WE WILL NOT NEGLECT THE HOUSE OF OUR GOD
Nehemiah 10
“Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.” (Malachi 3:16)
It is interesting to read Nehemiah 10 in the context of Malachi’s prophecies.
Malachi was a post-exilic prophet and though there is nothing in the text to give an approximate date, he had spoken of the governor and of worship in the Temple in his book, thus placing him at least in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
Malachi’s messages focused on marriage (“Judah has desecrated the sanctuary the Lord loves by marrying women who worship a foreign god.”), inferior sacrifices (“When you offer blind animals for sacrifice, is that not wrong? When you sacrifice lame or diseased animals, is that not wrong?”), withholding tithes (“You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.”) and priests and Levites neglecting their duties (“For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi”).
There is no way to be certain that the actions of the Jews in Nehemiah 10 were influenced by the prophetic messages of Malachi but it is easy to see how the conscientious teaching of God’s Law by the priests and Levites in chapter 8, the act of individual and corporate repentance in chapter 9, and the binding agreement, detailed in chapter 10, that was sealed by the governor, the priests and Levites, and the leaders of the people, and indeed everyone—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighbouring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—properly responded to the concerns of God raised by the prophet Malachi.
Ultimately the Jews responded to the Word of God and unreservedly promised to do their part in honouring God and his commands. For us all who seek revival in our church, we, as individuals and collectively as a church, can do no less.
“The rest of the people—priests, Levites, gatekeepers, musicians, temple servants and all who separated themselves from the neighboring peoples for the sake of the Law of God, together with their wives and all their sons and daughters who are able to understand—all these now join their fellow Israelites the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the Lord our Lord.”