Cleaning House

As we read the closing verses of Nehemiah, let’s take just a moment to realize these are the last words of the Old Testament to be written before Jesus comes back. When the author puts down his pen, God won’t utter one word for almost 400 years until His Son arrives in a feed trough in Bethlehem. Many scholars believe God hangs up the phone of the OT at the end of Nehemiah. With that in mind, what do we do with these final verses (Neh 13:30-31)? Are these simply the closing sentences from Nehemiah’s personal journal? Or do they give us a sneak preview of something (or should we say Someone) to come? 

A lot has happened in Nehemiah’s life over the past couple of decades. It all started that day he was working as the royal wine steward to King Artaxerxes of Persia. His brother Hanani was fresh back from Jerusalem and told him about the crisis in the Promised Land. The once glorious city on a hill is in crisis. The people are in shame. The walls are piles of rubble. God uses the breaking news about the broken walls breaks Nehemiah’s heart. The LORD tweaks the heart of the pagan dictator to not only allow his cupbearer to return as governor of Judah but to bankroll the entire revitalization project. Despite a series of setbacks and major opposition, God’s chosen people have refurbished the walls (Neh 6:15), repented of their sin (Neh 10:28-39), repopulated the city (Neh 11:1-36), and rejoiced at what God has done on their behalf (Neh 12:43).

After serving 12 years as governor, Nehemiah heads back to his job at the Persian palace (Neh 13:6). At some point, the cupbearer checks back in on his friends in Jerusalem. He returns to find an absolute hot mess. He immediately gets to work. Nehemiah evicts one of Israel’s enemies from his apartment in the temple (Neh 13:4-9). He restocks the food pantry for those serving at the house of the LORD (Neh 13:10-14). He shuts down the massive market that had stolen the people’s focus and energy on their divinely ordained day off (Neh 13:15-22). He goes all MMA on the Jewish men who’ve not only shacked up with local pagan hotties but fathered children with them as well (Neh 13:23-29). Yeah, that’s probably not exactly the vacation to Jerusalem Nehemiah originally planned. 

As he wraps up his trip, Nehemiah ties a bow on his latest reforms. “Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priest and Levites, each in his work; and I provided for the wood offering at the appoint times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, for good” (v30-31). He goes down the list of all he’s gotten done. Foreign influence purged? Check. Job descriptions and assignments for the priesthood and Levites? Check. Firewood for the burnt offerings? Check. Delivery of the first and best? Check. 

While each of these is certainly a big deal in the context of Nehemiah’s journal, there’s something much bigger going on. Let’s back up and take a look at this text from 50,000 feet. Let’s see how this fits into what some people call the Meta-Narrative, or the Big Story of the Bible. Nehemiah’s last words actually point us to One who was to come. Way back at that extremely bad day in Eden, God promised to send Someone who would come to the rescue (Gen 3:15). That’s the first of endless promises of the Hero who will save the world. For centuries, God’s chosen people understood that He would send Messiah through them to bless every person on the planet. We have the blessing of biblical perspective to know just who He is. Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus Son of God. Jesus Christ. God loves us so much that He personally gets involved in our rescue (Jn 3:16).

So just how does this Big Story fit into Nehemiah’s final words? While Nehemiah makes sure to purify the priesthood of the mess of their own making, Jesus returns as the ultimate High Priest (Heb 4:14-16). Instead of simply mopping up the temple and spraying Fabreze around the joint, Christ cleans up the priesthood by becoming the priesthood. While Nehemiah hands out priestly assignments, Jesus transforms His followers into a “royal priesthood” (1Pet 2:9). The governor makes sure there’s enough firewood for the sacrifice, but our Savior carries the wood of a Roman cross for the ultimate sacrifice. And the king’s cupbearer restores the giving of the firstfruits, Jesus offers God’s first and best on our behalf. He’s the one and only Son of our Heavenly Father (Jn 3:16). He’s the sinless Lamb of God who takes away our sin (Jn 1:29).

Jesus does for us permanently what Nehemiah could only do for Jerusalem temporarily. We experience His rescue when we place our complete trust in what He’s done for us that we could never dream of doing for ourselves. He lived the perfect life that we completely failed to live. He died the death for our sin that we should have died. He rose to new life that we don’t deserve. That’s the hint of Who’s to come as Nehemiah closes out his diary. If you think the governor cleaned things up, just you wait and see what the radical Rabbi/Carpenter from Nazareth is going to do!