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N EH EMIA H 1 3
first part of the harvest, and the tithes. They
were responsible to collect from the fields outside the towns the portions required by the Law
for the priests and Levites. For all the people
of Judah took joy in the priests and Levites
and their work. 45 They performed the service
of their God and the service of purification, as
commanded by David and his son Solomon,
and so did the singers and the gatekeepers.
46 The custom of having choir directors to lead
the choirs in hymns of praise and thanksgiving
to God began long ago in the days of David and
Asaph. 47 So now, in the days of Zerubbabel and
of Nehemiah, all Israel brought a daily supply
of food for the singers, the gatekeepers, and the
Levites. The Levites, in turn, gave a portion of
what they received to the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
Nehemiah’s Various Reforms
On that same day, as the Book of Moses
was being read to the people, the passage was found that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted to enter the
assembly of God.* 2 For they had not provided
the Israelites with food and water in the wilderness. Instead, they hired Balaam to curse them,
though our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 When this passage of the Law was read,
all those of foreign descent were immediately
excluded from the assembly.
4 Before this had happened, Eliashib the
priest, who had been appointed as supervisor
of the storerooms of the Temple of our God and
who was also a relative of Tobiah, 5 had converted a large storage room and placed it at Tobiah’s disposal. The room had previously been
used for storing the grain offerings, the frankincense, various articles for the Temple, and the
tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil (which
were prescribed for the Levites, the singers,
and the gatekeepers), as well as the offerings
for the priests.
6 I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had
returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the
13
• Compassion
NE H E MIA H 1 3 :2 2
As we tap into God’s love through Jesus,
we also tap into God’s compassion.
Human compassion, like human love,
is limited. That is why Nehemiah was
calling upon God, rather than people,
for compassion. He understood that the
depth of God’s compassion came from
the depth of his love, which is far too
great for humans to grasp.
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thirty-second year of his reign,* though I later
asked his permission to return. 7 When I arrived
back in Jerusalem, I learned about Eliashib’s
evil deed in providing Tobiah with a room in the
courtyards of the Temple of God. 8 I became very
upset and threw all of Tobiah’s belongings out
of the room. 9 Then I demanded that the rooms
be purified, and I brought back the articles
for God’s Temple, the grain offerings, and the
frankincense.
10 I also discovered that the Levites had not
been given their prescribed portions of food, so
they and the singers who were to conduct the
worship services had all returned to work their
fields. 11 I immediately confronted the leaders
and demanded, “Why has the Temple of God
been neglected?” Then I called all the Levites
back again and restored them to their proper
duties. 12 And once more all the people of Judah
began bringing their tithes of grain, new wine,
and olive oil to the Temple storerooms.
13 I assigned supervisors for the storerooms:
Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and
Pedaiah, one of the Levites. And I appointed
Hanan son of Zaccur and grandson of Mattaniah as their assistant. These men had an excellent reputation, and it was their job to make
honest distributions to their fellow Levites.
14 Remember this good deed, O my God, and
do not forget all that I have faithfully done
for the Temple of my God and its services.
15 In those days I saw men of Judah treading
out their winepresses on the Sabbath. They
were also bringing in grain, loading it on donkeys, and bringing their wine, grapes, figs, and
all sorts of produce to Jerusalem to sell on the
Sabbath. So I rebuked them for selling their produce on that day. 16 Some men from Tyre, who
lived in Jerusalem, were bringing in fish and all
kinds of merchandise. They were selling it on
the Sabbath to the people of Judah—and in Jerusalem at that!
17 So I confronted the nobles of Judah. “Why
are you profaning the Sabbath in this evil way?”
I asked. 18 “Wasn’t it just this sort of thing that
your ancestors did that caused our God to bring
all this trouble upon us and our city? Now you
are bringing even more wrath upon Israel by
permitting the Sabbath to be desecrated in
this way!”
19 Then I commanded that the gates of Jerusalem should be shut as darkness fell every Friday
evening,* not to be opened until the Sabbath
ended. I sent some of my own servants to guard
the gates so that no merchandise could be
brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 The merchants
13:1 See Deut 23:3-6. 13:6 King Artaxerxes of Persia is
here identified as the king of Babylon because Persia had
conquered the Babylonian Empire. The thirty-second year of
Artaxerxes was 433 b.c. 13:19 Hebrew on the day before the
Sabbath.