Nehemiah purifies the temple
But while all this was going on, I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Some time later I asked his permission 7 and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. 8 I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. 9 I gave orders to purify the rooms, and then I put back into them the equipment of the house of God, with the grain offerings and the incense.
10 I also learned that the portions assigned to the Levites had not been given to them, and that all the Levites and singers responsible for the service had gone back to their own fields. 11 So I rebuked the officials and asked them, “Why is the house of God neglected?” Then I called them together and stationed them at their posts.
12 All Judah brought the tithes of grain, new wine and oil into the storerooms. 13 I put Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and a Levite named Pedaiah in charge of the storerooms and made Hanan son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah, their assistant, because these men were considered trustworthy. They were made responsible for distributing the supplies to their brothers.
14 Remember me for this, O my God, and do not blot out what I have so faithfully done for the house of my God and its services.
Some commentators have suggested that Eliashib the priest, who took Tobiah the Ammonite into the temple, could not have been the same Eliashib who was high priest during Nehemiah’s governorship. They argue that the high priest would not be concerned about the routine operations of the temple’s storage rooms. Yet it seems most natural to assume that this is indeed the same Eliashib who was high priest. Even if the high priest did not participate directly in the daily management of the storerooms, he undoubtedly was responsible for the overall management of the supplies during Nehemiah’s absence.
Nehemiah 13:28 makes it clear that Eliashib’s family was guilty of participation in the illegal mixed marriages.
Nehemiah 6:18 says that both Tobiah and his son were married to Jewish women. The web of intermarriages linking the noble families of Judah with Tobiah and Sanballat, the enemies of Israel, was the direct cause of this profaning of the temple.
One might think it was relatively harmless to let Tobiah live in a storage room. But by this move, he was able to set up a base to undo the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah in the very heart of the temple. Furthermore, these were no ordinary storage rooms. They were “holy” because they were set aside for gathering the sacred offerings that were to support the temple ministry. While the rooms were being used by the enemy of Israel, the gathering of the offerings was neglected and the temple workers were forced to abandon their ministries and go to the country to eke out a living in farming. Compromise and accommodation with the enemies of God’s Word are never harmless, but ultimately undermine and destroy the work of God’s people.
The first step toward correcting this tragic situation again came through a return to God’s Word. Through the words of Scripture, the people were reminded that Israel’s enemies, the Moabites and Ammonites, were not to be included in the religious life of Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). During Israel’s wandering in the wilderness, these enemies had hired Balaam, a prophet, to curse the Israelites. Following the famous incident in which Balaam’s donkey miraculously spoke to him, Balaam blessed the Israelites instead of cursing them (Numbers 22–24).
Upon his return to Jerusalem, Nehemiah resorted to strong measures in order to restore the reforms he and Ezra had previously put into effect. Tobiah was forcibly ejected from the temple. The system for supporting the temple workers was reestablished. The leaders were sharply rebuked for their negligence. Nehemiah closed this section with a brief prayer that God would remember his faithfulness and that the reforms he had established would not be overthrown.