While all this was happening, I was not in Jerusalem, because I had returned to Artaxerxes king of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign. Some time later I obtained leave from the king Sermons
I. THE TRUE RELIGIOUS REFORMATION, both negative and positive. 1. Abuses must be vigorously attacked and cleansed away. The house of God has to be purified of strangers. The neglect of discipline a terrible evil. Unfaithful ministers the curse of the Church. The "mixed multitude" is no strength to Jerusalem, but weakness. The observance of the sabbath. To the Jew a typical commandment, which represented obedience altogether. While days cannot possess the same place under the new dispensation, there is guardianship of the day of rest which is absolutely necessary for the life of religion. In all active efforts of reformation personal caprice and mere self-assertion must be renounced. The open Bible must be the strong basis of operations, the unfailing armoury from which the weapons are taken. On that simply dependent, the true reformer can be bold, energetic, uncompromising, intolerant of evil, driving out the violators of God's law and defilers of his temple. We have a great example of consuming zeal in the Lord himself. 2. All really religious reformation will be constructive as well as destructive. The evil driven away will come back finding "the house empty and garnished" unless it be possessed by the spirit of active obedience. The only principle upon which we can keep out abuse is that of the right use of the things before abused. This applies to the service of God's house, to the observance of the sabbath, and to the purity of communion among God's people. Nehemiah re-established the true order of religious life. The safety of the Church lies in its activity and development according to the word of God. All living growth is defence against attack and decay. II. THE TRUE MEMORIAL BEFORE GOD AND MAN. "Remember me, Lord, for good." 1. We should cast ourselves on the faithfulness of God. Men forget one another. God rewards his servants. 2. To hold a place among the honoured names of God's word, to be in the line of the great succession, is more than all that this world can offer us. 3. God's blessing descends to future generations. We build a monument in the characters and lives of those we leave behind us. - R.
Remember me, O my God, for good. Consciousness of religion cannot be of necessity wrong, and it is only a false estimate of human nature with regard to God which enables men to take another view with regard to such sets. With boldness and without hesitation Paul says he has run good course and fought a good fight; and he based upon this declaration that there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness. In the same way we find constant recognition by David of his own good conduct throughout the Psalms; And Samuel protests his innocence in the sight of the congregation. Hezekiah upon his sick-bed narrates the better sets of his life as a reason for God to prolong his term of years; while more than one of the apostles reminds our Lord of their self-denying adherence to His cause. While Nehemiah's consciousness of certain acts that he knew he had done to please God shines with a soft and mellowed lustre on his figure whenever he comes into notice, the evident simplicity of his purpose and sincerity of his mind, and the utter absence of anything like censoriousness or boastfulness, prevent him from being in the least degree shadowed by vanity or presumption. A view like Nehemiah's of those sets which are performed with a pure intention of pleasing God is justified, because —1. The doing so involves truthfulness in our estimate of moral action. 2. Of the very direct encouragement that we receive from the consciousness that we have done what is pleasing to God. In our intercourse with our fellow-creatures nothing so encourages in the effort to please as the fact of having pleased; nothing so discourages as the consciousness of not having given satisfaction, or what is worse, the impression that we have dissatisfied. (E. Monro.) People Artaxerxes, Balaam, Eliashib, Hanan, Israelites, Joiada, Levites, Mattaniah, Pedaiah, Sanballat, Shelemiah, Solomon, Tobiah, Tobijah, Tyrians, ZaccurPlaces Ammon, Ashdod, Babylon, Jerusalem, MoabTopics Artaxerxes, Ar-ta-xerx'es, Babylon, During, Got, However, Jerusalem, Later, Leave, Obtained, Permission, Returned, Taking, Thirtieth, Thirty, Thirty-second, Two-and-thirtiethOutline 1. Upon the reading of the law, separation is made from the mixed multitude.4. Nehemiah, at his return, causes the chambers to be cleansed. 10. He reforms the offices in the house of God; 15. the violation of the Sabbath; 23. and the marriages with the strange wives. Dictionary of Bible Themes Nehemiah 13:4-13Library Sabbath Observance'In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. 16. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and … Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day. Two Famous Versions of the Scriptures The Last Days of the Old Eastern World The Formation of the Old Testament Canon Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath. Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Day and Defends his Act. Ezra-Nehemiah Links Nehemiah 13:6 NIVNehemiah 13:6 NLT Nehemiah 13:6 ESV Nehemiah 13:6 NASB Nehemiah 13:6 KJV Nehemiah 13:6 Bible Apps Nehemiah 13:6 Parallel Nehemiah 13:6 Biblia Paralela Nehemiah 13:6 Chinese Bible Nehemiah 13:6 French Bible Nehemiah 13:6 German Bible Nehemiah 13:6 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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