Nehemiah 13:6-9

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 reaction in a similar situation (John 2:12-17).

Nehemiah said that Eliashib had done something evil. So Nehemiah threw all Tobiah’s property out of the room. The room was a special holy room. But it was not still holy because Tobiah the *Ammonite had used it. So Nehemiah ordered people to clean the rooms. Then the priests carried out a ceremony to make the rooms holy again. They probably carried out special *sacrifices to do this. Then Nehemiah put the equipment and the gifts of grain back into the room.

v10 I also discovered that the *Levites had not received their share of the gifts from the people. So the *Levites and the singers, who did the work, had to go back to work in their own fields. v11 So I was angry with the officials. I said, ‘You should not have neglected the house of God.’ I gathered the *Levites and the singers together. And I made them go back to work in the *temple.