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Prophets and Kings
of the singers and others employed in the temple service, not receiving
sufficient support, had left the work of God to labor elsewhere.
Nehemiah set to work to correct these abuses. He gathered together
those who had left the service of the Lord’s house, “and set them in
their place.” This inspired the people with confidence, and all Judah
brought “the tithe of the corn and the new wine and the oil.” Men who
“were counted faithful” were made “treasurers over the treasuries,”
“and their office was to distribute unto their brethren.”
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Another result of intercourse with idolaters was a disregard of the
Sabbath, the sign distinguishing the Israelites from all other nations as
worshipers of the true God. Nehemiah found that heathen merchants
and traders from the surrounding country, coming to Jerusalem, had
induced many among the Israelites to engage in traffic on the Sabbath.
There were some who could not be persuaded to sacrifice principle,
but others transgressed and joined with the heathen in their efforts to
overcome the scruples of the more conscientious. Many dared openly
to violate the Sabbath. “In those days,” Nehemiah writes, “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.... 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.”
This state of things might have been prevented had the rulers
exercised their authority; but a desire to advance their own interests
had led them to favor the ungodly. Nehemiah fearlessly rebuked them
for their neglect of duty. “What evil thing is this that ye do, and profane
the Sabbath day?” he sternly demanded. “Did not your fathers thus,
and did not our God bring all this evil upon us, and upon this city? yet
ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath.” He then
gave command that “when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark
before the Sabbath,” they should be shut, and not opened again till the
Sabbath was past; and having more confidence in his own servants than
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in those that the magistrates of Jerusalem might appoint, he stationed
them at the gates to see that his orders were enforced.
Not inclined to abandon their purpose, “the merchants and sellers
of all kind of ware lodged without Jerusalem once or twice,” hoping
to find opportunity for traffic, with either the citizens or the country