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Context No. 1613 of 4322 · Nehemiah

Context · Reflection

Nehemiah 13:1-9: in context

1On that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and it was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever, 2because they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; however, our God turned the curse into a blessing. 3It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. 4Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah, 5had prepared for him a great room, where before they laid the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers; and the wave offerings for the priests. 6But in all this, I was not at Jerusalem; for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king; and after some days I asked leave of the king, 7and I came to Jerusalem, and understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing him a room in the courts of God’s house. 8It grieved me severely. Therefore I threw all Tobiah’s household stuff out of the room. 9Then I commanded, and they cleansed the rooms. I brought into them the vessels of God’s house, with the meal offerings and the frankincense again.

Returning to Jerusalem after an absence, Nehemiah discovers a scandal. Eliashib the priest, who was in charge of the storerooms of God's house, had allied himself with Tobiah, an enemy of God's people, and had given him a large room in the very courts of the temple, a room that had been used to store the offerings and tithes. Nehemiah is deeply grieved. He throws all of Tobiah's belongings out of the room, orders the chambers cleansed, and brings back the vessels, offerings, and frankincense of God's house to their proper place.

The scandal Nehemiah found was that an enemy had been given a room in God's house, and a place meant for holy things had been handed over to what did not belong there. And notice how it happened: it crept in during Nehemiah's absence, while his back was turned, a gradual compromise made by a priest who should have known better. Nehemiah returns to find the unholy thing lodged in the middle of the holy place. His response is decisive: he throws Tobiah's things out and cleanses the room. There is a picture here that reaches to our own hearts, which scripture calls temples of the Holy Spirit. It is possible for something that does not belong to be given a room in the temple of our lives, an enemy lodged where holy things should be, a compromise, a sin, an unholy attachment quietly installed in a place meant for God. And often it creeps in gradually, while our guard is down, a little concession here, a room given there, until something that has no business in God's temple has taken up residence in it. The question is what we do when we discover it. Nehemiah did not tolerate it, did not leave the enemy in the temple courts because removing him would be awkward; he threw the belongings out and cleansed the room. There is a call in this to the same decisiveness with what has been given a room in us that does not belong, to clear it out and cleanse the place, restoring to God the room that should have been his.

What has been given a room in the temple of my life that does not belong there, some compromise or unholy attachment that crept in while my guard was down, and am I willing, like Nehemiah, to throw it out decisively and cleanse the place for God?

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