Day 36

The priests and Levites purified themselves for the dedication of the wall around Jerusalem. They did the same for the people of Israel, the gates, and the wall. Nehemiah called the leaders of Judah up and made 2 large groups and placed them in specific areas around the wall.

Before Nehemiah's time in Jerusalem, Eliashib (a priest), had been appointed as supervisor of the storerooms of the Temple of our God and was also a relative of Tobiah. Eliashib converted a large storage room and placed it at Tobiah’s disposal, which had previously been used to store grain offering ingredients, incense, worship vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil for Levites, singers, security guards, and offerings for priests. On the day of dedication, men were chosen to be in charge of the offering storeroom, first fruits, and tithes. It was their duty to make sure the amount stated in the Book of Revelation for priests and Levites was brought from farms in association with the towns. A daily allowance was given to singers and security guards. Zerubbabel and Nehemiah also set aside what went to the Levites and they followed suit for the Aaronites.

Nehemiah traveled to Babylon in Artexerxes' 32 yr of reigning but eventually came back to Jerusalem. When Nehemiah learned of Eliashib's evil act, he was really angry. Nehemiah threw everything belonging to Tobiah in the street and demanded the rooms be purified. He brought back the articles for God’s Temple, the grain offerings, and the frankincense. Nehemiah also learned the Levites didn't receive their portion of food so they went back to their farms along w/ the singers. He confronted the city officials and asked them why the Temple had been abandoned. All the Levites were brought back again and given their proper duties. The people of Judah began bringing their tithes of grain, new wine, and olive oil to the Temple storerooms. Shelemiah (a priest), Zadok (a scribe), and Pedaiah (a Levite) were put in charge of the storeroom because of their excellent reputations. It was their job to make sure their fellow Levites got what they needed.

Nehemiah also discovered people were selling items, treading wine presses, and loading up supplies on the Sabbath. The leaders of Judah were confronted once again. Nehemiah ordered doors be shut and not opened until the end of the Sabbath day. Some of Nehemiah's servants were placed at the various gates to insure nothing was sold. The Levites cleansed themselves and assumed guardianship of the gates to keep the Sabbath holy. Nehemiah learned Jews married women from Ashdod, Amnon, and Moab even though they weren't supposed to. Their offspring knew the Ashdod language but couldn't speak the language of Judah at all. He gave these men what was coming to them by yelling at them, slapping others, and jerked the rest of them around by their hair. Nehemiah made them swear to God: "Don't marry your daughters to their sons; and don't let their daughters marry your sons—and don't you yourselves marry them!" He went on to say, "Didn't Solomon the king of Israel sin because of women just like these? Even though there was no king quite like him, and God loved him and made him king over all Israel, foreign women were his downfall. Do you call this obedience—engaging in this extensive evil, showing yourselves faithless to God by marrying foreign wives?" Nehemiah cleansed the men from everything foreign.