NEHEMIAH: PRINCIPLES OF SEPARATION MUST BE PRESERVED.

    ‘They read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people that (no foreigners), Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the congregation of God.’ (Nehemiah 13:1) The temple of God was holy; no evil presence should spoil it. Moses’ book showed how ‘They had not met the children of Israel with bread and water; However, God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing.’ The bible links the past with present truth.

    They responded immediately, ‘So it was, that they separated the entire mixed multitude from Israel. (v3) The children of Israel had given their sons to be married to the children of the heathen; and their daughters to the sons of the heathen. This was contrary to the law of God Who said, ‘Love not the world, neither the things of the world.  If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. ‘Broken hearts followed the correct, yet costly separation that God had demanded.  God had also decreed, ‘That without holiness no man should see the Lord.’

    One of the priests, the source of the mischief, was Eliashib, meaning ‘The Lord will restore.’ (v4) He had allied himself with Tobiah, a perpetual enemy of Nehemiah, one who had opposed God in building the temple and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.  How could the man of God ally himself with such an evil person?  Did a son or daughter marry into Tobiah’s family; despite God’s clear warning? Never compromise godly standards, especially in arranged marriages, rather preserve purity in all our relationships.

   Our Lord Jesus began and concluded His ministry by purifying the Jewish temple, the holy place.  Our Lord is therefore the perfect Example; overturning the money changers; driving out the beasts, offered for sacrifice, and freeing the sacrificial doves.  He recognized the principle of purity. Christ incensed the temple authorities with His cleansing of the temple, so that they determined to take His life.  We too must purify our bodies, temples of the Holy Spirit, our food and drink, sexual activity reserved for marriage, noble leisure pursuits, daily relationships, and guarding all our faculties.

  Nehemiah was righteously angry with the priest, who ‘had prepared for Tobiah a large room; where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles
(presumably holy vestments), the tithes of grain, the new wine and the oil.’ (v5) Note that it was not a cubby house, but a large, significant storing place.  For an ungodly wretch.
 
    Note also the goods enclosed were each types of our Lord Jesus Christ. For example. Christ is the corn of wheat which fell into the ground and died (grain); He is the Great High Priest, shown in the frankincense; the white linen spoke of His righteousness; the new wine spoke of Him, the true Vine, of which we are the branches, and the new wine spoke of His precious cleansing blood; while the crushed olive produced the oil of the Holy Spirit, shed forth only after our Lord Jesus had been ‘bruised for our iniquities.’ These priceless commodities had been bundled out of the reserved room, making way for the evil Tobiah.

   The Levites, singers, gatekeepers, and priests suffered, for they were denied their offerings, and were compelled to seek secular employment to survive.’ (v6)

    All this mischief occurred while governor Nehemiah was in Babylon, possibly about 9 years.  Could they not be trusted in his absence? (v32) They held special celebrations for the 32nd year of Artaxerxes’ reign, in which he honoured the monarch, who released his trusted servant to his beloved Jerusalem.

When the governor arrived, he detected Eliashib’s mischief. (v7).  ‘He discovered the evil when that priest prepared a room for Tobiah in the courts of the house of the Lord.’   Everything has now been brought to the light of a righteous leader.  Moses had seen the evil of the golden calf when he came from the blazingly-holy Presence of the most High.  Nathan illustrated the offended holiness of God when he said to King David, ’You are the man’, guilty of adultery with Bathsheba and murder of Uriah. Peter had fallen before the Lord Jesus, saying, ‘Depart for me I am a sinful man.’   

    ‘Therefore it grieved me bitterly, Nehemiah sobbed. Therefore I dramatically threw out all the household goods of Tobiah.’ Nehemiah’s actions were clear.  Restoration followed, for “I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; (not just the initial one), for rebellion multiplies and sin reproduces, warranting quarantine procedures until the rooms had been purified. ‘Then he brought back into them the articles of the house of the Lord, with grain offering and frankincense. Nehemiah realised ‘that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them; for each of the Levites and the singers that did the work had gone back to his field, (v10) causing them to neglect the Lord’s special work.

    Nehemiah dignified his office as ‘He contended with the rulers, ‘Why is the house of God forsaken?’  And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.’ He disciplined his rulers, an example sorely essential in our generation.  Early generations in Australia commonly disciplined their members, recording in the family bible the crime and the term of disqualification.  And then the final grace record of repentance, reconciliation and restoration. Some old-fashioned holiness would heal many present, similar maladies.

    Deficiencies ended as ‘l Judah brought the grain and the new wine and the oil to the storehouse.’ (v12) ‘Them that honour Me I will honour says the Lord.’

   The governor’s intimate prayer life shone through when he prayed, ‘Remember me. Oh my GOD, (repeated three times) concerning this, and do not blot out my good deeds, which I have done for the house of my God and for its services. ’ We should aim to reach the Lord in the cherished recesses of our heart, for our God rejoices in such closeness.

   This chapter highlighted the authority of God’s Word; abstaining from ’mixed marriages,’ maintaining the purity of the temple of God;  restoring all that has been devalued; and preserving a rich closeness with our heavenly Father and the beloved Son.   

          How does every area of your life shape up to the principles of God’s holy word?
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               These Principles will be continued in the following study.