Nehemiah 13:9

13:1-9 Israel was a peculiar people, and not to mingle with the nations. See the benefit of publicly reading the word of God; when it is duly attended to, it discovers to us sin and duty, good and evil, and shows wherein we have erred. We profit, when we are thus wrought upon to separate from evil. Those that would drive sin out of their hearts, the living temples, must throw out its household stuff, and all the provision made for it; and take away all the things that are the food and fuel of lust; this is really to mortify it. When sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, let the blood of Christ be applied to it by faith, then let it be furnished with the graces of God's Spirit, for every good work.

Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers,.... By which it appears there were more than one, or that several were thrown into one; which was done not only by washing them, but as this was a ceremonial uncleanness, contracted by the habitation of an Heathen in them, their purification might be by the water of separation, Numbers 19:9 and thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God, with the meat offering and the frankincense; replaced them where they were before.

Nehemiah 13:9 . Then I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers — Which had been thus profaned, and restored them to their former sanctity, by the water of purification, and such other means and rites as were then usual in such cases. And thither brought I again the vessels of the house of God — Which had been cast out to make room for Tobiah. Thus when sin is cast out of the heart by repentance, and faith in the blood of Christ, let it be furnished with the graces of God’s Spirit, and such holy gifts and blessings as will thoroughly fit it for every good work.

Verse 9. - I commanded, and they cleansed the chambers . Regarding the sacred place as polluted by its conversion to secular uses, Nehemiah had it purified, and so reconsecrated. He then ordered the restoration to their former place of the various stores which had been removed to make room for Tobiah's furniture. Nehemiah 13:9

9 . they cleansed the chambers ] ‘they,’ impersonal. ‘The chambers,’ more than one had been desecrated for the purpose of supplying Tobiah with ‘a great chamber.’ the vessels … meat (R.V. meal- ) offering … frankincense ] Perhaps the typical items only are mentioned. But a comparison with the list, Nehemiah 13:5 , suggests the possibility that the withholding of the tithe from the Levites, which called for the fresh regulations in Nehemiah 13:10-14 , will account for the omission of the Levitical and priestly portions in this list.

6-9. But in all this was not I at Jerusalem—Eliashib (concluding that, as Nehemiah had departed from Jerusalem, and, on the expiry of his allotted term of absence, had resigned his government, he had gone not to return) began to use great liberties, and, there being none left whose authority or frown he dreaded, allowed himself to do things most unworthy of his sacred office, and which, though in unison with his own irreligious character, he would not have dared to attempt during the residence of the pious governor. Nehemiah resided twelve years as governor of Jerusalem, and having succeeded in repairing and refortifying the city, he at the end of that period returned to his duties in Shushan. How long [Nehemiah] remained there is not expressly said, but "after certain days," which is a Scripture phraseology for a year or a number of years, he obtained leave to resume the government of Jerusalem; to his deep mortification and regret, he found matters in the neglected and disorderly state here described. Such gross irregularities as were practised, such extraordinary corruptions as had crept in, evidently imply the lapse of a considerable time.

Besides, they exhibit the character of Eliashib, the high priest, in a most unfavorable light; for while he ought, by his office, to have preserved the inviolable sanctity of the temple and its furniture, his influence had been directly exercised for evil; especially he had given permission and countenance to a most indecent outrage—the appropriation of the best apartments in the sacred building to a heathen governor, one of the worst and most determined enemies of the people and the worship of God. The very first reform Nehemiah on his second visit resolved upon, was the stopping of this gross profanation [by Eliashib]. The chamber which had been polluted by the residence of the idolatrous Ammonite was, after undergoing the process of ritual purification (Nu 15:9), restored to its proper use—a storehouse for the sacred vessels.

This so greatly displeased him, that he cast out all the household stuff of Tobiah, and commanded the chamber to be purified, and the vessels of the house of God, the meat-offering and the frankincense, and probably the tenths and heave-offerings also, the enumeration being here only abbreviated, to be again brought into it. From the words household stuff, it appears that Tobiah used the chamber as a dwelling when he came from time to time to Jerusalem.