The Desperate Need for Strong Leadership

In the final chapter of Nehemiah, we see that getting the walls built and the people located in the city was just the beginning. The fight for the community commences almost immediately thereafter. 

The old saying goes, "When the cat's away, the mice will play." That's what happens to Nehemiah in the thirteenth chapter. He travels back to Persia for a time and comes back to the unconscionable news that his arch-enemy Tobiah has been given an important place in the temple precinct!

Nehemiah 13:4–5 (ESV) Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the chambers of the house of our God, and who was related to Tobiah, 5 prepared for Tobiah a large chamber where they had previously put the grain offering, the frankincense, the vessels, and the tithes of grain, wine, and oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, and the contributions for the priests.

Nepotism with the enemy is what causes Eliashib to do this terrible thing. He puts the guy who mocked the project is sitting in the center of its completion right where the offerings were supposed to go! This is what Satan wants in the church, by the way. He wants to steal from God's house by setting himself up in the place of worship and adoration even within the body!

Nehemiah returns and quickly takes care of business:

Nehemiah 13:7–9 (ESV) (I) and came to Jerusalem, and I then discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, preparing for him a chamber in the courts of the house of God. 8 And I was very angry, and I threw all the household furniture of Tobiah out of the chamber. 9 Then I gave orders, and they cleansed the chambers, and I brought back there the vessels of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense.

There's a hard truth to leadership that Nehemiah exposes for us here. Leaders will have to deal with the poisonous relationships of those they lead. In this case, Eliashib's relationship with Tobiah would bring great stress to Nehemiah's reforms. Sadly, too many times people let their personal relationships poison the work of the Lord. 

Secondly, Nehemiah models something we rarely in today's church leaders. He's willing to confront those who put themselves in an idolatrous position before the people. Those that make themselves the center of attention in God's house deserve to be renounced quickly and speedily. Nehemiah does this.

Nehemiah also finds out the Levites and the Temple are severely underfunded. So much so, the Levites resort to farming (which the Law forbade for them) to earn a living.

Nehemiah 13:10 (ESV) I also found out that the portions of the Levites had not been given to them, so that the Levites and the singers, who did the work, had fled each to his field.

Nehemiah acts quickly in this matter as well, appointing leadership positions over the offerings.

Nehemiah 13:11–13 (ESV) So I confronted the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations. 12 Then all Judah brought the tithe of the grain, wine, and oil into the storehouses. 13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouses Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the scribe, and Pedaiah of the Levites, and as their assistant Hanan the son of Zaccur, son of Mattaniah, for they were considered reliable, and their duty was to distribute to their brothers.

On and on in this last chapter of Nehemiah, we see the continued drift toward law-breaking among those who returned to the land. Nehemiah confronts the issues with stern and sometimes severe treatment, cleansing the land of anything foreign. Even in one case, physically assaulting those who took foreign wives for themselves: 

Nehemiah 13:23–25 (ESV) In those days also I saw the Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. 24 And half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and they could not speak the language of Judah, but only the language of each people. 25 And I confronted them and cursed them and beat some of them and pulled out their hair. And I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons, or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.

What you see in this final chapter of Nehemiah is that getting the work established is just the beginning. There will be attacks from within and without, from friends and from enemies. Trusted leaders will act in false ways and enemies will seek to infect the community. This is what Jesus meant when He spoke of the church as a fold of sheep in need of a shepherd. Nehemiah moves from building to defender, with the courage to confront. Sadly, too many "Pastors" only want to be celebrated or liked. The Church needs men who will stand up for the sheep and stand up to the false believers and the wolves. 

May God give us them soon.