Today’s readings: Nehemiah 13, Psalm 116
Nehemiah 13:4-14
Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests. 6 While this was taking place, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king. And after some time I asked leave of the king 7 and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.
10 I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field. 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. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed…treasurers over the storehouses…and their duty was to distribute to their brothers. 14 Remember me, O my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he discovered that many of the reforms the people had promised to keep were already unraveling. First, Eliashib the priest had given Tobiah – one of Nehemiah’s longtime opponents – a room in the temple intended for offerings and supplies. Second, the people had stopped providing tithes for the Levites and singers, forcing them to return to their fields to support themselves. Third, the Sabbath was openly disregarded as people worked and conducted business.
Finally, Jewish men were again marrying women from the surrounding nations, and some of their children could not even speak the language of Judah. Israel was again allowing the faith and identity of the next generation to be swallowed up by the surrounding culture. What especially incensed Nehemiah was that the people had specifically promised God that they would not do these very things.
So while I have to chuckle when Nehemiah reports that he pulled out the hair of some of the offenders, I get his frustration. Leave them for a while and the reforms begin unraveling. But I also shake my head in sadness. After everything God had done for them, they were returning to the same patterns of unfaithfulness. It’s a wonder Nehemiah didn’t pull out his own hair!
I love Nehemiah. There are so many great leadership insights in this book. Leadership begins with a burden – Nehemiah’s heart is broken by Jerusalem’s condition, and he takes that burden to God in prayer. Burden becomes vision when joined with belief: something must be done, and with God’s help something can be done. He enlists others, perseveres through opposition and distraction, and courageously confronts what threatens the mission. Through it all, he knows that “the good hand of [his] God was upon [him]” (Nehemiah 2:8).
But here is the greater lesson. Rebuilding the walls – necessary as that was – could never solve Jerusalem’s deepest problem. Nehemiah could rebuild walls, restore worship, confront sin, and even pull hair! But he could not change the human heart.
Nehemiah begins with broken walls, but by the end we discover that Jerusalem’s deepest problem was never its walls. The walls could be rebuilt. The human heart needed something far greater. And so does ours.
That is where Jesus comes in. He did not come merely to straighten us out or give us another set of reforms to keep. He came to deal with the sin within us. Jesus took our rebellion, wandering, and broken promises upon himself and carried them to the cross. There he won our forgiveness, and through his Spirit he gives us new hearts and calls us again to faith and faithfulness.
Nehemiah could rebuild the walls around God’s people. Jesus came to rebuild God’s people from the inside out.
Follow the Word is a daily Bible reading and devotional ministry of St. John Lutheran Church, Cypress, Texas.
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