Nehemiah 13

Foreigners Separated from Israel

1-3 After reading from “the book of Moses” that Ammonites and Moabites were never to be part of their assembly because of how they treated the Israelites, they “separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.” In Deuteronomy 23:3-6, this is stated as a law. This also seems to be evidence that Moses wrote Deuteronomy.

The Reforms of Nehemiah

4-5 Eliashib the priest, who managed the rooms in the temple, had designated for Tobiah, who was a relative, what was supposed to be the storage room for grain offerings, frankincense, vessels and grain, wine and oil tithes for the Levites. Tobiah opposed the repair of the walls of Jerusalem.

6-9 At the time, Nehemiah had gone to Persia to see King Artaxerxes (in his 32nd year). When he returned and discovered this misappropriation, he was very angry, and threw out Tobiah’s furniture, cleaned the room and brought back in the temple vessels, grain offering and frankincense.

10-13 Not having received the tithes to which they were entitled, the Levites had gone back to work in their fields, so Nehemiah brought back the tithes and the Levites, and appointed treasurers over the storehouse.

14 Another prayer, similar to the one in 5:19: “Remember me, O my God…and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for his service.”

Sabbath Reforms Begun

15-18 Nehemiah sees people treading wine presses, and selling and buying in the market on the Sabbath, so he chastises the nobles and reminds them that doing this was disastrous for their ancestors.

19-21 Nehemiah shuts the gates of the city when it begins to be dark the evening before Sabbath, and sets his servants to guard the gates. When the merchants and sellers began spending the night outside the Jerusalem walls, Nehemiah threatens them, and they quit.

22 He commands the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates, “to keep the sabbath day holy.” Then another prayer of Nehemiah: “Remember this also in my favor, O my God, and spare me according to the greatness of your steadfast love.”

Mixed Marriages Condemned

23-24 Next, Nehemiah realizes that many Jews have married women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, and are so greatly influenced that half their children cannot speak the language of Judah, only “the language of Ashdod.” I have heard this phrase used to describe those who rely on sources other than the Bible for the way they speak and for what they believe.

25-27 Nehemiah confronts them, curses them, and beats some of them, pulling out their hair and forces them to take an oath that they will not give their sons and daughters to foreigners, citing Solomon’s ruin because of his foreign marriages. Apparently, Nehemiah doesn’t think mere persuasion or appealing to the law will change these people – much like the Sabbath buyers and sellers. If he has to use the authority and force of his office, he will.

28-29 Nehemiah chases away a grandson of the high priest Eliashib, the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, praying “Remember them O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priests and the Levites.” This reveals the political intrigue here: Eliashib, who was the high priest (!), was related to both Tobiah and by marriage to Sanballat, the two who had made so much trouble when the wall was being constructed.