Sat.’s Devo - Cleansing the Temple

Read: Nehemiah 12:27-13:31; 1 Corinthians 11:1-16; Psalm 35:1-16; Proverbs 21:17-18 All the Levites throughout the land were called to Jerusalem to help in the celebration of the dedication of the wall. The priests and Levites purified themselves, then the people. *** Nehemiah led a group of priests and musicians to the top of the wall and they began walking southward singing and playing their instruments. Another group began walking northward around the top of the wall. They sang and played their music. It was like surround sound in the city. The celebration and joy of the people could be heard far away. On that day, they appointed men to be in charge of the storerooms for the offerings. Sacrifices and offerings were given. The people took joy in the priests and Levites and gave to the Temple. *** The book of Moses was read to the people and they got to the place that said no Ammonite or Moabite should ever be permitted to enter the assemble of God became they hadn’t provided food and water in the wilderness to God’s people. Instead, they had hired Balaam to curse them, but God turned Balaam’s curse into a blessing. *** Nehemiah left Jerusalem to go back to Babylon to serve King Artaxerxes but when he returned years later he found out that Tobiah, an Ammonite and the one who greatly opposed the Jews while building the wall had been given a storeroom in the Temple by the priest, Eliashib. Nehemiah threw all Tobiah’s belongings out of the room and had it purified and brought back the articles for God’s Temple and grain offerings and frankincense. *** Satan’s plan is first to attack from the outside and if he can’t enter there he will look for any door he can find. Tobiah’s door was that he was a relative to Eliashib, the priest. He probably found some way to blackmail him, flatter him, or guilt him into giving him the room. Nehemiah took care of Tobiah. *** Nehemiah also found that the Levites had not been given their portions of food and so the singers had to return to the fields to work to provide for their families. Nehemiah confronted the leaders and demanded to know why the Temple of God had been neglected. He called back the Levites and restored them to their jobs. The people began to give their tithes again. Nehemiah placed responsible men of integrity to watch over the tithes and distribute the money fairly to the Levites. *** Nehemiah saw how the people were working and selling their grain on the Sabbath. He shut this down and rebuked them. He had the gates of the city closed on Friday afternoon and not opened again until after the Sabbath. *** Next, Nehemiah found that some of the men had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Their children spoke those languages instead of Hebrew. Many of the people couldn’t speak Hebrew. Nehemiah confronted them and cursed them. He beat some of them and pulled out their hair. He made them swear that they wouldn’t let their children intermarry with the pagan people. *** When Nehemiah found out one of the priests had married the daughter of Sanballat another enemy of the Jews, he banished him from his presence. He banished everything that was foreign from the Temple and assigned the tasks to the priests and Levites and made sure they knew what to do. He prayed God would not forget all he had done for his name’s sake. *** In Corinthians, Paul went in great detail to put the order of things. Women are under man and man is under Christ. We can say it another way: Christ covers us all - he covers man who is to cover the woman. They all work together as one. In Paul’s day, the woman was to wear a covering over her head when praying to show that she is under her husband. The husband was not to cover his head to show that he was the made in the image of God and reflects God’s glory. The man is a picture of Christ who became a man. The woman is the picture of the Body of Christ who is his bride. Woman was made from man so she reflects man’s glory. We are made from Christ and reflect his glory. Christ stood before God in his glory. *** Lord, may we honor you and your glory through our lives. Help us to keep our temple’s clean and not neglect your purifying process.