Nehemiah empathized with the people’s needs, emended their mistakes, and encouraged their success.
After a discussion of various responsibilities concerning the temple service—caring for stored supplies, the singers and gatekeepers—and a reminder as to why Moabites and Ammonites especially were disqualified from joining Israel, Nehemiah turns to some reforms that had been effected during his tenure as governor. First was his eviction of Tobiah. Imagine, while Nehemiah was back visiting the king of Persia, a ringleader in opposition to their work coercing “Eliashib the priest” (Neh 13:4) to clear out the holy provisions from “a large room” (v 5) to allow him to move in! “Therefore,” he writes, “I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room” (v 8). So there! And back into the room went the grain offerings, frankincense, etc. Then Nehemiah discovered “that the portions for the Levites had not been given them” (v 10), forcing them to go back to farming. He gathered the leaders who should have looked after this, and “set them in their place” (v 11). I’m sure he did! Having appointed treasurers to tend to this, he next noticed how many were profaning the Sabbath (vv 15-22). Much of this was remedied by arranging that gatekeepers close the gates from sundown Friday until the Sabbath was over. Again, Nehemiah noticed intermarriages occurring. It had to stop! Someone had even married Sanballat’s daughter! In vigorous terms, he warned them to stop. “Thus,” he concludes, “I cleansed them of everything pagan” (v 30). Both negatively and positively, Nehemiah was an influence only for good in his generation. Oh, to have the same zeal in our day to “abhor what is evil” and “cling to what is good” (Rom 12:9). Then we will be able to say with him, “Remember me, O my God, for good!” (Neh 13:31).