Nehemiah 13

Nehemiah 13:1

The story of Balaam can be found in Numbers 23-24. The Israelites read the account and decided that the thing to do was to obey the Word of God. They had intermarried with Ammonites and Moabites, which God had forbidden. The children of Israel realized they must put them out of the land.

Nehemiah 13:4

Oh, oh! Here was the high priest, through the marriage of his son or daughter, allied to the house of Tobiah. The high priest himself had disobeyed God in this important matter of separation. God had strictly forbidden intermarriage with the heathen. God, I think, had given them a very humorous illustration of it; in fact, a real cartoon, which was that they should never plow with an ox and an ass hitched together. You see, an ox is a clean beast and an ass is an unclean beast. They are not to be yoked together. The believer and the unbeliever should not be yoked together, either. I know a man in business today who is paying an awful price for a partnership that he made before his eyes were opened to this principle. We should not be unequally yoked together in marriage or business.

Nehemiah 13:5

The priest had turned over the temple storage room to Tobiah. They no longer brought the offerings of the people to the storage place. Instead they cleaned it out, put down a nice shag rug, some lovely furniture, a king-sized bed, and invited old Tobiah to come in. They told him he could have the room any time he wanted it.

Nehemiah 13:6

All this happened while Nehemiah was away. I love this man Nehemiah. He said, “We are going to get rid of Tobiah. He is not going to be in the house of God!” Remember that our Lord commended the church at Ephesus when He said to them, “…thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars” (Rev_2:2). So Nehemiah went to the temple, got Tobiah’s suitcase, and pitched it out of the window. He said to Tobiah, “You are not staying here any more. You will receive no more free rent.”

Nehemiah 13:9

Nehemiah had the chambers fumigated! Once again the rooms were put into order for their original purpose in the service of God. But Nehemiah did not stop there.

Nehemiah 13:10

The Levites who served in the temple had not been properly supported; so they had to get a job working in the fields. God’s service, therefore, had been neglected. I believe today that many ministers are being asked to do more work than they can handle. Many a minister is having to neglect the study of God’s Word because his church wants him to be an administrator and practically everything else. He needs help with the responsibilities of the church so that he will be free to study and pray. I love Nehemiahand I think now you will discover why. He said the preacher ought to have a raise. He tells them, “You are going to bring in the tithe that belongs here and see that these men are taken care of who are in the service of God.” My! I love a layman like thatand God approved it, by the way.

Nehemiah 13:14

Nehemiah asked God to record what he had done, and the Lord did just that; here it is in His Word. Nehemiah also found out that the people were doing something elsethey were breaking the Sabbath day.

Nehemiah 13:15

They came in from the seacoast bringing fish.

Nehemiah 13:17

The nobles are the ones who permitted this.

Nehemiah 13:18

Nehemiah reminded the people of God’s wrath which had previously been visited upon the nation for doing just what they were presently doing.

Nehemiah 13:19

Just before the Sabbath, at sunset, Nehemiah commanded that the gates be shut. The merchants came with their wares thinking they could sell them. Nehemiah crawled up on the wall to see if the merchants had come, and there they were waiting outside the gates. They came on the first Sabbath that the gates were closed, and they came on the second Sabbath and the gates were closed. Then Nehemiah told them, “If you come here again, I will come out after you.” They knew he meant business, and they came no more. Now another transgression comes to Nehemiah’s attention.

Nehemiah 13:23

Nehemiah discovers Jews who had married women from heathen nations. Nehemiah “contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair”! When it says that he “cursed” them, it doesn’t mean that he swore at them, but that he pronounced a curse upon them. And he made them swear that they would not continue to intermarry with foreigners. He was using extreme measures, but they were needed. Revival, you see, will always lead to reformation. When there is a revival, everything that needs cleaning up will be cleaned up. The only way that our nation can solve the problems that it faces is by a revival among the people of God. Nehemiah concludes by saying:

Nehemiah 13:29

These verses summarize Nehemiah’s great contributions to the spiritual well-being of his people. All foreigners were removed from positions of honor and responsibility, and the priests and Levites were given back their proper occupations. The offerings for the temple were resumed. Nehemiah’s final words are, “Remember me, O my God, for good.” Our Lord wonderfully answered his prayer by recording his work in His Word, which is a permanent remembrance. God remembers him for good. And I remember Nehemiah for good. I hope you do, too. He was a great layman of God.