The sky was brilliant and cloudless. The snow-clad mountains stood out clear in the distance while the air was laden with the scent of orange and lemon groves, and the sweet fragrance of thousands of lilies. Nehemiah, the Tirshatha, was once more in Shushan; he was once more, as in days gone by, walking the streets of the capital of Persia.
It was thirteen years since he left the City of Lilies with his brother Hanani, in order that he might go to Jerusalem, and do his utmost to improve the ruined and desolate city. He had returned with his work accomplished. The walls were built, the gates were set up, the bare spaces in the city had been built over, the whole place had been strongly fortified and the people had been brought back to their allegiance to God. And, as the topstone of his work, he had seen, just before his departure for Persia, the city and all it contained dedicated to the service of the great King.
Very glad, very thankful was Nehemiah, as he entered once more the glorious palace on the top of the hill, and stood before his master Artaxerxes, the long-handed, to give his report of all he had done since the king gave him leave to return to his native land.
Nehemiah found himself once more surrounded by luxury and refinement and beauty. What was Jerusalem compared with Shushan? Surely, now that his work was accomplished, he would settle down to a life of ease in Persia, where he might dwell free from fear or anxiety or care, eating the dainties from the king’s table, and partaking of all the pleasures of an Eastern court. After the rough life he had led during the last thirteen years, after the perils he had undergone, and the difficulties he had surmounted, he might surely retire, now that his work had been so happily accomplished, and spend the remainder of his life in peace and comfort.
But no; Nehemiah’s heart was in Jerusalem and he preferred Jerusalem above his chief joy. All the time he had been absent he had been hungering for news, and receiving none; there was no mail service across the vast deserts, nor did he live in these luxurious days when the heartache of anxiety may be relieved and set at rest by a telephone call or a telegram. What had been going on in his absence? Were the Samaritans quiet, or had Sanballat and Tobiah taken the opportunity afforded by his absence, and invaded Jerusalem? And how were the people? Were they keeping the solemn covenant which had been sealed in his presence? Were they continuing to serve and obey the heavenly King? All this, and much more, Nehemiah longed to hear.
He was therefore only too thankful when, after spending a year in Persia, Artaxerxes gave him permission to return as governor of Jerusalem. “In the two and thirtieth year of Artaxerxes, King of Babylon, came I unto the king, and after certain days obtained I leave of the king.”
As soon as he had received the king’s permission, Nehemiah left the lovely City of Lilies behind, and set out once more across the desert for Jerusalem. Probably no one there knew when he was coming, or whether he was coming at all. When Nehemiah left the city he possibly had no idea that he would be allowed to return, but expected that his royal master would again require his services as Rab-shakeh in the palace of Shushan. Nor was it likely that any news had reached the city of the permission given him to return.
Suddenly, one day, a small cavalcade of camels, mules and donkeys arrived at the northern gate, and the news spread through the city that Nehemiah the governor had returned. Was this intelligence received with unmixed joy and thankfulness, or were there some in the city to whom it came as anything but pleasant tidings?
No sooner did the governor arrive than he began to look around the city, to see and to inquire how all had been going on in his absence. He went up to the temple, and no sooner had he entered the gate leading into the outer court, than he noticed that the whole appearance of the place was changed. The temple enclosure looked empty and deserted; a few priests in their white robes were moving about, but where was the company of Levites who used to wait upon them, and help them in their work?
Nehemiah had left no less than 284 Levites in the temple; now he could not see one of them. And, not only did he miss those Levites, whose duty it was to attend upon the priests, but he missed also the temple singers; the sons of Asaph and their companions were nowhere to be seen. The temple choir had entirely disappeared, and the services had accordingly languished. As Nehemiah looked around, the whole place appeared to him quiet, empty and dismal. Nothing seemed to be going on; all was apparently at a standstill.
Nehemiah felt sure that something was wrong, and the further he went into the temple area the more convinced he was that he was not mistaken. Passing through the Beautiful Gate, he crossed the Court of the Women, and ascended the steps into the Court of Israel, where the temple itself stood.
Nehemiah could not pass into the temple itself, for only the priests were allowed enter the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. But around the temple building there had been erected an outbuilding or lean-to which surrounded the temple on three sides, and which was made up of three stories, each containing a number of rooms, some smaller, some larger. Just such an outbuilding as this had been made by Solomon in the first temple (1 Kings 6:5-105And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: 6The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. 7And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building. 8The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. 9So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. 10And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. (1 Kings 6:5‑10)), and the builders of the new temple had copied the idea, and had put up a similar lean-to against the outer walls.
In these rooms or chambers were kept all the stores belonging to the temple. The corn, wine and oil belonging to the priests and Levites were stored there along with the firstfruits and freewill offerings brought by the people for the temple service, and the meat-offerings, which were cakes made of fine flour, salt and oil. One of these cakes was offered twice a day, at the morning and evening sacrifice, besides many other occasions, so that it was necessary to have a number of them always ready for use.
In these chambers was also stored the frankincense, of which a large quantity was used every day, for a handful of it was burned on the altar of incense both in the morning and at night. This frankincense was very costly; it was brought on camels’ backs from Arabia, where it was obtained by making incisions in the bark of a tree which grew in no other country. Out of these incisions oozed the gummy juice of the tree, and from this was made the frankincense. It was very rare, and could only be obtained occasionally, and therefore it was important to store it carefully in the temple.
Nehemiah wondered if the stores of the temple were in good condition, and he threw open the door of one of the chambers, to see if its contents were plentiful and wellstored. As he did so, he backed up in dismay. The whole place was altered, utterly and completely transformed. The small rooms had all been opened up into one vast chamber.
The partition walls had been removed. Other stores were nowhere to be seen; they had all been cleared away. The vessels in use in the temple, the knives for cutting up the sacrifices, the censers for incense, the priests’ robes and other garments had all disappeared. There was not one single thing to be found which ought to have been found there.
This chamber of the temple, instead of being a useful and necessary storehouse, had become more like one of the grand reception rooms of the King of Persia. It was now a luxurious room, fit for the palace of a king. Beautiful curtains covered the walls; costly furniture was set in order round the large room; the softest of sofas, the most comfortable of cushions, the most elaborate ornaments and decorations surrounded Nehemiah on all sides, as he stood amazed and dismayed in their midst.
Nehemiah called one of the priests, and inquired the meaning of this extraordinary change in the building. He was told, to his horror, that this grand reception room had actually been made for the use and convenience of Tobiah the secretary, Tobiah the heathen, Tobiah, who had mocked them as they built the walls, and who had done all that was in his power ever since to annoy and to hinder Nehemiah and his helpers. This splendid apartment had actually been made and furnished in order that Tobiah might have a grand place in which to dwell, and in which to entertain his friends whenever he choose to pay a visit to Jerusalem.
What an abominable thing was this, which the poor governor had discovered! For was not this Tobiah an Ammonite, a Gentile? As such, Nehemiah knew perfectly well he had no right to set his foot in the Court of the Women, or the Court of Israel; much less then had he the right to enter the temple building.
Where was Eliashib the high priest? How was it that he had not put a stop to this proceeding? Nehemiah found, to his dismay, that Eliashib had actually been the very one who had had this chamber prepared. The very man who was responsible for the temple, and who had, by his office, the right and the power to shut out from the holy building all that was evil, had been the man to introduce Tobiah the heathen, with marked honor, into the temple itself.
But Eliashib had a grandson named Manasseh, and this young man had made what he thought a very good match. Priest though he was, he had married the daughter of Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. She was a heathen girl who was rich and possibly good looking, and whose father was the most powerful man in the country, but who did not fear or own the God of Israel. And the grandfather, so far from forbidding the marriage, seems to have connived it and sanctioned it.
He apparently not only allowed himself to be allied with Sanballat the governor, but also with Tobiah the secretary (Neh. 13:44And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: (Nehemiah 13:4)). In what way he was connected by marriage we are not told, but since both Tobiah and his son had married Jewish wives, one or both of these may have been closely related to the high priest (Neh. 6:17,1817Moreover 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)). So the friendship with the Samaritans had grown; Eliashib had probably visited Samaria, and had been honored and royally entertained by Sanballat and his secretary, and in proportion as his friendship with the heathen had grown warm, his love and earnestness in the Lord’s service had grown cold.
In the latter part of the book of Nehemiah we never find Eliashib coming forward as a helper in any good work. Ezra stood in the huge pulpit to read the law of God and thirteen of the chief men in Jerusalem stood by him to help him, but Eliashib the high priest, who surely should have been well to the front in that pulpit, was conspicuous by his absence. How could he stand up and read the law to the people, when he knew, and they knew, that he was not keeping it himself?
Nehemiah had drawn up a covenant between the people and their God, in which they promised to obey God and to keep His commandments. No less than eighty-four seals were fastened to that document, but not one of those seals bore the name of Eliashib. How could he promise to keep that covenant, one article of which was a promise to have nothing to do with the heathen, when at that very time he was living on the most friendly terms with both Sanballat and Tobiah?
Then came the grand service of dedication, when the city and all it contained were devoted to God. Not a single mention was made of Eliashib in the account of the services of the day. Many priests were mentioned by name, but the high priest, who should have taken a prominent part in the proceedings, was never heard of throughout.
Eliashib’s connection with the heathen had made him cold and remiss in the service of God. It is no wonder then that as soon as Nehemiah went away, and the restraint of his presence was removed, Eliashib did worse than ever, and finally actually entertained Tobiah in the temple itself.
But poor Nehemiah had not come to the end of his painful discoveries. He inquired next what had become of all the stores of corn and wine belonging to the Levites, all the tithes which the people were accustomed to bring to the temple for their support, and which, in that solemn covenant, they had so faithfully promised to supply. Since these stores had been removed from the place which was built on purpose to receive them, Nehemiah wished to know what new storehouse had been prepared for them. But the governor found, to his sorrow and dismay, that no sooner was his back turned upon Jerusalem, than the people had stopped bringing their tithes and their contributions for the house of God.
It was not surprising then that Nehemiah found the temple so deserted. How could the Levites serve? How could the choir sing if they were not fed? They could not live on air; no food was provided for them; what could they do but take care of themselves? In order to save themselves from utter starvation, they had been driven to leave the temple, and to go to their fields and small farms in the country, which they had been accustomed to cultivate only when they were not engaged in the work of the temple (Num. 35:22Command the children of Israel, that they give unto the Levites of the inheritance of their possession cities to dwell in; and ye shall give also unto the Levites suburbs for the cities round about them. (Numbers 35:2)). Now they had to work in those fields as a means of keeping themselves and their families from starvation. No wonder then that few were found ready to help in the temple services.
The first Sabbath after Nehemiah’s arrival, he set out with an anxious heart to see how it was kept by his fellow-countrymen. In the solemn covenant, the people had promised carefully to observe the day of rest. They had broken their word in the matter of the tithes. Had they kept their promise with regard to the Sabbath?
Nehemiah, as he walked through the city on the Sabbath day, found a regular market going on in the streets. He was horrified to find that all manner of fruit and all kinds of food were being bought and sold, as on any other day of the week. Wine, oil and merchandise of all kinds were being bargained for, and the streets were filled with the noisy cries and shouts of the sellers and purchasers.
Going on to the Fish Gate, Nehemiah found that a colony of heathen Tyrians had come to live there, in order that they might hold a fish-market close to the gate. The fish were caught by their fellow-countrymen in Tire and Sidon, and were sent down to Jerusalem slightly salted, in order to preserve them from corruption. Nehemiah found that these Tyrians were doing a grand traffic in salted fish, especially on the Sabbath day. The Jews loved fish, and always have loved it. How they enjoyed it in Egypt; how they longed for it in the wilderness! “We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely.” So they sighed, and murmured, as they thought of their lost luxuries.
There was nothing the Jews in Jerusalem liked better for their Sabbath dinner than a piece of fish, and, therefore, on the Sabbath, the Tyrians found they did more business than on any other day.
As Nehemiah left the city by the Fish Gate, he met donkeys and mules bringing in sheaves of corn, or loaded with baskets containing figs and grapes and melons. He met men carrying all kinds of burdens, and women bringing in the country produce that they might sell it in the streets of Jerusalem.
Then, passing on into the fields, he noticed that work was going on as usual. They were cultivating the ground, gathering in the corn, pruning the vines, and standing barefooted in the winepresses to tread out the juice of the grapes.
So the promise about the Sabbath had been kept no better than the other promises; the covenant had been totally disregarded.
Turning homewards, Nehemiah discovered that the remaining article of the agreement had also been broken. For, as he passed through the streets, and listened to the children at play, he found that some of the little ones were talking a language he could not understand. Here and there he caught a Jewish word, but most of their talk was entirely unintelligible to him. On inquiring into the reason for this, he was told that these children had Jewish fathers but Philistine mothers, and that they were being brought up to talk the language and learn the religion of their heathen parent. These families were making for themselves a strange dialect, which was a mixture of the two languages they had spoken; it was half Jewish, half Philistine. “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” (Neh. 13:2424And 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. (Nehemiah 13:24)).
Poor Nehemiah must have been filled with sorrow and bitter disappointment, as he found Jerusalem and its people in such a disgraceful condition. He had left the Holy City like the garden of the Lord; he came back to find the trail of the serpent all over his paradise. They did so well while he was there, but they wandered to the right hand and the left as soon as he parted from them.
Nor is Nehemiah the only one who has had this bitter disappointment. Many a parent, many a teacher, many a friend can enter into his feelings, for they have gone through the same.
The young King Joash “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” But as soon as the old man was in his grave all was changed, and he did that which was evil instead. And Joash has many followers: those who do well as long as they are under good and holy influence, and who do so badly when that influence is removed.
There is the young man, with the anxious, careful mother, who does so well as long as she lives, and who wanders from the right path as soon as she is taken from him. Then there is the young woman, who, while living under her parents’ roof, sheltered and guarded by wise restrictions from all that would harm her, seems to walk in the fear of the Lord, but who, leaving home and becoming her own mistress, drifts into frivolity and carelessness. Some men or women when removed from good and holy influence, fall away from the path of faith and go backwards. All these are followers of Joash; all these cause pain and distress to those who watch over their souls.
What is the reason for this sad change? Why is it that some only stand firm so long as they are under the care and influence of others? The Lord Jesus has answered the question. He tells us the reason: “These have no root.”
At one time we had a live tree in our house. It reached from the floor to the ceiling, and spread its branches abroad in all directions. It stood firmly and appeared to be growing. It held its head erect, and seemed as likely to stand as any of the trees outside in the garden.
But our tree only stood for a time. As long as the heavy weights and props which held it up remained, as long as the strings, which were tightly tied to nails in the wall, were uncut, the tree remained upright and unmoved. But the very instant that the props and supports were taken away our tree came down with a crash.
What was the reason for its downfall? Why did the trees in the garden stand unsupported, and yet this tree fell, as soon as its props were removed?
The answer is clear and simple. The trees in the garden had each of them a root; the tree in our house had no root. Having no root, it was impossible for it to stand alone.
There is, sad to say, plenty of no-root profession of Christianity today. We see around us too many whose godliness is dependent on their surroundings and their circumstances. They mean well and they try to do right, but there it ends.
They have no root: the heart is unchanged, unconverted, unrenewed. Their religion is merely a surface religion.
So they believe for a time, and do well, and for a time appear to be true Christians. But in time of temptation they fall away. Their “goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away.”
If we would stand firm, our profession of faith must be real; it must be rooted in the Saviour. I myself must be made new if I am to grow in grace; my heart must be Christ’s if I am to stand firm in the faith. “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him: rooted and built up in Him, and stablished in the faith.”