Nehemiah 13:1-9

Nehemiah 13:1–9 KJV (WS)

1 On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and therein was found written, that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever; 2 Because they met not the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them, that he should curse them: howbeit our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3 Now it came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude. 4 And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: 5 And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests. 6 But in all this time was not I at Jerusalem: for in the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king: 7 And I came to Jerusalem, and understood of the evil that Eliashib did for Tobiah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And it grieved me sore: therefore I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers: and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.

Introduction

I sure do enjoy living in Oklahoma.

I don’t think I would like living in any other state.

Not even in Texas.

One of the challenges about ministering in Oklahoma though, is people base their religion off of the collective morality of our state.

Because the state has such a high percentage of church-goers and Christians, it is easy to blend in to the crowd and pretend that you are faithful to church as well.

In a more secularized state, it costs something to say you go to church faithfully and so typically fewer people are apt to make that claim.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of people that are unserious about living for God, though they claim to be.

It’s kind of like the kid on the group project who doesn’t contribute but claims they did.

This is what was going on in Israel.

God was working among the people.

Revival in the community is great.

It doesn’t guarantee revival in the life of every individual.

Reading God’s word brings about more reforms in Jerusalem. vss 1-3

The people have really developed a desire to know more and more about God’s word and his expectations for them.

They’ve started this process of reading God’s word, obeying God’s word, and reaping the rewards of obedience.

This makes them want to do more of what god has prescribed.

They are learning that God’s word is truth and the truth makes us free.

As they are reading, they learn about a restriction that God had placed on Moabites and Ammonites.

The only way that a Moabite or Ammonite could enter the Temple was if they had fully converted to Judaism.

Ruth was a Moabite for example.

What would happen is that foreigners would come and watch the religion of the Jews as observers but not participants.

This was not allowed for these two ethnicities because of their lack of hospitality to the Jews, their cousins.

After reading this, the Jews immediately went to work expelling these unserious persons from their gatherings.

Probably the way this worked was an option was given to those that were serious about joining the congregation.

Those that were just curious or had ulterior motives were asked to leave.

Those that wanted to convert were set on the path towards proselytization.

This short episode is given to us as a means of contrasting what came next in the passage.

In the midst of revival among the people, there is something rotten going on among their leaders. vss 4-6

Nehemiah drops a little but background exposition on his readers.

Before all this happened, Eliashib the priest was allied to Tobiah.

Commentators are pretty evenly split on whether or not this is the same Eliashib as the high priest mentioned in ch3.

Eliashib the high priest was the first person mentioned in the group effort to rebuild the wall.

It could be that he is the same as this man and that he turned out to be a traitor.

It may be that this is a totally different priest with the same name.

Either way, we know that this Eliashib is allied with Nehemiah’s arch-nemesis Tobiah.

Tobiah is identified in ch2 as an Ammonite, one of the nations that the people had just expelled from the Temple.

The word allied in this passage is used specifically to refer to an alliance by marriage.

This is one scrap of evidence to suggest that this Eliashib is the same as the High Priest mentioned earlier.

We know that the High Priest Eliashib’s daughter was married to Sanballat’s son.

Sanballat and Tobiah were very close.

This relationship is going to play off of the fact that Eliashib the priest was the overseer of Temple’s storage chambers.

The Temple was built with a three story storage lean-to on three of it’s sides.

Eliashib was responsible for this space which was intended to store the vast materials needed for the Temple’s operations.

Instead of doing his job, however, Eliashib lets his buddy Tobiah set himself up in a great chamber in this storage complex.

There are different opinions about what this meant.

It is clear that part of this arrangement was that Tobiah was living in the Temple complex.

It was wrong for Ammonites to observe Jewish worship.

How do you think it would have been received if the people knew that an Ammonite was living on the property.

Another possibility is that Tobiah was using the temple for free storage for his business.

This is a treasonous action by Eliashib.

Tobiah was an enemy of Israel.

This space was to be used for the provision of the Temple and its ministers.

Though set up for storage, this is still part of the Temple and Tobiah was defiling it with his presence.

Why was this allowed to take place?

Nehemiah makes it clear that he was not in Jerusalem while all of this was going on.

His commission to Jerusalem was over.

He had returned to Artaxerxes.

His heart was still in Jerusalem, though.

After certain days (at least a year) he petitioned the king to let him return.

Artaxerxes again gives Nehemiah permission to travel back to Jerusalem.

Upon his return, Nehemiah discovers what has been happening in his absence.

Remember when Nehemiah was under intense threat of attack from Sanballat and Tobiah.

He was told that they were going to come kill him.

It was suggested then that he should take refuge in the Temple.

Do you remember his response?

He said no, because it would be sin.

This give us a little bit of a glimpse into Nehemiah’s mindset towards this.

We should not be surprised them to read about his response to this situation.

When he heard about Eliashib and Tobiah’s arrangement, he called it evil.

The situation grieved Nehemiah sorely.

So many good steps had been taken in Jerusalem.

Even at the beginning of this chapter, the people were still seeking to follow God’s law.

They had removed the Moabites and the Ammonites from their religious gatherings.

And yet, here is Eliashib the priest renting out a room and warehouse space to Tobiah.

Nehemiah swiftly and decisively dealt with the problem.

Many leaders struggle with the decision to act or wait.

No matter the decision, it will take courage.

In this case, swift action was needed.

The actions of such a high-ranking leader could very quickly affect the people.

Nehemiah goes in and evicts Tobiah.

He drags all of Tobiah’s stuff and casts it out of the Temple.

He removed the evil, but now there is an emptiness that will be filled.

Nehemiah orders the empty space to be purified and filled with things that were supposed to go in there.

Interpretation

The people were in a state of revival.

They weren’t perfect.

They were reading and applying God’s word.

Just because the group was moving forward with God, doesn’t guarantee that each individual was moving forward as well.

One person, a leader no less, was still enacting evil in their life.

Eliashib was failing both in setting a good example or in following others in revival.

Everyone else was removing what shouldn’t have been there.

Eliashib was harboring and making room for what shouldn’t have been there.

Tobiah represented Eliashib’s refusal to obey the word of God.

Nehemiah’s actions may or may not have changed Eliashib’s heart.

He removed Tobiah, but Tobiah and Eliashib may have continued their relationship.

What Nehemiah did accomplish is he removed Tobiah’s reproach upon the city as a whole.

This is what the people had done earlier in vss 1-3.

The lesson of this passage is that group revival does not always equal individual revival.

Application

This is an import warning for us today.

We must realize that even if we are part of a group that is experiencing God’s power at work in their midst, it doesn’t automatically mean that we are allowing Him to work in our individual life.

You may be a part of a family, a church, or maybe someday a country that is being revived and purified by the word of God.

Yet, unbeknownst to those around you, you are holding on to the things that others are giving up for the glory of God.

We get connected to our sins and we can stubbornly refuse to let them go.

We look at the fanatics around us that are chasing down sin and expelling it from their lives and we scorn them.

We aren’t so susceptible to the emotional swings of others.

We allow our sin to dwell safely within the literal modern day temple of God, our life.

What we need is a Nehemiah to come along and cast out Tobiah, the sin, out of our life.

That’s what God wants to do for you.

Notice there is no record of resistance from Eliashib.

He tried to hold onto his will, but when confronted, he let Nehemiah remove Tobiah.

I hope God will use His Holy Spirit to confront you with your sin this morning.

Is there some chamber of your life where some sin is hiding out?

Everything else looks to be doing well, but if we removed the layers we would find something hiding within the secret chambers of your heart?

Would you allow God to evict your sin today?

You don’t have to just watch other people experience revival; you can experience it too.

Conclusion

If God is pointing out a sin in your life, what He is wanting you to do is agree with him that this is sin and it needs to go.

That is what we call confession.

If we will agree with God that our sin is sin and it needs to go, then He will begin to evict it from our life.

It’s only when we try to hide it or justify it that we fail to get the victory over our sin.

Tobiah was there because Eliashib invited him in.

Tobiah was evicted by Nehemiah.

You can be free of your sin today as well if you will confess your sin to God and let him get to work.