I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Nehemiah 11-13.

    When the Jews completed rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem they discovered that not enough people were actually living in the city for it to be a function as a city (at least that is how I read this passage). So, the decision was made to select people from all of the towns where the Jews who had returned from exile were living. They cast lots to select one out of every ten to move to Jerusalem. It appears to me that initially the only people from the returned exiles who chose to live in Jerusalem were those involved with Temple worship and governing the people. However, for their continued residence in Jerusalem to be viable there needed to be other people living there, people whose job would be providing them with the goods and services that are basic necessities (food, clothing, etc).

    Once Jerusalem’s wall was rebuilt, Nehemiah returned to the Persian capital. Some time after that he requested, and received, permission to return to Jerusalem. Upon his return he found that things had slipped. Tobiah, an official of one of the neighboring regions (probably of similar authority in that region to what Nehemiah had in Jerusalem), had acquired the use of Temple storerooms. The portions of the offerings which were supposed to go to the Levites had been redirected, forcing the Levites to support themselves in other ways. The people of Jerusalem had begun doing business on the Sabbath (despite their earlier pledge to keep the Sabbath regulations). The Jews, the returned exiles, had begun intermarrying with the people of the surrounding area who worshiped other gods. They were led in this by the grandson of the high priest, who married the daughter of the governor of Samaria in what was certainly a political marriage. This example from the family of the high priest suggests that these marriages were made in order to seal political and commercial alliances. When Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem he cracked down on all of these things. It seems that in his first stint as governor of Jerusalem, Nehemiah got the people to follow the Law by convincing them to do so. During his second stint he appears to have used more force. The “backsliding” recounted in today’s passage indicates the importance of a strong leader to keep people focused on doing God’s will.