Nehemiah 12-13

0:09 So we explain the Bible verse by verse, every chapter, every book. This is Expound. Nehemiah chapter 12. You guys are a refreshingly unique exception. Because it is estimated that at least one source that I found, some of these sources you got to wonder about, but one source that I found said 98% of American Christians have never read through the Bible. I know that's not true here. So you are a wonderfully refreshing exception because not only do you like to come on weekends, but you can't get enough of it. You're here midweek and I love that you are. Our style is to go through the scriptures. By the way, in that same statistical pool that I was mentioning, a majority of Americans say they're fond of the Bible.

1:15 they're just not fond enough, I guess, to actually read it. But they're fond of the idea of it, the principles of it. I guess you got to read it, though, to find out what those principles are. But anyway, that aside, you are the exception, and I love that you are. Our style is to go through the Bible verse by verse, book by book, chapter by chapter. We're in the book of Nehemiah. We're going to, by God's grace, finish the book of Nia, Maya, tonight.

1:52 Refrain. And we'll just see how we go, how it goes. But we're in chapter 12. And what's that? You're welcome. You're welcome. So let's have a word of prayer. Father, thank you for an opportunity to gather these names. and some of this history is foggy and unfamiliar to us, sometimes even awkward. But Lord, like the psalmist said, Oh, how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. And Father, we pray that these stories, though some of us, I believe, are familiar with them, would provide key principles that govern our lives. that your word would indeed be a lamp to our feet, a light unto our path, that we would see clearly in a dark world and we would navigate accordingly, we ask in Jesus' name.

2:53 Amen. So chapter 6, the wall was finished. In 52 days from the day it started, 52 days later, the wall was completed. Chapters 8, 9, and 10, a revival breaks out. People gather in Jerusalem, ask Ezra to read from the book of the law. He pulls out the Pentateuch scroll, starts reading the law of God for five to six hours. People were standing up during that time. They hadn't heard that much scripture ever. It brought conviction to their heart. They prayed prayers of repentance and commitment. By the time we get to chapter 10, after the prayer in chapter 9, chapter 10, they sign a covenant. They put their name on a dotted line to say we are following the Lord in these areas of our lives. We're going to live in obedience to it.

3:46 Chapter 11, we saw that there was a problem in that Jerusalem did not have that many people living in it. Everybody wanted to live in the towns around it, but not really in it. it had a wall it was secure but it was not comfortable so nehemiah saw the need to get actual people in there to renovate the city to make it livable so all of the towns that housed all of the people living around jerusalem he told them to tithe humans to take one out of every 10 people to leave their towns, move to the metropolis of Jerusalem, and make it a real city. So one out of 10 people did. Others voluntarily signed up for it. They just said, I'll go, and they went. So that was chapter 11. Chapter 12 and 13 continues and finishes the book.

4:44 and we get to the dedication now in these last two chapters really the dedication of the city of Jerusalem. The chapter begins with a list of names going all the way back to Zerubbabel.

5:05 Zerubbabel. That's about a hundred years before Nehemiah. You say why is he doing that? Why is he going back listing their names because they were the first people to come from Persia to the land to rebuild it. I do think it's important to at least tip our hats and make acknowledgement of those who have gone before us. I love to read, you know this, old dead guys. you know whether and quote from them whether it's g campbell morgan or charles haddon spurgeon but we all end up as old dead guys anyway so uh it's good to look back to the previous generation or two or three and realize we benefit from their labor and we acknowledge that they they planted the trees we are enjoying their shade and so the style of nehemiah is to remember those who had gone before to acknowledge that they came before we did and laid the foundations before we got here and we owe so much to them so it was sort of a memorial so we're not going to read every name, but in verse 1 of chapter 12, these are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel. Now again, we're going back 90 to 100 years prior. The son of Shealtiel and Jeshua, he was the priest. Sariah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Maluch, Hattush, Shekaniah, Rahum, Merimoth.

6:49 Hope you've had enough of that. I'm not going to be reading all of these names, but a few of them. Now, back to Zerubbabel. He was the very first governor when that first group of under 50,000 people left Persia, came to Jerusalem. Zerubbabel was their leader, and he was, as I said, the first governor. When they came back, they didn't rebuild the city walls. Anybody know what they built? The temple. They built the temple. they started building the temple but they got so much blowback so much opposition you remember they stopped they stopped building and so when they stopped building God sent two prophets to speak to them one by the name of Haggai the other by the name of Zechariah Haggai was just sort of a short quick to the point in your face kind of a prophet say it like it is and he approached the people and he said you are saying the time has not come for us to build the house of the Lord that's what you guys are saying this is what the prophet that's his message you guys are saying now is not the time to build the house of the Lord so I have a question for you Haggai said, is it time for you to live in your paneled beautiful houses and build those, but not the house of the Lord? So again, just sort of gets in their grill, says it like it is, and tells them, you've stopped the building of God, you should get started. And he ends every little prophecy with the message, consider your ways. That's the prophet Haggai. The prophet Zechariah was also sent to that first group with Zerubbabel. And Zechariah was a little bit different. He gave a series of visions that he saw. One of the visions in Zechariah chapter 4,

8:55 he sees a candelabra, the menorah, the seven-branched candlestick that was in the temple. He sees a vision of that candelabra. And then he sees above that seven-branched candlestick, above that menorah, a golden vessel filled with oil and pipes going down to each of the seven receptacles of oil. And then on either side of that, he sees two olive trees that are feeding the bowl that is feeding the menorah. Sort of like an automated menorah. where oil is coming from the olive trees to a receptacle. The receptacle is filling each of the seven candles in the lamps. And in the vision, Zechariah says to the angel, what are these, my Lord?

9:48 And the angel said, you don't know what these are? He goes, no, my Lord. And he said, the angel says, this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. it's not by might it's not by power but it's by my spirit says the Lord and the mountain that you see will become a plain in other words the difficulties that you are experiencing I'm going to take care of them and my spirit will give you the power to keep going and finish the task That was the vision. So Haggai and Zechariah come to Zerubbabel to encourage him. And at the encouragement of those two prophets, they continue the rebuilding of the temple and they finish it. Now that's being mentioned. Now I'm going to take you down to verse, oh, verse, the end of verse 7. These were the heads of the priests, their brethren in the days of Jeshua. That was the high priest.

10:51 Moreover, the Levites were Joshua and these other names. End of verse 8. Who led the thanksgiving psalms. He and his brethren. Now if you have a New King James Version like I have, perhaps whatever version you have. But the word psalms is in italics. And that means it wasn't in the original text. It's not in the Hebrew. The original Hebrew is their names are given, and it just says, the thanksgiving, he and his brethren. So the translators put the Psalms because they figure that's implied. So they get together. They're singing these or leading these thanksgiving Psalms. Also, verse 9, interesting name, Bak Bukaya.

11:46 Now the reason I stop there is because in Hebrew, even modern Hebrew, the word bakbuk is a word that means bottle or flask or vessel. And bakbukaya means vessel of the Lord. So it's a great name. Somebody who is filled with the Lord and is that vessel to other people. I just like that name. Bakbukaya. And Unni, their brethren, stood across from them in their duties. There were psalms in the book of Psalms that are designated as Thanksgiving psalms. Psalm 30, Psalm 66, Psalm 92, Psalm 100, Psalm 111, Psalm 118. All of these are called Thanksgiving psalms.

12:41 The most famous of them that I mentioned in that little litany was Psalm 100. Enter into his courts with thanksgiving, or gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise. Be thankful to him and bless his name, for the Lord is good. So perhaps that's what is going on at this time. These Thanksgiving Psalms are mentioned. And there is a lot of thanksgiving in these chapters. in the new testament it says in everything give thanks for this is the will of god in christ jesus concerning you gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for the Christian life gratitude is the attitude that sets the altitude for the Christian life every father loves to hear from his son or daughter thank you God our father loves it when we say regularly thank you Jesus healed 10 lepers.

13:58 Nine of them said nothing after they were healed. Only one gave thanks. 10%. So I hope that is not the ratio among God's people today. I hope it's more like 90% to 10 rather than 10% to 90. So they had part of their worship system, the giving of thanks. Other names are listed all the way down from back in the time of Zerubbabel. And then you'll notice in verse 22, I'm skipping all those names because I love you. During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levites and priests who had been heads of their fathers' houses in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jadua. You remember Darius, the Persian, from the book of Ezra, and you also remember him from the book of Daniel. Daniel was there, of course, for Nebuchadnezzar. He was there for Belshazzar. He was there the night Belshazzar was having a drunken orgy and drunken feast, and the man's hand wrote on the wall, many, many tekel you farsen. You've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. And it was that night that the kingdom of Babylon fell and Daniel prophesied that you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting. God is giving your kingdom to somebody else. And that night Cyrus the Persian and it says Darius the Mede took over the kingdom.

15:36 Now he's called Darius the Mede in Daniel. Here he's called Darius the Persian. Is there a discrepancy? No. What happened is the Medes and the Persians formed an alliance called the Medo-Persian Empire. So they become one in the same group after that alliance. So here he is called Darius the Persian. and there's a record of the priests and the heads of their fathers and I mentioned them already so the sons of Levi that's the whole family that made all the genes that's not true. The sons of Levi, the heads of the father's houses until the days of Johanan, the son of Eliashib, were written in the book of the Chronicles, and the heads of the Levites were these names, with their brothers across from them to praise and give thanks.

16:40 Group alternating with group. So it's an antiphonal choir. One group sings one part of it. The other group sings the other part of it. And they would sing back and forth. It can be beautifully done when it is done beautifully. Alternating group with group. According to the command. Notice this. According to the command of David, the man of God. Okay, who built the temple? Solomon. Solomon built the temple. David wanted to build it. God said, you can't. You're a man of war. You've shed much blood, but your son Solomon will. David got all the materials. Solomon built the temple. Though Solomon built the temple, David organized the temple worship. He organized who would do what, who would sing what, the 24 courses of priests, the Levitical choirs, etc. So Nehemiah is going back to the precedence set by King David in his organization of the temple that his son Solomon would build according to the command of David, the man of God. I think it is important whenever we do anything, when it comes to the things of God, especially in the church, that we do things scripturally.

18:10 In the New Testament, you remember on the day of Pentecost, they were speaking in tongues and the people came and they said, what is this? And Peter said, this is that, which was spoken of by the prophet and he quotes the Old Testament scripture. What you are seeing is what has been predicted by the scripture. We are basing what we are doing on what the Old Testament scripture predicted.

18:37 So it is important to be able to point to a scriptural precedent for what we do. Scripture informs us. who we worship, how we worship. Those are the first two commandments. I am the Lord your God. You will have no other gods besides me. That's who you worship. You will have no graven images. That's how you worship. So the scripture informs us who to worship and how to worship. So Nehemiah is going back since the temple is rebuilt by Zerubbabel. The city walls are around to protect it. The people are in the city. Let's go back to the precedent set by David who organized the Levitical choirs, etc. to find out not only who to worship, but how God wants to be worshiped in this structure called the temple. So I always like to underline that. We always want to say, this is that which was spoken of instead of, well, we do this because tradition says, and we've always done it this way and we, well, maybe you've done it wrong all these years.

19:52 You know, you have to be able to base what you do on what the scripture says and there are plenty of principles to do this. That's part of worship. Jesus said the Father is looking for those who will worship him in spirit and in truth. So it's more than just I have an attitude, a real spirit of worship, and my worship isn't just spirited worship, but it's based upon the truth as given to me in the word of God. So they want to praise and give thanks according to the commandment of David, the man of God. Mataniah, Bakbukaya, Obadiah, Meshulam, Talman, Akub were gatekeepers keeping the watch of the storerooms and the gates. These lived in the days of Joachim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and the days of Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribes. So going all the way back 90 to 100 years, all the way up to the present, mentioning some of those names. Now, verse 27, now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites in all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and singing, with cymbals and stringed instruments and harps.

21:25 Instruments, musical instruments, have always been a part of worship. in Psalm 150 praise God with the trumpet praise him with the symbol the high symbol the loud symbols the stringed instruments all the instruments are listed let everything that has breath praise the Lord it has long been known it has long been discovered that whenever you take words and add music to those words and a melody with those words, that those words become more memorable. This is what advertisers know. You know, now when I listen to a station and there's commercials, I've heard them so long, some of these commercials, and I find myself singing those dumb commercial songs. I don't even like them, but they're in my head. I can't get out. I can't get them out. I still remember commercials from when I was five and six years old in California, hearing those things on the radio. L.J. Snow, the Ford man, is the jolly Ford dealer. I still remember that. La Cadena has more in the heart of Colton. L.J. Snow Ford. That's in my head.

22:48 can't get it out of my head so it works it works that's what advertisers are banking on they want it to stick in your head and it works so when you have truth and you add melody and music to it it becomes more memorable. That's why there are certain songs that you resonate with, and when you hear them again, it takes you back to the time you first heard them, when God was first saving you, or sanctifying you in a certain way, and it's precious to you because of what you were going through at that time. That's why it's always important for worship leaders to bring in some of the old hymns and the old choruses even 10, 20 years back. By now they've sort of reached hymn status. They're old enough. But it reinforces the truth.

23:50 So there were instruments that were with the words and it was part of the worship. cymbal, stringed instruments, and harps. Yeah, I have a lot more to say on this, but I've said it before, and I want to get through chapter 13, so let's go on. Verse 28, And the sons of the singers, this is fun, the sons of the singers, together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of the Nataphathites, from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Asmaveth, for the singers, get this, the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.

24:43 That's fun, isn't it? Artist colonies, musical towns, melody land, worshipville. I don't know what these little towns were called, but these were singers and the sons of the singers. They all came out, but I love that concept. And the priest, verse 30, the Levites purified themselves, purified the people, the gates and the wall. their worship was filled with instrumentation their worship was filled with vocalization singing singing is a part of humanity i think every person in every country in every culture has songs has national anthems has folk songs that resonate with their culture and people love singing songs of their homeland, their country, the anthem of their country.

25:44 But of all the people that sing, and I think that's all the people, whoever lived, we as believers have the supreme reason to be singers. Because of our redemption, because of our salvation, because of our great God. So all the people in the world who should be filled with song, it is God's people, God's worshipers. So verse 31, I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One of them went to the right hand on the wall toward the refuse gate. After them went all these leaders, priests. At the end of verse 36, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God, and Ezra the scribe went before them.

26:45 So one group is led by Ezra, the spiritual leader. By the fountain gate in front of them, they went up the stairs of the city of David on the stairway of the wall beyond the house of David as far as the water gate eastward. The other thanksgiving choir went the opposite way.

27:06 And I was behind them with half the people on the wall going past the Tower of the Ovens as far as the broad wall. The broad wall can be still seen today. They have uncovered it. You can stand in the old city of Jerusalem and look down on this very broad wall. That's why it's called the broad wall. And see the place where they walked. Fascinating after all this time. All right. and above the gate of Ephraim, verse 39, above the old gate, above the fish gate, the tower of Hananiel, the tower of the hundred, as far as the sheep gate, they stopped by the gate of the prison. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God. likewise I, that's I Nehemiah, and half the rulers with me. So you get the picture. They split these two choirs up. They started walking on the walls of the city. 52 days they built the city. Now they're walking on top of the walls for the dedication. They're singing as they're walking on the city walls. And I've got my handy dandy pointer. So can you see this? So I'm just kind of outlining the walls that they were walking on. Of course, the walls back then went that way all the way through the city of David. But you can see some of these walls. And today, there is a ramparts walk. You pay a few shekels and you can walk on top of the walls and see Jerusalem from atop those walls. I once stood in that corner, right where the E is and the rotating gear. That's called the pinnacle of the Temple Mount, and it's the farthest point above the Kidron Valley. And I snuck a Frisbee up there. It's a Muslim holy site, but I snuck a Frisbee up there, and I chucked the Frisbee from the pinnacle of the Temple out into the Kidron Valley. I knew I would say goodbye to it. I'd lose it, but I just wanted to get the feeling of watching that Frisbee

29:15 sail from the pinnacle of the Temple all the way through the Kidron Valley. It has nothing at all to do with our Bible study, but it's just a fun memory. So these two choirs, Ezra led one group, Nehemiah was behind the other group, and these two choirs met in the house of God that is in the temple courts, likewise I and half the rulers with me. So again, in their worship, Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving. In everything, give thanks. Be a thankful person.

29:55 Thanksgiving is not a feeling. Thanksgiving is a decision. If you're waiting to have feelings of thankfulness, it'll be few and far between that you'll ever get to actually be thankful. Because you're going to always think of things to complain about. But you make a decision, and they made a decision to actually bake Thanksgiving into their worship. They had Thanksgiving psalms. They had Thanksgiving choirs. They had thank offerings in the temple. I was just baked into the system that they would always have reminders that would cause them to thank God for his goodness. And the priests, verse 41, are mentioned. Again, verse 42, Maaseah, Shemaiah, Eleazar. We read them last week. Uzi, the father of machine guns.

30:50 And all these other names. The singers, look at verse 42. The singers sang loudly. with Jezreha as their director. It doesn't say they sang beautifully, though I imagine it was beautiful, but it doesn't say it. It doesn't say they sang on key, though I'm guessing they did. But what was noteworthy enough to make a scriptural notation of is they sang loudly. And the Bible in a few of the Psalms says, make a joyful shout to the Lord or shout unto the Lord is the commandment. And so they sang loudly.

31:43 Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced for God, made them rejoice with great joy. The women and the children also rejoiced. Watch this, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. I remember being at a worship service once in India and another time in Cuba, Havana, Cuba. and both of these were rural congregations with different I mean lots of people a lot of population base in the neighborhood close to it and I remember during the worship service they opened their windows all the way before the music and I asked them about that they said well we want our neighbors to hear I said are your neighbors Christians oh no that's why we want them to hear so um yeah they wanted the people of the neighborhood to know that they were christ worshipers and that was part of their testament so they would sing loudly and and i i i've always believed that god isn't too excited about secret admirers he wants vocal admirers.

33:05 And again, of all the people that should be singers, it's God's people that should be, and they sang loudly. And then that's associated in verse 43 with joy. They rejoiced. God made them joyful. They rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. Psalm 122, I was glad. I was glad when they said to me, let us go to the house of the Lord. I wonder how glad we get when we say it's church time, time for church. I'm glad. Well, I think you're glad because you're here. But a lot of people, I remember when my parents would say it's church time, really, do we have to? And of course, in my house, there was no negotiation. If you're breathing, you're going. I was glad when they said, bars have happy hour.

34:03 I wouldn't know what those are like having never been to a bar during happy hour. But listen, this is happy hour. Saturday at 6.30 in the evening and Sunday morning is also happy hour. The joy of Jerusalem was heard afar off. At that time, some were appointed over the rooms. The next few verses talk about that. that in the temple there were storerooms for the tithes and the offerings and the support for the priests, the Levites, the singers, the worship leaders, etc. Verse 1 chapter 13. On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the congregation of God. Okay, now let me set something up for you. After the dedication of the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah leaves town and goes back to Persia to work for his boss, King Artaxerxes. Remember what Nehemiah used to be before he went to Jerusalem? He was a cupbearer for King Artaxerxes.

35:20 he goes back because notice down in verse 6 during all this time I was not in Jerusalem for in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes the king of Babylon I returned to the king then after certain days I obtained leave from the king so all of this happens they dedicate they worship thanksgiving joy heard everywhere Nehemiah goes back to Persia we believe for at least a year some believe up to two years so he's gone remember the old saying when the cat's away the mice will play well that's what happens the cat's away the mice the people of jerusalem start reverting back to their old ways before nehemiah and ezra brought that serious spiritual reformation This is pretty common.

36:19 Moses went up to Mount Sinai to receive the law of God. He comes back down. The cat's been away. The mice have been playing. They get a golden statue of a calf, start worshiping it in this weird worship frenzy. He wasn't gone long, but it didn't take long. Paul the Apostle, if you remember in the New Testament, would often start congregations. Then he would leave and then he would have to write them back because of false doctrine or some aberrant practice has gone on in that church. And Paul knew that would be the case when he was leaving Ephesus and he met with the elders at the town of Miletus. He said, I know that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. He just knew that's the tendency.

37:16 Spiritual entropy. You know, we start just losing that fire that we once had. So. on that day, go back to verse 1, they read from the book of Moses, they're reading the Bible again, in the hearing of the people, and in it is found no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the congregation of God, because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, I love this part, our God turned the curse into a blessing. Remember that. When people curse you, and they will, who cares? They called a curse down on me. So? the point here is God takes and he'll reverse the curse. He'll make the curse a blessing.

38:17 So it was when they heard the law that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. Okay, remember back to chapter 10. Don't have to go back there. Chapter 10, remember they heard the word of God in chapter 8. They prayed in chapter 9. In chapter 10, they signed the document that said, we're going to put away all the mixed marriages and foreign spouses that we've been, you know, intermarrying the non-believers. Nehemiah has been gone a year or two. They're going back to that practice, but they're reading the Bible at least. And in reading the Bible, they say, and they realize we've been blowing it in that area. So again, it's the word of God that does the work of God in the hearts of the people of God. They're reading the scripture. They're becoming convicted. They're realizing the error of their ways. And they have to go back to that covenant, go back to that commitment that they made in chapter 10 that they had now let lag.

39:20 And so when they heard the law, they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel. When I was first saved, I was so attracted to the person of Jesus.

39:41 But then somebody told me I needed to read a Bible. So I got one called Good News for Modern Man. It was a very easy version to read. And I started reading it. Some of it made sense, some of it didn't. It was very difficult. and somebody looked at my paperback Bible it was just a New Testament and said you need a real Bible so I got a real Bible leather bound Old and New Testament started reading it well it was an old King James Version which I was weaned on I still read from that on my daily devotions I love it but as an 18 year old who fell in love with Jesus now reading the Bible, I found not only the old King James 1611 stilted and very difficult to read, but so much of the Bible I didn't get.

40:40 And I found it difficult and even dry reading through the scriptures. I'm saying all that because they're reading the law, okay? They're reading Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. It's not light reading. It's the kind of stuff you read at night if you have insomnia. But they're reading it, and as they're reading it, and committed to reading it and rereading it and rereading it, God is doing his work. So, let me just give you a little hint. If you find it difficult, you're one of those people that have never read through the whole Bible, but now you're making that commitment to do so. I'm going to give you three words.

41:24 Discipline is the first word. Just keep doing it. Just keep doing it. Keep exposing yourself to it. Even if it all doesn't make sense, just stay at it. Discipline. The second word after discipline is desire. The discipline will eventuate into a desire. eventually you're going to enjoy it and you're going to want it you're going to desire it then pretty soon after discipline after desire delight it's a delight. Psalm 119 are the words of a person who delights in God's law. And I have made it my practice, and it is the best part of my day to get up in the morning, begin each morning, and close every evening with a chunk of the scriptures.

42:20 It is my delight, truly. It wasn't at first, it was a discipline. In fact, it might even be drudge as number one, and then discipline, and then desire, and then delight. But eventually it will become a delight. Just stay with it. Pretty soon you'll want it, and pretty soon you can't live without it. It becomes your delight. And so they are going back to it, and they realize the error of their way. So it says, verse 4, now before this, before they read this, Eliashib the priest, he was one of the builders of the wall, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. Now, wait a minute. Wasn't Tobiah that creep who was Sanballat, the Horonite's friend? Yes, Sanballat and Tobiah were the two enemies that constantly gave the people a hassle.

43:21 Well, now you've got a priest in Jerusalem who's an ally with an enemy of God. And he prepared for him a large room where previously they stored the grain offerings, frankincense, articles, tithes of grain, new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levite singers, gatekeepers, the offerings for the priests. But during all this, I was not in Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I returned to the king, and after certain days I obtained leave from the king. I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God, and it grieved me bitterly. Therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room.

44:11 Cleaned house. now imagine setting up headquarters for your mortal enemy somebody who wants your overthrow sure come on in to our church we'll let you live here you can have a room now why did why did the high priest do this well i'll i'll give it away verse 28 tells us why Amen. the high priest, the priest, had children married to the children of Sanballat. So because of this marriage of kids and son and daughters-in-law, he started compromising. I got to tell you, I find this to be the case. you know you make a commitment you have your value system you're you're you're straight and narrow but then you raise your kids your kids make their own decisions they're not as conservative as you are they're not as biblically centered as you are they might have a gay orientation or a different orientation and so you you start because you love your kids think well maybe we should just be more tolerant. And maybe that's okay. And what I find is your theology starts following your progeny.

45:36 Your children's beliefs start dictating your own because you don't want to alienate them. So you start compromising. So he's at one time would have never allowed this to happen, but now he lets the guy set up HQ headquarters right there in the temple. It was Vance Habner that said, Satan isn't fighting churches, he's joining them. That's his strategy. So he comes back, Nehemiah comes back, says enough of this, kicks Tobiah out, throws his junk out. Verse 19, and I commanded them to fumigate, to cleanse the rooms, and brought back into them the articles of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense. I also realized the portion for the priests had not been given to them. Each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to the field.

46:32 They're not supporting the work of God anymore. So I contended with the rulers and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? I gathered them together and set them in their place. Now they had focused on the city. but they have not focused on the sanctuary. At one time they did. They're still focused on the city, the secular, but not the sacred, not the sanctuary. And so Nehemiah says, you know, you made a commitment back in chapter 10. He didn't say chapter 10 because it wasn't a chapter then, but I'm saying that. And they did. They made a commitment. We're going to support the priests, the Levites, the singers, etc. But they become lax in that. The priests have to go back to their secular job. He rectifies that in verse 14. Remember me, he prays, oh my God, concerning this, and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for its services. In those days, I saw in Judah some people treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on Shabbat, on the Sabbath day.

47:52 And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of Tyre, the sea coast up in Lebanon, dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah and in Jerusalem. So I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do by which you profane the Sabbath day? You see what's going on here? after just 12 months, 24 months, unless you keep the fires stoked, they will naturally on their own go out. Jesus said to the church at Ephesus, I have this against you.

48:45 You have left your first love. Remember from where you have fallen. Repent and do the first works. We have to keep those fires stoked. They were misarranging, mismanaging their priorities. I know this resonates with all of us because this is a constant battle, reassessing, rearranging our priorities. And I don't advocate to people to make a list. You know, it's number one, God, number two, family, number three, number four. For some people that works. Rather than a list, I always like to picture like a solar system. Let God be your sun. let all the planets be all your activities. So your family rotates around your God. Your work is another planet that rotates around your relationship with God. Your hobbies, your fun times is a planet that rotates around God. Just let God be the center. Seek first the kingdom of God. All these things will be added unto you. So rather than a list, one, two, three, four, five, solar system. Everything revolves around him. And when you do that, when he's the center, it all falls into place. Just naturally falls into place. So they are out of whack with their priorities. He tells them this is wrong. Did not, verse 18, your fathers do thus? Did not our God 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.

50:35 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?

51:31 If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. This is not the good kind of laying. It's not like, let me pray for you, brother. It's not that kind of laying on of hands. It's the bad kind of laying on of hands. I'm going to grab you and slap you around, basically. I'm going to lay hands on you guys. from that time on they came no more to the sabbath evidently these merchants were camping outside so that people living on the walls of jerusalem and their homes could look down and you know sort of like advertisers would do and it's like well let me show you what you can buy tomorrow if you come out on the Sabbath day to my little wagon or my little kiosk, you know? So it would, it would be, you know, it would be like on display. It would tempt them. So he's, you do it again. I'm going to come out and slap you around. So they did it a couple of times and they bailed.

52:35 Verse 22, I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, that they should go and guard the gates to sanctify the Sabbath. Remember me, O my God, he prays again concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy. In those days, I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Ashdod was a Philistine city in the borders of Israel, south and west. Ammon was next door over in modern-day Jordan, Moab, east of the Jordan River, east of the Dead Sea. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.

53:34 So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them. and pulled out their hair. Do not get on Nehemiah's bad side. Now I'm not saying he's, you know, I'm not defending him. I'm glad the Bible's honest to tell us what he did. And it's not condoning what it is, just telling you what he did. you remember Ezra faced a similar issue and he pulled out his own hair I think I would rather do what Nehemiah did and pull out their hair just saying so he did pulled out some of their hair struck him slapped him around made them swear by God saying you shall not give your daughters as wife to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or yourselves. Now what's the big deal here? The big deal is back in chapter 10, again, verse 30, verse 31, they specifically made the promise, we're not going to let, we're not going to intermarry our children with the pagans of this land.

54:49 The problem Nehemiah is seeing is these kids don't speak Hebrew. They're not speaking the native language of our country. They're speaking a foreign language. Why is that a problem? Because they can't go to the temple. They can't go to a synagogue and engage in any meaningful worship unless they understand the language of worship, which is all Hebrew. So they're not going to be able to participate in any meaningful worship of God because they don't know the language of worship, which was in Hebrew. So this upset him, and for a good reason. if you lose the next generation, you lose the future. That's why we want Christian parents to have lots and lots and lots of children and train those children.

55:47 Train them well. Pass on your faith. Let them see the faith lived out in the home so they have the faith of their fathers and mothers. You lose one generation, you can lose it all. We're always one generation away from extinction. He brings it home in verse 26. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Remember, he had so many foreign wives.

56:17 Yet among many nations, there was no king like him who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all of Israel. So even one of our great kings had this issue and it was a problem. Nevertheless, pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women? And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib, the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore, I drove him from me. That's why the priest allowed Tobiah to have a room in the temple. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I cleanse them of everything pagan.

57:18 I also assign duties to the priest and the Levites, each to his service, and to bringing the wood offering and the firstfruits at the appointed times. I got to finish it. Remember me.

57:39 Oh my God. For good. Nehemiah begins. And ends. With prayer. When he heard of Jerusalem being torn down. The walls torn down. The gates burned with fire. he wept and he prayed.

58:03 Throughout the book he prays. At the end of the book we record a prayer, Remember me, oh my God. We're good. Back to that saying I mentioned at the beginning. It's an old Chinese proverb, actually. One generation plants the trees, the next generation gets the shade.

58:27 What kind of shade are you providing for your children and grandchildren? What kind of spiritual mitigation are you providing against the harsh rays of the world's sunlight? The bright, stark, deteriorating rays of secularism. What kind of shade are you providing? What kind of trees are you planting? One generation plants the trees, the next generation gets the shade. Nehemiah wanted to be sure that the next generation was set up for success and not for failure so that's the book of Nehemiah next time we flip to the New Testament we'll be in chapter one of first Thessalonians next week let's close with a word of prayer father thank you for the opportunity the ability, and the freedom of assembly and the freedom of worship that we enjoy in this country.

59:30 Thank you for hungry hearts that desire to gather, to understand, to rehearse the Word of God, because we believe it's your Word that does your work in our hearts. I pray that as we are filled with thanksgiving and joy. We make it a choice to give you thanks, a choice to respond to life's difficulties with thanksgiving. And I pray that our joy would be heard and would be seen by those around us, those at work, those in our neighborhood, by kids, by extended family. I pray that our roots would go down deep. and that our leaves, the shade of our trees, would be sufficient to set up our children, our grandchildren, to do the same in their generation.

1:00:36 So we thank you for this book. We thank you for Nehemiah, his commitment to you, the lessons we have learned in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's all stand to our feet. Thank you for your patience. Read ahead. 1 Thessalonians chapter 1.