On that day they read in the book of Moses in the audience of the people; and there was found written in it that the Ammonite and the Moabite should not come into the congregation of God for ever;
The people had finished the wall and dedicated it, and on that same day they read the book of Moses aloud to everyone. What they heard was not a new rule but a very old one, and it forced a decision about who belonged among the people of God.
The reading exposed something the people had let slide. One writer describes what Nehemiah found among them:
When Nehemiah looks into how they were living, he finds something sad — they had drifted far from the original spirit of separation... We have to watch and guard all the time... And so on this occasion they read from the book of Moses to the people — it was like a new thing: they had not thought of it before.
They had owned these words for years without acting on them. One writer points to what makes the difference:
They returned to first principles. "When they had heard the law, they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude." There it was: they had read it over and over again before. Now they applied it. It is not just that we need the word; we need the Spirit of God to make the word living. And now that they found its application they acted upon it.
Ammon and Moab had wronged Israel long before Nehemiah's day. One writer warns against treating that old sin as settled by the passing of time:
These events had happened about a thousand years earlier. It is very important to note that the time that had passed in no way lessened the guilt of Ammon and Moab. God's sentence against them remained standing, because God does not change, and because a thousand years are as one day to Him. We often think, as in human affairs, that a past sin against Christ and against His people is simply dismissed. Why recall these things, we ask? They happened so long ago that no one remembers them... Wiping the evil away with a damp sponge looks like a fine idea to us at first. But we forget that we must look at the question from God's point of view. What does He think of the wrong done to Himself and His people?
The same writer marks out what the ban meant in practice:
Israel had already condemned sinful marriages and had purified themselves from them. This was a case of not counting these two peoples as part of the congregation of the Lord.
This reading came right after the dedication of the wall. A wall says who is inside and who is outside:
In truth, then as now, alliance with the world was Satan's most successful trap. So there has always been need for watchfulness, and for holding to the truth of separation to God... The meaning of the wall, as pointed out more than once, is the exclusion of evil. It means the separation of God's people from other nations — for us, from the world, and from evil, whether in the world or in the Church. In that way they are set apart to God. When we read of Israel purging themselves from the mixed multitude, we see that they were simply maintaining the truth of the wall.
The same writer explains who the mixed multitude were:
It was the mixed multitude that gave way to craving in the wilderness, and so became a hindrance and a curse to Israel. Ever since that day, whether in Israel or in the Church, they have been the source of almost all the evils that have troubled God's people.
The drift reached the top. This verse shuts outsiders out of the assembly, and the high priest himself let one in:
The alliance with Tobiah had prompted Eliashib to give him not only a place in the congregation of Israel, but also a dwelling place in the house of God! He had prepared for him the room where the tithes were kept.
Ruth was a Moabitess — the very person this verse shuts out — and her book ends with the name David:
The beautiful little book of Ruth shows that God has endless resources of grace. They are available even to someone like Ruth the Moabitess, who had no claim at all on His blessing for His people... The name "David" appears hundreds of times in the Scriptures, but this is its first appearance. It points to God's resource — His beloved! God reaches His goal in Christ, His beloved Son.
- Read — They read the book aloud to everyone, and a command they had passed over for years came into view.
- Applied — They had read the same words many times before; what was new was that this time they acted on them.
- Standing — A thousand years had not softened God's sentence on Ammon and Moab. Time does not cancel what God has judged.
- Guarded — Separation is the meaning of the wall itself. The drift began at the top: a priest gave an outsider a room in God's house.
- Opened — What the law shut, grace opened: Ruth the Moabitess had no claim at all, and her story ends at the name David.
because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and with water, and had hired Balaam against them, to curse them; but our God turned the curse into blessing.
This verse gives the reason behind an old law that shut Ammon and Moab out of Israel's assembly: they refused Israel food and water on the road, then paid a prophet to curse them. The curse never landed, because God turned it into blessing.
The law was old. The shock of hearing it read aloud was new.
When Nehemiah looks into their actual condition, he finds a sad feature — a great departure from the original spirit of separation... And so on this occasion they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people, and there they found it written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God (v. 1). It was like a new thing to them. They had not thought of it before.
Balak paid Balaam to curse Israel. God had already said what happens to anyone who curses His people.
The great principle of the Balaam story is that God was the unasked Guardian and Blesser of His people. The schemes of enemies go on, and Israel knows nothing of them. So Israel asks nothing from God. But He is active for His people out of His own grace to them, and nothing escapes Him... Balak was seeking to bring the curse on Israel. But God had said, "Blessed are those who bless you, and cursed are those who curse you." So he was bringing it down on himself.
The reversal happened over Israel's head, between God and the enemy.
How little Israel knew or imagined what was going on between the Lord and the enemy. They may have been grumbling in their tents at the very moment when God was declaring their perfection through the tongue of the greedy prophet. Balak would gladly have had Israel cursed; but, blessed be God, He will not let anyone curse His people. He may have to deal with them Himself, in secret, about many things; but He will not let another move his tongue against them.
Nehemiah's record states the fact. Moses gave the reason.
The Lord their God turned the curse into a blessing for them, and — why? "Because the LORD your God loved you" (Deut. 23:5). And that is always the great reason for God's intervention.
The same love raises a question every believer asks: can our failures undo it?
We must all bow our heads in sadness and shame as we put this question to our hearts. But can our failures touch God's purposes of grace concerning us? Will He stop loving us, erase our names from the book of life, and throw us back to where He found us? Blessed be His holy name, NO!... Listen to Moses in Deut. 23:5: "the LORD your God would not listen to Balaam; instead the LORD your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the LORD your God loved you"; in the same way, all our blessings are secured in the risen Christ, and the Father loves us as He loves Him.
By Nehemiah's day the offence was ancient history. The ban still stood.
These events had happened about a thousand years earlier. It is very important to notice that the time that had passed did not lessen the guilt of Ammon and Moab at all. God's sentence against them still stood, because God does not change... In human affairs people drop an old offence, and we think the same happens with a sin committed in the past against Christ and against His people. Why bring these things up, we ask? They happened so long ago that no one remembers them... The idea of wiping the evil away with a damp sponge seems very reasonable to us at first. But we forget that we must look at the question from God's point of view.
The reading led to action. The people who had to go were not foreigners but those with a foot in each camp.
The first difficulty the remnant had to face was the corrupting influence of "the mixed multitude" (1-3)... In Nehemiah's day there were Israelites on one side and Ammonites and Moabites on the other. But there was also "the mixed multitude." They were neither clearly Israelites nor heathen, and they wanted links with both. The remnant saw from the word of God that the assembly of the Lord could not admit the heathen. They also saw that they could not tolerate those who kept links with the heathen.
- The cause. Moab and Ammon withheld bread and water and paid for a curse. The curse fell back on the man who bought it.
- The gift. God turned the curse into a blessing while Israel, perhaps grumbling in their tents, knew nothing about it.
- The reason. The reversal rested on nothing in Israel — the ground given in Moses is simply that God loved them.
- The reach. The same love now holds every blessing safe in the risen Christ, untouched by the believer's failures.
- The result. Time did not soften God's verdict. Hearing it read moved the people to part with the mixed company they had grown used to.
And it came to pass, when they heard the law, that they separated from Israel all the mixed multitude.
Nehemiah 13 opens with a public reading of the law, and one line records what the people did with it. Three questions follow: who was sent away, why an old ruling still held, and whether a reform that starts with a Bible reading can last.
Older translations call the group removed "the mixed multitude," and the writers quoted here use that wording. They were not the outsiders the law named. One writer marks them out as a third group, sitting between the two:
In Nehemiah's day there were Israelites on one side and Ammonites and Moabites on the other. But there were also "the mixed multitude" — a group who were clearly neither Israelites nor pagans, yet wanted links with both. The remnant saw from the word of God that the pagan nations were not to be let into the congregation of the Lord. They also saw that they could not put up with people who kept links with those nations — the mixed multitude. They picture those who today want to stand well with God's people on the path of separation, while keeping their links with the corrupt Christian world.
The book that had brought them joy now brought them pain:
Until now Scripture had brought them comfort; now it would call for patience. Until now it had played dance music for them; now it would sing them a funeral song… They had danced to that music. But now the book would put them through pain.
They obeyed, and the same writer makes obedience the test of a real revival:
This was real obedience: doing what Scripture told them to do, carrying out the lessons of the word — whatever service or duty they teach, whatever sacrifices they call for… a day of awakening, and of fresh power from God, must be a day of obedience.
The wrong done by Ammon and Moab was about a thousand years old. One writer refuses to let that distance soften it:
It is very important to note that the time that had passed in no way lessened the guilt of Ammon and Moab. God's sentence against them still stood, because God does not change, and because a thousand years are as one day to Him. We often think that a sin committed long ago against Christ and against the people of God is simply dropped, as it would be in human affairs. Why bring these things up, we ask? They happened so long ago that no one remembers them… Wiping the evil away with a damp sponge looks very attractive to us at first. But we forget that the question has to be looked at from God's point of view.
One writer explains what Jerusalem's rebuilt wall stood for, and traces the mixed multitude back to the trouble they first caused in the wilderness:
The wall means the shutting out of evil: the separation of God's people from other nations — for us, from the world, and from evil, whether in the world or in the Church — so that they are set apart to God. When Israel cleared out the mixed multitude, they were simply holding to the truth of the wall. It was the mixed multitude who "gave way to craving" in the wilderness, and so became a hindrance and a curse to Israel. Ever since that day, whether in Israel or in the Church, they have been the source of almost all the evils that have troubled God's people.
Another writer gives the reason the law named these two nations, and carries the same rule into the New Testament:
They read in the Book of Moses that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God, because of their hostility to Israel at the start (Deut. 23:3-4). They had even hired Balaam to curse Israel, and God turned that curse into a blessing… Mixtures of believers and unbelievers are also forbidden in the New Testament (2 Cor. 6:14-18). Much had already been done to correct the wrongs that had crept in among the people, and the building of the wall had shown God's clear principle of separation from evil. Yet evil has a way of forcing its way back in among the people of God… When faith is fresh, action will be faithful. When faith grows weak or slack, evil will assert itself again.
No single leader gets the credit here. The move came from the people as a whole, and it left something worse untouched:
This self-judgment is credited to no one in particular. It came from the effect of the Scriptures on the people as a whole. Allowing "the mixed multitude" was evil, and directly against the law. Yet there was a worse offence, older than the one they put right, and nobody dared to touch it until Nehemiah's later visit.
- Heard. The word was read in public, and the whole people — not one leader — acted on it.
- Named. The people removed were not the open outsiders but the in-between group — linked to both sides, committed to neither.
- Dated. An offence a thousand years old still counted, because God does not change.
- Done. Obedience the same day made the rebuilt wall real; a day of revival must be a day of obedience.
- Unfinished. A worse evil stayed untouched until Nehemiah came back. When faith goes slack, evil returns.