And for the wood offering, at times appointed, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.
The closing appeal belongs to the account of setting Levites to guard the gates of the temple courtyard in Jerusalem and turning back traders who pressed toward the arched gateway with sacks, vessels, packs, and burdened donkeys. It stands at the end of the reform carried out after returning from Persia to Jerusalem to find the temple profaned, with idolaters gaining a foothold and contaminating its precincts. That profanation came through the friendship and marriage alliance between Eliashib the high priest and Tobiah the Ammonite, the enemy of Israel. In defiance of God's command forever shutting Ammonites and Moabites out of the congregation, Eliashib cast out the stored tithes and offerings in order to give Tobiah a chamber in God's house. In sore grief over this desecration, Nehemiah cast forth all of Tobiah's household stuff, commanded the chambers to be cleansed, and restored there the vessels of God's house with the meat offering and the frankincense.
It is Nehemiah's prayer asking God to remember the work for good. That same prayer is to be offered in all business transactions and in every word and deed. It means maintaining charity and tenderness with a pure purpose and a clear conscience, committing works to God and leaving them in His hands. It means doing the work in the strictest integrity with God's help, so that it is kept free from selfishness and nothing is cherished that cannot be carried into the heavenly courts. It means looking upward with intense sincerity and living in constant communion with the heavenly Father. It means asking daily for cleansing of the heart from all defilement and performing duties as in the sight of a holy God, while preparing for a city whose builder and maker is God, where eternal interests are at stake and no mistakes can be afforded.
The closing appeal belongs to the account of setting Levites to guard the gates of the temple courtyard in Jerusalem and turning back traders who pressed toward the arched gateway with sacks, vessels, packs, and burdened donkeys. It stands at the end of the reform carried out after returning from Persia to Jerusalem to find the temple profaned, with idolaters gaining a foothold and contaminating its precincts. That profanation came through the friendship and marriage alliance between Eliashib the high priest and Tobiah the Ammonite, the enemy of Israel. In defiance of God's command forever shutting Ammonites and Moabites out of the congregation, Eliashib cast out the stored tithes and offerings in order to give Tobiah a chamber in God's house. In sore grief over this desecration, Nehemiah cast forth all of Tobiah's household stuff, commanded the chambers to be cleansed, and restored there the vessels of God's house with the meat offering and the frankincense.
It is Nehemiah's prayer asking God to remember the work for good. That same prayer is to be offered in all business transactions and in every word and deed. It means maintaining charity and tenderness with a pure purpose and a clear conscience, committing works to God and leaving them in His hands. It means doing the work in the strictest integrity with God's help, so that it is kept free from selfishness and nothing is cherished that cannot be carried into the heavenly courts. It means looking upward with intense sincerity and living in constant communion with the heavenly Father. It means asking daily for cleansing of the heart from all defilement and performing duties as in the sight of a holy God, while preparing for a city whose builder and maker is God, where eternal interests are at stake and no mistakes can be afforded.