Nehemiah 13:11
Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place. Then contended I with the rulers, and said, Why is the house of God forsaken? And I gathered them together, and set them in their place.
Nehemiah 13:11 belongs to the work of correction on his return from Persia, after Judah broke its solemn public pledge to obey the law of God during the withdrawal of Ezra's and Nehemiah's influence. In that absence evils threatened to pervert the nation, and idolaters gained a foothold in Jerusalem and contaminated the precincts of the temple through the unhallowed alliance by intermarriage between Eliashib the high priest and Tobiah the Ammonite, Israel's bitter enemy. Eliashib had cast out the tithes and offerings stored in the chamber of God's house to make a dwelling for Tobiah, showing contempt for God. The contending with the rulers and setting things in order was a prompt, grieved response to that bold profanation, casting out Tobiah's household goods, commanding the chambers to be cleansed, and bringing back the vessels of the house of God with the meat offering and the frankincense.
The forsaken house of God also involved profaned temple service and misapplied offerings, because tithes were withheld and the treasuries were poorly supplied so that the singers and others employed in temple service received no support and left the work of God to labor elsewhere. The gathering together and setting in their place means bringing back those who had left and restoring them to their places in the service of the house, thereby correcting the abuses. This restoration inspired the people with confidence so that all Judah again brought the tithe.