When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem, just before the Sabbath, I ordered that the gates be shut and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day.It came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, so that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day.And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.And it came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened till after the sabbath: and some of my servants set I over the gates, that there should no burden be brought in on the sabbath day.
3 sermons cite this verse
and so we pray that you will grant to me clarity, brevity, and the abiding sense of your hand upon each of our lives for good. Open our eyes that we may behold wonderful things in your Word. For Jesus' sake we ask it. Amen. Well, what we discover is, in some sense, very disappointing, and in some sense, no surprise at all, that Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after the visit that he's made back to Susa to discover that promises that had been made are now promises that have been broken. And it is clear from the 13th chapter that he did not respond to this in the way that some of us might be at least tempted to in contemporary circumstances, i.e., he did not respond by assuming, well, I was gone, things change, I have looked at things in a certain way, truth is elastic, we can see that it is changing, these people are innovating, there's opportunities for the future. No, he didn't do any of that at all—not for a moment. No, for him, if you like, a dark curtain has actually fallen over the proceedings. As this period of time ends, and as the prospect of the intertestamental period is before us, this curtain has fallen down, waiting for the promised light of life, who will come to shine into that darkness, into a prevailing darkness. The 400 years of the intertestamental period is a period of darkness. It's a period of silence. Where is the Word from God? Where is the light to shine? Where is the Shekinah glory? And, of course, the answer to it …
… bring all this disaster on us and on our city, yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. So it was at the gates of Jerusalem. It began to be dark before the Sabbath. I commanded the gates to be shut. and charged that they must not be opened until after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. So evidently, whoever's guarding the gates up to this point, they're bribing the gatekeepers. Gatekeepers are letting these people, these Gentiles from Tyre and other places into the city on the Sabbath to do business. So Nehemiah puts his own trusted loyal guards out there. Verse 20, Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice. So I warned them and said to them, Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. This is not the good kind of laying. …
This shows, that with due care men can ordinarily have done their work by a limited time. If proper care will finish their work by a limited time when they are under a natural necessity of it, the same care would as well finish it by a certain time when we are only under a moral necessity. If men knew that as soon as ever the sabbath should begin, it would be perfectly dark, so that they would be under a natural necessity of leaving off their work abroad by that time, then we should see that they would generally have their work done before the time. This shows that it is only for want of care, and of regard to the holy command of God, that men so frequently have some of their work abroad to do after the sabbath is begun. Nehemiah took great care that no burden should be borne after the beginning of the sabbath, Nehem. xiii. 19. “And it came to pass, that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the sabbath,” i.e. began to be darkened by the shade of the mountains before sun-set, “I commanded that the gates should be shut, and charged that they should not be opened till after the sabbath; and some of my servants set I at the gates, that there should be no burden brought in on the sabbath-day.” (2.) Examine whether it be not your manner to talk on the sabbath of things unsuitable for holy time. If you do not move such talk yourselves, yet when you fall into company that set you the example, are you not wont to join in diverting talk, or in talk of worldly affairs, quite wide from any relation to the business of the day? There is as much reason that you should keep the sabbath holy with your tongues, as with your hands. If it be unsuitable for you to employ your hands about common and worldly things, why is it not as unsuitable for you to employ your tongues about them? …