Importance of a Leader

Nehemiah was greatly used by God in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. He was a strong leader, guiding the people through opposition and directing their hearts toward God. Nehemiah supervised this effort for twelve years before needing to return to Babylon to report to the king.

After some time in Babylon, Nehemiah asked permission to return again to Jerusalem, and it's good that he did. Without his leadership and oversight, things had begun to happen that were not pleasing to God. Perhaps they happened so gradually that the other leaders didn't realize the seriousness, but as Nehemiah came back onto the scene, these offenses were glaringly obvious to him. They were different from the way he had left things and different from what God had ordained. Nehemiah took action to address the concerns. He acted as a godly leader ought to act, decisively and without making accommodation for sin.

The first issue (Nehemiah 13:4-9) was shocking. Eliashib was a close relative of Tobiah, the man who had created opposition to the building of the walls and who had worked hard to stop the successful completion. Eliashib was a priest, and he used his position to prepare a room for Tobiah within the temple courts, and Tobiah was living there. This priest gave preference to an enemy of God, committing the sacrilege of devoting to this evil man a room that was supposed to be dedicated to storing offerings to God.

Nehemiah was very displeased with this scenario. He purged the room, throwing all of Tobiah's belongings out. He then rededicated and restored the room to its intended purpose. He ordered the room cleansed and had the offerings and temple utensils returned to their rightful place.

The second issue (Nehemiah 13:10-13) was sad. The Levites, who stayed in Jerusalem performing their service to God, were supposed to receive contributions to meet their living expenses and needs. They were no longer receiving the contributions but were expected to serve God for nothing. With no means of support, the Levites and singers had left the temple and returned to their homes to labor and support themselves. The house of God was forsaken.

Nehemiah reprimanded those responsible. He gathered the Levites back together to perform their duties. He set several reliable leaders in charge of the storehouses. These men were charged to collect the offerings and to distribute the appropriate portions to the Levites. With the distribution reestablished, the Levites were able to resume their duties, and the house of God was no longer neglected.

The third issue (Nehemiah 13:15-22) was reprehensible. After God had graciously restored these people to their land, they had the nerve to break one of the fundamental parts of His covenant with them, the keeping of the Sabbath. Nehemiah observed people working the wine presses, transporting goods, and opening marketplaces on the Sabbath.

Nehemiah reminded the people of the serious consequences from previous violations of God's laws, but verbal rebuke was not enough to deal with this situation. Nehemiah guarded against future abuses by ordering the gates of the city to be closed just prior to the Sabbath, not to be reopened until the Sabbath was over. This prevented the vendors from entering the city to sell. It didn't stop them from trying, though, and Nehemiah had to be persistent, rebuking those who continued to show up for several weeks until they realized the restrictions were going to be enforced.

The fourth issue (Nehemiah 13:23-28) was dangerous. One of the biggest offenses of Israel and one that had most effectively drawn their hearts away from God was the intermarrying with foreign spouses. The years of captivity had not sobered the people enough to stop this practice, and Nehemiah found many Jews who had married foreign women. The resulting children were not even able to speak the Jewish language, and the future of faithful worship and dedication to God was in jeopardy.

Nehemiah responded strongly. He physically confronted the offenders and spoke harshly to them, as he tried to impress upon them the significance of their choices. He forbade future intermarriages and reminded them of the disaster that had fallen even on a wise and godly man like Solomon, who had been led away from God because of his foreign wives. One of the offenders was the grandson of Eliashib, the same priest who invited Tobiah into the temple. Due to the seriousness of this offense in the priesthood, Nehemiah drove this man away.

Nehemiah's concern in addressing these issues was the sanctity of worship and the faithfulness to God. He saw the temple defiled and neglected, and he saw abuses of the sabbath and the dangerous intermarriages. The return to God and to the land was still fairly new, and in just a short time, the people were forgetting the former failures which had brought God's judgment in the first place. Nehemiah did not want that to happen again, so he exercised his leadership by taking strong and swift action, with no deference given based on position or heritage. God's honor was most important, and faithful worship to Him had to be followed.

Whose fault were the failures? Each individual was responsible for his own actions. Furthermore, the leaders who had been left behind had failed to address the issues, and in some cases had participated. The message to leaders is to be like Nehemiah, taking action to correct disobedience to God. The message to followers is both to follow godly leaders as well as to do the right thing even when a strong leader is not available. Godly leaders are extremely important, but so is personal commitment to follow God even without supervision.

"Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock, among whom the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28).

"Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls" (Hebrews 13:17).