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All right. Well, I have not been here for a couple of weeks., the last time I was here, we ended in Nehemiah there in the beginning of chapter 8. And so from 85 through the end of nine, Josh taught both the past two Wednesdays., Amen. When we had left off there at the beginning of chapter 8, they had built a platform. They gathered all the people and Ezra started reading the word and the elders helped the people to understand and the people wept as they heard the lo the law of the Lord but Ezra said to them don't weep don't mourn for these things but rejoice have joy in the Lord let the joy of the Lord be your strength and that joy was in the promise of Abraham and in of his seed who is Jesus Christ.
They found there in the word the instructions about the feasts. And so then they being in the seventh month, which is the month of the fall feast, they announced that they would keep the feast of of booths there. And so they went out and they got branches and they brought them in and they made booths those makeshift little tents there in the streets and they stayed in them out underneath the stars to remind them of their forefathers wandering in the wilderness under the stars for 40 years. So they followed the instructions for the feast of booths or Sukkot from the law there.
They said that that had not been kept or had not been done since the days of Joshua. So that's about 500 years before this or 600 years. They did it with great gladness and joy. During that feast every day Ezra read from the word of God and on the eighth day they assembled together again as the word prescribed. In chapter nine with their their feasting turned to fasting and they separated themselves and consecrated themselves to the Lord. They continued to study his word. They had a long service six-hour long service, three hours of teaching and three hours of worship. And then that spread out to the nation and all of the nation had a great time of prayer.
They recounted their history. And so there was a long section there where it went all the way from creation and it kind of skipped down to Abraham and then went just through their whole history. So from Abraham down into Egypt, Egypt out into the wilderness. So he received the law. They wandered in the wilderness. They came into the promised land. Then they disobeyed and they went into captivity. And then now they've been delivered from captivity and have come back into the land. Verse 33 there is one that I like quite a bit where it says and you are just in all that has befallen us.
And so there in thinking about their history and thinking about all the ways that God had judged them, taken them into captivity, they acknowledged that it was just for God to do that. And he says that it is just in all that has befallen us. For you have dealt faithfully, but we have dealt wickedly. Neither our kings nor our princes, our priests, nor our fathers have kept your law, nor indeed your commandments and your testimonies., they all stood there and understood what the Lord was doing and how he brought them back into the land to serve the Lord. They proclaimed a covenant with the Lord to serve him.
They wrote down that covenant onto a parchment or a scroll or and the people came around to swear over that covenant. The priests and the leaders, they put their seals on that covenant. And that's where chapter nine ended. Chapter 10 is going to going to open with a list of the names of the men who put their seals on that covenant. Amen. Does that sound right, Josh? That get is that that a good summation? Praise the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we praise you and we thank you. We thank you for gathering us together tonight as members of your body. Lord, I pray that as we read and listen to your word, I pray that your Holy Spirit would equip us, that you would give us ears to hear what you have to say tonight, Lord, and that as we hear your word, that we would become doers of your word.
Take us from this night and use us as your ambassadors. Lord, we praise you in Jesus name. Amen. All right. Nehemiah chapter 10. I guess would you add anything to my summation? Anything they should be particularly reminded of from last week? Oh, just what they're about to Yeah. Put their hands on keep. That's the big responsibility. Keep that oath that they're making. Amen. Which they're they're not going to keep. All right. As we get into Nehemiah chapter 10, we're like I said, we're going to open with a list of the names of the men who sealed that document. And so that that covenant that they made to keep the law of God.
And so it says there in verse one, "Now these or sorry, now those who placed their seal on the document were Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hackaliah and Zedekiah, Sarah, Azeriah, Jeremiah, Pashure, Amoriah, Malca, Hatush, Shibaniah, Malik, Heram, Marramoth, and I'm going to skip through some of these because I love oh, I don't even remember his name now." the pastor of Modesto, Cover Chapel of Modesto. He always says there's just no purpose and you guys listening to me mispronounce these names, but Huh? Damian. Damen Kyle. Yeah., Amen. And so, we'll skip down to verse 28. But those names there, like like Josh said, these were men who were willing to in front of all of the people put their seal, their sign on this document that they're making this covenant before God.
And ultimately, we ought to be willing to put our names to our faith, right? That that we're connected to that, that our reputation is connected to that. You know, Jesus reminds us of letting our yes be yes and our no be no. In our flesh we will fail but it is what we strive towards every day is to be obedient to what the Lord says you know be obedient to Christ as our owner as our master. And so these men were stepping up to proclaim their their desire to be obedient. Verse 28, it goes on to say, "Now the rest of the people and the priests and the Levites and the gatekeepers and the singers and the Nethanim and all those who had separated themselves from the people of the land to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge and understanding.
These joined with their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse and 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 God, and his ordinances in his statutes or and his statutes. That's a very interesting choice of word there, isn't it? In 29 where these men put their seal and but it's not just them who are entering into this covenant. They're just the ones sealing the document as leaders. But it's saying that everybody is entering into this covenant. All who have understanding, right? So that would exclude the young children who don't understand.
That may exclude anybody with some sort of cognitive or mental disorder that can't understand. But anybody who has understanding, who's able to hear the word of God, who's able to hear what was read, they are acknowledging that they are going to join in this covenant to obey the Lord. Their wives, their sons, their daughters, everyone who has knowledge, they're and there's a vast crowd there. So, they're all willing to do this. But as they do it, it's the way it's worded here is not that they're entering into a covenant, but that they're entering into a curse because this covenant is not one that they can keep in their flesh.
The law of God is beyond what our flesh is capable of adhering to. And so I think here in the very language it's it's revealed that there's no hope of fulfilling the law in our flesh. There never was there never will be. The law was never designed to bring about righteousness and nobody can be righteous in the law. And I think that's why that word curse is used there because they're entering into a covenant that they cannot keep. In Galatians 3:10, it says, "For as many as are the works of the law, many as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.
For it is written, cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. I don't think they were under any illusions that they could perfectly keep the law. Right? Five 500 years later, there's some Pharisees that had some illusions that they were keeping the law. There was that rich young ruler that came to Christ that he felt that he had kept the law. But these men here, I don't think they I don't think they delude themselves into thinking that they can keep it. And so they understand that it's a curse, right? Abraham understood those same things.
And so that's where it says that his righteousness was not from his obedience to the Lord or his adherence to laws and traditions, but Abraham's righteousness came from his faith, right? Because he believed in God, it was accounted to him for righteousness. These people in the previous chapter, they just went through their entire history of disobedience. They were a people who had strayed from the Lord. Punishment had come upon them. Their nation had acknowledged their sin. And now they make this covenant with him. They place their seal on it. And that was good. The covenant was good. But it is weak in that it is a covenant that was in their flesh.
Right? The law is weak in that it relies upon the flesh. Romans 8:8 says, "So then we who are in the flesh cannot please God." It goes on in verse 30, it says, "We would not give our daughters as wives to the people of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons." And so here further part of this covenant is also their sanctification. The sanctification of separating themselves. To be sanctified is to be set apart to be holy. And so here they're going to be separate from the people of the land in marriage. Right? They're not going to give their daughters as wives. They're not going to take daughters for their sons as wives.
And that is a protection for their children because their those spouses if they are pagans would draw their children away from the Lord as was commanded. And so here they're they're signing this covenant that they're going to obey the law of the Lord. Well, that was spelled out in the law of the Lord. Deuteronomy 7 verses 3 and 4 says, "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods. So the anger of the Lord will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly.
So they are called to be separate. And so here they're adding to this covenant also that they are going to be separate. They're not going to join together. We too are called to be separate not only in marriage but in all of our relations with others in our business relationships in our friendships and in our marriages. We ought not to yoke ourselves together with unbelievers. 2 Corinthians 6:14 says, "Do not be unequally yolked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness, and what communion has light with darkness? Most commonly that verse is applied to relationships, applied to that we shouldn't date somebody who's not a believer.
And we definitely shouldn't marry somebody who's not a believer. But in context in Corinthians, he's not saying it to romantic relationships. It applies to them, but he's saying it really to any way that we would yoke ourselves together. Any any friendship, any business partnership we should be careful that we're not yoking ourselves together with an unbeliever in anything that we do. I often like to say that as Christians, we you should not be friends with somebody who's not a Christian. You can be acquaintances with people who are in the world, but ultimately that relationship ought to be evangelistic, right?
But to share deep fellowship with somebody, that person ought to be a believer. Because if you're a believer and they're a believer, then you're able to encourage one another. But if one of you is not a believer, then that person is going to draw the other person down. It is far easier to draw somebody down than it is to pick somebody up. Yes. Why evangelize in first place? Jesus came to sinners, not saints. You know, same approach was given to people. Boundaries are in order, but at what point would you really say when? I mean, you as a pastor take on a lot of different kinds of people that come to your church.
Sure. You know, you don't Absolutely. And I said that we should have acquaintances in the world, but it should always be an evangelistic relationship, right? But I shouldn't be yoking myself together with an unbeliever in fellowship, right? That I'm also Christianity or theology or faith. Sure. You still yoke yourself to those people though. Correct. And try to hold your way with them. I don't know. Sure. You just threw me for a little bit that one. It's kind of a place where I'm at. So that's why my questioning. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you're not arguing with me. You'd be arguing with Paul, right? Because Paul says, "Do not be unequally yolked together with unbelievers.
For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? What communion has light with darkness? Right? So those are his words, not mine. Right? And so I'm just helping us to apply them today. And so if my best friend is not a believer, that's an unhealthy relationship for my relationship with the Lord. Unhealthy relationships have but that shouldn't be my best friend. I can have those relationships where I am showing people the light, right? But I shouldn't be sharing with them in fellowship, right? What words Kathy gonna say? Well, to lead somebody to the Lord, the new agy type of thought is relationship salvation. But faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
And if your relationships don't include the word of God, then it doesn't there's no way you can lead person to the Lord because your relationship is not going to lead that person to the Lord. If I can agree with that because I'm plenty of people that talk about God but do nothing that honor what they talk about. Can you can I ask you can you take the Bible out in front of your friends at wherever whatever social gathering you go to and be comfortable reading the Bible at that social greeting social gathering in front of your group of friends. But you're arguing the point from the reverse, right?
You're arguing the point from the reverse. You're saying that you can't find good fellowship with believers. Don't keep pushing the word and being example around people who aren't like that. And some people you do have a whether or not especially being a father separated goes the other direction. So it kind of puts you right there. But so what what am I saying that you're disagreeing with? I suppose I'm trying to understand the boundaries with it. You know, I mean you say you can bond with certain people and share certain experiences with them, but don't yoke up with them. You know, how do you be the example if you don't somewhat yoke with them a little bit talk their language or speak their style?
I mean, to some degree, right? And I'm not saying vers. Sure. And Paul says that we ought to do that, right? He says that to the Romans I became a Roman. To the Jew, I was a Jew. Right? And so he talks about assimilating into a culture and being able to relate to people within that culture. But I would say that's not yoking yourself together with those people, right? It's a there's a difference there. Yoking is something that they did with oxen, right? That's where the analogy comes from. And so those two oxen have been set out to do a task, right? To plow a field.
And so as those two oxen are plowing, they need to be equally yolked so that they can plow a straight line, right? But if I'm going out and I'm setting out to do ministry in some way and I've partnered together with someone who has a completely different mindset, then they're going to want to do it this way and I'm going to want to do it this way and we're not going to be able to plow a straight line, right? And so whether that be business or outreach or ministry or friendship or so I can't yoke myself together with an with somebody who's has a different mind than me like I think Solomon says, how can two walk together unless they agree with one another?
Right? If he wants to go to the gas station and I want to go to the park, we're not agreed. So, we can't walk. And if I want to go to heaven and that person has nothing does not want to go to heaven, then we can't walk together. I wish I exactly I try. That's all I can. Yeah. I'm just quoting Scripture, but yeah. Yeah, I was starting a business a while a long time ago and I decided to do it with another guy that was an unbeliever and that was like an example of what an actual yoke is, like you said, working together.
So if you if you yoke an axe with a donkey, you'll break the donkey's neck. So they can both do the work separately or together with their own kind. And so this is giving you the understanding of to work with your own kind. As a new creature in Christ, the new creation, you're not like the dead man. So if you yoke yourself to somebody who's dead, you're dragging around death with you and they'll kill you. I recall that being the example though, what would you call? But that's different than being a light in the world. We're talking about a commitment and a connection. If you marry an unbeliever, you're now married to someone who is technically an enemy of God.
There you go. So that's the nature of it is you can't be bound in that way when Scripture forbids it clearly and gives you many examples because it'll tear you down. It's like you trying to stand on the table and pull up people. They're easily going to pull you down quicker. And that happened to me in business. My wife formed me. She was like shouldn't do it. Was the journey that I learned the hard way and you can learn the hard way or you can get the Bible. Right. Amen. Yeah. There we do need to be witnesses, right? And we need to have acquaintances and relationships with people outside of the Christian faith because that's our job is to re is to represent Christ to the world to the sinners and the glutton and the tax collectors, right?
That's what Christ did. But when he went in to have fellowship, when he sought the whole the heavenly father on the hill, he wasn't doing that with the sinners, right? He was going off to have fellowship with his father to be refreshed, to be encouraged, to be lifted up. When he went aside with his disciples, he's having fellowship with his disciples. And so it was different than his outreach to tax collectors, right? Seems like there's a pretty heavy amount of meaning that isn't elaborated on when when Paul talks about being unequally yolked. The term yoke like like Josh was sharing seems to be a very deep meaning that I think when you just read the Scripture, it doesn't really hit home as much, I think, especially if you're not in agricultural society, right?
Well, that comparing to the spiritual aspects of it is you're not going to grab all your non-believing friends and say, "We all need to pray about something or we need to pray for somebody because typically they're they're probably not going to be into it. Who knows who they're praying to but we like said, acquaintances versus friends, there's a there's a big weighty difference, I think." Yeah. You know, and I think he used the term friend pretty lightly a lot. I think that's part of what clouds are really grasping the other be with somebody. Yeah. Especially in America.
I think we use the word friend synonymous for acquaintance very often. I remember I don't know I was having a conversation with a couple of guys from England at one point and they use the word friend more reserved than we do. And I was talking about something and I said, "Oh yeah, I have a friend who does this." And then they were asking me more about my friend and then they corrected me and like, "Well, that's more of an acquaintance. That's not really a friend." I was like, "You're right. It is. I should probably be more clear in my language." But
Share our lives with and that we receive counsel from. Because as we're sharing our life with someone, they're going to tend to give us advice of some kind. And if that advice is coming from the world, then that's bad advice regardless and so we want to be putting ourselves into relationships with people that they're going to be counseling with us and encouraging us and praying for us from the word of God and not from a worldly mindset.
Verse 31. And if the people of the land brought wares or any grain to sell on the Sabbath day, we would not buy it from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day when we would forgo the seventh year's produce and the exacting of every debt. So here returning to understanding the Sabbath observing the Sabbath and then beyond the Sabbath also the holy days and the seventh year if you remember the seventh year was the big thing that they got in trouble for. It's not why they went into captivity but it's why they were in captivity for 70 years. Right?
The timing of their captivity was determined because they had not been observing the seventh year. Also, the exacting of debt and so with that seven in the seventh year where they're supposed to let the land life, there's also supposed to forgive all debts. And so all of the if one of their Jewish brethren had borrowed money from them one, they were not supposed to lend money with any interest to their Jewish brethren., and then at the seventh year, those debts were supposed to be forgiven. Jubilee, well, Jubilee is every 49th year. And that's like a total reset. And so every seventh year, I think it's called the Schmita.
And so this the schmita is every seven years and then every sevens there's a 50th or the 49th year which is the jubilee. And so it was in the debts and slavery debt slavery and letting the land life was every seven years. Every 49 years is when all land goes back to its original families. So like if you bought a field then in the year of Jubilee it returns to the original family. So it was like the hypers sabbath year. Yeah.
Also verse 32, we made ordinances for ourselves to exact from ourselves yearly one-third of a shekel for the service of the house of God, for the showbread, for the regular grain offering, for the regular burnt offering of the Sabbath, the new moons, the set feast, the holy things, for the sin offerings, to make atonement for Israel and all of the work of the house of our God. And so here as a part of this covenant as well, they they are going to covenant to remember the financial parts of honoring the Lord. And so giving their finances to the upkeep of the temple and provision for the priests, giving to provide for the showbread and all of these offerings that they're giving and giving their tithes.
And so they're they're saying that they will honor those things as well. They're making a covenant to do those things. 34. We cast lots among the priests, the Levites, and the people for bringing the wood offering of the house of our God according to our father's houses at the appointed times year by year to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law. So casting lots there was something that they did commonly in the Old Testament. We've talked about it before. It's sort of like throwing dice and trusting that the Lord is the one who will determine what those dice come up as.
And so this is being used to determine which priests are going to be assigned these chores or duties of bringing in the wood here. So it's sort of like drawing the short straw, the ones that get to carry the wood. Scissors. Not quite. Okay. And we made ordinances to bring the first fruits of our ground and all of the first fruits of all of the fruit of all of the trees year by year to the house of the Lord. These are all things that were prescribed in the law that they had not been doing. And so the priests and the temp the temple were supposed to be provided for by these things, but they had not been doing them.
And so now after they've returned from captivity and as they're making these covenants, they're covenanting to do all these things again. So to bring the first fruits and year by year to bring all those things into the house of the Lord. Verse 36, to bring the firstborns of our sons and our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstborns of our herd and our flock, to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God. The firstborns were always thought of as being as belonging to the Lord. The firstborn of cattle and of the firstborn of the family.
And so the firstborn male of the family before the Levitical priesthood would have been the priests. And so they were all the priests at that time. Then when when God chose the Levites to be the priests there at Mount Si, they exchanged the firstborn priests, but still the firstborn of every family belonged to God as they said. But if they weren't a Levite, then they would be redeemed. And so if if a family had their firstborn child or their firstborn male, they would take that child to the temple and that child was sort of acknowledged as that they belong to the Lord.
But if they weren't to Levite, they couldn't serve in the temple. And so then they would give an offering in exchange for that child. And I believe that offering was a calf. I think it was supposed to be a calf, but there were some provisions if there was poverty, too. And so if they couldn't afford a calf, then they could give I think a goat. And if they couldn't give a goat, then it could be a type of fowl. But there had to be the understanding was that your firstborn male belonged to God. And so again, here they're covenanting to return to that.
They're going to go back to that verse 37. To bring the first fruits of our dough, our offerings, the fruit from all the kinds of trees, the new wine and oil to the priests and the storeroom or to the storerooms of the house of our God, and to bring the tithes of our land to the Levites. For the Levites should receive the tithes in all our farming communities., so this giving was good and the these are things that they had abused. In Malachi, the priests were not doing these things. So not only do the should the people be tithing, but the priests should be tithing and which seems circular, right?
Because if the priests are receiving the tithes from the people and then the priests are tithing on their tithe and then it's going back into the treasury, it seems circular, but God wanted it. God's God uses the giving of tithes and offerings to train his children to trust in him. And all of us ought to be doing it. The priests were supposed to do it, the people were supposed to do it today. All of us are supposed to give to the Lord., pastors likewise we are all supposed to tithe and to give our offerings to the Lord., and so those things are good as we trust in the Lord with our finances.
And so they're returning to those things here. I was going to say in Malachi, the priests are having all kinds of problems. And so they inquire of the Lord, what's going on? Why are we having these problems? And God says, because you've robbed me. And then they're like, how have we what have we stolen from you? And God says, "You've robbed me in tithes and offerings." Which kind of gives us a glimpse into God's understanding of those things. He says that he owns them already. That God doesn't own our tithes when we give them to him. He owns them by right. Simply when we get things, when we get fruit, when we get produce from the ground, when we get paid, God already owns a portion of that.
And if we don't give it to him, we're stealing it from him is his perspective. Beyond the tithe, so tithe literally means a tenth. But beyond sort of that percentage that we've been convicted to give to him, we can also give offerings. But if we commit to give an offering of some kind and then we change our mind, that is still robbing God. And he uses an example of an animal. And so in the law it talks about that if you know say in your head, "Oh, I'm going to give this lamb to the Lord." But then later you change your mind and you don't give that lamb or you decide to give a different lamb.
Then he says that you've stolen from him because it didn't belong to him. It doesn't belong to him when they dropped it off at the temple. It belonged to him when they committed to give it in their heads. He already took possession of it at that point or took ownership of it at that point. So I find that very interesting about God's perspective on those things. Some of the examples that he gave in the law was let's say that you've committed to give this animal and it was the firstborn of the flock or something like that. But then the next week you're still waiting for it to be weaned so that you can give it.
And then the next week it's its sibling from the same whatever it sibling or whatever breaks its leg and then you can't use that one. So, you're like, "Oh, I'll give God the one with the broken leg." God says, "No, you cannot do that." In fact, he says, "I won't even accept things that are blemished or broken." And so, an offering to the Lord couldn't have a broken leg. It couldn't have any any mal foration. It couldn't have any scars. It couldn't have anything that made it lame or blind or weak or so. He wanted the best.
And so they were supposed to commit to give him the best. Well, so Jesus was the perfect sacrifice because he did not have any broken hearts. That was an important detail in your life Scripture. Yeah. And so he could not have Right. And so he had the power to to let go of his spirit, right? And so there on the cross when he says it is finished, it says that then he let himself die, right? We don't really have the power to let ourselves die at some point, but he did. And so when his task was accomplished there on the cross, he let himself die.
It would normally take somebody longer to die than that. And so that's where the I think that probably had something to do with it. But he says he gave up his own ghost. So he purposely chose the time of his death. And so then the two thieves next to him were not dead yet. And the soldiers because the preparation day was coming and they didn't want anybody hanging on the crosses, the soldiers went to hasten his death but found him already dead. And so they didn't have to break his bones. So yeah. I was just impressed that he hung there as long as they could.
If he get he could have just like got nails and then died, but he waited. Yeah. I mean, one of the reasons they say that crucifixion is one of the worst deaths that anybody could go through is because it gives the people the ability to hang on., and human nature is to keep trying, to keep lifting. And so they say that in that position where all of your weight is on your arms, your body sinks down to a point where your diaphragm can't function anymore and you can't breathe. And so then you start to suffocate. But then if you push yourself up by your feet, you can get up high enough to take a breath.
And so they would put the nail in their feet so that they would have something to push against. If their feet were just dangling, they would suffocate. But because they put the nail in their feet, then they have that ability to push up on their feet to get that next breath. And so so in human nature, people don't want to die. And so they're willing to endure the pain of pushing against a nail in their feet to get the next breath. All right? But and so they could do that for days. In fact, they would say that some people could live on the cross for up to seven days, up to a week doing that just pushing up.
And so I think most of them would probably die of thirst after three or four days. But we saw there at Christ's crucifixion, people were offering him drinks on sponges and stuff. Yes, darkness came upon maybe. But so yeah, vinegar and gall they offered him there as well. And that was intended to be an anesthesia or some sort of pain relief, but he denied that at first. He took it later, but he denied it at first to feel the full weight of the pain of everything. But anyway, people could live a long time by pushing up on their feet like that.
And that's why they break their legs because then if they break their legs, they can't push up anymore and they'll just suffocate. But with Christ, they didn't have to do that. His death was at the same time as the evening sacrifice of the Passover lamb. And it's when they nailed him to the cross, it was the same time as the morning sacrifice. Yeah. Three hours long, right? I think it was on I don't know. Was it just three hours? I think it was longer than that. Yeah. Apologize., yeah, the tatelisti, it is finished., it doesn't record it in the word anywhere, but I think Josephus says that that was the phrase that the priests would use when they were offering that final sacrifice too in the temple.
They would all they would yell out to Telsty that this that final sacrifice had been made. And those are the exact words that he used on the cross as well. Like in verse 32 it says that they would give onethird of the shekel like every year everybody had to give a third. In the u Exodus it says that require miss half of a sheet. Yeah, I don't know the discrepancy there. They're already messing up. Maybe that's it. Yeah., yeah. I don't know that maybe the idea of that was that they would be able to count the shekels and that's what they would use as a census.
And so they could count the shekels in the box to know how many people had come into the temple. And I think that was part of David's disobedience. When he wanted to number the people, he could have asked the priest, "Well, how many half shekels were there in the box?" And then he would have known how many men there were, but he didn't want to know how many men came to Jerusalem for the feast. He wanted to know how many men were in the land total. So whereas God gave him the ability to know the faithful men that are coming to worship, he didn't want to know that that number.
He wanted to know the total number. And so I think that's part of David's disobedience. And so maybe it's possible that the coins being minted at this point are worth a different amount. And so that coin is a third of a shekel now, whereas back then it was a half shekel. But maybe I don't know. The point is that they're putting a shekel in the box that then could be counted or some some type of coin. But 37 No, I read 37 38.
And the priests, the descendants of Aaron shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive tithes. And the Levites shall bring up a tenth of the tithes to the house of God to the rooms of the storehouse. So they are very clearly the Levites have to tithe as well, right? So they have to tithe on their tithes. And that's what Malachi was attack was not attacking them but telling them is that the Lord was angry because the priests weren't tithing. They were receiving tithes but they weren't tithing themselves which God called robbery. For the children of Israel, and the children of Levi shall bring the offering of the grain, of the new wine, of the oil, to the storerooms, where the articles of the sanctuary are, where the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers, and we will not neglect the house of our God.
So, making this commitment that they're going to upkeep the house of the Lord. How many times did we read through the kings that they just let the temple fall into disrepair? You know, it could at one point it was full of garbage. They used it as a garbage dump, right? And they had to go clean it. It took them how long did it take? It took them like 10 days to clean out the temple to shovel out all the mounds of garbage. And then they found the law of the Lord in there at the same time. But here, so they're making this commitment to upkeep these things.
See, where were we? It used the term curse in there again, didn't it? No, not there. Amen. Nehemiah chapter 11. Any thoughts on 10 before we move on? Apparently there's difference between a shekel and sanctuary. Okay. You looked that up. Different. So later on it said that the use of false reg. Okay. Interesting. Nehemiah chapter 11. Now the leaders of the people dwelt at Jerusalem, and the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of 10 to dwell in Jerusalem, the holy city, and nine/10enths were to dwell in other cities. The people and the people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to dwell at Jerusalem.
These are the heads of the provinces who dwelt in Jerusalem. But in the cities of Judah, everyone dwelt in his own possession in their cities. Israelites, priests, Levites, Nethanimm and descendants of Solomon's servants. So I find this kind of interesting here. It seems like Jerusalem is not a desirable location to live at this point. It is kind of the walls just been rebuilt. And so it's it's has a protection now, but it's still a target from all the enemies around about. It's also still all the houses are in ruin and it's it's not a very nice place to live.
And so here they cast lots to kind of tell a tenth of the people, okay, you guys have to stay here in the city. We're going out. And so 90% of the people, they get to go live elsewhere. And that seems like what the desire is, but 10% of the people commit to live inside the city. So I find that very interesting. Yes. Yes. Now at other times this would be reversed, right? During times of great national prosperity, I'm sure Jerusalem was like the desirable place to live. But now at this time, nobody wants to live there. And so they have to kind of assign people to dwell in Jerusalem.
I'm not going to read through this list of names here. So we're going to skip down through these names, which really finishes out this chapter. So we'll move on into chapter 12. Now these are the priests and the Levites who came with Zerubbabel the son of Chetiel and Joshua or Jeshua. Another big list of names here. These this is going back to the book of Ezra there and talking about the names of the people who came during that first wave. So about 150 years before where we're at here in Nehemiah, it gives the list of those people again that we got back in Ezra.
During the reign of Darius the Persian, a record was also kept of the Levit. So I skipped down verse 22. was also kept of the Levites and the priests who had been heads of their father's houses in the days of Eliah, Jehoeda, Johanan, and Jadua. The sons of Levi and the heads of the father's houses until the days of Johanan, the son of Elishb, were written in the books of the chronicles. The heads of the Levites were Hashabayiah, Sherobiah, and Jeshua, the sons of Cadmile, with the brothers across from them to praise and to give thanks, giving altering or group alternating with group according to the command of David, the man of God.
And so if you remember back when David was giving preparation for the temple so that Solomon could build the temple quickly, one of the things that he did is he assigned worship groups that would provide worship in the temple 24/7. And so I think he had 24 different groups, different teams that were worshiping there. And so it mentions here that they're going back to that alternating worship teams which are going to be providing that worship there. U and so these alternating groups as David had commanded. Mataniah Beckabi Beck Bukaya Oadiah Mashalam Talman and Akab were gatekeepers keepers keeping the watch of the storerooms of the gates.
These lived in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Jeshua, the son of Joedc, in the days of Nehemiah, the governor, and Ezra the priest, the scribe. Now, as the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites in all of their places to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, both with thanksgiving and singing, with symbols and stringed instruments., so now they're going to dedicate the wall. So they finished building the wall. They've set up some of these things. They've made these covenants., they've assigned these worship teams. And so now they're going to have a ceremony to dedicate the wall.
And so they gather everybody back in for this dedication ceremony. And it says, 'The sons and the singers gathered together from the countryside around Jerusalem, from the villages of the netathites, from the house of Gilgal, and from the fields of Gea Asm Aszmath. For the singers had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem. Then the priests, the Levites, purified themselves and purified the people, the gates and the wall. And so I brought the leaders of Judah up on the wall and appointed two large thanksgiving choirs. One went to the right hand on the wall towards the refuge gate with them. And so I think this just is kind of a cool picture here and a neat way to dedicate the wall is that they get these worship teams, these choirs up on the wall and they're going to have them walk in two different directions.
So, they're sending out two different teams., and they're going to have them walk all the way around the wall. Now, if you remember when I put that map up there the temple was over on the west side and then the this refuge gate is all the way over here on the east side, right? Or no, it'd be the whatever. It wouldn't be east would be that direction on that map because that map was turned, right? So, it'd be south. So the refuge gate is to the south, right? And the temple's on the north., and so they're starting here on the south end and they're going to walk all the way around.
So they're going to finish at the temple., so it's kind of cool. Just I don't know. It's a neat visual, I think. So they're going to encircle the entire city and they're going to end at the temple for their their final verse or so. Sorry. After them went Hosha and half of the leaders of Judah and Azeriah, Ezra, Mashalom, Judah, Benjamin, Shimiah, Jeremiah, and son of the priests, sons with trumpets, Zachariah the son of Jonathan, the son of Shimiiah, the son of Mataniah, the son of Mikayiah, the son of Zachar, the son of Asf, and his brethren, Shimiah, Azrael Mili Mili Gu I'm mispronouncing names again whatever Judah and Haniah with musical instruments of David the man instruments of David the man of God Ezra the scribe went before them so that's one of the groups that's going one direction the instruments of David there if you remember David not only did he assign these worship teams
He created and built built instruments specifically for the worship of God. And he made them and equipped them. And so here it mentions that they're using those instruments, the ones that David made by the fountain gate in front of them. They went up the stairs of the city of David on the stairway of the wall beyond the house of David as far as the Water Gate eastward. Now, if you remember when they were making fun of them him about wanting to rebuild the wall, they had said that, "Oh, watch. They're going to build the wall and not even a fox will be able to run over it.
It's going to fall over." And here they've got massive amounts of people walking on this wall now. So, kind of not only are they dedicating the wall, but they're proving its structural strength at the same time. You know from a from an engineering standpoint, occupation is a huge factor when they're building buildings. And so buildings that have, high occupation have to be built to much higher standards. When we were building the sanctuary down in Honduras, we consulted with an engineer about it and you know it was I it was like more than triple we had to do in as far as like the floor joist strength of what you would regularly do like in a regular house.
You know, you can do you know, a joist every 16 inches on center and it can be you usually figure about an inch per foot of span or something like that as and this engineer came back with well you know you have to design that building for standing room only. And so then it was huge. Like you go down into the below the church and you look up and they're like 2 by 12s that are 12 inches on center and it's just a massive amount of wood is then there. And that's what was recommended that we do which is good, right? Because you could get standing room only.
I remember when we were we were a couple years ago we were consulting with an engineer about some projects that we were doing around here and he was saying that that what like in a room like this where you don't have fixed seating then it has to be designed to standing room only., and so I think standing room only in this room is like 150 people or something like that is what he calculated this room out to be. Now seated it's only about 40, but if everybody were standing in this room, you could cram about 150 people in here. And so he was saying that that then it has to be designed at that load, which is just interesting.
And so I'm way off subject, but here we've got all these people up on this wall. And so when it's just a stone wall, that's one thing, but there's also all these gates and stuff that they're going to have to be walking over the top of. And so, all the structure over those gates had to be built strong enough for all of these people to be walking across it. I just think it's kind of cool. Amen. Comparison with that this they're in a celebration whereas you got the walls of Jericho came down as a result of God's people going around that is a neat contrast yeah and the walls of Jericho were considered some of the greatest walls at that time is it the it's the walls of Babylon that they used to say were big enough for chariot races on top of the wall.
And they were they were like I forget where like they used to say that it was four horses wide and two chariots could be next to one another. So you could have eight horses in a line racing across the walls of Babylon. Something like that. Sounds like walls of smoke as well. Yeah. I don't know. I've never been. Is it Is there still Huh? Is there still some of that wall standing or is it I don't know.
Gotcha. Let's just call it Istanbul. It used to be constant no. Why' they change it?, I think people just liked it better that way. What? Nobody's business but the church. There you go. There's the line. Amen. We need a quartet to get that whole song in. All right. But 37. Is that where I was? Say what? By the fountain gate in front of them. They went up the stairs of the city of God of David by the stairway on the wall beyond the house of David as far as the Water Gate eastward. The other Thanksgiving choir went the opposite way, and I was behind them with half of the people on the wall, going past the tower of the ovens as far as the broad wall, and above the gate of Ephraim, above the old gate, above the fish gate, and the tower of Hannel, the tower of the hundred, as far as the sheep gate, and they
Stopped by the gate of the prison. So the two thanksgiving choirs stood in the house of God. Likewise I and half of the rulers with me and the priests Eliakum Mesiah Minjamin Mikayiah I'm going to skip through some of these names. The singers sang loudly with Jezariah the director. Also that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced for God had made them rejoice with great joy. The women and the children and also rejoiced so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard aar off. And the same time or and at the same time some were appointed over the rooms of the storehouse for the offering of the first fruits and the tithes to gather them or gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions sacrificed by the law of the priests and the Levites.
For Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. Both the singers and the gatekeepers kept the charge over their God or sorry charge of their God and the charge of the purification according to the command of David and Solomon his son. From the days of David and Asaf of old, there were chiefs of the singers and songs of praise and thanksgiving to God. In the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah, all of Israel gave the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers, a portion for each. They also consecrated holy things for the Levites, and the Levites consecrated them for the children of Aaron.
So chapter 12 here mainly just a chapter speaking about the dedication of the wall and this this awesome day of worship really a lot of emphasis being given there to the teams you know the choirs and the instruments and and all of that going on and like I said I just think it's a real neat picture of seeing them go around the entire city to dedicate it to the Lord. Amen. Time is it? 53. So, I'm guessing it wasn't a quick affair. No, probably sing for a while. Yeah, at least a couple hours. I don't know. I don't know that the old city's not that big so I don't know how far of a trek this is, but it's not it's not that far.
So, I Let's get through chapter 13 real quick. Kind of some sad stuff happens in this chapter. Be nice if Nehemiah ended at chapter 12. But amen. Let's get through 13 and that way we can jump into Esther next week. So Nehemiah 13:1 says, "On that day they read from the book of Moses in the hearing of the people." And it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the assembly of God because they had not met the children of Israel with bread and water. But hired Balum against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing.
And so it was when they had heard the law that they separated all of the mixed multitude from Israel. So here they read this about the Moabites and the Ammonites, but then their reaction is to separate really anybody that is mixed multitude that is of a different national heritage or of a different national identity. In the law there was a prescribed method by which somebody could become a Jew. And so a Moabite or an Ammonite could renounce their identity as a Moabite or an Ammonite and could go through these things to become a Jew. And then I think there were some stipulations on how many generations that they had to serve to prove that they were faithful before they could be fully in the temple.
But if they wanted to remain a Moabite, then they can't go in the temple. If they wanted to remain an Ammonite, they can't go into the temple., Ruth is a good example of a woman who was a Moabite, who converted and accepted Naomi's God as her God., and then became a Jewish. So so that yes I think in there lies a good message to us about our allegiances you know and that when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior we renounce our citizenship to this world. We renounce our allegiance to this the kingdom of this world and we become citizens of heaven and then we operate as foreign ambassadors here diplomats of a foreign sovereignty now living here and so long as I don't know so long as our citizenship or our nationality here is not at odds with our allegiance to the kingdom of heaven.
Then we can sort of function as dual you know dual citizens in such a way but if at if ever you know our citizenship or allegiance to the United States or any other government here on earth comes to a place where it's at odds with our citizenship to the kingdom of heaven then our first allegiance is to the kingdom of heaven always right maybe or we just disobey the law right like like I said I just came from Nepal where there it's illegal to prioritize but for Christians that is at odds with our allegiance to the kingdom of heaven and so there we have to prioritize right where like Peter and John they were told not to preach in the name of Jesus Christ and they say we cannot but preach in the name of Jesus Christ and so when those those things come to being at odds with one another we have to choose a side, right?
And so we're either choosing the kingdom of heaven or we're choosing the kingdom of the world. You cannot be both when they're at odds with one another. The United States has a very interesting policy. The United States government has never said that it is legal for a US citizen to have dual citizenship, but they've also not said that it's illegal. And so it's just sort of a notspoken thing. And so there are many situations where US citizens do get citizenship in another country. And so there are lots of US citizenship citizens that hold another passport. And the US doesn't say that that's okay, nor do they say that that's prohibited.
There are some countries that specifically say that that's prohibited. But if we were to ever declare war with any of those countries, it would be required for US citizens to give up their citizenship in that country that we are at war with. Otherwise, if they're unwilling to give it up, they would be considered an enemy combatant, right?, and we've seen those things in the past as well. And that's where the US rounded up all the Japanese and stuck them in internment camps at some point in the past., but so when those citizenships come at odds with one another, we have to choose a side.
And we as believers are obligated to choose heaven, right? To choose the kingdom of heaven. Huh? Lord Jesus. Amen. Can you give up citizenship of a country and still live there?, let's move on and finish this chapter. But yes, yes, because you can renounce your citizenship and go back to some sort of status like resident, right? So you can get residency in a country and not be a citizen in that country. But yes, now before this, Eliab the priest having authority over the storerooms of the house of God was allied with Tobiah. Now remember, Tobiah, not a good guy. Tobiah was their enemy before.
But here he's friends with the priest and it says that he had prepared for him a large room with where previously they had stored grain offerings and frankincense. And the articles, the tithe of the grain, and the new wine and oil, which were commended to be given to the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. But during all of this, I was not in Jerusalem, for it was the 32nd year, and Art of Art Xerxes came in Babylon, and I had returned to the king. Then after certain days, I obtained leave from the king, and I came to Jerusalem to discover that evil that Eliab had done for Tobiah in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God.
I find this very interesting here, right? They've all covenanted to keep these things. They put their seal on them, but here as soon as he goes back to the kingdom, they start disobeying, right? And even the high priest is the author of this. And so he these storehouses are intended to hold the goods which are going to provide for the priests. And so instead of keeping those things to provide for the priests, he clears out this room and he lets his friend live in there, you know. And so who's an enemy, right? Tobias is an enemy of them. He's not even I don't he shouldn't even be in the temple.
He's not worthy to be inside the temple. And yet now he's living in there at the detriment of these priests provisions. And so he comes back. He says, "I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliab had done for Tobiah and preparing a room for him in the courts of God and it grieved me bitterly. Therefore, I threw all of the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. I love this. I mean, it's like Jesus turning over the tables. I can imagine him going into this room and just starting to chuck his furniture out into the court. You know, get out of here.
What are you doing in here?, then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God and the grain offering with the frankincense. I also realized that the portions of the Levites had not been given them. Right? So this store room got cleared out and so then they weren't getting their their stuff. They weren't getting their salaries. And so it said and so they left, right? So I realized that the portion of the Levites had not been given them for each of the Levites and the singers who did the work had gone back to his field.
Right? So they're not getting their salary anymore to serve as worship leaders in the temple. And so they left. They went, "I got to go out to my field and make some make some money. I got to feed my family." And so they all left. Says, "So I contended with the rulers and said, why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together and I set them in their place. Then all of Judah, and this is the guy who before when they were disobeying, he ripped out their beard and he tore their clothes, right? It just seems like Nehemiah is a pretty strong leader character.
He's not putting up with their nonsense., but as soon as he left town, they started disobeying. So, he comes back and he puts them in their place again. Then all of Judah brought the tithes, the grain, and the new wine, and the oil into the storehouse. And so, he's building back up this these store rooms. And I appointed the treasurers over the storehouses Shilomiah the priest and Zadok the scribe and the Levites, Pediah. And next to them was Hannon the son of Zachary the son of Mataniah. And they were considered faithful and their task was to distribute to their brethren. So it seems like he takes that financial responsibility away from the priest who had disobeyed the high priest.
What was his name again? Eliashb. Yes, Eliashab. And so he appoints other accountants or whatever these these other people over the treasuries who are faithful and are going to make sure that they get distributed correctly. Remember me, oh God, concerning this and do not wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God and for its service. I find that interesting there, how he wants to remind the Lord of what he's done., yeah. Any thoughts on that there? That Yeah, Hezekiah had a very similar statement too, right? Remember when Hezekiah was told to prepare his house because he's going to die in five days and he came and he's prayed to the Lord and he said, "Oh Lord, remember me for all the good that I have done."
And he had done a lot of great things and Nehemiah here has done a lot of great things. So it's not necessarily bad. It just seems audacious to me. But yeah, what were you going to say? Oh, I was I was reminded of Have you heard of Tobiah Singer? He's an anti-missionary. Anyways, the name is the same. Tobiah. Okay, Tobiah. It's it's a Jewish guy. I think he's from New York. And he's like he's an anti-missionary. So, anytime someone tries to convert a Jewish person to follow the Lord, M they go after that person and try to bring him back. Ah, and they have all of these strategies of pressure of interesting.
It was Yeah, it just made it quit because it's like the same spirit to just anti-Christian apolog 15. In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheets and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens which they had brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. And so here they've broken their covenant already, right? That curse that they spoke against themselves, it's now a curse to them because they broke it. And here Nehemiah is like, "Hey, you guys promised you wouldn't do this.
What are you doing?" You know, and so he reminds them that they're not supposed to be doing this thing. The men of Ty dwelt there. So these are foreigners who brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah and in Jerusalem. And I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What evil thing is this that you do by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus? And did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? And yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath."
So how quickly they've gone against their own covenant here. And so it was at the gates of Jerusalem, as it began to be dark before the Sabbath, that I commanded the gates to be shut, and I charged that they must not be opened until after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burden would be brought in on the Sabbath day. Now the merchants, the sellers of all kinds of wares, lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. Then I warned them and said to them, "Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you."
From the time from that time on, they came no more on the Sabbath., so kind of funny here that these people, these vendors are, I don't know, they don't believe him. They're still just sitting outside of the gate waiting to get in to sell their stuff. And he comes out and he's like, "You better get out of here or you're going to get into trouble." And so then they go again, his boldness. He's very bold in standing up to what's right., then I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should go and guard the gates and sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, oh God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your mercy. In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod. And they could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one of their people. And so I contended with them and cursed them and struck them and pulled out their hair and made them swear by God, saying, "You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons at for yourself." And so they've broken that one as well, right?
And again here in his boldness, he goes and he pulls out their hair and strikes them and says, "What are you doing? Stop doing this. Did not Solomon, king of Israel, sin by these things? Yet among many nations, there was no king like him, who is beloved of his God. And God made him a king over all Israel. Nevertheless, pagan women caused even him to sin. Should we hear of your doing all of this great evil, transgressing against our God and marrying pagan women? And one of the sons of Joa, the son of Elishab, the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horite. Therefore, I drove him from me.
And so here even one of the you know the high priest here his grandson has married this Horonite woman who is the son-in-law or Yeah. Who's the daughter of Sam Ballot. You remember Sam Ballot. Huh? No. But Sam Ballot was their major enemy before. Right. Sam Ballot and Tobiah were the ones that were trying to stop the wall. Remember them, oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. Thus I cleansed them from everything pagan. I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service, and to bringing the wood offering and the first fruits offering at the appointed times.
Remember me, oh God, for good. And that brings us to the end. So how quickly they turned from their covenant. And so I think three times in this chapter, Nehemiah says, "Remember me for the good that I have done. Remember me for what I have done." And I don't think it's necessarily wrong at all what he's doing. And I think it's something that he's trying to encourage himself to keep doing good. Right? In Galatians, it says,"Do not grow weary while doing good." You know, and I think that there is a tendency to especially when you're trying to do good and everybody else around you is not following suit.
You know, it becomes discouraging. And so here he's not he's not getting any appreciation from the people. Rather, the people probably look at him as this religious zealot who's just trying to make us do good and so he has to only look to the Lord and there's a lot of times in our lives that we need to look to the Lord for for our appreciation, for our accolades and and so I think that's what he's doing here. He's trying to not be weary while doing good. And he's looking to God and just saying, "God, I'm doing this for you."
So there are times that we have to do that. Amen. Now, yeah. Amen. There was a couple weeks ago that I was excited. We had to come to the farmers market and I was like, do we have to go? Anybody comes along