The Need For a Better Builder (Nehemiah 13)

Bible Passage: Nehemiah 13

The story of Nehemiah has generally been a successful one. Nehemiah had a God-given burden to get the walls of Jerusalem built, and he cast the vision and got a whole community working on the project. They overcome opposition and complete the walls, and the people can worship God in the city. As part of this, the people make a covenant where they promise their faithfulness to God in different areas of life.

In this final chapter of the story, we see things start to unravel. Despite the success with the walls, the bigger problems in the hearts of the people still remain, and there is a need for one far greater than Nehemiah to put this right.

The persistence of sin. In this chapter, we are told about some different ways that the people are breaking God’s commands. They are not keeping themselves separate from the nations, but are marrying the people around them who worship foreign gods. They are not honouring the sabbath day but instead are conducting trade on it. They are also withholding the tithes that are due to the Levites. What is fascinating is that these three particular areas of sin are the exact things that were mentioned in the covenant they made in chapter 10 where they promised to devote themselves to God. Now they have returned to their old ways, and sin has reared its head once more. Willpower and good intentions alone are not enough to root out the problem of sin and change the human heart.

Godly leadership. In light of people are turning away from God, Nehemiah is a model of excellent godly leadership. He discovered what was happening and was proactive in dealing with the issues (eg v8-9, v19). He then spoke to the people and address what they were doing, remonstrating with them to act differently. In everything, he committed his actions to God and he understand that it was all ultimately in God’s hands (v14, 22, 30). Godly leadership is not indifferent to sin but looks to deal with the issues and help get people back on the path to holiness.

The need for more. For the book to end in this way is surprising. It comes as an anti-climax after a successful building project to have the people back in Jerusalem but failing to worship wholeheartedly. This is deliberate, as the book of Nehemiah is pointing beyond itself and showing that the real problem has not yet been resolved. The book points us to Jesus by making us long for one who can truly fix the problem of sin, both by taking the penalty for it on the cross, and by giving us new hearts of flesh that can live spirit-empowered lives of obedience to the Father.

Potential Applications:

• This passage highlights our need for Jesus. You could invite people to give their lives to him for the first time.
• The passage is also a challenge for how we tackle ongoing sin in our lives as believers. The answer is not more willpower or even good leadership, but to draw close to Jesus.