The Sanctity of Stuff: Throwing Tobiah Out Text: Nehemiah 13:4-9
Introduction: When the Cat's Away
There is a kind of spiritual entropy that is always at work in the life of any church, any family, any nation. It is the constant, downward pull toward compromise, worldliness, and decay. It is the reason you have to keep weeding the garden. It is the reason rust never sleeps. And it is the reason that faithful reformation is never a one-and-done event. It is a constant, vigilant, and often thankless task. The moment a leader's back is turned, the moment vigilance is relaxed, the weeds of compromise begin to sprout in the most sacred of places.
Nehemiah was a reformer. He was a man of action, a man of prayer, and a man of unwavering conviction. He had rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem in the face of intense opposition. He had restored the worship of God and led the people in a solemn covenant renewal. He had set things in order. And then, he had to go back to his day job, serving King Artaxerxes in Persia. He was away for some time, perhaps a number of years. And when he returns, he finds that the spiritual rot has set in, not at the fringes, but right at the very heart of the temple. The house of God had been compromised by a feckless priest and a sworn enemy of God's people.
What Nehemiah does next is a pattern for all faithful leadership. He does not form a committee. He does not conduct a survey. He does not seek a consensus. He sees the evil, he calls it evil, and he acts decisively to purge it. His zeal for the house of God is a righteous, cleansing fire. This is not a story about housekeeping; it is a story about holiness. It is about the simple, non-negotiable principle that God's house must be ordered according to God's Word, and not according to our convenience, our family connections, or our desire to be accommodating.
We live in an age of accommodation. The modern evangelical church is riddled with Tobiahs. We have invited the world into the storerooms of the church. We have given our enemies a place to stay, a base of operations, right in the courtyards of the house of God. We have done this through theological compromise, moral laxity, and a desperate desire to be seen as reasonable by a world that hates our King. Nehemiah's actions here are a bracing tonic for our timid times. They remind us that some things are not negotiable, and that true love for God and His people sometimes requires us to get angry and throw some furniture out into the street.
The Text
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, 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. 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, 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. It was very evil to me, so I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber. 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.
(Nehemiah 13:4-9 LSB)
The Unholy Alliance (v. 4-5)
We begin with the anatomy of the compromise:
"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, 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." (Nehemiah 13:4-5)
The problem begins with a man in a position of trust: Eliashib the priest. He was not some low-level functionary; he was the high priest, or at least a very high-ranking one, "put in charge over the chambers of the house of our God." He was the steward of holy things. His job was to guard the sanctity of God's house. But his loyalty was divided. The text tells us the reason for his compromise: he was "related to Tobiah."
Now, who was Tobiah? If you've read the rest of Nehemiah, you know he is one of the chief villains of the story. He was Tobiah the Ammonite. An Ammonite. The law in Deuteronomy 23 was explicit: "No Ammonite or Moabite may enter the assembly of the LORD; none of their descendants, even to the tenth generation, may ever enter the assembly of the LORD" (Deut. 23:3). Tobiah was not just a foreigner; he was a member of a people group specifically excluded from the covenant community. More than that, he had been a relentless, mocking, and threatening opponent to the rebuilding of the walls. He had schemed, threatened, and conspired to stop God's work at every turn. He was a sworn enemy of God's people.
And Eliashib the priest gives this man a penthouse apartment in the temple. This was not just any room. It was a "large room," a storeroom specifically designated for the instruments of worship and the sustenance of the ministry. It held the grain offerings, the frankincense, the holy utensils, and the tithes that supported the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers. In short, Eliashib evicted God's tithes to make room for God's enemy. The machinery of worship was displaced to accommodate the world.
This is how compromise always works. It starts with a relationship. "Being related to Tobiah." It might be a family tie, a business partnership, a friendship, or just the desire to be on good terms with influential people. A little accommodation is made. A boundary is blurred. And it is always justified with the language of pragmatism or grace. "He's not so bad." "We need to build bridges." "It's just a room." But the principle is devastating. When the church makes room for the world's furniture, it must first throw out God's furniture. You cannot store the tithes and Tobiah's stuff in the same room. You cannot serve God and mammon. The worship of God was literally starved to make an enemy of God comfortable.
The Leader's Return and Righteous Anger (v. 6-8)
Nehemiah's absence created the vacuum for this corruption to flourish. But his return brings the moment of reckoning.
"But during all this time I was not in Jerusalem... I came to Jerusalem and discerned the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah... It was very evil to me, so I threw all of Tobiah’s household goods out of the chamber." (Nehemiah 13:6-8)
Notice Nehemiah's clarity. He doesn't see a mere administrative blunder. He doesn't see a lapse in judgment. He sees "the evil." He calls it what it is. Our generation has lost this moral vocabulary. We call sin "a mistake," rebellion "a journey," and apostasy "deconstruction." Nehemiah had a backbone. He had a clear standard, God's law, and he was not afraid to apply it. The situation was not complicated; it was evil.
And his reaction is visceral: "It was very evil to me." The Hebrew is "it was very displeasing to me." This is not a petty annoyance. This is righteous indignation. This is the same zeal that would later drive the Lord Jesus to cleanse the temple with a whip. It is a holy intolerance for the profanation of holy things. We are often told that anger is a sin, but there is a kind of anger that is a virtue. A lack of anger in the face of such blatant evil would not be a sign of piety, but of apathy. If you are not angered by the defilement of God's house, you do not love God's house.
And this anger leads directly to action. Nehemiah doesn't just feel bad about it; he does something. "I threw all of Tobiah's household goods out of the chamber." Can you picture the scene? The governor himself, striding into the temple courts, grabbing Tobiah's couches, his tables, his luggage, and heaving them out into the dirt. This is not the action of a mild-mannered bureaucrat. This is a holy violence. It is a public, decisive, and humiliating expulsion of the world's influence from God's house. He is physically demonstrating that there is no place for the enemies of God within the courts of the Lord. Sometimes reformation requires throwing things.
Cleansing and Restoration (v. 9)
The expulsion of evil is immediately followed by consecration and restoration.
"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." (Nehemiah 13:9)
Notice the order. First, you throw out the junk. Then you cleanse the space. Then you restore what belongs there. You cannot bring back the holy things until you have purged the unholy. The cleansing here was likely a ceremonial purification. The space had been defiled by its association with a pagan enemy. It had to be reconsecrated for its holy purpose.
This is the pattern of all true revival and reformation, both personally and corporately. Repentance is not just stopping the bad thing; it is a turning from evil and a turning to righteousness. It involves both subtraction and addition. You throw out Tobiah's stuff, which is the act of repentance. You cleanse the room, which is the work of sanctification. And then you bring back the utensils, the grain offerings, and the frankincense, which is the restoration of true worship and obedience.
Nehemiah restores the room to its proper function. It is a storeroom for worship. He brings back the tools of the ministry and the tithes that support the ministers. He is re-establishing the right priorities. The house of God is for the worship of God and the support of that worship. It is not a hotel for our well-connected enemies. It is not a community center for the religiously curious. It is the house of God, and everything in it must be ordered to His glory.
Taking Out the Trash Today
This is not just a fascinating historical account. It is a permanent lesson for the church in every age. The church today is filled with the furniture of many Tobiahs. We have made alliances with the world, and we have given them prime real estate in the house of God.
What is Tobiah's furniture? It is the pragmatism of the church growth movement that displaces the preaching of the cross with marketing techniques. It is the therapeutic gospel that evicts the doctrine of sin and repentance to make room for self-esteem. It is the worldly music and entertainment that pushes out the simple, reverent, and God-centered worship commanded in Scripture. It is the acceptance of sexual ethics defined by the spirit of the age, which requires us to throw out the clear teaching of God's Word on marriage and morality. It is the political compromise that allies the church with ungodly powers for the sake of perceived influence.
In every case, the tithes are neglected to make room for Tobiah. The hard work of ministry, the support of true worship, the preaching of the whole counsel of God, is displaced by something more accommodating, more palatable, more worldly.
And the problem, as it was then, often starts with the leadership. It is the Eliashibs, the men in charge, who make the unholy alliances. They are related to Tobiah by their desire for respectability, their fear of man, or their own compromised relationships. They are the ones who quietly open the back door and let the enemy set up house.
What we need today is a generation of Nehemiahs. We need leaders, elders, and faithful churchmen who will discern the evil, call it evil, and be moved by a righteous anger to act. We need men who love the purity of the church more than they love their reputation. We need men who are willing to throw some things out. This is not about being mean; it is about being faithful. It is about loving God enough to hate what defiles His house.
The cleansing must begin in our own hearts. What worldly furniture have you allowed into the chambers of your own soul? What compromises have you made? What enemies of God have you made comfortable there? By God's grace, we must throw it out. We must cleanse that space through confession and repentance. And we must restore what belongs there: the utensils of worship, the offering of a broken and contrite heart, and the frankincense of prayer. Christ Himself is the great Nehemiah, the one who cleanses His temple. He has thrown out our sin and cleansed us by His blood. Let us not, then, invite the world back in to set up its furniture in the holy place He has redeemed.