Bird's-eye view
Here we have a textbook case of what happens when godly leadership takes a holiday. Nehemiah, the governor, had returned to his duties serving Artaxerxes in Babylon, and in his absence, the spiritual weeds began to grow with a vengeance. This is not a story about simple administrative oversight. This is a story about high-handed spiritual compromise, orchestrated from the top down. Eliashib, the high priest, a man who should have been guarding the sanctity of the Temple, instead becomes a corrupt landlord, renting out prime real estate in the house of God to one of Israel's most notorious enemies, Tobiah the Ammonite. When Nehemiah returns, he doesn't form a committee to investigate the problem. He confronts the evil, and with righteous anger, he physically throws the enemy's baggage out. This is a picture of true reformation: it is swift, decisive, and begins with cleansing the house of God.
Outline
- 1. The Corrupt Alliance (Neh 13:4-5)
- a. A Priest's Compromise (v. 4)
- b. A Holy Room Profaned (v. 5)
- 2. The Governor's Return and Discovery (Neh 13:6-7)
- a. An Absence Explained (v. 6)
- b. An Evil Discerned (v. 7)
- 3. The Necessary Reformation (Neh 13:8-9)
- a. A Righteous Eviction (v. 8)
- b. A Cleansing and Restoration (v. 9)
Commentary
4 Now prior to this, Eliashib the priest, who was put in charge over the chambers of the house of our God, being related to Tobiah,
The rot starts at the top. Notice who the culprit is: Eliashib the priest. This is not some low level functionary, but the man entrusted with the very storerooms of God's house. He is a spiritual leader, and his failure is therefore a spiritual catastrophe. And what is the root of his compromise? He was related to Tobiah. All sin starts with a misplaced loyalty. Eliashib valued his family connection to a vile enemy of God's people more than he valued his covenant obligations to God Himself. Tobiah was not just some pagan down the street; he was an Ammonite, a group excluded from the assembly of the Lord forever (Deut. 23:3), and he was a man who had relentlessly mocked and conspired against the rebuilding of the wall. This is not just nepotism; it is treason.
5 had prepared a large room for him, where formerly they put the grain offerings, the frankincense, the utensils, and the tithes of grain, also new wine and oil commanded for the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers, as well as the contributions for the priests.
The sin is compounded by the nature of the space that was profaned. This was not some forgotten closet in the basement. This was a large room, a significant chamber, and it was the central storehouse for the entire machinery of worship. By giving this room to Tobiah, Eliashib was doing two things. First, he was desecrating a holy place, inviting the profane into the sacred. Second, he was crippling the ministry. The tithes stored here were the livelihood of the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. By displacing the tithes, he was effectively starving the ministry. This is what compromise always does. It not only defiles the church, it defunds and disables the work of the gospel. Worldliness moves in, and the means of grace are moved out.
6 But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had gone to the king. After some time, however, I asked leave from the king,
Nehemiah provides the context. Evil flourishes in a vacuum of leadership. While the godly governor was away attending to his civil duties, the spiritual corruption set in. This is a standing principle. The church is always just one generation away from apostasy, and a congregation is often just one pastor's vacation away from some kind of foolishness. But notice Nehemiah's character. He is a man under authority, faithfully serving his king, but his heart is in Jerusalem. He takes the initiative and asked leave from the king to return. Godly men do not wait to be drafted to solve a problem; they see the need and volunteer for duty.
7 and I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, by preparing a chamber for him in the courts of the house of God.
Upon his return, Nehemiah immediately gets to the heart of the matter. He has spiritual discernment. He doesn't see a mere housing arrangement or an administrative shuffle. He sees it for what it is: the evil that Eliashib had done. We must recover this moral clarity. We call worldliness "outreach," we call compromise "being winsome," and we call profanity "being relevant." Nehemiah calls evil, evil. And the scandal was its location, right in the courts of the house of God. The enemy had not just breached the walls of the city; he had been given a penthouse suite in the Temple complex. The world was not at the gates, it was in the sanctuary.
8 It was very evil to me, so I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber.
Here we have the heart of a true reformer. First, the internal reaction: It was very evil to me. This is righteous indignation. He was not mildly annoyed; he was profoundly grieved and angered by this desecration. His heart was aligned with God's heart. Second, the external action: I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out. This is the spirit of Jesus cleansing the Temple. There was no debate, no committee, no transition plan. The action was immediate, decisive, public, and physical. He didn't just post an eviction notice; he grabbed the furniture and hurled it into the street. Reformation requires this kind of holy violence against sin. You cannot domesticate worldliness. You cannot negotiate with it. You must throw it out.
9 Then I said the word, and they cleansed the chambers; and I returned there the utensils of the house of God with the grain offerings and the frankincense.
Reformation follows a three-step pattern. First, expulsion (v. 8). You must get the bad stuff out. Second, purification. Nehemiah commanded that they cleansed the chambers. The space had been spiritually contaminated by the presence of God's enemy and needed to be reconsecrated. This is more than soap and water; it is a ritual act acknowledging the defilement and seeking God's purification. Third, restoration. It is not enough to have an empty room. Nehemiah returned there the utensils of the house of God and the provisions for the ministry. The vacuum created by expelling evil must be filled with what is good and holy. The room was returned to its created purpose: the glory of God and the support of His worship. This is the pattern for our own lives and for our churches. Cast out the sin, seek cleansing through the blood of Christ, and rededicate yourselves to the service and worship of God.
Application
The modern church is filled to the rafters with Tobiah's furniture. We have made large rooms in our hearts, in our budgets, and in our pulpits for worldly philosophies, for compromised ethics, for man-centered worship, and for entertainment that God hates. We have formed unholy alliances, valuing our relationship with the world more than our relationship with God. And we have done this because of a failure of leadership, a failure to call evil, evil.
What we need are more Nehemiahs. We need men who are grieved to their core by the profaning of God's house. We need leaders who will stop talking and start acting, who will grab the world's filthy furniture and throw it out into the street where it belongs. The pattern is here for us. First, identify and expel the compromise. Second, cleanse the house through repentance and a return to the Word. And third, restore true worship and the faithful ministry of the gospel. Reformation is not complicated, but it does require courage. May God grant us such courage today.