Read: Nehemiah 12:27-13:31; 1 Corinthians 11:3-16; Psalm 35:1-16; Proverbs 21:17-18
The wall was completed so Nehemiah had a great celebration. He gathered all the priests and Levites throughout the land to come and purify themselves, the people, the gates and the wall. He put the leaders on top of the wall and had two large choirs walk around the wall, each a different way so they would meet in the middle. They were to be singing praises to God with the people following. Talk about surround sound! They sang all the way to the temple where there was more praise and worship of God.
People brought gifts to the temple and they were distributed to pay the priests, Levites and all the temple workers. The priests read the law of Moses to them and they realized that no Ammonite or Moabites was to enter the temple since they had refused to give the children of Israel water as they were traveling to the promised land.
Nehemiah had been out of the country for about 2 years so he was about to learn all the things that had been changed under the Eliashib. Eliashib had been put in charge of the storerooms which was the finance of the temple. He had a friend that he let live in one of the storehouse rooms. When Nehemiah found out about it, he threw him out on the street with all his belongings and fired Eliashib. Then, Nehemiah found out that the priests and temple servants had not been paid so they had to go back to farming. He fixed that and brought them all back, rebuked their officers and put the finances in charge of Shelemiah the priest, Zabok the scribe and Pedaiah the Levite. With three in charge instead of one there would be some checks and balances.
On the Sabbath, Nehemiah noticed that they now allowed salesmen to sell their goods. Nehemiah fixed this also by closing the gates and warning them not to come back until the Sabbath was over.
The last thing Nehemiah discovered was that the men had married foreign wives. Half of their kids spoke the language of Ashdod or one of the other languages they were not to make covenants with. The priest, Eliashib had allowed his son to marry the daughter of Sanballat. Sanballat had been his main enemy who tried to discourage his work at the first. Nehemiah was enraged about these marriages and took the men by the hair beating and cursing them.
Nehemiah kept reminding them that these were the sins that had snared the nation in the past and had brought such damnation upon their land and themselves. He was constantly praying for God to remember his part in ridding the nation of this and not in participating in it.
Most of their sins had to do with money and greed but the other had to do with lust and sexual sin.
In Corinth it is good to remember that it was a Greek city. According to the Greek culture, women were considered gods and worship many female gods. The Jewish women were so proud that under Christ everyone was equal. They sometimes got their priorities mixed up and needed a little reigning in. Paul tried to explain that they were the same in God’s eyes but he had set up a certain order and he wanted them to keep it. It starts with women, then men, then Christ, then God. Women were to show that they were under the covering of men by keeping their heads covered. Men were to show that they were under the covering of Jesus by not wearing a hat. It was all to represent God’s divine order. I see it in the positive light: God protects Jesus. Jesus protects man. Man protects women.
Lord, help us to rejoice in the place you have put us.
No comments:
Post a Comment