until after, and he orders the merchants to stop coming that day. So...he makes the people plan ONE DAY AHEAD, so that they have no need to buy or sell on the Sabbath. How hard is that, really? And then again, Nehemiah prays that God will remember his efforts in regard to keeping the Sabbath. So the prayers are:
1. Neh 5:19, As Governor, he did not tax the people for his own support, but instead, gave of his own to support many.
2. Neh 13:14, His effort to restore the support of the Levites who kept the house of God, and continually worshiped.
3. Neh 13: 22b, His efforts to honor the Sabbath by prohibiting buying and selling on that day.
These may not be the only three, but they are the only ones I remember today. This would be an excellent, though long, FB post for how politicians ought to behave! Would need to re-read the book, and make sure I haven't missed any prayers. Just because there are "three", which seems just right, doesn't mean that's all their are! (Nope, that's not all. Last sentence of last verse of the book: "Remember me, O my God, for good.)
Nehemiah also finds the people intermarrying with women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Yet again. It hadn't been that long since they'd "undone" this mistake. But it's worse - vs 24 says half the children of these marriages didn't even speak Hebrew, but only the language of their mothers. This seems to have angered Nehemiah most of all. This is a bit long, but his anger about this should be taken seriously:
25 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. 26 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. [Neh 13:25-26 ESV]
He beats some because of this. He reminds them of the "why". He makes them swear to stop doing this. Even the wisest of the wise, King Solomon, was undermined by the worship of his wives. So will we be.
This was about keeping Israel pure as a race. This was not about racism. These races were not inferior, they were pagan! It was about their gods, not about their race or nationality. Those who turn these verses into racism are in error. Further, this was about preserving Israel - whom Satan has tried repeatedly to annihilate, and he will keep doing so right into the end times when he pursues the woman with the child. He knows that his time will end when the covenant is fulfilled, and has tried from the beginning to preclude that fulfilling. This is not about white people, black people, and Asian people being "pure races". Not even close.
2023 - But you need the context of the whole story of Israel, not just this one verse, to understand what it really means.