13:15-22 RESTORATION OF SABBATH OBSERVANCE
Nehemiah finds that in his absence (‘in those days’) some in Judah have not been observing the Sabbath, but engaging in trade and commerce on the holy day. The offenders listed were involved in the main industry – agriculture – and included wine makers, farmers, fruit growers and haulage operatives. The word translated ‘sheaves’ means ‘heaps’ and need not be restricted to grain. As well as violating the command not to work, the loading and transportation of goods by donkey into Jerusalem also transgressed the concept of no (or very limited) travel on the Sabbath (Ex 16:29; Acts 1:12). Sabbath observance is prescribed in the one of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:8-11; 31:12-17) and was viewed by Isaiah (56:1-8) as something that results in blessing. The prophets Jeremiah (17:19-27), Ezekiel (20:12-24) and Amos (8:4-5) identified profanation of the Sabbath as a cause of the woes that befell the Israelites; because they had became just like the heathens around them.
Nehemiah also observes that merchants from Tyre who had set up a trading colony in Jerusalem were selling fish and all kinds of wares to the local people on the Sabbath.
THE PHOENICIAN PORT OF TYRE
Tyre was an important port for the Phoenicians, a nation famous in ancient times for seafaring and commerce. Just as the Arabs with their camel trains dominated the transportation of goods over land so the Phoenician merchant navy dominated the shipping routes; conveying goods to and from the three continents (Africa, Asia and Europe) bordering the Mediterranean. They carried not only seawater fish from the Mediterranean and freshwater fish from the Nile but also an abundance of other foodstuffs, exported in cylindrical clay jars. These included: fish paste, pine nuts, olives, olive oil, wine, honey and grain. They shipped luxury goods like furniture, metal tableware (e.g. decorated bowls, candelabra), purple dye, and carved ivories, and were also experts in the delivery of bulk timber by sea (1 Kgs 5:9; 1 Chron 22:4; 2 Chron 2:3-16; Ezra 3:7). The prowess of the Phoenicians (Tyre and Sidon) as merchants and human traffickers is acknowledged by the Old Testament Hebrew prophets (Isa 23:1-8, 17-18; Ezekiel 27:1-36; 28:1-5; Joel 3:4-7; Amos 1:9). Ezekiel chapter 27 is of special historical interest because it not only gives a list of commodities traded by the Tyrians but also details the many and widespread locations where they did business.
NEHEMIAH PROMOTES SABBATH OBSERVANCE
Nehemiah confronts the Judaean nobles and accuses them of profaning the Sabbath (for this expression see: Neh 13:17, 18; Ezek 20:16, 21, 24, ; 22:8; 23:38) and adding to God’s wrath against them. He warns them about God’s punishment (13:18). He then institutes practical measures to enforce Sabbath observance and ensure the sanctity of the day.
- Nehemiah closes the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath and initially has his servants guard them so that no burden could be carried into the city.
- Some of the merchants camp outside the city gates so that the locals can go out and buy from them. Nehemiah tells them to leave or face forcible removal. They leave.
- Nehemiah then hands over responsibility for guarding to gates to the Levites, after they purify themselves for the Sabbath.
13:22 Nehemiah again asks God to take note of his actions and ‘spare’ (have compassion on) him.
13:23-29 PROBLEM OF EXOGAMOUS MARRIAGES
Upon his return from Persia Nehemiah discovers that in his absence an old issue has resurfaced. Some Israelite men have married foreign women, contrary to God’s law (Deut 23:3-6)and the covenant that had been signed in chapter ten. One of the points of that covenant was the cessation of exogamous marriage (10:30). Nehemiah cites two specific examples of the problem.
1) Half the children spoke (Aramaic?) in a foreign dialect and could not speak ‘the language of the Jews’ i.e. Hebrew. Nehemiah could easily distinguish between the speech of children of Ashdodite mothers and that of children from all Jewish households. He was concerned about ungodly foreign cultural influence and was also very much aware that Jewish national identity was bound up with the worship of God. Since Hebrew was the language of the Jewish religion children who did not speak it could not be taught or understand the scriptures. Men who had married foreign wives were not only neglecting the Hebrew language, they were jeopardizing the purity of the Jewish religion.
Nehemiah therefore takes the offenders to court and challenges their actions. He calls down the curses of the broken covenant upon them, subjects them to a public shaming ritual (see Isa 50:6) and makes them take an oath once again not to marry their children off to foreigners. The reason (vv. 26-27) given for this is the sin of Solomon. In spite of the fact that God loved him (2 Sam 12:24-25) and made him king over all Israel (1 Kgs 4:1) Solomon entered into diplomatic marriages with foreign wives (1 Kgs 11:1-10; 2 Chron 8:11) who led him away from the true worship of Yahweh.
2) Jehoiada, son or grandson of the High Priest Eliashib, had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite, who was an enemy of Nehemiah (2:19; 4:1-2, 7; 6:1-9, 14) and a pagan. In the regulations recorded in Lev 21:10-15 the high priest was required to ‘take a virgin of his own people to wife’. In practical terms this prohibition against marrying a foreign wife probably extended to the sons and grandsons of a high priest since they could possibly become high priest in the future. Nehemiah expelled Jehoiada from Judea.
Nehemiah’s prayer at the end of this section (v29) is not about himself but he instead directs his prayer against the high priestly family who, because of intermarriage, had set a bad example to the people, defiled the priesthood and broken the covenant of 10:29-30.
13:30-31 SUMMARY OF NEHEMIAH’S CULTIC REFORMS
Nehemiah ends his memoir by summarizing his main achievements. He lists these as action taken against foreign marriages (10:30; 13:23ff), reorganisation of the temple duties of the priests and Levites (10:37-39; 12:44-47; 13:12-13), the institution of a wood offering (10:34) and the revival/rescheduling of the firstfruits offering (10:35-37).
SUMMATION
Nehemiah chapter thirteen emphasizes the need for continual vigilance in upholding God’s standards and reminds us that spiritual renewal is an ongoing process. The chapter underscores the importance of maintaining purity, honouring the Lord’s demands, and the people of God keeping separate from unholy influences. In spite of Nehemiah’s accomplishments chapter thirteen ends on a somewhat negative note. Sadly, the Israelites do not seem to have shared Nehemiah’s enthusiasm for the things of God. They yielded to secular and religious pressure from outside their community and, despite pledging ‘to walk in God’s law’ (10:29), they abandoned their commitments concerning intermarriage (10:30), Sabbath observance (10:31), and support of the Temple service (10:37-39) soon after Nehemiah left for Persia.
Chapter thirteen records Nehemiah’s final efforts to restore Jerusalem’s spiritual and moral fabric, and provides us with valuable examples of active leadership, faithfulness, and a timely warning about the possibility of departure from the will of God.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BOOKS
Carson, D.A. (2018). NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible : Follow God’s Redemptive Plan as it Unfolds Throughout Scripture [Previously published as NIV Zondervan Study Bible]. Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan.
Grabbe, L.L. (2012). An introduction to Second Temple Judaism : History and Religion of the Jews in the time of Nehemiah, the Maccabees, Hillel and Jesus. London Bloomsbury.
Knut Larson, Anders, M. and Dahlen, K. (2005). Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. Nashville, Tenn. Broadman & Holman C.
López-Ruiz C. and Doak, B.R. (2019). The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Ruckman, P.S. (2004). The Books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. (The Bible Believer’s Commentary Series).
JOURNAL ARTICLES
Berlin, A.M. (1997). From Monarchy to Markets: The Phoenicians in Hellenistic Palestine. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 306, pp.75–88. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/1357550.
Master, D.M. (2014). Economy and Exchange in the Iron Age Kingdoms of the Southern Levant. Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 372, pp.81–97. doi:https://doi.org/10.5615/bullamerschoorie.372.0081.
Noonan, B.J. (2011). Did Nehemiah Own Tyrian Goods? Trade between Judea and Phoenicia during the Achaemenid Period. Journal of Biblical Literature, 130(2), pp.281–298. doi:https://doi.org/10.2307/41304201.
Written Exposition 
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