Nehemiah 13:4
And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah:
This took place after Judah had solemnly pledged themselves to obey God's law, while Nehemiah was absent in Persia and evils crept in among the people. It was during that absence that the failure described here developed. The pledge had been solemn and binding, yet the people drifted once the restraining leadership was gone.
Eliashib the priest, indeed the high priest having oversight of the chamber of the house of God, formed an unhallowed alliance with Tobiah. Tobiah was an Ammonite, an idolater and a bitter enemy of Israel. The alliance grew out of friendship brought about by intermarriage.
That friendship and alliance stood in direct defiance of God's declaration through Moses that the Ammonites and Moabites should forever be shut out from His congregation. That exclusion had been pronounced because of their cruelty and treachery toward Israel.
In keeping with the alliance, Eliashib cast out the tithes and offerings that had been stored in a chamber of God's house. He then permitted Tobiah to occupy that temple storeroom apartment as his own dwelling place. By bringing an idolater into that sacred space he allowed contamination of the very precincts of the temple. The act showed the greatest contempt for God.
When Nehemiah returned he grieved sorely over what had been done. He promptly cast all of Tobiah's household goods out of the chamber. He then cleansed the chambers and brought back into them the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense.