History – Nehemiah 10-13

Bible Passage:  Nehemiah 10-13

aquillofGod:

Hello everyone and welcome back to Extraordinary People.

For our last segment, we are very pleased to have Mr Nehemiah with us again for the third and final part of his interview. Hello, Mr Nehemiah!

Nehemiah:

Hello!:)

AQOG:

Now that we have finished talking about your work of rebuilding the city walls and setting everything into place, what are you going to share with us today?

NEH:

Well, let’s talk about what happened after we wrote a covenant and sealed it.

AQOG:

Ah, that’s the covenant the leaders, Levites and priests sealed right?

NEH:

Yes. It was mostly a covenant concerning keeping ourselves separate and not intermarrying with the people of the land, keeping the Sabbath holy by not engaging in secular activities on that day as well as offering what we should to God.

AQOG:

Alright. What followed then?

NEH:

You see, I had to return to Babylon (Persia) and it was when I was away that terrible things happened.

AQOG:

That sounds ominous! What happened?

NEH:

Firstly, Tobiah, an Ammonite whom we know are not allowed into the assembly of God, actually had a room prepared for him in the house of God!

AQOG:

That’s terrible! How did that happen?

NEH:

Sigh, sadly, it was a priest, Eliashib, that prepared a room for him.

AQOG:

What!?!? How is that possible?

NEH:

Shocking isn’t it? Yet, it’s true. He was allied with Tobiah, most probably because his grandson married the daughter of Sanballat and thus had connections with Sanballat and gang. Unfortunately, man sometimes view their relationships with other men as more important than their relationship with God. Eliashib is not the first and he won’t be the last.

AQOG:

How true.

What did you do then?

NEH:

Throw out all his things and cleanse the room, of course! Isn’t it our duty to remove all uncleanness and impurities from the house of God?

AQOG:

Obviously, that refers to the physical and external temple as well as the spiritual and internal one.

NEH:

Certainly!

AQOG:

What other problems were there?

NEH:

I also realised that the portions for the Levites had not been given them so they returned to the fields.

AQOG:

Oh dear!

NEH:

Yes, isn’t it terrible? So I made sure someone faithful was in charge of distributing food to their brethren. Workers of the LORD should be able to concentrate on serving Him don’t you think?

AQOG:

Of course!

NEH:

What was the most grievous, however, was how some people had married women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Half of their children could not even speak our language! It was such a horror!

AQOG:

I totally agree. Sometimes, people really have to think about the consequences of their choices because many a time, it does not just affect them. Especially in the matter of marriage, like in this case.

NEH:

Absolutely! That’s why I was so angry I cursed them, struck them and pulled out their hair.

AQOG:

Wow! This is evidently very important to you.

NEH:

Definitely. What is the point of rebuilding if we allow what we have rebuilt to be corrupted and fall into dissipation again?

AQOG:

A very valuable lesson for us all.

Thank you for sharing all these with us Mr Nehemiah. May God remember your effort for Him.

NEH:

That’s what I pray too.

AQOG:

Time really flies, doesn’t it? We’ve come to the end of our series of interviews with Mr Nehemiah.

Thank you all for being with us all these while! 🙂

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