Their Old Shenanigans – Nehemiah 12 & 13

Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast.  This is Episode #149 and today we’ll read Nehemiah chapters 12 & 13 together.  The Israelites are back to their old shenanigans in record time.  

Welcome

Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2!  I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together.  We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament.  But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New.  So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work.  I’m really glad you’re here!

Nehemiah Chapter 12

These are the priests and Levites who went up with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Jeshua:

Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra,

Amariah, Malluch, Hattush,

Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth,

Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah,

Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah,

Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah,

Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah.

These were the heads of the priests and their relatives in the days of Jeshua.

The Levites:

Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel,

Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah —

he and his relatives were in charge of the songs of praise.

Bakbukiah, Unni, and their relatives stood opposite them in the services.

Jeshua fathered Joiakim,

Joiakim fathered Eliashib,

Eliashib fathered Joiada,

Joiada fathered Jonathan,

and Jonathan fathered Jaddua.

In the days of Joiakim, the heads of the priestly families were

Meraiah | of Seraiah,
Hananiah | of Jeremiah,
Meshullam | of Ezra,
Jehohanan | of Amariah,
Jonathan | of Malluchi,
Joseph | of Shebaniah,
Adna | of Harim,
Helkai | of Meraioth,
Zechariah | of Iddo,
Meshullam | of Ginnethon,
Zichri | of Abijah,
Piltai | of Moadiah, of Miniamin,
Shammua | of Bilgah,
Jehonathan | of Shemaiah,
Mattenai | of Joiarib,
Uzzi | of Jedaiah,
Kallai | of Sallai,
Eber | of Amok,
Hashabiah | of Hilkiah,
and Nethanel | of Jedaiah.

Recorded in the Books

In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the heads of the families of the Levites and priests were recorded while Darius the Persian ruled. Levi’s descendants, the family heads, were recorded in the Book of the Historical Events during the days of Johanan son of Eliashib. The heads of the Levites — Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel, along with their relatives opposite them — gave praise and thanks, division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed. This included Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, and Obadiah. Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers who guarded the storerooms at the city gates. These served in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and Ezra the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sent for the Levites wherever they lived and brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers gathered from the region around Jerusalem, from the settlements of the Netophathites, from Beth-gilgal, and from the fields of Geba and Azmaveth, for they had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem. After the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the city gates, and the wall.

Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall, and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate. Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed, along with Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, Jeremiah, and some of the priests’ sons with trumpets, and Zechariah son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph followed as well as his relatives — Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David, the man of God. Ezra the scribe went in front of them. At the Fountain Gate they climbed the steps of the city of David on the ascent of the wall and went above the house of David to the Water Gate on the east.

The Second Procession

The second thanksgiving procession went to the left, and I followed it with half the people along the top of the wall, past the Tower of the Ovens to the Broad Wall, above the Ephraim Gate, and by the Old Gate, the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate. They stopped at the Gate of the Guard. The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me, as well as the priests:

Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin,

Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah,

and Hananiah, with trumpets;

and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar,

Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer.

Then the singers sang, with Jezrahiah as the leader. On that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced because God had given them great joy. The women and children also celebrated, and Jerusalem’s rejoicing was heard far away.

Support of the Levites’ Ministry

On that same day men were placed in charge of the rooms that housed the supplies, contributions, firstfruits, and tenths. The legally required portions for the priests and Levites were gathered from the village fields, because Judah was grateful to the priests and Levites who were serving. They performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, as David and his son Solomon had prescribed. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there were heads of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. So in the days of Zerubbabel and Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions for the singers and gatekeepers. They also set aside daily portions for the Levites, and the Levites set aside daily portions for Aaron’s descendants.

Nehemiah Chapter 13

Nehemiah’s Further Reforms

At that time the book of Moses was read publicly to the people. The command was found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, because they did not meet the Israelites with food and water. Instead, they hired Balaam against them to curse them, but our God turned the curse into a blessing. When they heard the law, they separated all those of mixed descent from Israel.

Now before this, the priest Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms of the house of our God. He was a relative of Tobiah and had prepared a large room for him where they had previously stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, and the tenths of grain, new wine, and fresh oil prescribed for the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, along with the contributions for the priests.

While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. It was only later that I asked the king for a leave of absence so I could return to Jerusalem.

The Evil of Eliashib

Then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done on behalf of Tobiah by providing him a room in the courts of God’s house. I was greatly displeased and threw all of Tobiah’s household possessions out of the room. I ordered that the rooms be purified, and I had the articles of the house of God restored there, along with the grain offering and frankincense. I also found out that because the portions for the Levites had not been given, each of the Levites and the singers performing the service had gone back to his own field.

Therefore, I rebuked the officials, asking, “Why has the house of God been neglected?” I gathered the Levites and singers together and stationed them at their posts. Then all Judah brought a tenth of the grain, new wine, and fresh oil into the storehouses. I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses the priest Shelemiah, the scribe Zadok, and Pedaiah of the Levites, with Hanan son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah to assist them, because they were considered trustworthy. They were responsible for the distribution to their colleagues.

Remember me for this, my God, and don’t erase the deeds of faithful love I have done for the house of my God and for its services.

At that time I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath. They were also bringing in stores of grain and loading them on donkeys, along with wine, grapes, and figs. All kinds of goods were being brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them against selling food on that day. The Tyrians living there were importing fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah in Jerusalem.

Profaning the Sabbath

I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil you are doing — profaning the Sabbath day? Didn’t your ancestors do the same, so that our God brought all this disaster on us and on this city? And now you are rekindling his anger against Israel by profaning the Sabbath!”

When shadows began to fall on the city gates of Jerusalem just before the Sabbath, I gave orders that the city gates be closed and not opened until after the Sabbath. I posted some of my men at the gates, so that no goods could enter during the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and those who sell all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem, but I warned them, “Why are you camping in front of the wall? If you do it again, I’ll use force against you.” After that they did not come again on the Sabbath. Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the city gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.

Remember me for this also, my God, and look on me with compassion according to the abundance of your faithful love.

Intermarrying

In those days I also saw Jews who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod or the language of one of the other peoples but could not speak Hebrew. I rebuked them, cursed them, beat some of their men, and pulled out their hair. I forced them to take an oath before God and said, “You must not give your daughters in marriage to their sons or take their daughters as wives for your sons or yourselves! Didn’t King Solomon of Israel sin in matters like this? There was not a king like him among many nations. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, yet foreign women drew him into sin. Why then should we hear about you doing all this terrible evil and acting unfaithfully against our God by marrying foreign women?”

Even one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, had become a son-in-law to Sanballat the Horonite. So I drove him away from me.

Remember them, my God, for defiling the priesthood as well as the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

So I purified them from everything foreign and assigned specific duties to each of the priests and Levites. I also arranged for the donation of wood at the appointed times and for the firstfruits.

Remember me, my God, with favor.

Close

Well, that didn’t take long.  I don’t know what irritated Nehemiah more – that the Israelites were back to their old shenanigans or that it took what seemed like the blink of an eye.  He was mad!  And he didn’t give them an inch.  They needed to right their wrongs and he told them exactly how he expected them to do it.  Nehemiah reminded me of an irritated parent who had to take off work to come get their kid out the of the principal’s office.  

This chapter gave me a new perspective on his asking God to remember him for what Nehemiah was doing.  He was worn out, frustrated and maybe even a little disgusted.  He was up-to-here with these Israelites and, for these reasons, I think we could re-write Nehemiah’s prayer like this: “Lord, I have no idea if all this effort is going to make one bit of difference with my brothers and sisters. No support is coming from them, my God, but I pray that You are pleased.  You are my true focus.”  What do you think?  Share your thoughts with me at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  Oh, and by the way, congratulations for finishing another book!

See You Tomorrow!

Thank you for joining me here today.  I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed.  Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions.  And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there.  If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know.  Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.  See you tomorrow!

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.