We shall conclude
the study of the book of Nehemiah of
the Old Testament this week.
Nehemiah began listing the names of priests and Levites among the batch of returnees that accompanied Zerubbabel and then he extended the list to name those descendants who continued to serve in his time. As much as they were names, most of which are not necessarily familiar to us, let’s quietly read through the list and ask the Holy Spirit to enlighten us in its reading:
(1) First, in vv. 1-9 he listed the names of the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel and it is important to remember that most of these are family names and should not be confused with the names of individuals. Therefore Ezra in v. 1 would not be the Ezra who returned some 20 years later, but the family name of one of the priest families. With this long list of names, somehow Nehemiah singled out some of them to tell us that they were “in charge of the songs of thanksgiving” (12:8). What might be the reason for such an emphasis? (See 11:23)
(2) Then, in vv. 10-11, he gave us a list of the high priests, from Jeshua to Jaddua, roughly from 538 B.C. to well after 400 B.C. As we have already studied the book of Ezra and are drawing near the end of the book of Nehemiah, consider the following:
a. Can you recall any role or impact any of these high priests had, either in the rebuilding of the temple or the rebuilding of the walls of the city?
b. As the High Priest, what role should they have played?
c. You may want to look up Zechariah 3 to get a sense of the spiritual condition of these high priests, as one of them was confronted by Satan before God.
(3) In vv. 12-21, he then listed the priests serving closer to his time. It is interesting to note that of the 22 family names mentioned in vv. 1-7, the family of Hattush was missing from this current list, probably signifying that by the time of Nehemiah, this family had ceased to yield male descendants to continue their priestly lineage. Food for thought.
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, Joiada the father of Jonathan and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.” (Neh. 12:10-11)
The office of the high priest was established by Moses with Aaron and his sons being anointed to such an office, to be succeeded only by the descendants of Aaron. As much as Aaron was held responsible for the building of the golden calf, he remained as the second most important spiritual leader of Israel during the time in the wilderness.
After the passing of Moses, such an office obviously increased in its importance, fulfilling the functions specified by Moses which included the following:
- He was the only person permitted to enter into the Holy of Holies once a year during the Day of Atonement to make atonement for the sins of the entire nation.
- His special dress also signified his role of intercessor for the people as well, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on his breastplate and on his shoulders (with the names engraved on the precious stones).
- He was to enquire of the Lord for decision making and for seeking the will of God through Urim and Thummim.
Other functions presumed by virtue of his office would also have included these below:
- The overseeing of all the functions pertaining to the worship and proper operation of the temple.
- The ensuring of the continued worship of the people and their following of the Law of Moses — in this respect, he could even overrule the king in enforcing the law concerning the priesthood — Azariah’s withstanding the encroachment of king Uzziah is a case in point (2 Chr. 26:16-20).
- Supporting the king or God-appointed leader with the force of priests and Levites under his command — the overthrow of the usurpation of Athaliah, the daughter of Ahab, by Jehoiada the high priest is a case in point (2 Ki. 11).
However, during the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, it appeared that they had little influence over the people whether in their effort to rebuild the temple or in the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem.
The fact that even after the second temple was built, many of the Levites and priests moved away from Jerusalem, causing the malfunction of the temple and the worship of God, clearly showed the total neglect of the office by the high priest. Furthermore, Eliashib, the high priest, sought to undermine the reformation under Nehemiah. The sins of these high priests were vividly depicted in the vision of the prophet Zechariah in which the high priest, Joshua (believed to be the same as Jeshua) “was dressed in filthy clothes” before the Lord and was the object of accusation by Satan (Zech. 3).
However, as weak and sinful as these high priests were, their office was a foreshadow of the Ultimate High Priest, our Lord Jesus Christ, who only needed to offer up Himself once as “the” atoning sacrifice to redeem us and lives forever to intercede for us (Heb. 7:25, 27).
(1) In vv. 22-26, he then listed the Levites serving closer to his time. It is interesting to note that:
a. Their names were required to be recorded during the reign of Darius.
b. These names were also registered in the Book of the Chronicles (which may or may not refer to the Chronicles of the Bible).
c. Again, the fact that some were assigned to sing praises and thanksgiving was particularly mentioned.
What might be some of the reasons that Nehemiah chose to highlight the above?
(2) Vv. 27-30 gives us the connection as to why Nehemiah listed the names above, because these Levites (including priests) were drawn out from their dwelling places, even from outside of Jerusalem, to come back and participate at the dedication ceremony of the wall of Jerusalem. The geographical locations so mentioned indicated that they were spread across the land of Judah and of Benjamin. V. 27 says, “At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived”. What does it mean?
(3) In any case, whether they resided in Jerusalem or elsewhere, all had to purify themselves before participating at the dedication ceremony. For the priests and Levites, it probably meant “fasting, abstaining from sexual intercourse and a sin offering, and for the laymen the washing of garments, bathing etc.” (Fensham, 255/6).
a. Why was such purification required before their participation at the dedication ceremony?
b. What is the message for us today?
c. Have you taken drawing close to God in worship or celebration as seriously as they did?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem…” (Neh. 12:27)
Yesterday, we were considering the failure of the high priests in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah in that they had exerted little influence over the people in the rebuilding of the temple and the wall of Jerusalem. We also mentioned that they had neglected to properly manage the temple worship to the point that many Levites and priests had moved out of Jerusalem, leaving the temple without enough personnel to function properly.
Now that Nehemiah made an effort (no doubt using his political clout as well) to dig up every single Levite outside Jerusalem and brought them back to participate in the celebration of the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, it appeared that not only the celebration was a great success, but the temple was able to function properly. The description in 12:44 is particularly interesting:
“At the time men were appointed to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits and tithes. From the fields around the towns they were to bring into the storerooms the portions requiring by the Law for the priests and the Levites, for Judah was pleased with the ministering priest and Levites.”
In other words, before this, no one cared to look after the offerings brought to God’s house. Since the priests and Levites were not there to receive them and showed no respect and interest in the business of the house of God, the people did not bother to bring their tithes, first fruits and contributions any more to the house of God. So, the problem began not with the people, but with the clergy.
Now that Nehemiah had ensured that they would properly take care of the people’s offerings, the people resumed tithing because “Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites”.
I am afraid there is a lesson to be learned by the clergy and lay leaders today. Sometimes, there are complaints that the congregation does not care about the business of the house of God — not many people are willing to volunteer their time to serve, and the budget of the church is not met. The problem might have begun not with the people, but with the clergy and lay leaders. We are not there to be man-pleasers for sure, but we have to set an example in our love for people and for God, and in giving of our time and money to the ministry of the gospel.
(1) The dedication of the wall of Jerusalem took place both at the wall and inside the temple — the Ezra-led procession went up from the right, while Nehemiah’s procession went up from the opposite end, both were flanked by a large choir. When the two choirs reached the top, they gave thanks (12:40), then took their places back in the temple where more songs were sung and sacrifices were made. Nehemiah remarked that God had given them great joy and the sound of rejoicing could be heard from afar:
a. Put yourselves in their shoes and try to give all the reasons that they should give thanks to the Lord under such a circumstance?
b. What might be the greatest reason for their great joy?
c. Many commentators opine that Psalm 147 in fact originated from this dedication ceremony, especially 147:2 and 13. Read Psalm 147 and see what reasons might be given for their great rejoicing.
(2) After describing the dedication of the people to the strict observance of the Law of Moses, followed by the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah purposely highlighted a few things that they did, obviously in response to the oath they made back in 10:28-39. Let us try to relate these few things back to the oath they made:
a. What part of their oath does v. 44 refer to?
b. What is the significance of such compliance?
c. What does the remark that “for Judah was pleased with the ministering priests and Levites” mean?
d. What part of the oath does v. 45 refer to?
e. What kind of a picture does this paint concerning the pre-oath days of worship in the temple?
f. What part of the oath does v. 46 refer to?
g. What kind of a picture does this depict concerning the pre-oath days of the lives of the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers?
(3) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.” (Neh. 12:46 )
As a concluding remark, Nehemiah wished to inform us that the oath taken so solemnly by the people of Israel was in fact seriously taken by the people. And so in 12:44, he specifically told us that “at the time”, meaning after the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they did follow through with their pledge, and appointed men (obviously referring to Levites) to be in charge of the storerooms for the contributions, first-fruits and tithes given by the people. In other words, before this pledge, the people didn’t really care if the Levites and the priests had enough to support their families. This also explains why many of the priests and Levites ended up moving away from Jerusalem and many became farmers. This resulted in the business of the temple being totally neglected as there were not enough priests and Levites to help the temple function properly.
Now that they had pledged “we will not neglect the house of our God” (10:39), one of the first visible differences was that songs of praises were once again heard in the temple with the re-forming of the temple choir—“For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanksgiving to God” (12:46). Obviously, they did not have a song director for a long, long time. The temple had been a rather subdued place of worship for many, many years.
Indeed, irrespective of how sinful and rebellious we may be, God still deserves our praise and adoration. Every time believers gather before the Lord, it is first and foremost a worship — this is why even in weddings and funerals, I would inform the hosts that we are there to worship God first and foremost. And, with God being the center of our worship, we cannot help but praise and adore Him. Somehow, God has seen fit to give us the great gift of music which has a very unique way of helping us express our heart-felt worship and adoration in ways that nothing can parallel — whether in songs, with cymbals, harps and lyres (12:27), or with pianos, organs, synthesizers and guitars.
Since God deserves the best, let us do our best in preparation for worship every Sunday, including giving Him the best offering in music, not as an entertainment to ourselves, but to the glory and honor of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
In this concluding chapter, Nehemiah shared with us that the reform under him was not all smooth sailing; it took persistent (and in some cases, disciplinary) efforts to ensure that the vows so taken would be followed. Commentators in general see all of these corrections as having been made upon Nehemiah’s return after his absence from Jerusalem in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes (i.e. 433 B.C., exactly 12 years after Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem). Here are the incidents cited:
(1) Vv. 1-3 deal with exclusion of any foreigners, presumably from their religious assembly.
a. Read Deuteronomy 23:4-6 to see what was the exact prohibition imposed by the Law.
b. Why did they apply it to all foreigners beyond the Ammonites and Moabites?
c. The prohibition says, “even down to the 10th generation” (Deut. 23:3). Does it mean never? (Note that the Gentiles who aspired to worship Yahweh were presumably allowed to gather at the “court of the gentiles” in the 2nd temple and Ruth was a Moabite.)
d. Why did Nehemiah see the necessity to enforce such laws to their “extreme”?
e. What can we learn from him?
(2) Vv. 4-5 deal with favor given to the enemy of Israel, Tobiah:
a. Who was Tobiah? How did he oppose Nehemiah? (See Neh. 2:19; 4:3, 7-8; 6:1-7, 12-19)
b. How influential was Tobiah (see Neh. 6:17-18)?
c. For what purpose was the room that Eliashib allowed Tobiah to use?
d. If Ammonites were to be excluded from the assembly, what kind of sin was being committed here?
e. Why did the priest (if he is not Eliashib the High Priest, he probably was related to him) do this to a known enemy of the Israelites?
(3) Vv. 6-9 deal with action taken by Nehemiah upon his return from the Persian court:
a. We are not told about his reception by the king after a 12-year absence. What does the fact that he was granted a leave of absence to come back again to Jerusalem reflect his status with the king?
b. Why do you think he wanted to come back to Jerusalem again?
c. How did he deal with “the evil thing Eliashib had done”?
d. What impact would his action have on the priests, the leaders and the people in general?
(4) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“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.” (Neh. 13:6)
At times, the reader might be confused by the use of the term, king of Babylon (Neh. 13:6) or the king of Assyria (Ezr. 6:22), in referring to the king of Persia in the Bible. While modern readers are very conscious of the historical shift in power in Mesopotamia, it appears the ancient, especially the Hebrews who served under the successive powers in the region, did not care too much about the ethnicity of the rulers. To them, they were rulers over the same or similar territories controlled by the Babylonians and the Assyrians.
Irrespective of who the ruler was, we know that “In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water that He channels toward all who please Him” (Prov. 21:1). As a result, we find that many of these Babylonian, Assyrian and Persian rulers had been used by God not only as instruments of disciplining His people, but also to give them a second chance to return to their God.
Artaxerxes was such a ruler who gave Nehemiah the power to return to Jerusalem with the power of a governor to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and to implement his spiritual reform. Unfortunately, rebuilding the wall of the city in spite of fierce opposition from their enemies was the easy part; to reform the people was the hard part, because he was dealing with the heart of the people. Without transforming the heart, there is no change of behavior. Nehemiah could do all he could under his power to enforce the code of law (i.e. the Law of Moses), but once he left Jerusalem (and we do not know for how long), many parts of law were broken, including those that the people solemnly vowed to keep.
It is a solemn reminder to us as well, as sometimes we tend to push for the enactment of laws in our land so that our society may conform to the principles and teachings of the Bible — whether it concerned the definition of marriage or other areas of significance to the stability of a society. The unfortunate thing is we cannot legalize morality; it is a matter of the heart. If people’s hearts are not transformed by the gospel, there is no hope that they will appreciate, agree with and follow the principles and teachings of the Scriptures.
We should remind ourselves all the time that we are not here to Christianize the world culturally, we are to evangelize the world — one soul at a time. Yes, it is a slow process, but the only process taught by our Lord has promised that “this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come” (Matt. 24:14).
As slow as the process has been, it has gone on for over 2,000 years. We have witnessed in our generation that the gospel has indeed reached beyond Jerusalem, in all Judea, Samaria and to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). “The end” is indeed very near. Not that we should give up fighting for what is good and decent, but do understand that when the end is near, as the angel told John in his vision, “Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right and let him who is holy continue to be holy” (Rev. 22:11).
So let us not be discouraged if the world continues to ignore God and His message, we should stick to the sharing and the living out of our testimonies, and leave the results in the hand of God.
Vv. 10-14 deal with the neglect by the priests and the Levites in the proper collection and storage of the people’s offering:
(1) Why did “all the Levites and singers” go back to their own fields, meaning that they did not serve in the temple on a regular basis, but returned to be farmers in the fields outside of Jerusalem?
(2) Whose fault was it?
(3) What impact might such negligence have on the people (12:44)?
(4) How did Nehemiah correct the situation?
(5) Nehemiah presumably had to return to the king’s court eventually; how then could he ensure continuous compliance by the people, especially by these religious leaders?
(6) What does his prayer in v. 14 indicate?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“I put Shelemiah the priest…and made Hanan…their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.” (Neh. 13:13)
Nehemiah must be very discouraged upon his return from Persia to see that many of the reforms he put in place had not been kept—the re-mingling with their foreign neighbors, the abuse even by the high priest in allowing his number one enemy, Tobiah the Ammonite, the use of the room for storing sacred offerings from the people, and now the neglect by the priests and Levites in providing for the needs of their fellow Levites. It was kind of like a situation of “one step forward and two steps backward”.
Would you not feel discouraged? What can one do, especially when you cannot really trust the leaders who were always working against you!
But Nehemiah pressed on, knowing that as much as he had the backing of the king and he was obviously a very capable leader, only God could hold this reform together and make it last. Therefore, with each of the corrective actions he took, he ended it with a prayer to express his total dependency on God and His mercy.
And so we read
in 13:14 this prayer of helplessness:
“Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its service.”
But the example that Nehemiah left us is not just his total dependency through prayer without taking any action, he exercised his wisdom in appointing men he considered as trustworthy to enforce the distribution of supplies needed for other priests and Levites (13:13).
This combination of prayerful dependency and exercise of wisdom paid dividends for we learn from history that his reform, to a great extent, had steered the entire nation of Israel away from idol-worship to a strict adherence of the Law of Moses in the next four centuries to come.
Vv. 15-22 deal with the breach in their oath to keep Sabbath:
(1) In their solemn oath to observe the Law of Moses carefully, what did they specify concerning the observance of Sabbath? (10:31)
(2) How did they, the men of Judah break the law that they so passionately vowed to keep?
(3) Why would they dare to break the Sabbath:
a. Did they not respect the Law anymore?
b. Were they not afraid of the leaders or the High Priest?
c. Were they not afraid of inviting the wrath of God as their fathers did?
(4) What did the people from Tyre do on Sabbath?
(5) Why did Nehemiah put the blame on the nobles of Judah?
(6) What did Nehemiah do to correct the situation?
(7) Why did he have to put his own men to guard the gates?
(8) What warning did he give to the merchants, likely foreigners? (Presumably, upon his return to Jerusalem, he still was holding the position of governor)
(9) When the threat to breach Sabbath was gone, he replaced his own men with the Levites on a permanent basis. What was the charge he gave the Levites in this respect?
(10) Do you think by so doing, the people, the nobles, the priests and the Levites would truly honor Sabbath?
(11) What does his prayer in v. 22 indicate?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys…” (Neh. 13:15)
It is quite surprising to read that one of the terms they broke in their solemn vow to God concerned the Sabbath, because they did single out the keeping of Sabbath in their vow, pledging that “When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day” (10:31).
Now, they not only permitted the people from Tyre to bring in goods on Sabbath, they themselves brought grain and other goods to the market as well.
Did they not know that it was a desecration to the Sabbath? Of course, they did!
Did they not fear the rebuke of the high priest or the nobles? Of course, they did not, because many Levites and priests had stopped serving in the temple and left town, and the Sabbath was not really honored as such by these leaders anyway. Who knows whether these leaders also frequented the market to buy things as well on Sabbath!
But did they not fear that the same fate of their forefathers would befall them? Well, to be absolutely honest, they were still under foreign occupation. Whether it was in Babylon or in Jerusalem, the more important question was their survival. As they were definitely not living a life of luxury, there were really not a whole lot of things they could lose. It appears that while most people kind of kept their Sabbath, those who did not obviously had an unfair advantage to make more money. Greed therefore was the real motive as “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Tim. 6:10).
However, the Commandment to keep Sabbath was not just a sign of the covenant of God (Exod. 31:16) denoting their uniqueness as a people of God, it was also an expression of their love for God above all else, yes, even money.
As New Testament believers, it is true that we are no longer under the law, including the Law to keep Sabbath. However, we are under the law of love and the test of our love for God does include whether we put Him first in our lives, the most basic test of which is to rest and worship Him on the Lord’s Day.
We are all familiar with the story of Eric Liddell who was willing to forego the chance of winning an Olympic medal by not running the race on the Lord’s Day. However, I have seen many Christians work on Sundays by choice, or go skiing or take children to all kinds of extra-curriculum activities on Sunday and skip worship.
We are really no better than those who were rebuked by Nehemiah.
Vv. 23-31 end with Nehemiah’s dealing with inter-marriage with gentiles:
(1) In their solemn oath to observe the Law of Moses carefully, what did they specify concerning the separation from the neighboring people? (10:28-30)
(2) How did the men of Judah break this vow?
(3) What had Ezra done previously in an attempt to eradicate this problem in Ezra 10?
(4) Why was Nehemiah so concerned that their children spoke a foreign language and did not know how to speak Hebrew? Was he being nationalistic or were there important ramifications concerning the worship of Yahweh? (See the example he gave about Solomon.)
(5) How did he correct such a situation?
(6) Why would he use force (presumably such authority was conferred upon him in the exercise of the local law as the governor)?
(7) Why was he particularly harsh on the grandson of the high priest (see Lev. 21:14 and his prayer here in 13:29)?
(8) What did he do to restore the neglect of the priesthood and the worship at the temple?
(9) Although the last prayer he said and recorded was brief, what does it reveal about Nehemiah?
(10) What can you learn from his effort not only to rebuild the wall to protect the Holy City, but to bring his people back to the true worship of Yahweh?
(11) What is the main message of this book to you and how may you apply it to your life?
“I rebuked them and called curses down on them. I beat some of the men and pulled their hair.” (Neh. 13:25)
I am quite sure that when you read of how Nehemiah acted with violence toward those who married foreign women, you were puzzled how such a man of God acted with violence.
We need to bear several things in mind while trying to understand Nehemiah’s rather unusual behavior:
1. As much as he grieved and was angry that they reneged so quickly from their vow to God, breaching the very first promise they made (10:30) by marrying foreign women, he did not force them to divorce their foreign wives and drive out their children as Ezra did (in Ezra 10).
2. There was an earlier edict by Artaxerxes authorizing the governing of Judah by the Law of Moses (Ezra 7:26) which included the power to execute offenders — the beating of these offenders as the governor was well within the proper exercise of his power under the law.
3. Nehemiah’s rebuke fully revealed his grief and fear for the nation. He was afraid that the people would offend God and invite His wrath again. One commentator’s paraphrase of 13:26 aptly depicts the fear of Nehemiah:
“If the powerful King Solomon was powerless to resist the influence of foreign wives, and if he, the beloved (of) God, found in his relation to God no defence against the sin to which they seduced him, is it not unheard of for you to commit so great an evil?” (Keil & Delitszch quoting from Bertheau, 183)
It is also important to understand that Nehemiah did not drive out one of the sons of Joiada the high priest because of personal vendetta, but because of his blatant violation of Leviticus 21:7, 14, which automatically disqualified him as a priest.
In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus (Ant. xi, 7:2 and 8:2-4) told of a similar story not long after Nehemiah: Manasseh, a brother of the high priest, Jaddua, married Nicaso, a daughter of the satrap Sanballat, a Cutheam. The Jewish elders, for fear of God’s wrath, excluded him from the priesthood. However, he established, by the assistance of his father-in-law Sanballat, the temple worship on Mount Gerizim which presumably marked the beginning of the Samaritan worship on Gerizim (as alluded to by the woman who conversed with Jesus at the well in Samaria in Jn. 4).
In other words, the “extreme” but faithful action taken by Nehemiah had impacted future generations in the preservation of the purity of Yahweh worship.