Nehemiah Returns to Babylon

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Chapter 13 ends the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah having finished his work in Jerusalem, honored his promise to the King of Persia and returned to Babylon. He was not there long before word came to him of evil that was taking place in Jerusalem. He requested permission from the King to return and it was granted. The following problems had developed in Jerusalem during his short absence:

  1. Moabites and Ammonites had settled among them. These he expelled.
  2. The Levites had been refused the maintenance due them. He provided just and prompt payment.
  3. The Sabbath was being profaned. For this he took the rulers of Judah to task and he charged the Levites with the keeping of the Sabbath.

His "cures" were lasting. At the time of Christ, 400 years later, the Jews had continued his reforms and, in many ways, had gone to extremes. They were no longer symbolic of their obedience but had become a weight around their neck.

Lastly, Nehemiah discovered that they had been marrying "strange" wives. They were marrying pagans, women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab. Nehemiah pulled out his own hair over this sin. He pronounced the judgment of God upon them and charged them to separate from these women and their children but to maintain them as before.

His final act was to pray for these people. "Lord convince and convert these people." This ends the history of the Jews, the "chosen people" of God. Nothing is recorded between Nehemiah, about 400 BC., and the coming of Christ.

The Book of Nehemiah ends the recorded history of the nation of Israel in the Bible. Something of their history during the 3 to 400 years between Nehemiah and the coming of Christ, can be seen in the record of the Maccabees, the Books of the Apocrypha. But what ever happened to Nehemiah? According to tradition, Nehemiah was replaced as Governor of Judea by his brother, Hananiah, in 421 BC. and then he returned to Babylon as he had promised the King he would, 24 years before.

THUS ENDS THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH


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