Nehemiah 10:32 Commentary and Bible Study

They undertake to do all that is necessary to maintain the service of the house of God. The detailed list that follows shows that they had learned much from the reading of the law, and now wanted to put all that they had learned into practice. As we hear what God requires of us, we should be eager to implement it. As soon as we hear it we are responsible to do it; we cannot tell the Lord we are going to reform ourselves when it is convenient to us. If we have the ability to do it, we do it straight away. ‘We understand in this covenant, that we must keep the house of God open, and furnish the sacrifices, and support the Levites and the priests, and we will honour all the set offerings that we are to make. It is our responsibility and we take it on immediately.’ The temple must be maintained, and that was to be done by a voluntary tax. They were also careful to organise the work to be done by those appointed by the law, in a way that was orderly and fair. The priests were to be provided for as those who were set aside for the service of God, and no one was to resent this. There were to be storage areas set aside in the temple where these provisions were to be kept. Later we will see how grievously these regulations were abused.