Nehemiah 10:1-39

Now those that sealed were, Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, the son of Hachaliah, and Zidkijah, ² Seraiah, Azariah, Jeremiah, ³ Pashur, Amariah, Malchijah, ⁴ Hattush, Shebaniah, Malluch, ⁵ Harim, Meremoth, Obadiah, ⁶ Daniel, Ginnethon, Baruch, ⁷ Meshullam, Abijah, Mijamin, ⁸ Maaziah, Bilgai, Shemaiah: these were the priests. ⁹ And the Levites: both Jeshua the son of Azaniah, Binnui of the sons of Henadad, Kadmiel; ¹⁰ And their brethren, Shebaniah, Hodijah, Kelita, Pelaiah, Hanan, ¹¹ Micha, Rehob, Hashabiah, ¹² Zaccur, Sherebiah, Shebaniah, ¹³ Hodijah, Bani, Beninu. ¹⁴ The chief of the people; Parosh, Pahathmoab, Elam, Zatthu, Bani, ¹⁵ Bunni, Azgad, Bebai, ¹⁶ Adonijah, Bigvai, Adin, ¹⁷ Ater, Hizkijah, Azzur, ¹⁸ Hodijah, Hashum, Bezai, ¹⁹ Hariph, Anathoth, Nebai, ²⁰ Magpiash, Meshullam, Hezir, ²¹ Meshezabeel, Zadok, Jaddua, ²² Pelatiah, Hanan, Anaiah, ²³ Hoshea, Hananiah, Hashub, ²⁴ Hallohesh, Pileha, Shobek, ²⁵ Rehum, Hashabnah, Maaseiah, ²⁶ And Ahijah, Hanan, Anan, ²⁷ Malluch, Harim, Baanah. ²⁸ And the rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinims, and all they that had separated themselves from the people of the lands unto the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, every one having knowledge, and having understanding; ²⁹ They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes; ³⁰ And that we would not give our daughters unto the people of the land, not take their daughters for our sons: ³¹ And if the people of the land bring ware or any victuals on the sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy it of them on the sabbath, or on the holy day: and that we would leave the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt. ³² Also we made ordinances for us, to charge ourselves yearly with the third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God; ³³ For the shewbread, and for the continual meat offering, and for the continual burnt offering, of the sabbaths, of the new moons, for the set feasts, and for the holy things, and for the sin offerings to make an atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God. ³⁴ And we cast the lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people, for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, after the houses of our fathers, at times appointed year by year, to burn upon the altar of the Lord our God, as it is written in the law: ³⁵ And to bring the firstfruits of our ground, and the firstfruits of all fruit of all trees, year by year, unto the house of the Lord: ³⁶ Also the firstborn of our sons, and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstlings of our herds and of our flocks, to bring to the house of our God, unto the priests that minister in the house of our God: ³⁷ And that we should bring the firstfruits of our dough, and our offerings, and the fruit of all manner of trees, of wine and of oil, unto the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and the tithes of our ground unto the Levites, that the same Levites might have the tithes in all the cities of our tillage. ³⁸ And the priest the son of Aaron shall be with the Levites, when the Levites take tithes: and the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes unto the house of our God, to the chambers, into the treasure house. ³⁹ For the children of Israel and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the corn, of the new wine, and the oil, unto the chambers, where are the vessels of the sanctuary, and the priests that minister, and the porters, and the singers: and we will not forsake the house of our God.

Chuck Swindoll once gave an anecdote, “A California industrialist was addressing a group of executives at a leadership seminar. His topic concerned employee motivation – how to get a job done while encouraging the enthusiasm and commitment of others. He offered a lot of helpful advice, but one concept in particular has stuck in my head: ‘There are two things that are the most difficult to get people to do: to think…and to do things in the order of their importance.’ That concept touches a nerve in every leader. How difficult it is to find a person who thinks first – and then acts! Equally difficult is helping people maintain proper priorities.” From Nehemiah 7 onward, the work that Nehemiah and other leaders in Jerusalem engage in is the work of restoring the people of God in Jerusalem. In Nehemiah 7 the people are marked out by their genealogy; in Nehemiah 8 they gather to hear and respond in obedience to the Word of God; and in Nehemiah 9 they join in a prayer of confession and remembrance of all that God has done for them as a people and how they have continually strayed from His Word and will. Now, in Nehemiah 10-12, Nehemiah and the other leaders lead the people toward to commitment to be and do all that God wants them to as His people. In Nehemiah 10, the first step in that process is helping the people to prioritize and reorder their lives around God’s Word and God’s will. As Chuck Swindoll pointed out, one of the great failures of our time for God’s people is in the ability to have right priorities. Wrong priorities lead to lives and churches that are out of line with God’s will. It is why our lives are so busy with very little fruit to show for all of our business. A great question for us is, “What priorities would God have me to have?” A verse that possibly comes to our minds is Matthew 6:33 which says, “seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness.” How do we do that? What does that look like? As we look at the example set before us in Nehemiah 10, we will find three priorities that the people of Jerusalem were called to set that God’s people in any age are called to have.

The first priority you and I must have as God’s people is to obey His Word. This may seem obvious, but it is actually the point of greatest failure in the Church of Jesus Christ today. The list found in Nehemiah 10:1-27 is the list of people who prayed the prayer of repentance and made the covenant to obey the Lord back in Nehemiah 9:38. That group, verses 28-29 reveal, prioritized “to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes.” They recognized that the pitiful state that Nehemiah had found them in a few months prior was as a result of them and their ancestors failing to do that exact thing. Moses and Joshua led the first Exodus out of Egypt and eventually into the promised land. God had given His people His Word and His law through Moses. Ezra and Nehemiah came to lead the people on the second Exodus out of the bondage and defeat of captivity into the victory of obedience and worship of their God. When Moses brought the people of Israel to Mount Sinai where they would receive God’s law, the people made this commitment in Exodus 19:8, “All that the Lord hath spoken we will do.” In Joshua 24, when the Israelites had taken the promised land, Joshua called the people to “choose” whom they would serve and the people responded, “will we also serve the Lord; for he is our God” (Joshua 24:18). Now, Ezra and Nehemiah have instructed the people in all that is required of them by reading and teaching them God’s law. It is time for them to make the commitment to prioritize it. The Christian life is a life of obedience in following Christ. To follow Christ as a disciple means that we do as He did and do as He commands. Love for God is centered in love for and obedience to His Word. Jesus said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). The Apostle John would write, “And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.” What is better about fulfilling this priority today is that all who are Christs have been given His Spirit. The Holy Spirit transforms us, empowers us, and leads us to obedience (Romans 8:9; 2 Corinthians 5:17).  Israel would fail in this commitment again in years to come. In fact, that is what Nehemiah 13 is about. But in the New Covenant, God’s Spirit gives us hearts for obedience to Christ (Ezekiel 36:24-27).

The next priority that you and I are called to have as God’s people is separation from sin. As a part of their obedience to God’s Word, the people recognized the deadly compromises that they had made with the world around them. They had compromised in two ways. First, they had compromised in their relationships with the world, namely in intermarriage. In Exodus 34:10-17 and Deuteronomy 7:1-8, the Israelites were told not to intermarry with the people of the promised land or around them. The reason for this was not racial but religious. When they intermarried, they brought in the idols of those people and their sinful practices that would lead to corruption throughout the nation. We can look back and see this exact thing happen in Israel’s history, especially with kings like Solomon. His wives turned his heart from the Lord (1 Kings 11:4). The sins that the people practiced in their idolatry were the exact reasons that God removed those people from the promised land to begin with (Leviticus 18:24-25) and became the reason that Israel was taken into captivity. The people who had resettled Jerusalem had fallen into the same trap. The second way they had compromised was in regards to doing business on the Sabbath Day. The people around Jerusalem conducted business every day and brought that practice into Jerusalem. So, the people had compromised in their devotion to God and worship of God. God’s will is for His people to be holy and separate from sin (1 Thessalonians 4:3). Any compromises that you and I have that lead to sinful practices or sinful relationships in our lives are things that we should remove from our lives. Jesus died to set us free from sin. When we go about ordering our lives, we must consider how our decisions will impact our obedience to God. This could be in compromising relationships, things that we watch, places that we go, or things we participate in. Our priority must be to honor Christ, and love of Christ will never lead us into sin (1 Corinthian 13:6).

The third priority that Nehemiah 10 teaches that we are called to have as God’s people is to serve His purposes. Verses 32-39 are about the people’s commitment to set aside certain offerings that would go toward the work of the temple. This included the temple tax that was set at 1/3 shekel in Nehemiah’s time (Exodus 30:11-16); the wood offering for the priests to keep the brazen altar burning (Leviticus 6:12-13); the first-fruits offering (Exodus 23:19; 34:26; and the three tithe offerings (Leviticus 27:30-34, 28:30; Deuteronomy 26:1-15). While we are no longer under the Old Covenant where these offerings functioned like taxes, God’s people are called to give proportionately, regularly, generously, and cheerfully in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 16:2; 2 Corinthians 9:6-7). Rather than a specific amount, we are to give freely from the heart. That giving is to go specifically to support the work of the ministry of the church in the world. This one action is an expression and demonstration of devotion and commitment to God’s purposes. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21, “where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” It is not that God needs our money to accomplish His will. It is more about God having our hearts in obedience and commitment to Him. Giving demonstrates that commitment and devotion to Him and His purposes in the world. When we give, we do so to further the gospel in the world.

Many Christians are prone to ask for God’s hand without first desiring God’s heart. What does this mean? It means that we want all of the blessings of God without surrendering ourselves in obedience to Him. We want the benefits of God with little to no commitment to Him. The people of Israel reflected on the goodness of God and how they had sinned against Him (Nehemiah 9). This led them to step forward in commitment to obey His Word, separate from sin, and serve His purposes. What are our priorities in life? If someone looked at how we live our lives each week, what would they see as being most valuable to us?