Nehemiah 13:22
Then I instructed the Levites to purify themselves and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy. Remember me for this as well, O my God, and show me mercy according to Your abundant loving devotion.
Sermons
Increasing Holiness Means Increasing Sensitiveness to the Need of MercyHugh Stowell, M. A.Nehemiah 13:22
NehemiahJoseph Jowett, M. A.Nehemiah 13:22
Nehemiah's Appeal to God's MercyHugh Stowell, M. A.Nehemiah 13:22
The Blessing of God on an Active Life Founded Upon His WordR.A. Redford Nehemiah 13:1-31
Personal Purification of the BelieverW. P. Lockhart.Nehemiah 13:7-31
The Devoted PatriotM. G. Pearse.Nehemiah 13:7-31
The Religious ReformerW. Ritchie.Nehemiah 13:7-31
Nehemiah's SincerityRobert Burns, D. D.Nehemiah 13:14-22
The Law of RewardA. Maclaren, D. D.Nehemiah 13:14-22
The Mercy of God Chin Origin of the Reward of Good WorksJoseph Mede, B. D.Nehemiah 13:14-22
An Argument for Sabbath-KeepingNehemiah 13:15-22
Keeping the SabbathD. J. Burrell, D. D.Nehemiah 13:15-22
Keeping the SabbathMonday Club Sermons., De Witt S. ClarkeNehemiah 13:15-22
Loyalty to the SabbathNehemiah 13:15-22
Profanation of the SabbathJ. Hambleton.Nehemiah 13:15-22
Sabbath DesecrationA. Maclaren, D. D.Nehemiah 13:15-22
Sabbath ObservanceJohn Budgen, M.A.Nehemiah 13:15-22
The Benefit of the SabbathJ. Venn, M. A.Nehemiah 13:15-22
The Sabbath DayW. Clarkson Nehemiah 13:15-22














Among other deplorable departures from the Law of the word, Nehemiah found on his return to Jerusalem that his countrymen had fallen into flagrant disregard of the sabbath. It was a most serious defection, demanding a most vigorous reform. We look at what he found-and what he wrought.

I. A SERIOUS DELINQUENCY. The law of the sabbath (Exodus 20:8-11; Exodus 31:13-17; Numbers 15:32-36) was openly defied. Husbandmen were treading their wine-presses and were bringing corn into the city, and were lading asses on that day of sacred rest (ver. 15); all kinds of fruit were also carried in and sold (ver. 15). Tyrian traders were allowed to bring in and sell their fish and "all manner of ware" (ver. 16). The sacred character of the day was set at naught, and was fast disappearing. Persian rulers, Samaritan neighbours, Phoenician traders, had prevailed over Jewish principles, and the sabbath was most seriously threatened. There needed -

II. A VIGOROUS REFORM. Nehemiah set himself to change the whole aspect of affairs. He

(1) remonstrated energetically - he "contended with the nobles of Judah" (ver. 17), charging them with bringing this about - "What evil thing is this that ye do?"- by their guilty connivance, and prophetically threatening them with the wrath of God for their sin (ver. 18);

(2) caused the gates to be shut some time before, and to remain shut till some time after, the commencement and conclusion of the sacred day (ver. 19): he set his own servants (some of his own retinue), on whom he could most reckon, to see that this order was impartially carried out;

(3) not only obliged those who came to sell to remain outside all the day, but threatened to apprehend them if they did this again (vers. 20, 21); and

(4) enlisted the sympathy and aid of the Levites, that, when he was recalled and his own servants were withdrawn, they might maintain what he now instituted. These energetic measures succeeded; they had an immediate effect (ver. 21), and they appear to have had a permanent influence, as, from this time, we have reason to think that the Jews became scrupulous, even to a fault, on this question of sabbath observance. Nehemiah's reform was admirable and effective because -

(a) It was bold and impartial. He confronted and reproached the nobles as well as the traders and salesmen.

(b) It was energetic and full of action. He used magisterial rights; not exceeding his authority, but using it, and acting in harmony with the powers of his commission and the law of God.

(c) It was anticipative of future wants. He prepared for a time when he would not be there, and when other men like-minded would be prepared to continue his work (ver. 22). Concerning the observance of the sabbath or the Lord's day by ourselves, we may remark that it is -

I. OBVIOUSLY THE WILL OF GOD THAT WE SHOULD KEEP IT. We know that -

1. It was sanctified from the very beginning of our race (Genesis 2:2, 3).

2. It was included in the religious and moral statutes given by God to Moses, as if it belonged to that which is permanent and perpetual (Exodus 20.).

3. It was insisted upon by the prophetic voice, and declared to be decisive of national prosperity or decline (Jeremiah 17:19-27; Isaiah 58:13, 14) - the prophets being the upholders of the moral in preference to the formal and ceremonial.

4. It was declared by the Lord Jesus Christ to be "made for man" (Mark 2:27).

5. It was continued in the shape of the Lord's day after the resurrection (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 16:2; Revelation 1:10); these incidental notices pointing to a general apostolical observance.

II. MANIFESTLY REQUISITE FOR BODILY AND SPIRITUAL WELFARE.

1. Bodily; for man and beast live longer and work better with than without it.

2. Spiritual; for without the spiritual refreshment and revival of sabbath services, more especially in these days of absorbing work and care, the light of life would burn even more dim and faint, until it went out into darkness. All those who hate (spiritual) death may well love and guard and use it well. Our duty in regard to it is -

(1) To avail ourselves of the bodily rest it brings, and to see that others have the same advantage - our children resting from their lessons, servants (domestic and public) resting from their toil.

(2) To make it a day of special spiritual privilege, including

(a) worship-drawing nigh to God;

(b) instruction - enlightenment, edification, the "beholding the beauty of the Lord and inquiring in his temple;" and

(c) inspiration - fresh determination, invigorated resolution that as for us and our household we will serve the Lord Christ. - C.

Spare me according to the greatness of Thy mercy.
The bird which soars the highest builds the lowest nest. The more a man is lifted up in communion with Heaven the deeper is his abasement in his own eyes. The holiest are the humblest. Those who bear most fruit have least "confidence in the flesh." How interesting to observe that, though the conceptions of believers under the old dispensation respecting the exact mode of salvation were dim, yet they themselves clung as earnestly to the mercy of the Lord as more privileged believers do now!

(Hugh Stowell, M. A.)

The more holy a man's spirit becomes, the more sensitive will it become; and the more sensitive his spirit, the deeper and livelier will be his sense of sinfulness. Shut up an individual in a dark room, hung round with cobwebs and defiled with dust, and he will be insensible to its condition; then admit a little light, and he will begin to suspect its state, and the more clearly the fight shines, the more clearly will he discern the impurities which were hidden before.

(Hugh Stowell, M. A.)

Here is —

I. An .appeal to God's approbation. Nehemiah often makes appeals of this kind. This was an appeal to God —

1. From man's judgment. He had engaged in an undertaking which was likely enough to appear contemptible in the eyes of his Persian acquaintance. But what then? It was for God's honour, and therefore he despises this shame, casting himself upon the approbation of God. This principle it was that influenced Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Paul. It is the principle of faith rendering an unseen God visible. Such men look for a future " recompense of reward" promised by Him who cannot lie.

2. From man's enmity. While one party satisfied themselves with despising, there was another party in Jerusalem itself who hated and opposed his proceedings. It is in reference to their enmity that the appeal of the text is made. Modern enmity.

3. From man's ingratitude. It was here that he found his greatest trial. How painful, when the very persons whom in God's name he sought to benefit were cold, reluctant, unfeeling! Nehemiah's was no solitary ease. You find in connection with this appeal —

II. A CONTRITE PRAYER FOR GOD'S FORGIVENESS.

1. After all he has done for God's service, Nehemiah cannot forget that there is a load of original and actual sin, recorded against him for which no subsequent obedience can make satisfaction.

2. He finds even his religious actions so stained with sin that though he may appeal from man, he cannot make them a plea for merit before God.

3. He casts himself, with a steadfast faith, on the free grace and covenanted mercies of the Lord. Application: If the despised believer may thus appeal from man to God, what hope can there be for those who compel him so to do?

(Joseph Jowett, M. A.)

People
Artaxerxes, Balaam, Eliashib, Hanan, Israelites, Joiada, Levites, Mattaniah, Pedaiah, Sanballat, Shelemiah, Solomon, Tobiah, Tobijah, Tyrians, Zaccur
Places
Ammon, Ashdod, Babylon, Jerusalem, Moab
Topics
Commanded, Gates, Greatness, Guard, Holy, Kindness, Levites, Love, Loving, Mercy, O, Order, Purify, Remember, Sabbath, Sanctify, Spare, Themselves
Outline
1. Upon the reading of the law, separation is made from the mixed multitude.
4. Nehemiah, at his return, causes the chambers to be cleansed.
10. He reforms the offices in the house of God;
15. the violation of the Sabbath;
23. and the marriages with the strange wives.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Nehemiah 13:22

     7416   purification
     8404   commands, in OT

Nehemiah 13:15-22

     5242   buying and selling
     5407   merchants

Nehemiah 13:15-27

     5345   influence
     8466   reformation

Nehemiah 13:19-22

     5323   gate

Library
Sabbath Observance
'In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. 16. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Two Famous Versions of the Scriptures
[Illustration: (drop cap B) Samaritan Book of the Law] By the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Egypt, lies Alexandria, a busy and prosperous city of to-day. You remember the great conqueror, Alexander, and how nation after nation had been forced to submit to him, until all the then-known world owned him for its emperor? He built this city, and called it after his own name. About a hundred years before the days of Antiochus (of whom we read in our last chapter) a company of Jews
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Last Days of the Old Eastern World
The Median wars--The last native dynasties of Egypt--The Eastern world on the eve of the Macedonian conquest. [Drawn by Boudier, from one of the sarcophagi of Sidon, now in the Museum of St. Irene. The vignette, which is by Faucher-Gudin, represents the sitting cyno-cephalus of Nectanebo I., now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican.] Darius appears to have formed this project of conquest immediately after his first victories, when his initial attempts to institute satrapies had taught him not
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Day and Defends his Act.
(at Feast-Time at Jerusalem, Probably the Passover.) ^D John V. 1-47. ^d 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [Though every feast in the Jewish calendar has found some one to advocate its claim to be this unnamed feast, yet the vast majority of commentators choose either the feast of Purim, which came in March, or the Passover, which came in April. Older commentators pretty unanimously regarded it as the Passover, while the later school favor the feast
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

Links
Nehemiah 13:22 NIV
Nehemiah 13:22 NLT
Nehemiah 13:22 ESV
Nehemiah 13:22 NASB
Nehemiah 13:22 KJV

Nehemiah 13:22 Bible Apps
Nehemiah 13:22 Parallel
Nehemiah 13:22 Biblia Paralela
Nehemiah 13:22 Chinese Bible
Nehemiah 13:22 French Bible
Nehemiah 13:22 German Bible

Nehemiah 13:22 Commentaries

Bible Hub
Nehemiah 13:21
Top of Page
Top of Page