Immerse: Chronicles Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 152
140
IMMERSE
•
CHRONICLES
13:14-28
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.
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. 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!
So I confronted the nobles of Judah. “Why are you profaning the Sab
bath in this evil way?” I asked. “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!”
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. The merchants and tradesmen
with a variety of wares camped outside Jerusalem once or twice. But I
spoke sharply to them and said, “What are you doing out here, camping
around the wall? If you do this again, I will arrest you!” And that was the
last time they came on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites to
purify themselves and to guard the gates in order to preserve the holiness
of the Sabbath.
Remember this good deed also, O my God! Have compassion on me
according to your great and unfailing love.
About the same time I realized that some of the men of Judah had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Furthermore, half their
children spoke the language of Ashdod or of some other people and could
not speak the language of Judah at all. So I confronted them and called
down curses on them. I beat some of them and pulled out their hair. I
made them swear in the name of God that they would not let their children
intermarry with the pagan people of the land.
“Wasn’t this exactly what led King Solomon of Israel into sin?” I demanded.
“There was no king from any nation who could compare to him, and God
loved him and made him king over all Israel. But even he was led into sin by
his foreign wives. How could you even think of committing this sinful deed
and acting unfaithfully toward God by marrying foreign women?”
One of the sons of Joiada son of Eliashib the high priest had married a
daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, so I banished him from my presence.
ImmerseChronicles_NLT.indd 140
6/21/2017 10:01:38 AM
