Reformation
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people. Nehemiah warned them that they would be punished if they
continued this practice. “Why lodge ye about the wall?” he demanded;
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“if ye do so again, I will lay hands on you.” “From that time forth came
they no more on the Sabbath.” He also directed the Levites to guard
the gates, knowing that they would command greater respect than the
common people, while from their close connection with the service of
God it was reasonable to expect that they would be more zealous in
enforcing obedience to His law.
And now Nehemiah turned his attention to the danger that again
threatened Israel from intermarriage and association with idolaters. “In
those days,” he writes, “saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod,
of Ammon, and of Moab: and their children spake half in the speech
of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews’ language, but according
to the language of each people.”
These unlawful alliances were causing great confusion in Israel;
for some who entered into them were men in high position, rulers to
whom the people had a right to look for counsel and a safe example.
Foreseeing the ruin before the nation if this evil were allowed to
continue, Nehemiah reasoned earnestly with the wrongdoers. Pointing
to the case of Solomon, he reminded them that among all the nations
there had risen no king like this man, to whom God had given great
wisdom; yet idolatrous women had turned his heart from God, and
his example had corrupted Israel. “Shall we then hearken unto you,”
Nehemiah sternly demanded, “to do all this great evil?” “Ye shall not
give your daughters unto their sons, nor take their daughters unto your
sons, or for yourselves.”
As he set before them God’s commands and threatenings, and the
fearful judgments visited on Israel in the past for this very sin, their
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consciences were aroused, and a work of reformation was begun that
turned away God’s threatened anger and brought His approval and
blessings.
There were some in sacred office who pleaded for their heathen
wives, declaring that they could not bring themselves to separate from
them. But no distinction was made; no respect was shown for rank
or position. Whoever among the priests or rulers refused to sever
his connection with idolaters was immediately separated from the
service of the Lord. A grandson of the high priest, having married a
daughter of the notorious Sanballat, was not only removed from office,