The Return · c. 445–432 BC
Chapter 20
Nehemiah’s Last Reforms
They offered great sacrifices that day, and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; and the women and the children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was heard even far away.
For parents
Near the end of this chapter Nehemiah finds Jewish men married to women of Ashdod, Ammon and Moab, whose children can’t speak the Jews’ language. He curses the men, strikes some of them and pulls out their hair (Nehemiah 13:23–27), and he chases away a member of the high priest’s family who has married Sanballat’s daughter (13:28). Earlier, after the law forbids Ammonites and Moabites to join God’s assembly, the people separate the mixed crowd of other people among them from Israel (13:1–3), and Nehemiah threatens to use force on traders who camp outside the wall (13:21). It is all told plainly.
The leaders of the people made their homes in . Everyone else cast , so that one in every ten of them would come to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, and the other nine would stay in the other towns.
The people blessed every man who freely offered to live in Jerusalem.
These are the chief men of the province who lived in Jerusalem. In the towns of , everyone else lived on his own land: Israelites, , and , and descendants of ’s servants.
Some of the people of Judah and of lived in Jerusalem. From Judah came Athaiah, of the family of , and Maaseiah, each named with his ancestors. All of Perez’s descendants who lived in Jerusalem were 468 brave men.
From Benjamin came Sallu, with his ancestors named, and after him Gabbai and Sallai, 928 of them. Their overseer was Joel son of Zichri, and Judah son of Hassenuah was next in charge of the city.
Among the priests were Jedaiah son of Joiarib, Jachin, and also Seraiah son of Hilkiah, whose ancestors are named back to Ahitub, the ruler of God’s house. With them were their fellow priests who did the work of the house, 822 of them. Then came Adaiah, with his ancestors named, and his relatives, heads of families, 242 of them. There was also Amashsai, of the family of Immer. Their relatives were 128 brave, strong men. Their overseer was Zabdiel son of Haggedolim.
Among the Levites were Shemaiah son of Hasshub, and also Shabbethai and Jozabad. These two were chiefs of the Levites, in charge of the outside work of God’s house. There was Mattaniah, a descendant of , the leader who began the prayers of thanksgiving, and Bakbukiah, who was second among his relatives. And there was Abda, a descendant of . The holy city had 284 Levites in all.
There were 172 gatekeepers who kept watch at the gates: Akkub, Talmon and their relatives.
The rest of Israel, and the rest of the priests and Levites, lived in all the towns of Judah, each on the land his family had inherited. But the temple servants lived in . Ziha and Gishpa were their leaders.
Uzzi son of Bani was the overseer of the Levites in Jerusalem. He was of the family of Asaph, the singers who were responsible for the service of God’s house. The king had given a command about them, and the singers had a fixed allowance, enough for each day’s needs.
Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, from the family of , Judah’s son, was at the king’s service in everything that had to do with the people.
As for the villages and their fields, some of Judah’s people lived in , , , , , Azekah and other towns, with the villages and fields around them. So they made their homes from Beersheba to the .
The people of Benjamin lived from onward: at Michmash, , , Nob and Ramah, at Lod and Ono, the valley of craftsmen, and in other towns.
And some divisions of the Levites in Judah settled in Benjamin’s land.
When son of Shealtiel and went up to Jerusalem, priests and Levites went with them. The priests were Seraiah, Jeremiah and many others, down to Hilkiah and Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their relatives in the days of Jeshua.
Among the Levites were Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah and Mattaniah. Mattaniah and his relatives were in charge of the thanksgiving songs. Their relatives Bakbukiah and Unno were beside them in their duties.
Jeshua’s son was Joiakim, and Joiakim’s son was . After him came Joiada, then Jonathan, then Jaddua, each the son of the one before.
In Joiakim’s days, these priests were the heads of their families: Meraiah of Seraiah’s family, Hananiah of Jeremiah’s, and so on, down to Nethanel of Jedaiah’s.
The heads of the Levites’ families were recorded in the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan and Jaddua, and the priests’ families too, in the reign of Darius the Persian. The heads of the families of Levi were written in the book of the chronicles, up to the days of Johanan son of Eliashib.
The Levites’ chiefs were Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua son of Kadmiel. Their relatives were beside them, group next to group, to praise and give thanks, as the man of God had commanded.
Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon and Akkub were gatekeepers, keeping watch at the storehouses by the gates. These men lived in the days of Joiakim son of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and in the days of the governor and of the priest and .
When the time came to the wall of Jerusalem, they searched out the Levites wherever they lived, to bring them to Jerusalem for a joyful dedication, with thanksgiving and singing, with cymbals, stringed instruments and harps.
The singers came together from the plain around Jerusalem, from the Netophathites’ villages, from Beth Gilgal, and from the fields around Geba and Azmaveth, because they had built themselves villages all around Jerusalem.
The priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people, the gates and the wall.
Then Nehemiah brought Judah’s leaders up on the wall. He appointed two great choirs, which gave thanks as they walked in procession. The first went to the right along the top of the wall, toward the Dung Gate.
Behind them came Hoshaiah with half the leaders of Judah, and Azariah, Meshullam and others. Some of the priests’ sons came with trumpets: Zechariah, a descendant of Asaph, and his relatives, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe walked in front of them.
At the Spring Gate they went straight ahead and climbed the stairs of David’s city where the wall goes up, above David’s house, and on to the Water Gate on the east.
The other choir went to meet them, and Nehemiah followed it along the wall with half the people. They went above the Tower of the Furnaces to the Wide Wall, above the Gate of Ephraim, past the Old Gate and the Fish Gate, the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of Hammeah, as far as the Sheep Gate. Then they stood still at the Gate of the Guard.
So the two choirs that gave thanks took their places in God’s house, and so did Nehemiah with half of the officials. The priests with trumpets took their places too, Eliakim and Hananiah among them, with Maaseiah, Ezer and others besides. The singers sang out loud, led by Jezrahiah, their overseer.
They offered great that day, and they rejoiced, because God had filled them with great joy. The women and the children rejoiced too, and the joy of Jerusalem could be heard far away.
That same day, men were put in charge of the storerooms for the treasures, the , the first fruits and the . The first fruits were the first part of each harvest. From the fields around each town, these men were to gather into the rooms the shares that the law set aside for the priests and Levites. This was because the people of Judah rejoiced over the priests and Levites who served.
They carried out their duty to their God and the duty of purification, and so did the singers and the gatekeepers, following the command of David and of his son Solomon.
Back in David and Asaph’s day, long ago, the singers had a chief, and they had songs of praise and thanksgiving to God.
In Zerubbabel’s days and in Nehemiah’s, all Israel gave the singers and the gatekeepers the shares they needed each day. They also set aside the Levites’ part, and the Levites set aside the part for the sons of , the priests.
On that day they read aloud from the book of to the people. In it they found the command that an or a must never come into the assembly of God. The reason was that the Ammonites and Moabites had not come to meet the Israelites with bread and water. Instead they had hired to them. But God turned the curse into a blessing.
When they had heard the law, they took the whole mixed crowd of other people who were among them and separated them from Israel.
Before this, Eliashib the priest had made a large room ready for . Eliashib was in charge of the storerooms of God’s house, and he had ties with Tobiah. It was the room where they used to keep the , the and the utensils. The tithes of the grain, the new wine and the oil were kept there too. These were set aside by command for the Levites, the singers and the gatekeepers. The wave offerings for the priests were kept there as well.
During all this, Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem. In ’ thirty-second year as king of , Nehemiah had gone to the king. Some time later he asked the king to let him go, and he came back to Jerusalem. There he found out about the wrong thing Eliashib had done for Tobiah: he had given Tobiah a room in the courts of God’s house.
It troubled him deeply. So he threw all of Tobiah’s household things out of the room.
Then he gave the order, and they purified the rooms. He brought the utensils of God’s house back into them, with the meal offerings and the frankincense.
Nehemiah also found that the Levites’ shares had not been given to them, so the Levites and singers who did the work had each fled to his own fields.
Yet the people had promised to bring their offerings of grain, new wine and oil to the storerooms of God’s house. “We will not abandon the house of our God,” they had said.
Nehemiah confronted the officials. “Why has God’s house been abandoned?” he asked. Then he gathered them together and set them in their places.
Then all Judah brought the tithe of grain, new wine and oil into the storehouses. Nehemiah put three men in charge of the storehouses as treasurers: Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah, a Levite. Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, worked alongside them. Nehemiah chose these men because they were known to be trustworthy. Their task was to share out the supplies to their relatives.
“Remember me for this, my God,” Nehemiah prayed. “Don’t wipe out the good things that I have done for the house of my God and for the work done there.”
In those days Nehemiah saw men in Judah treading on the . They were bringing in bundles of grain and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs and every kind of load, and bringing it all into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. He warned them on the day they sold food.
Some men of who lived there brought in fish and every sort of goods, and they sold them to Judah’s people on the Sabbath, in Jerusalem too.
Nehemiah confronted the nobles of Judah. “What wicked thing are you doing,” he said, “making the Sabbath day unholy? Didn’t your ancestors do this? And didn’t our God bring all this harm on us and on this city? Yet you are bringing more anger on Israel by making the Sabbath unholy.”
When the gates of Jerusalem began to get dark before the Sabbath, Nehemiah ordered the doors shut, and he ordered that no one open them until after the Sabbath. He put some of his own servants in charge of the gates, so that no load would come in on the Sabbath day.
Once or twice the traders and sellers of all kinds of goods camped outside Jerusalem.
Nehemiah warned them. “Why are you staying around the wall?” he said. “If you do it again, I will use force against you.” From then on, they didn’t come on the Sabbath.
He ordered the Levites to purify themselves and come and keep watch at the gates, so that the Sabbath day would be kept holy.
“Remember me for this too, my God,” he prayed, “and spare me in your great loving kindness.”
In those days Nehemiah also saw Jews who had married women of , of Ammon and of Moab. Their children spoke half in the language of Ashdod. They could not speak the Jews’ language, only the language of one people or another.
Nehemiah confronted them. He cursed them, struck some of them, and pulled out their hair. He made them swear by God: “You will not give your daughters to their sons, and you will not take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.
“Didn’t Solomon king of Israel sin because of things like these? Among many nations there was no king like him. His God loved him, and God made him king over all Israel. Still, foreign women made even him sin.
“Should we listen to you, then, and do all this great wrong, and be unfaithful to our God by marrying foreign women?”
One of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the , had married the daughter of the Horonite. So Nehemiah chased him away.
“Remember them, my God,” he prayed, “because they have made the priesthood unclean, and the of the priesthood and of the Levites.”
In this way Nehemiah purified them from all foreigners. He set out the duties of the priests and of the Levites, each with his own work, and he arranged for the at its set times, and for the first fruits.
And he prayed, “Remember me, my God, for good.”