I just finished reading Nehemiah today. What an amazing story.
I'm particularly impressed with Nehemiah's zeal, and I walk with you through the last chapter.
You see, we hear a lot about "legislating morality" these days. Can it be done? Should it be done? Do we even want it done? If morality is legislated, then whose morality will be legislated? What if the prominent religion changes? If we've made a precedent of legislating one religion's morality, what will happen if a different religion comes into power?
Well, I have to point out that someone's morality is being legislated every day. Whether it is the morality of the religious right, Green Peace, or a Supreme Court Justice, one's morality determines one's judgment. There are no unbiased opinions.
Take a look at Nehemiah now. He did not take an opinion poll. He didn't listen to political critics. He chose instead to be a critic - a moral critic.
Look at Nehemiah 13. In verse 15, he "saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day" (ESV). And so, he walked past them. After all, not everyone believed in the Israelite God. You have to accept reality. If they are bringing in "heaps of grain" then it is harvest time. There's work to be done. Sometimes you have to do the work when you can. And if there's more work than can be done in six days, you need that seventh. Right?
No! Nehemiah said that he "warned them on the day when they sold food." Warn them? Why? Doesn't God understand about the harvest? Didn't He set the seasons in order? Surely God understands, right? God said, "Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest" (Exodus 34:21, ESV).
Ah, but they were loading them on donkeys. The beasts were bearing the burdens. That makes it right, doesn't it? God had said "the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you" (Deuteronomy 5:14, ESV) "Thus says the Lord: Take care for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day or bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem" (Jeremiah 17:21, ESV)
They couldn't have done a better job of breaking God's law if they were holding a copy in their hands and using it as a checklist.
"Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!" (13:16, ESV)
The very people of Jerusalem were buying the goods, profaning the Sabbath.
Nehemiah saw this transgression of God's holy law and warned the people. Then he "confronted the nobles of Judah" (v. 17). He went to the rulers of the people to point out the transgression. When we see sin in our nation, what good is it to "preach to the choir"? Go to the sinners and show them their sin. Then go to the governing authorities and show them the sin as well. And notice what he tells the rulers: "What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?" He sticks them with their responsibility. They weren't the ones loading the donkeys or selling the goods. But as leaders they were responsible. And so our governing authorities are responsible for allowing sin to continue. Their complacency reveals their contempt for God and His holiness.
Then Nehemiah reasons with the leaders. "Did not your fathers act in this way, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Now you are bringing more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath" (v. 18) As Ezra said earlier in Ezra 9:14, "shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?"
After confronting the people with their sin, after he confronted the leaders with their responsibility for the people's sin, he took steps to prevent further sin.
"As soon as it began to grow dark at the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut and gave orders that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I stationed some of my servants at the gates, that no load might be brought in on the Sabbath day." (v. 19)
So what happened? The merchants and sellers still came and lodged outside Jerusalem. What happens when most reforms are put in place? People say "It won't last." So they camp outside, waiting for their opportunity to continue.
Ah, but Nehemiah was ready for them. He said, "Why do you lodge outside the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you." Hey, whoa there, Nehemiah. Those are fighting words, right? You bet. Listen up. Nehemiah was resolved. The merchants might have been defiant. They might have longed for the Sabbath to be over. Nehemiah was every ounce as defiant and every bit as determined to honor the Sabbath. He did not cower. He made the merchants cower.
Nehemiah was a Man.
He also knew he had more work to do in his reformation. So he set Levites in charge of guarding the gate. This is a civil leader and church leaders working in union. No separation of church and state here. No concerns against legislating morality.
This isn't about Christians taking dominion over the government. This isn't about Christians trying to establish the kingdom of God through government. This is about God's Laws are just that - Laws. Right is right and wrong its wrong and that must be upheld.
I wish I could remember the exact quote from Lord of the Rings, but Aragorn said something to the effect of "There's not one law for hobbits and another for dwarves or elves." There's not one law for Christians and another for Muslims, Atheists, Hindus, etc. God's Law is the Law for everyone.
And how does Nehemiah conclude this? He prays. He prays for God to remember him. He prays for God to spare him. Spare him? Why? Nehemiah saw his own sinfulness. So often when a man seeks to reform, he is called "holier-than-thou." Nehemiah saw sin and called it sin. But Nehemiah also saw sin in himself and was just as honest. He dealt with his own sin. But to see his nation blessed, he could not ignore his people's sins. They had to be dealt with as well.
"Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins." (Ecclesiastes 7:20, ESV)
Yes, that statement is true, but it is no excuse. It is a sure warning. I sin. You sin. We all sin. And we all must humble ourselves before God. We must all repent and throw ourselves on the mercy of God through Jesus Christ. Then there will be true reformation and true reformers will be raised up.