Nehemiah

Nehemiah 13: Walls and promises are not enough

Begin in prayer

Before the people break their promises again, let us ask God for a clean heart. Please ask Him to show our family that we need more than good intentions, and that Jesus makes a new covenant.

“Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:

Jeremiah 31:31

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word. Show us that walls and promises cannot change a heart, and help us to see Christ who gives a new heart. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The law is read, and the people separate the mixed multitude from Israel. Eliashib the priest, who was allied to Tobiah, has given Tobiah a great room in the house of God where the offerings were stored. Nehemiah has been away at the king's court, and when he returns he throws Tobiah's things out and has the rooms cleansed. He finds the Levites unpaid, so he sets them in their place, and when men trade on the Sabbath, he shuts the gates at dark. Then he sees Jews who have married women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, and whose children cannot speak the Jews' language. He contends with them, curses them, strikes some, and makes them swear not to marry into those peoples. Nehemiah prays four times for God to remember, and the book ends, “Remember me, my God, for good.”

As you read Nehemiah 13, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God's great loving kindness is the only hope of a people who keep breaking their promises.

While Nehemiah was away, a priest gave Tobiah, the enemy who mocked the wall, a storeroom in God's house (verses 4 to 7). Nehemiah cleans the rooms, the Levites return, the Sabbath is kept, and he makes the men swear about the marriages (verses 8 to 28). The marriage sin is turning from God to other gods, as Solomon was led to do (verse 26). Ruth the Moabite turned to the God of Israel, and she is in the family line of Jesus (Matthew 1 verse 5). Nehemiah prays, “Remember me, my God, for good” (verse 31). One prayer asks God to “spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness” (verse 22). Walls and promises cannot change a heart, and even Nehemiah needs mercy. God promised a new covenant that puts His law in His people's hearts (Jeremiah 31 verses 31 to 34). Jesus made it in His blood (Luke 22 verse 20).

How does Nehemiah 13 show us that God's great loving kindness is the only hope of a people who keep breaking their promises?

A priest gives God's storeroom to Tobiah.

Eliashib, set over the rooms of God's house, allied with Tobiah and gave him a great room there (verses 4 and 5). The offerings meant for the Levites had been kept in that room. Nehemiah throws out Tobiah's things and has the rooms cleansed (verses 8 and 9). Jesus also drove out those who made His Father's house a marketplace (John 2 verses 14 to 16).

The Levites are unpaid, and the Sabbath is ignored.

The Levites and singers had gone back to their fields because their portions were not given (verse 10). Nehemiah sets them in their place, and Judah brings the tithes (verses 11 and 12). Men also trade on the Sabbath, so he shuts the gates at dark (verses 15 to 19). The promises signed in chapter 10 had been broken.

The same sin returns, so Nehemiah prays for mercy.

Some Jews have married women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, and their children cannot speak the Jews' language (verses 23 and 24). The sin is turning from God, as Solomon was led to do (verse 26). What Nehemiah did is not a pattern for Christian homes. A believer married to an unbeliever is told to stay (1 Corinthians 7 verses 12 to 14). Nehemiah asks, “spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness” (verse 22), and we need that mercy too.

Memorise

spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.

Nehemiah 13:22

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, will I ask Jesus to forgive me and to make my heart new?

Nehemiah cleansed the rooms, set the Levites in their places and shut the gates on the Sabbath. Yet the people went back to their sin, and his prayers ask God to “spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.” A wall and a promise could not change their hearts.

God's answer is Jesus Christ. He did what no wall and no promise could do. He died on the cross for His people, bearing the curse of the law, and God raised Him from the dead. By His Spirit He gives a new heart, so that His people love God from within (Ezekiel 36 verses 26 and 27). His work is complete, and nothing can be added.

So come to Him. Turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus. Everyone who trusts Him is forgiven, and He will never turn that person away.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God gives a new heart through Jesus, and that Nehemiah's action is not a pattern for Christian homes. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home. Please explain gently that the sin was serving other gods, and that no child of a mixed home should feel ashamed.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His great loving kindness, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, and each one may ask God for a clean heart.

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink, in memory of me.”

1 Corinthians 11:25

Father, thank You for Your great loving kindness. Our promises fail, but Your mercy does not. Thank You for Jesus and the new covenant in His blood. Please give each of us a new heart to trust Him. Amen.