This seems to mean a particular day after Nehemiah returned to *Judah. It seems that, until then, the people had neglected to read the law of God. But on that particular day, they heard the law. Then they knew that they had not obeyed God’s commands. God’s law said that they must never allow the *Am... [ Continue Reading ]
THE *JEWS BUILD JERUSALEM’S CITY WALL AGAIN NEHEMIAH _ROBERT BRYCE AND ROBERT BETTS_ CHAPTER 13 Twelve years after the people rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, Nehemiah returned to Persia. Some time later, he asked the king to allow him to return to *Judah (Nehemiah 13:6). There, Nehemiah discove... [ Continue Reading ]
When Nehemiah was away in Persia, the priest Eliashib allowed Tobiah to use a large room in the *temple. Tobiah was one of the enemies of the *Jews. He had tried to stop the people building the walls of Jerusalem again (Nehemiah 2:10; Nehemiah 2:19; Nehemiah 4:3). Also he was an *Ammonite. God’s law... [ Continue Reading ]
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he discovered what Eliashib had done. So Nehemiah was very angry. This does not mean that Nehemiah could not control his temper. It means that he acted in a strict way. He wanted to show that he was very unhappy about the situation. Jesus showed a similar reactio... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah also discovered that the people had not given their *tithes and gifts to the *Levites. They had promised to give one tenth (1/10th) of their crops for the priests and the *Levites (Nehemiah 10:35-39). Then the priests and the *Levites could serve God and they could take care of the *temple... [ Continue Reading ]
So the people again started to bring their *tithes and gifts to the house of God. Nehemiah was wise and he appointed a team of good men to look after this work. The men whom Nehemiah chose were honest men. Everybody knew this. These men looked after the special holy rooms. These rooms were special b... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah was a man who prayed often. He always wanted to do the right thing for God and for God’s work. So he prayed that the gifts for the *temple would continue. V15 In those days, I saw that men in *Judah were working on the 7th day of the week. (But the 7th day of the week should be a holy day... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah also discovered something else when he returned to *Judah. He saw that some of the people were working on the 7th day of the week. They were also loading grain on horses. Maybe some of this was grain that they should have given to the *Levites (Nehemiah 13:10). The *Jews were also buying go... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah gave orders that people must not trade on the 7th day of the week. He ordered the guards in Jerusalem to shut the gates of the city during the 7th day. He also spoke to the people from other nations who brought goods to sell. He warned them not to come on the 7th day of the week. He told th... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah discovered something else when he returned to *Judah. Some of the men had married women from the nations called Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. God had ordered the people not to marry foreigners. He had also ordered the *Jews not to allow the *Ammonites and *Moabites to join them (Nehemiah 13:1-2).... [ Continue Reading ]
Nehemiah prayed again. He knew that the priests had not obeyed God. They had not been good models for the people. Nehemiah tried to make the priests and the *Levites do the right things again. He removed everything foreign from them. He arranged for each of them to do his own proper tasks. He made s... [ Continue Reading ]