Nehemiah 13:10 Commentary and Bible Study

If they were not going to be looked after and provided for and fed, they would be inclined to go back to their towns, and work their fields. But they don't seem to have tried to live by faith or find some other way of staying and ministering in the temple. As soon as they weren’t paid what they were supposed to be paid, they were off back to their farmsteads and the Levitical cities, and all functions came to an end. ‘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.’ This is what the Baptist deacons should have been doing down the years. Nehemiah’s lead is followed and results in a good response from Jews. The people of God need a clear and bold lead to follow. Leaders of God’s people need to show that they are zealous for the word of God and diligent to implement precisely all that it teaches. This strong will lead will produce a wonderful response when God makes the people willing. Nehemiah was careful to appoint faithful men. The quality of those who rule the house of God makes an enormous difference to the quality of a local church. One person inspires another person, and one imitates another. They must be those in whom the people see that they can place trust because they are honest and set the interests of the Lord above their own interests – ‘For they were accounted faithful.’