We skip over some chapters that recount lots of names and details. Chapter 9 is a rich confession of how Israel had failed to honor the Covenant. It’s very worthy of reading purely on a devotional basis. In the following chapters, Nehemiah recounts better organization of the Temple services, the necessary support for the priests and Levites to stay on the job, and other matters of adding to the city population by a tithe of those living out in the villages.
You would think all of this would be enough to get them back on track. Nehemiah returned to his duties in the imperial court in 432 BC, indicating that he had stayed in Jerusalem 12 years. During his absence, things quickly fell apart.
Our focal passage opens with some background for the rest of the chapter. From a wider survey of the history of the Covenant (see Deuteronomy 23:3-7), we know that Edomites and Egyptians were allowed to join the Covenant (enter the Court of Israel) with the third generation of conversion. Thus, a household that embraced the Law of Moses would see their grandchildren fully embraced as Children of the Law. But for Moabites and Ammonites, because they had conspired together with Balaam to subvert the process of the Conquest, were forever banned from full participation even after ten generations.
While a precise translation from the Hebrew and Aramaic texts is never easy, this section is particularly muddy to us. Near as we can tell, during that ceremony dedicating the wall around Jerusalem, a portion of the Law was read noting these conditions against Ammonites and Moabites. There was no excuse for not knowing, much less violating them.
During the reign of Darius II (424-403 BC), Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem after a long absence. The year is unspecified, but it was at least a decade long absence. Whatever change it brought with the imperial succession, Nehemiah still has the same authority over the Judean people as before. He comes to discover that the High Priest at the time (Eliashib) had allied with the Ammonites. Again, Ammonites were declared by God eternal enemies of the Covenant.
Eliashib had cleared out one of the larger chambers in the Temple building itself so that Tobiah could have his own apartment when he came to visit. Ordinary Judean laymen weren’t allowed up on the elevated foundation of the Temple building, but Eliashib was hosting an Ammonite inside it. Nehemiah was so disgusted that he had Tobiah’s stuff tossed out in the street. The room was ritually cleansed and all the Temple items were returned as was proper.
Worse, the Temple offerings had dropped to the point that the Levites had scattered out into the villages just so they could work and feed themselves. Only a few wealthy Levites could afford to stay in the city. Nehemiah forcefully demanded the offerings be restored rather like a Temple tax.
As he toured the countryside where the rest of the population lived, he saw a very degraded observance of the Sabbath. People were working, and vendors were selling. It was worse in the City than anywhere else. So Nehemiah personally saw to it the gates of the City were locked during the Sabbath. He also personally warned the vendors to stop coming on the Sabbath. It became a duty of the Levites to guard the city gates on the Sabbath.
A final issue was the dilution of Covenant identity. As with his previous visit, Nehemiah found that men were marrying pagan women without first converting them. He noted very loudly that this was the sin of Solomon. Worse, some of these men were raising children who didn’t even speak the Hebrew tongue. All of this was a serious violation of the Covenant Law, not to mention Imperial Law (see Esther 1). A man must rule his own household and his children speak his language.
It turns out that a primary reason Tobiah had been coming to visit was that Eliashib had married one of his sons to Sanballat’s daughter (Tobiah and Sanballat were close buddies). This priest was defrocked immediately when Nehemiah found out. Once more, everyone who refused to abide by the Covenant was kicked out the Covenant advantages, treated as a pagan and non-citizen.
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We come to the end of our history survey. The final lesson in this series will not be linked to a particular Bible passage. Look for it in the next couple of days.
“Thus, a household that embraced the Law of Moses would see their grandchildren fully embraced as Children of the Law.”
Do you think they (the grandkids) were ever considered as equal sons in the covenant, or were there was always a little bit of separation?
On the one hand, we [know] that foreign names to appear in Israel’s history as names for Israelis. On the other hand, as we got into the New Testament times, we know that some foreign converts were treated with prejudice. That’s because in the more ancient times, everyone knew it was a matter of the Covenant. But sometime during the Maccabean Period, rabbis turned it into a matter of race and lineage. (Edited to add missing word.)
Not quite sure what your first sentence there is trying to say…
We jumped from chapter 8 to 13. What we passed over includes a lot of details: names, organizational details, etc. So I’m summarizing what matters to our primary concern.
My fault. I meant the first line in your comment: “On the one hand, we that foreign names to appear in Israel’s history as names for Israelis.”
Oops. Okay, it should read: “On the one hand, we know that foreign names appear…” Some major figures bore foreign names, indicating they weren’t native born Hebrews. Sometimes they are identified as such, with their ethnic identity reported. However, sometimes it just shows up in a list somewhere. For example, in Judges, Shamgar killed a bunch of invaders; his name is most certainly not Hebrew. It’s probably Hittite.
Thanks for the clarification. We lose a lot of the importance of the “covenant over blood” pattern that God introduced. I don’t know how rare it was in the ANE to have that kind of social organization, but I don’t think it was common. We don’t quite have the strength of the blood bond the ANE had here in the modern West.