And before this, Eliashib the priest, who had the oversight of the chambers of the house of our God, a kinsman of Tobijah,
Nehemiah 13 begins with the people hearing the law and obeying it. Then a quiet phrase — "Now before this" — turns the story back to what had already gone wrong inside the temple. The man in charge of God's storerooms had tied himself to God's enemy. How could that happen at the very centre of Israel's worship?
Eliashib was not a minor official. His position is what makes the verse so serious:
Eliashib, mentioned in verse 4, was a grandson of Jeshua the high priest, and he was himself the high priest, as verse 28 of this last chapter says. So here, in what we may call the headquarters of their religion, their law was openly broken. He had made an alliance with Tobiah, one of the chief opponents of the work of God, and had given him a room inside the temple area, right where the offerings and other treasures were stored. His home there is even called 'a great chamber'. If the visible head of their religious system broke the law like this, what could you expect of ordinary people?
Tobiah was no harmless outsider. His record runs right through the book:
Now this Tobiah was an enemy of Israel and of God. He was an Ammonite, and the Book of Moses said that the Ammonites should never come into the congregation of God, because they did not meet the children of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam to curse them (chap. 13:1-2). This old hatred was strong in the man, and very active. When Nehemiah first came to Jerusalem, Tobiah was greatly displeased "that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel" (chap. 2:10). And when the city wall was rebuilt he was very angry and "plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem" (chap. 4:7-8). Eliashib was a traitor to God and His people when he gave Tobiah this room in God's house… and the result was that the service of God stopped, for the Levites and the singers each fled to his own field, and the temple was deserted.
The verse calls Eliashib a relative of Tobiah. One writer traces those family ties through the book:
Eliashib was allied to Tobijah, the Ammonite. The nobles of Judah thought highly of Tobijah, and they had sworn an oath to him… And in verse 28 we see that a grandson of Eliashib was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite, a Moabite. So on both sides the spiritual leader of the people had broken the commandment of Moses: by a political alliance with Ammon (we are not told that he was related to Tobijah by marriage), and by a marriage alliance with Moab.
Daily work in the holy places did not keep Eliashib right. One writer finds part of the reason there:
This is a terrible example of how familiarity with sacred things hardens a person when the heart is not upright before God. Eliashib worked all the time as high priest in the holy places. Yet he had grown dull and careless about the character of the God he stood before, and about the holiness of His house. In his eyes the office was an office, and nothing more. So he used it for his own purposes and to help his friends. Sadly, others have often copied that pattern, even in the Church of God.
Eliashib had built a gate in the wall, but he left it without locks or bars. One writer ties that detail to this verse:
There is a reason why the locks and bars are missing from Eliashib's gate, and the story soon uncovers it for our profit… He had also prepared a great room for Tobiah in the house of the Lord. No wonder, then, that he put no locks or bars on his gate. Clearly, if he gives a room inside to the enemy outside, he must also leave the way open for the enemy to reach that room.
The enemy did not force his way in. Eliashib welcomed him:
But Tobiah was an Ammonite (ch. 2:19) who should have been shut out of the congregation of Israel completely (v. 1). How easily people seem to make friends with the enemies of God, just because those enemies act nice and friendly! Satan himself knows how to deceive believers this way.
- Position. The offender was the high priest with oversight of the temple storerooms — corruption at the top, with the people watching.
- Alliance. Tobiah was an Ammonite, barred by the law, and an active enemy who had opposed the wall from the first day.
- Blunted. Daily handling of holy things hardened a man whose heart was not upright before God.
- Open gate. A gate left without locks or bars already showed a man keeping the way clear for the enemy he had befriended.
- Result. Enemies of God get in through a friendly manner, and the end here was worship stopped and the temple deserted — Satan still deceives believers this way.
had prepared for him a great chamber, where formerly they laid the oblations, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine and the oil, which was commanded for the Levites and the singers and the doorkeepers, and the heave-offerings of the priests.
A large storeroom in the temple courts once held the supplies for God's house. Now it houses Tobiah the Ammonite, an enemy who fought the rebuilding of Jerusalem from the start. How did that happen, and who let him in?
The room held the supply line of the whole temple service. One man's furniture took its place.
These supplies were necessary for keeping up the energy and life for God in His house. They were given to the Levites and the singers and the gatekeepers, and they were the offerings for the priests. But they were all thrown out when Tobiah entered the chamber, and his household goods filled the place instead.
The man who made room for Tobiah was the man charged with guarding the room. Nearness to holy things had not kept his heart right.
He held the office of priest and had "the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God." Yet, in defiance of the word of God, he had allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite... This was corruption at the head, in the man who represented the people before God. With such an example, what wonder if the people followed in his guilty steps? His case shows the terrible hardening effect of familiarity with sacred things when the heart is not upright before God... His office in his eyes was an office, and nothing more; and so he used it for his own purposes and to help his friends.
Eliashib's rank made the damage wider than one misused room.
Here it was not the sin of the people, nor even of a ruler only, but of the anointed priest. He had the oversight of the house of God, and yet he became a relative of Tobiah the Ammonite, a known and active enemy of the people. How useless to hope for a right sense of separation to the Lord! The man who officially represented Him in the holiest place set the example of deliberate transgression, complete and defiant, in the temple itself.
One writer suggests the motive was not rebellion but misplaced kindness.
Tobiah was an Ammonite, a man who should have been completely excluded from the assembly of Israel. Eliashib should have learned from experience how deceitful Tobiah was. Yet, like many believers today, he probably thought he was being big-hearted and kind in showing favour to Tobiah. He may have imagined that this would win Tobiah over to fully favour Israel... How easily people seem to make friends with the enemies of God because they show a nice, friendly attitude! Satan himself knows how to deceive believers by such means.
Earlier in the record, Eliashib's gate is left without locks or bars. One writer explains that gap from this verse.
There is a reason for the striking omission of the locks and bars from Eliashib's gate, and later the story discloses it for our profit... he had prepared a great chamber for Tobiah in the house of the Lord. No wonder, then, that he put no locks or bars on his gate. Clearly, if he provides a chamber inside for the enemy outside, he must also leave the way clear for the enemy to reach that chamber.
Emptying that room of the tithes emptied the temple of its workers.
Those who had given themselves to the service of the house of God were neglected. So they had to return to ordinary work — they "fled each to his field." The result was that the house of God was forsaken. This appears to be the direct outcome of Eliashib's corruption. He had brought in an enemy of the house of God and provided for him, harming the true servants of God... Notice that Nehemiah does not say, "Why are the Levites neglected?" as we might expect. He says, "Why is the house of God forsaken?"
One writer turns the storeroom into a picture of the believer's own mind.
Through the infinite grace of God your body is His temple. Now your mind governs your body. The mind is the great chamber pictured in our story. Everything for God's glory through you, and your own spiritual blessing and prosperity, depends on what you store in your mind. As Eliashib the priest had "the oversight of the chamber of the house of God," so you have the oversight of your own mind. What goes into it is what you choose.
- Room — the chamber was built to hold God's portion; whatever fills it decides what the house can do.
- Rot — the man appointed to guard God's portion gave it away. Handling holy things had hardened him, because his heart was not right.
- Reason — the doorway was an alliance that probably felt generous and wise, not rebellious.
- Ruin — with the stores gone, the Levites and singers went back to their fields. Nehemiah called that a forsaken house, not just unpaid workers.
- Responsibility — your own mind is now the great chamber. You choose what fills it, and that choice decides what God gets from your life.
And during all that [time] I was not at Jerusalem; for in the two-and-thirtieth year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I came to the king; and after some time I obtained leave of the king.
This verse explains a scandal. Eliashib the priest had given Tobiah the Ammonite a room inside the temple courts, and Nehemiah was away at the Persian court when it happened. Why was he away, and why did the work fall apart so fast once he left?
Nehemiah first came to Jerusalem in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes. This verse falls in the thirty-second. One writer lays out the two visits and what slipped in between:
It appears that Nehemiah paid two visits to Jerusalem, and that during his absence there was this departure from first principles. "In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I went to the king, and after some time I asked leave of the king" — that is, a second leave besides the first. The first was in the twentieth year, and this was a dozen years later... Why, there was nothing so serious even when Nehemiah came the first time!
The dates can be fixed fairly closely:
The first journey took place in the 20th year of Artaxerxes I, king of Persia, and lasted until the king's 32nd year (Neh. 2:1; 5:14; 13:6). After this Nehemiah undertook a second journey to Jerusalem (Neh. 13:6-7). King Artaxerxes reigned from 464 to 424 BC. So Nehemiah's first stay lasted from 445 to 433 BC, and the second stay probably followed soon after.
Nehemiah did not abandon his post. His leave from the king had simply run out:
Nehemiah had to come back to put an end to this sacrilegious abuse. While these things were going on, he was with the king at Shushan, because his leave of absence had expired (v. 6; cf. Neh. 2:6). But when he returned, a situation like this could not escape him. Although everyone else tolerated it, Nehemiah could not.
The evil did not start with the crowd. It started at the top. Eliashib had charge of the very rooms he handed over to Tobiah:
Eliashib was the grandson of Jeshua, who had returned with Zerubbabel. He held the office of priest and had "the oversight of the chambers of the house of our God." Yet he had allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite, in defiance of the word of God... This was corruption in the man who was head and representative of the people before God. With such an example, no wonder the people followed in his guilty steps. Familiarity with sacred things hardens the heart when that heart is not upright before God. This is a terrible instance of it.
Then comes an odd reversal — a man with no priestly office correcting the high priest:
Here was a man who was no priest, having to rebuke and reverse the action of the man who was "the high priest"! This tragedy has, sad to say, often been repeated in the history of the church. There is no guarantee of purity and of obedience to the will of God in officialism. Again and again God has raised up men in low office, or with no office at all, to bring back obedience to His revealed will.
The room Tobiah occupied was the storeroom. Remove it, and a whole chain of service collapses:
Look what the sin of Eliashib, one prominent man, brought on everything connected with the sanctuary! The tithes had been neglected, since there was no more place to store them. The Levites and the singers therefore lacked what they needed to live, and each one had fled to his own field. With the Levites gone, the service of the house of God suffered... and this single sin had brought consequences beyond counting to the very centre of the people's religious life.
Nehemiah's first reaction was sorrow, not strategy. The words quoted below come from an older translation; the ESV reads "And I was very angry."
He had paid a visit to the king (v. 6). On his return they told him of the evil Eliashib had committed in connection with Tobiah, and he says, "it grieved me sore" (v. 8). It was a grief according to God, for it sprang from a sense of the dishonour done to the Lord's name... Nor was it grief only that Nehemiah felt, but grief that led him to purge this chamber of the temple from its pollutions.
Nehemiah found real corruption in God's house. Note what he never considered doing:
What did Nehemiah do? Did he stay away from the house of God? Did he not go up to worship there? It never occurred to him to do such a thing as stay away, nor should it occur to us. Evil in another person is no reason for staying away from the table of the Lord — none whatever. If that were reason enough, it would be a reason for everyone who is righteous. And if all who are righteous stayed away, where would the Lord's table be? ... What is true is this: if there is evil there, look to God that you may meet the evil in a good way.
- Absence — His leave had run out, so twelve years in, Nehemiah went back to the king. That absence is the hinge the whole chapter turns on.
- Decay — What he left in order went wrong while he was gone. It went wrong at the top: the high priest allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite.
- Spread — One man's sin emptied the storerooms. The Levites lost their living and scattered to their fields, and the damage reached the centre of the nation's worship.
- Return — Back in Jerusalem, Nehemiah grieved over the dishonour done to God's name. That grief became action at once: he cleared the room and restored it.
- Stay — Finding evil in God's house never made him keep his distance. Face corruption before God; do not withdraw from His table.
And I came to Jerusalem, and observed the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobijah, in preparing him a chamber in the courts of the house of God.
Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after years at the Persian court. He finds that a room in God's house now belongs to Tobiah, one of the men who fought hardest against the rebuilding of the city wall. How did this happen inside the temple courts? And what does a faithful man do when he finds it?
Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem the whole time. The dates behind this verse show why that matters.
It appears that Nehemiah paid two visits to Jerusalem, and that during his absence there was this departure from first principles. In the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes he went to the king and obtained leave — that is, a second leave besides the first. The first was in the twentieth year, and this was a dozen years later. Then he came to Jerusalem and discovered "the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah." Why, there was nothing so serious even when Nehemiah came the first time!
The offender was not an outsider but the priest with official charge of those very rooms. His constant handling of holy things had not kept his heart right.
The first thing mentioned is the sin of Eliashib... He filled the office of priest and had "the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God." Yet, in defiance of the word of God, he had allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite... Here was corruption in the head and representative of the people before God. With such an example, what wonder if the people followed in his guilty steps? It is a terrible instance of the hardening effect of familiarity with sacred things when the heart is not upright before God. Eliashib worked constantly in the holy places. Yet he had become blunted and indifferent to the character of the God before whom he appeared, and to the holiness of His house. His office in his eyes was an office, and nothing more; and so he used it for his own purposes and to help his friends.
The warning signs came earlier. Something was missing from the record of Eliashib's work on the wall.
There is a reason why the locks and bars are missing from Eliashib's gate, and the story soon discloses it for our profit. We will learn that Eliashib the priest has allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite and Sanballat the Horonite... he had prepared a great chamber for Tobiah in the house of the Lord. Little wonder then that he put no locks or bars on his gate. Clearly, if he provides a chamber inside for the enemy outside, he must also leave the way open for that enemy to reach it.
The offence lies in the place: the courts of the house of God. Tobiah's nationality alone barred him from God's gathered people.
The law forbade the Ammonite and the Moabite ever to come into the congregation of the Lord (Deuteronomy 23:3-4). Yet Eliashib the high priest had allied himself with Tobiah the Ammonite, and had prepared a chamber in the temple for this man. So the enemy of God had been received inside. Nehemiah turned out all the household goods of Tobiah, cleansed the chamber, and restored it to its former use.
Giving the enemy a place cost something. The room was not empty before Tobiah moved in.
In that chamber they had once stored the wealth of God's house: the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of corn, new wine and oil. These supplies kept up the energy and life for God in His house. They went to the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers, and they were the offerings for the priests. But they were all cast out when Tobiah entered the chamber and his household goods filled the place instead.
Nehemiah found the house of God defiled. His answer was not distance.
What did Nehemiah do? Did he stay away from the house of God? It never occurred to him to do such a thing as stay away: nor should it to us. Evil in another person is no reason for staying away from the table of the Lord — none whatever. If that were a good enough reason, it would be a reason for everyone who is righteous. And if all the righteous stayed away, where would the Lord's table be?... What is true is this: if there is evil there, look to God that you may meet the evil in a good way.
- Absence. This evil belongs to the years when Nehemiah was away, not to the years he was in Jerusalem.
- Alliance. The root was Eliashib's tie to Tobiah. A priest trusted with the chambers used his office for his friend, and the people copied their leader.
- Access. He built his gate without locks or bars. That fits the chamber he later furnished: make room inside for the enemy, and the road in must stay open.
- Exchange. Tobiah's furniture went in only because the offerings and vessels went out. Those supplies kept God's servants.
- Answer. Nehemiah neither tolerated the evil nor withdrew. He came to the house, cleared it, cleansed it, and put it back to its proper use.
And it grieved me much, and I cast forth all the household stuff of Tobijah out of the chamber.
Nehemiah returns from the Persian court and finds a room in the temple courts given to Tobiah the Ammonite, an open enemy of the people. The priest in charge handed it over, and Nehemiah answers with deep grief — and then throws Tobiah's furniture out.
The offence was not a lapse among ordinary people but a public act by the man responsible for the holy things.
Here it was not the sin of the people, or even of a ruler. It was the sin of the anointed priest. It was an open insult to the house of God. It showed contempt for the offerings, the frankincense, the vessels and the tithes. It also wronged the Levites and the priests. And the man who did it was the very one put in charge — the one who had become a relative of Tobiah the Ammonite, a known and active enemy of the people. What hope was there of a right sense of separation to the Lord? The man whose office was to represent Him in the holiest place set the example himself — deliberate, complete and defiant sin in the temple itself!
The gate Eliashib built tells the same story earlier on.
There is a reason why the locks and bars are missing from Eliashib's gate, and the story soon reveals it for our profit... Moreover he had prepared a great chamber for Tobiah in the house of the Lord. No wonder he put no locks or bars on his gate. If he gives the enemy outside a room inside, he must also leave the way open for the enemy to reach it.
One writer marks where Nehemiah's grief came from, and where it led. (Older translations read "it grieved me sore" where the ESV has "I was very angry.")
It was a grief according to God, for it sprang from a sense of the dishonour done to the Lord's name... If only more people were filled with such zeal for the house of God! Nehemiah did not only feel grief. His grief led him to cleanse this chamber of the temple from all that had defiled it.
One writer suggests Eliashib thought he was being generous.
Eliashib should have learned by experience what a deceitful man Tobiah was. But like many believers today, he likely thought he was being large-hearted and kind in showing favouritism to Tobiah. He may have hoped it would draw Tobiah to favour Israel fully. Yet when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and found this friendship, he acted at once. He threw out all of Tobiah's household goods and told the priests to clean the rooms. This was godly, decisive action. It reminds us of the prompt action of the Lord Jesus when He found in the temple those who sold oxen, sheep and doves, as well as money-changers. He drove them all out of the temple.
Rank gave no shelter. Nehemiah "admitted no excuse for evil; he did not consider the position of the one who had committed it and did not spare him" (H. L. Rossier).
The room had a purpose before Tobiah's furniture arrived.
That chamber once held the wealth of God's house. In earlier days they laid there the meal offerings, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of corn, new wine and oil. These supplies kept up the energy and life for God in His house... But they were all thrown out when Tobiah entered the chamber, and his household goods filled the place instead.
The loss spread further. The Levites and singers "lacked the things necessary for their support", and each fled to his own field (H. L. Rossier).
The same writer turns the story inward. The great chamber stands for your own mind.
As Eliashib the priest had "the oversight of the chamber of the house of God," so you have the oversight of your own mind, and what goes into it is what you choose. And what goes into your mind controls and directs your body and life. The flesh stands in striking parallel to Tobiah. It is that evil nature in people that makes them "lovers of their own selves" and enemies of God.
Emptying the room is not the whole cure: "The Spirit is the power that casts out Tobiah and his household goods, and the Spirit brings in what is good" (J T Mawson).
- Cause — an unlocked gate. Eliashib left his own gate without locks or bars, and the enemy he welcomed had a clear road in. An opening outside makes room for compromise inside.
- Grief — felt for God. Nehemiah's sorrow came from the dishonour done to the Lord's name.
- Action — grief that emptied the room. His grief did not stop at feeling. It carried the furniture out and got the chambers cleaned.
- Cost — a whole service starved. One man's arrangement pushed out the offerings and tithes. The Levites and singers scattered to their fields.
- Application — your own chamber. What you allow in fills the mind you oversee. The Spirit casts out the enemy's goods and brings back what belongs there.
And I commanded, and they purified the chambers; and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, the oblation and the frankincense.
Nehemiah came home to find a temple storeroom serving as a private apartment for Tobiah, an Ammonite and a known enemy of God's people. Verse 9 is his repair work in two moves: cleansing, then bringing back what belonged there.
The man who gave Tobiah the room was Eliashib, the priest with oversight of the temple stores. He used that oversight to do a friend a favour.
Eliashib uses his position as priest to further the interest of his friend. So he brings in among the people of God someone who brings into the house of God what defiles it. Nehemiah deals with this evil in a drastic way. The high position of the offender does not hold him back. Nothing is more serious than this. A leader among the people of God sets aside the principles God gave His people in order to help a personal friend. At the same time he counts on his position to silence all opposition.
The discovery grieved Nehemiah. That grief did not stay a feeling — verse 9 is what it produced.
There are those who can understand the grief of this devoted man. It was a grief according to God, because it came from a sense of the dishonour done to the Lord's name... I wish more people were filled with such zeal for the house of God! And Nehemiah did not only feel grief. His grief led him to clean this room of the temple of everything that defiled it.
Verse 9 works in two moves, and neither move alone would be enough. Throwing out the furniture would leave an empty room, still defiled. Cleansing it would leave the room unused.
Eliashib's act was an open affront to the house of God. It showed contempt for the offerings, the frankincense, the vessels and the tithes, and it wronged the Levites and the priests. But when Nehemiah returned, he dealt firmly with the evil. He threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the defiled room. Then he purified the room and brought back the holy vessels with the offerings and the frankincense.
The same pattern shapes the rest of the chapter. Nehemiah cleared out foreign influence, then made positive appointments.
So Nehemiah cleansed Judah from everything pagan, that is, from foreign influence. This was negative work, but he replaced the evil with what was positively good. He assigned proper duties to the priests and Levites.
Nehemiah did not wait, and he did not let the offender's rank protect the offence.
When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem, he found that Eliashib had befriended Tobiah in this way. He acted at once. He threw out all of Tobiah's household goods and told the priests to clean the rooms. This was godly, decisive action. It reminds us of how promptly the Lord Jesus acted when He found men in the temple selling oxen, sheep and doves, along with the money-changers. He drove them all out of the temple.
The correction came from a man with no priestly standing at all.
Here was a man who was no priest, having to rebuke and reverse the action of the man who was "the high priest"! Sad to say, the same tragedy has often repeated itself in the history of the church. Official position is no guarantee of purity or of obedience to the will of God. Again and again God has raised up men in low office, or even outside office altogether. Through them He has brought about some revival of obedience to His revealed will.
Bringing the vessels, the grain offering and the frankincense back was not tidiness. That storeroom supplied the men who served the temple, and its loss had emptied the place.
See what the sin of Eliashib, one prominent man, brought on everything connected with the sanctuary! The tithes had been neglected, because there was no longer any place to store them. So the Levites and the singers lacked what they needed to live on, and each one had fled to his own field. Because the Levites were missing, the service of the house of God suffered. This one sin brought consequences beyond measure on the very centre of the people's religious life.
- Cause — one leader used his office to do a friend a favour. A room set apart for God's offerings became a home for God's enemy.
- Grief — Nehemiah's sorrow was over dishonour done to the Lord's name, and it did not stop at sorrow; it moved his hands.
- Cleanse — Tobiah's goods went out and the rooms were purified. Nehemiah named the evil and removed it, whatever the offender's rank.
- Restore — cleansing alone is only negative work. The vessels, the grain offering and the frankincense came back, and the room had its purpose again.
- Result — while the storeroom was lost, the tithes stopped and the temple servants scattered to their fields. Once Nehemiah put it right, the service of God's house could run again.
And I perceived that the portions of the Levites had not been given, and that the Levites and the singers that did the work had fled every one to his field.
Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a short absence. He finds the temple workers unpaid and back on their farms — so what does that neglect say about the nation's view of God's house?
Just before this, Eliashib the priest cleared out a temple storeroom to house Tobiah, an enemy of the work. That emptied the very room the tithes belonged in.
But what consequences the sin of Eliashib, a single prominent man, brought on everything connected with the sanctuary! The tithes had been neglected, since there was no longer a place to store them. The Levites and singers then lacked what they needed to live, and each one had fled to his own field. With the Levites gone, the service of the house of God suffered, and this one sin brought incalculable consequences on the very centre of the people's religious life.
The Levites owned no farmland. They lived on the tithe the people brought. Ask both sides who that tithe passed between, and neither names the other.
If you asked the children of Israel, "To whom do you give the tithes?" the answer of the godly would be, "We give them to the Lord." And if you asked the faithful Levites, "From whom do you receive the tithes?" their answer would be, "We receive them from the Lord."
No one announced that the Levites would go unpaid. Something else slipped first.
The Levites and singers had been set apart entirely for the sacred services of the house, and by God's appointment the burden of their support fell on the people, who had acknowledged it. But as soon as they lost all sense of the holiness of the house, through the influence of Eliashib, they forgot their responsibilities. The servants of the Lord in His house were forced to fall back on ordinary means of support — they "had fled each to his field." The same thing is often seen in the Church… But whenever decline sets in, and saints become worldly, labourers are forgotten… There is no obligation now, as there was for the Jew, to support the Levites, but it is a privilege to do so.
"Fled to his field" is not a picture of laziness. These were men driven back to the soil by hunger.
When that beloved and faithful servant returned to Jerusalem, after an absence of some days, he found, to his deep sorrow, that the poor Levites had been left with nothing to eat… It was hard for men to work and sing when they had nothing to eat… It was a sad reproach on the people that their gross neglect forced the Lord's servants to abandon His worship and His work just to keep themselves from starving.
In the next verse Nehemiah confronts the rulers. His question is not the one you would expect.
Nehemiah is not content with casting out the offender and his defilements. He also reinstates the true servants and provides for their need… It is significant that Nehemiah does not say "Why are the Levites neglected?" as we might expect, but "Why is the house of God forsaken?" He recognises that the neglect of God's servants is a sign of something still more serious — the neglect of God's house.
Nehemiah acted, and the people responded at once. That says as much about leaders as about the people.
The people had a heart, and their affection towards the house of God and His servants was ready to flow out as soon as Nehemiah led the way. Here is another instance: the outward state of the people of God depends almost entirely on the character of their leaders. If the leaders are earnest and devoted, so will the people be. If those who take the lead are careless and worldly, the people will show the same character.
Nehemiah's repair did not last. Not long after, God Himself named what the neglect really was.
The servants of the Lord, the priests and the Levites, were not forgotten. They brought their tithes and there was abundant provision for all. Such were the blessed results under the spiritual revival of Nehemiah and Ezra. But when we turn to the last book of the Old Testament, to Malachi, we learn that decline must soon have set in… "Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed me. But you say, How have we robbed you? In tithes and offerings" (Mal. 3:8).
- Cause. One leader's compromise over a storeroom emptied the tithes. The whole service of God's house stalled behind it.
- Portion. The tithe was not charity from people to workers; the givers gave it to the Lord and the Levites received it from the Lord.
- Symptom. Men set apart to sing and serve went back to farming because they were hungry — a reproach on the people, not on them.
- Diagnosis. Nehemiah asked the deeper question — not why the Levites lost their pay, but why God's house stood forsaken. Hungry servants signal a forsaken house.
- Cure. Remove the evil, restore the true servants, provide for them. Giving revives the moment a leader leads — and for us that giving is no longer a duty but a privilege.