Nehemiah 10:28-39: a reflection

28The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters—everyone who had knowledge and understanding— 29joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes; 30and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; 31and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy from them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year crops and the exaction of every debt. 32Also we made ordinances for ourselves, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God: 33for the show bread, for the continual meal offering, for the continual burnt offering, for the Sabbaths, for the new moons, for the set feasts, for the holy things, for the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. 34We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed year by year, to burn on the LORD our God’s altar, as it is written in the law; 35and to bring the first fruits of our ground and the first fruits of all fruit of all kinds of trees, year by year, to the LORD’s house; 36also the firstborn of our sons and of our livestock, as it is written in the law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God; 37and that we should bring the first fruits of our dough, our wave offerings, the fruit of all kinds of trees, and the new wine and the oil, to the priests, to the rooms of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground to the Levites; for they, the Levites, take the tithes in all our farming villages. 38The priest, the descendent of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites take tithes. The Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the rooms, into the treasure house. 39For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the wave offering of the grain, of the new wine, and of the oil, to the rooms where the vessels of the sanctuary are, and the priests who minister, with the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not forsake the house of our God.

After their return from exile, the people of Israel make a covenant to follow God's law, and their commitment is notably specific and practical. They do not merely resolve, in a vague way, to serve God better; they commit to particular things: not to intermarry with the surrounding peoples, to keep the Sabbath, to support the temple with specific offerings and tithes, to bring their firstfruits. And they conclude with a heartfelt resolve: We will not neglect the house of our God.

Notice how specific and practical the people's commitments are. They did not settle for a vague, general resolution to be more faithful; they committed to particular, concrete things, naming exactly what they would do to support God's house and follow his law. Their commitment had teeth, specific practices they bound themselves to, culminating in the resolve not to neglect the house of God. A vague resolution is easily forgotten; specific, concrete commitments are ones that can actually be kept and acted on.

That specificity is worth imitating in our own commitments to God. We often make vague resolutions, general intentions to serve God better, to be more faithful, that are easily forgotten because they name nothing concrete. But the people bound themselves to specific, practical commitments, naming exactly what they would do. When you resolve to serve God more faithfully, do not settle for a vague, general intention; make specific, practical commitments, naming concrete things you will do, as the people named theirs. A vague resolution to be more faithful is easily forgotten; a specific commitment to particular practices can be kept and acted on. Let your commitments to God be specific and practical, not vague; name what you will do, as the people named their commitments and resolved not to neglect the house of God, so that your good intentions become concrete practices actually carried out.

Lord, after their return from exile, the people made a covenant to follow your law, and their commitment was notably specific and practical: not to intermarry, to keep the Sabbath, to support the temple with particular offerings and tithes, concluding, we will not neglect the house of our God. Let that specificity be something I imitate in my own commitments to you. I often make vague resolutions, general intentions to serve you better, to be more faithful, that are easily forgotten because they name nothing concrete. But the people bound themselves to specific, practical commitments, naming exactly what they would do. When I resolve to serve you more faithfully, keep me from settling for a vague, general intention; help me make specific, practical commitments, naming concrete things I will do, as the people named theirs. A vague resolution to be more faithful is easily forgotten; a specific commitment to particular practices can be kept and acted on. Let my commitments to you be specific and practical, not vague; help me name what I will do, Lord, as the people named their commitments and resolved not to neglect your house, so that my good intentions become concrete practices actually carried out.