Nehemiah 13:15-31
15 In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. 16 Men of Tyre dwelt there also, who brought in fish and all kinds of goods, and sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem.
17 Then 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? 18 Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath.”
19 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 charged that they must not be opened till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of my servants at the gates, so that no burdens would be brought in on the Sabbath day. 20 Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside Jerusalem once or twice.
21 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 that time on they came no more on the Sabbath. 22 And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should go and guard the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day.
Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy!
23 In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people.
25 So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of 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 or yourselves. 26 Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin. 27 Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?”
28 And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was a son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; therefore I drove him from me.
29 Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.
30 Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan. I also assigned duties to the priests and the Levites, each to his service, 31 and to bringing the wood offering and the firstfruits at appointed times.
Remember me, O my God, for good!
Israel had not yet entered into the rest, true peace with God (Romans 5:1, Colossians 2:16-17), that was to be fulfilled Hebrews 3:18-19, 4:1, 3, 8-9, 10) in the Messiah known as Jesus Christ. Therefore breaking the Sabbath by buying and selling was ignoring God’s work done for them and their ceremonial abstinence from their own work to bring that work of God for them into spiritual focus. They guarded the gates at Ezra’s command to stop the works that distracted from the worship of the people as he prayed earnestly as their priest and leader in His great mercy for not dealing with it sooner. He again addressed unequal yoking of pagan marriages to not draw the people into idolatry with a reminder to them all that this was what brought down the great Solomon (1 Kings 11:1-2, 4) into such sin. Purity and soul devotion were the true lessons here, not mere keeping of rituals or denying them love in unbelieving women. Ezra finally prayed for intercession on behalf of the priesthood and Levites who had forgotten these things and marred their covenant with the LORD as he cleansed them with God’s forgiveness. He ended the book narrative with, “Remember me, O my God, for good!” This is our motivation to keep ourselves pure (1 Timothy 5:22, 1 John 3:3) and exhort our brothers and sisters in Christ to find their rest in Christ (Hebrews 4:9, Revelation 14:13) alone as our Sabbath that we might also be remembered for good in the pursuit driving the direction of our lives to please God and trust His work to save us, not our own.
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