Nehemiah 11-13: Cleaning up the drift

Go deeper with our new book, The Rubble and the Wall: Sharing God's Heart to Restore What's Broken, available on Amazon or outloudbible.com

We finish Nehemiah with a wall dedication that turns into loud joy and lasting worship, then watch how quickly a restored people can slide back into old habits. We step back and ask where we drift, then get practical about Sabbath as a weekly act of trust that protects our hearts and our time. 
• wrapping up Nehemiah and reflecting on God restoring what’s broken through ordinary people 
• connecting the story to The Rubble And The Wall and the Heartwork series 
• summarizing chapter 11 and early chapter 12 as names, roles, and repopulating Jerusalem 
• reading the wall dedication with choirs, purification, sacrifices, and public rejoicing 
• restoring order through storerooms, tithes, and faithful service in the temple 
• shifting into chapter 13 “bonus scenes” where compromise shows up inside the city 
• confronting drift after big commitments and asking where we have drifted personally 
• reframing Sabbath as trust and a creation pattern meant for our good 
• setting boundaries by “closing the gates” on emails, work, and nonstop productivity 
If the story of Nehemiah has resonated with you and where you're at in your current season of life, uh if you haven't already, go check out The Rubble and the Wall. It's available on Amazon. 

At outloudbible.com, you can find free resources to help you study the Bible. And while you’re there, send us a message to say hi, or start a conversation about having us at your church or event. 

If Outloud Bible has been a valuable part of your understanding of the Bible, please consider supporting the ministry by visiting outloudbible.com.

Transcript

Roll Credits With Names And Roles

Wall Dedication And Joyful Worship

Order Restored Through Tithes And Service

Bonus Scenes And Hard Corrections

Drift After Big Commitments

Sabbath Rest As Trust

Closing The Gates On Constant Work

SPEAKER_00 0:11

This is the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast, and this is Mike, and we're reading through the book of Nehemiah. We actually get to wrap up our book of Nehemiah here today, and we've been able to celebrate the launch of not just Nehemiah's wall, but the launch of the Rebel and the Wall. It's uh a book that Kelsey and I have written and it parallels the story of Nehemiah, where we draw out applications from the Bible, from his story, to learn how we can share God's heart to help restore what's broken. God ultimately is the healer, he's the ultimate restorer, but uh he involves us in this work? Why? I don't know. We are supremely inefficient and uh we just make things worse, we just mess things up, and we have no power at all. But he has decided that he's going to do his best work through us. So who knows? Who knows what he's up to and how he thinks, but uh we we are privileged to be able to work on our little corner of the kingdom. He gives us a little patch of his garden that we get to cultivate, and where there are weeds we get to pluck up weeds, and and where we can plant seeds and he can he can water them and help them grow and and then we get to enjoy the benefits of it. And there's a lot of brokenness out there, but uh it's not the way it's going to stay. And in the meantime, we can take steps and take a part, play a role in helping bring things to the order and the peace and the wholeness that God sees for them. It's a it's a pretty neat partnership that he's allowed us to have with him. If the story of Nehemiah has resonated with you and where you're at in your current season of life, uh if you haven't already, go check out The Rubble and the Wall. It's available on Amazon. You can check it out, and uh it's actually book three of a series where we explore the different difficult places in life, difficult seasons, and learn what we can learn about God's heart through them and about ourselves. And we uh we take the stories of Moses in book one and Joshua in book two and Nehemiah in book three, and draw draw some strength from the word of God in those areas. So uh the whole you don't have to read the series one, two, three, you can jump right in with book three, like I've been saying you could do here in Nehemiah. That's perfectly cool. But between the three of them, I think I think you'll find yourself resonating with uh with all of them at various points in your life. So today, as we're finishing up Nehemiah, the book of Nehemiah has kind of played out like a movie. It's even written in first person, so it's kind of more engaging like that as a narrative. It kind of plays out like a movie, and up to now what we've read so far has kind of been the whole the rise and the fall and the concluding things, and now we almost have like um roll credits here, where we have a bunch of names, a list of people who are now going to populate Jerusalem and experience the benefit of the new life that's been established by being able to have the new wall here. That's pretty much the essence of chapter 11. And chapter 12 is uh describing the priests and the Levites who are going to return to Jerusalem and help carry on the culture, the kind of the culture keepers of the city. In fact, that right there is the summary of Nehemiah chapter 11 and the most of chapter 12. So I'm actually going to just jump in into the middle of chapter 12, starting in verse 27, uh, with that understood. Really, chapter 11 is just the population of Jerusalem, a bunch of names and numbers of people who are now moving in and settling. And the first part of chapter 12 is about priests and Levites who are coming in to establish their roles and pick up their roles as servants in and around the temple. So, verse 27, we're going to read here in chapter 12, and we'll go through the end of the book. So, this is the conclusion to the book of Nehemiah in the New English Translation. At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, they sought out the Levites from all the places they lived to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication joyfully with songs of thanksgiving and songs accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres. The singers were also assembled from the district around Jerusalem, and from the settlements of the Netophythites, and from Beth Gilgal, and from the fields of Giba and Asmavath, for the singers had built settlements for themselves around Jerusalem. And when the priests and Levites had purified themselves, they purified the people, the gates, and the wall. I brought the leaders of Judah up to the top of the wall, and I appointed two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on the top of the wall southward toward the Dungate. Going after them were Hoshea, half leaders of Judah, Azariah, Ezra, Mesholim, Judah, Benjamin, Shemea, Jeremiah, some of the priests with trumpets, Zechariah, son of Jonathan, the son of Shemeah, the son of Mataniah, the son of Micaiah, the son of Zachar, the son of Asaph, and his colleagues, Shemiah, Azarel, Melali, Gilali, Mai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with musical instruments of David the man of God, and Ezra the scribe led them. And they went over the fountain gate and continued directly up the steps of the city of David on the ascent to the wall. They passed the house of David and continued on to the water gate toward the east. The second choir was proceeding in the opposite direction. I followed them, along with half the people on top of the wall, past the tower of the ovens, to the broad wall, over the Ephraim gate, the Jeshana gate, the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, the tower of the hundred, to the sheep gate. They stopped at the gate of the guard. Then the two choirs that gave thanks took their stations in the temple of God. I did also, along with half the officials with me, and the priests, Eliakim, Masaya, Minnemin, Mekah, Elionai, Zechariah, and Hananiah with their trumpets, and also Masaia, Shemiah, Eliezer, Uzi, Jehonahan, Melchijah, Elam, and Azir. These choirs sang loudly under the direction of Jezrehiah, and on that day they offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard from far away. On that day men were appointed over the storerooms for the contributions, first fruits, and tithes, to gather into them from the fields of the cities the portions prescribed by the law for the priests and the Levites. For the people of Judah took delight in the priests and Levites who were ministering, and they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, along with the singers and gatekeepers, according to the commandment of David and his son Solomon. For long ago, in the days of David and Asaph, there had been directors for the singers and for the songs of praise and thanks to God. So in the days of Zerebubel and in the days of Nehemiah, all Israel was contributing the portions for the singers and the gatekeepers according to the daily need. They also set aside the portion for the Levites, and the Levites set aside the portion for the descendants of Aaron. So in our movie of Nehemiah, that almost is like the roll credits here at the end, and now we see some bonus scenes. You like bonus scenes at the end of the movie? Here's some bonus scenes from Nehemiah, chapter 13. On that day the book of Moses was read aloud in the hearing of the people, and they found written in it that no Ammonite or Moabite may ever enter the assembly of God. For they had not met the Israelites with food and water, but instead had hired Balaam to curse them. Our God, however, turned the curse into a blessing. When they heard the law, they removed from Israel all who were of mixed ancestry. But before this time, Eliashib the priest, a relative of Tobiah, Tobiah the Ammonite, by the way, remember him? He was working with Sanbalat to be an absolute nuisance to Israel, had been appointed over the storerooms of the temple of our God, and he made for him a large storeroom where previously they had been keeping the grain offering, the incense, and the vessels, along with the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil as commanded for the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the offering for the priests. Now, during all this time I was not in Jerusalem. For in the 32nd year of King Artaxerxes of Babylon, I had gone back to the king. And after some time I had requested leave of the king, and I returned to Jerusalem, and then I discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah by supplying him with a storeroom in the courts of the temple of God. And I was very upset, and I threw all of Tobiah's household possessions out of the storeroom, and then I gave instructions that the storerooms should be purified, and I brought back the equipment of the temple of God along with the grain offering and the incense. I also discovered that portions for the Levites had not been provided, and that as a result the Levites and the singers who performed this work had all gone off to their fields. So I registered a complaint with the leaders asking, Why is the temple of God neglected? And then I gathered them and reassigned them to their positions. Then all of Judah brought the tithe of the grain, the new wine, and the olive oil to the storerooms, and I gave instructions that Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a certain Levite named Pedeah be put in charge of the storerooms, and that Hanan, son of Zachar, the son of Mataniah, be their assistant, for they were regarded as trustworthy. It was then their responsibility to oversee the distribution to their colleagues. Please remember me for this, O God, and don't wipe out the kindness that I have done for the temple of my God and for its services. In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath. By the way, this is what we were talking about when we were reading chapter ten, last time we were reading Nehemiah, when they all signed this big covenant, this big vow to declare that they would honor all of the laws of the Lord, including the Sabbath. Well, guess what? Here we are. Anyway, treading wine presses on the Sabbath, bringing in heaps of grain and loading them onto donkeys, along with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, and bringing them to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. So I warned them on the day that they sold these provisions. The people from Tyre, who lived there, were bringing fish and all kinds of merchandise, and were selling it on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, and in Jerusalem of all places. So I registered a complaint with the nobles of Judah, saying to them, What is this evil thing that you're doing, profaning the Sabbath day? Isn't this the way your ancestors acted, causing our God to bring on them and on this city all this misfortune? And now you're causing even more wrath on Israel, profaning the Sabbath like this. When the evening shadows began to fall on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be closed. I further directed that they were not to be opened until after the Sabbath. I positioned some of my young men at the gates so that no load could enter on the Sabbath day. The traders and sellers of all kinds of merchandise spent the night outside Jerusalem, once or twice, but I warned them and said, Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you repeat this, I will forcibly remove you. And so from that time on, they did not show up on the Sabbath. And then I directed the Levites to purify themselves and come and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. For this, please remember me, O my God, and have pity on me, in keeping with your great love. Also in those days I saw the men of Judah who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. Half their children spoke the language of Ashdod, or the language of one of the other peoples mentioned, and were unable to speak the language of Judah. So I entered a complaint with them. I called down a curse on them, and I struck some of the men and pulled out their hair. I had them swear by God, saying, You will not marry off your daughters to their sons, and you will not take any of their daughters as wives for your sons or for yourselves? Was it not because of things like these that King Solomon of Israel sinned? Among the many nations there was no king like him. He was loved by his God, and God made him king over all Israel, but the foreign wives made him, even him, sin. Should we then, in your case, hear that you do all this great evil, thereby being unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign wives? Now, one of the sons of Joeda, son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanbalat, the Horonite. So I banished him from my sight. Please remember them, oh my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites. So I purified them of everything foreign, and I assigned specific duties to the priests and the Levites. And I also provided for the wood offering at the appointed time, and also for the first fruits. Please remember me for good, oh my God. And that concludes the book of Nehemiah. We, like the people of Israel, tend to drift. I know we can talk a big game, we can make big commitments at a at a conference or a church on Sunday or at a at a retreat or something. Like we can say all these things. Oh yeah, we're gonna live this way, we're gonna live this way, but it doesn't take long till we're back at it again. And we need to sometimes check to see where have we drifted before someone like Nehemiah comes in and yanks our beard hairs out. Where have you drifted? In our book about these chapters in The Rubble and the Wall, we go through a number of different areas here from the story about where we can recognize parallel drifts in our lives. And I just want to focus on one right now. You can check the rest out in the book. But how about that Sabbath, huh? I know some people say, oh, we don't have to observe the Sabbath because that was a Mosaic law. Well, you know what? It was born out of God's pattern that he established way before there was a law, back when he created the world. He worked six days, he rested on the seventh. That was not for his benefit, that was for ours. Sabbath was intended for us to be able to trust God with our time, that he can accomplish more in our six days of work than we could accomplish on our seventh day on our own. But we tend to let that one go because we recognize we can accomplish a lot more and we can be way more productive if we don't honor the Sabbath and just work that day, because oh well, that's an old testament thing. We don't have to we don't have to do that. And so we feel like we can only accomplish what we need to accomplish if we work seven days a week. And I don't just mean working at a job, a nine to five job seven days a week, although there are plenty of people who work seven days a week on their jobs, or especially if you work for yourself, you work even more. But even on the weekends when it's like, well, I got this to do, I got yard work to do, I gotta run all these errands, I have all these appointments, I have all these activities to do, that's not rest. God wants more for you than to run yourself ragged. Yet we feel like we need that day to accomplish everything. Nehemiah recognized that the people were trying to earn more money and trying to do all their business and stay productive right through the Sabbath day. And when he closed the gates and said, No, we're not doing that, he recognized, you know what, there's still people outside the gate. Maybe you need to close the gates and say, you know what, I am protecting one day a week here to rest and just focus on God and trust him with my time. But if you don't kick the people out who are waiting by the gates, well, then you're gonna find yourself thinking about, oh, look at all the business that I gotta do. Oh, I gotta respond to that email later. I'm talking about the people outside the gates. I'm talking about maybe not necessarily actual people, but the emails. It's the the work computer that's there, it's the projects that are laying around, it's the things that you're thinking about, even if you decide, I'm not gonna work, I'm not gonna work, I'm not gonna work, where is your brain? Is your brain in work mode, even if your body's trying to not be? If we're not careful, we are going to drift away from rest and trusting the Lord with our time and our provision, and we're going to drift toward trying to take those matters into our own hands and fretting and worrying over how our time is spent making sure everything's done the way we need it to get done. God wants more for you than that. Close the gates and kick the people out who are waiting for you to respond to the emails. Set an automated response saying, Hey, I will get to you after this day. I'm not in contact with anyone today, or whatever you need to do. Lock the gates and kick out everyone waiting for you if it means that you are able to protect your rest that God really wants for you, and he demonstrated it himself, how much rest is important. It's not for his benefit, it's for yours, for your recognizing that God is in control seven days a week and you don't need to be. That's the thinking out loud thought for the day. Thanks for joining me in this really fun read through of Nehemiah. And uh remember to check out The Rubble and the Wall and the rest of the Heartwork series now available. Thanks so much for being here. We're gonna see you next time.