Bible Lessons

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WE have seen, in what has been before us in this book God dishonored; and this not by heathen, but by those who stood in a position of privileged relationship with Him, who professed to be, by birth and by religious observance, His people. When God is not given that place in heart and conscience which is rightly His, other evils are sure to follow. Some of them are mentioned in verses 10 to 16.
The first is a selfish disregard of the rights of one’s fellowmen. “Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously” (or more exactly, and in each case in this chapter, “unfaithfully”), “every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?” See Nehemiah 5:1-13,1And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews. 2For there were that said, We, our sons, and our daughters, are many: therefore we take up corn for them, that we may eat, and live. 3Some also there were that said, We have mortgaged our lands, vineyards, and houses, that we might buy corn, because of the dearth. 4There were also that said, We have borrowed money for the king's tribute, and that upon our lands and vineyards. 5Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brethren, our children as their children: and, lo, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters are brought unto bondage already: neither is it in our power to redeem them; for other men have our lands and vineyards. 6And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. 7Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers, and said unto them, Ye exact usury, every one of his brother. And I set a great assembly against them. 8And I said unto them, We after our ability have redeemed our brethren the Jews, which were sold unto the heathen; and will ye even sell your brethren? or shall they be sold unto us? Then held they their peace, and found nothing to answer. 9Also I said, It is not good that ye do: ought ye not to walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach of the heathen our enemies? 10I likewise, and my brethren, and my servants, might exact of them money and corn: I pray you, let us leave off this usury. 11Restore, I pray you, to them, even this day, their lands, their vineyards, their oliveyards, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the corn, the wine, and the oil, that ye exact of them. 12Then said they, We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do as thou sayest. Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they should do according to this promise. 13Also I shook my lap, and said, So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, that performeth not this promise, even thus be he shaken out, and emptied. And all the congregation said, Amen, and praised the Lord. And the people did according to this promise. (Nehemiah 5:1‑13) which shows that man in our own times is of the same fibre as twenty-four centuries ago. The ten commandments set forth duty to God and duty to man, but the children of Israel neglected the one as they did the other. Selfishness is deeply rooted in the human heart, and where God is not known, no higher principles may be expected to govern.
Verses 11 and 12 deal with a different character of sin: the intermarriage of the (professed) people of God and the world. (See Ezra 9 and 10, Nehemiah 6:17, 18; 13:23-2817Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. 18For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. (Nehemiah 6:17‑18)
23In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: 24And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people. 25And I contended with them, and cursed them, and smote certain of them, and plucked off their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, Ye shall not give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your sons, or for yourselves. 26Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin. 27Shall we then hearken unto you to do all this great evil, to transgress against our God in marrying strange wives? 28And one of the sons of Joiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was son in law to Sanballat the Horonite: therefore I chased him from me. (Nehemiah 13:23‑28)). The sanctuary of Jehovah which He loved, was profaned by the marriage of Jews to idolaters.
How can a true believer be united in marriage with an unbeliever? Alas! it is done even in the time in which we live, but 2 Cor. 6:14-1614Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? 15And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? 16And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (2 Corinthians 6:14‑16) is thereby violated, to God dishonor and the saint’s abiding loss. Verses 13-10 bring out a third sin against God and man: divorce. Does not verse 13 tell in perfect truth of what follows in the train of this great evil: “ ...  ... tears, with weeping, and with sighing”? Broken homes, children without proper parental care and affection—these are the current and immediate fruits of despising God’s ordinance for the human family (Genesis 2:2424Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)), It should never be found among the children of God, where His Word is known. The Jews made the most trivial grounds sufficient for divorcing their wives, trying to find sanction for the allowance of their own evil hearts, in Deuteronomy 24:11When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favor in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give it in her hand, and send her out of his house. (Deuteronomy 24:1).
For the Christian all is settled by the Lord’s words in Matthew 5 and 19, which precisely and effectively limit the divine sanction of divorce to one cause only. Apart from that ground, the divorced wife (or husband) is still in God’s reckoning, married to the former partner, as our verses in Malachi 2 indeed show: “the wife of thy youth against whom thou hast dealt unfaithfully, yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.”
The early part of verse 15 is a little difficult in the English translation. The subject is the nature and purpose of marriage as given under God’s ordination: husband and wife are “one flesh” (Genesis 2:2424Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. (Genesis 2:24)). The Holy Spirit is referred to in the second sentence, —the Spirit of God; but in the latter part of the verse it is “your spirit”—the spirit of man, as in verse 16.
The marginal reading for verse 16 is unwarranted. The best translation is believed to be, “(for I hate putting away, saith Jehovah the God of Israel); and he covereth with violence his garment, saith Jehovah of hosts, etc.” (N. T.), —the latter referring to the unlovely ways of the natural man when angered. See Eph. 5:2525Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; (Ephesians 5:25) for a lovely contrast.
Verse 17 will come before us in our consideration of chapter 3.