Seeds for 11/11/2024 - Nehemiah 13:1-31
This is the final entry on the book of Nehemiah. It covers the whole of chapter 13 because the main themes run throughout. Watch for an announcement tomorrow about future plans for Seeds of Faith. I’m excited about what’s next and I’m excited to share it with you.
Scripture:
1 On that day the Book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people and there it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be admitted into the assembly of God, 2 because they had not met the Israelites with food and water but had hired Balaam to call a curse down on them. (Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing.) 3 When the people heard this law, they excluded from Israel all who were of foreign descent.
4 Before this, Eliashib the priest had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was closely associated with Tobiah, 5 and he had provided him with a large room formerly used to store the grain offerings and incense and temple articles, and also the tithes of grain, new wine and olive oil prescribed for the Levites, musicians and gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
6 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 7 and came back to Jerusalem. 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 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.
10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and musicians responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts…
14 Remember me for this, my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services…
28 One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest was son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. And I drove him away from me.
29 Remember them, my God, because they defiled the priestly office and the covenant of the priesthood and of the Levites.
30 So I purified the priests and the Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task. 31 I also made provision for contributions of wood at designated times, and for the firstfruits.
Remember me with favor, my God.
Observation:
The book of Nehemiah tells an incredible story of vision, determination, prayerful dependency, faithful action, and community restoration. We might appreciate if it concluded nicely at the end of chapter 12 with a pleasant “happily ever after” ending. However, that is not what we get. Instead with have a curious and compelling postscript.
This is a challenging chapter, particularly due to the references about excluding from Israel all those of foreign descent. There is a tension in this particular passage with the message of the scripture as a whole and the Gospel in particular that crosses racial, ethnic, cultural, and national boundaries. We need look no further than Matthew’s Gospel to see this. In the genealogy (1:1-17), Matthew’s inclusion of women at various junctures points to people and stories that indicate inclusion of persons from outside of Israel into the people of God and into God’s concern for all.
Additionally, the Great Commission at the conclusion of Matthew’s Gospel (28:16-20) explicitly commands making disciples of Jesus of all nations and people groups, clearly disallowing ethnic in-group preference among the followers of Jesus. As Paul says in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Unity in Christ supersedes the categories of ethnicity, class/status, and sex/gender that otherwise sort people according to worldly thinking.
This is a good example of stumbling onto a passage that we should recognize as requiring context and curiosity in order to understand it faithfully.
One thing to note is that the people discover a command that is context-specific concerning Ammonites and Moabites, but rather than considering the situation and discerning a contextually relevant application, they simply ban all persons of foreign descent. This seems like an over-generalization of a specific statute that had a particular contextual reasoning.
That’s not all. They have empowered their antagonist Tobiah, failed to give the portions required to the Levites and others to support the services in the house of God, and defiled the priestly office by mixing with opponents of the Israelites (which seems to be the point Nehemiah refers to in verse 30).
It seems sad that this chapter needed writing, but I’m glad Nehemiah added it. It serves as a stark reminder of our propensity to backslide. We experience revival and spiritual renewal, yet we must tend the fire lest it die back down again. Nehemiah had to go back and rekindle the spark of authentic, vibrant faith that the people had let die down.
In sharing this chapter, Nehemiah reminds us how frustrating it can be to do so much good, but see it fade. Still, Nehemiah presses on to work for continued faithfulness, even as he asks God to remember what he has done.
Application:
When have you had to rekindle the fire of revival or renewal after noticing it had faded?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, help me to face honestly the challenges of keeping spiritual renewal alive and work in me to keep the fire burning. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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Looking forward to your new study 😃