Eternity Daily Bible Study No. 190 - Nehemiah, God's Builder - Part 12 - Fearing God In Daily Life Nehemiah 13:17-22 MKJV (17) And I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do, and defile the Sabbath day? (18) Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by defiling the Sabbath. (19) And it happened when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. And I set some of my servants at the gates, so that there should be no burden brought in on the Sabbath day. (20) And the merchants and sellers of all kinds of goods stayed the night outside Jerusalem once or twice. (21) And I testified against them, and said to them, Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on they did not come on the Sabbath. (22) And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also, and spare me according to the greatness of Your mercy. Now Sabbath-keeping has been abolished in Christ who is our Rest (Hebrews 3 & 4) but it was a very serious part of the Mosaic Law and part of practical Jewish reverence for God. I do not want to go into the theology of the Sabbath just now but rather how Nehemiah fears God and lives in practical consistency with His commandments at that time. (If you are interested in the Sabbath see the chapter of Temples And Tithes on the Sabbath at http://www.aibi.ph/tt/ ) Nehemiah feared God and feared what would happen to the Jews if they disobeyed Him again. Their previous disobedience had cost them seventy years of exile in Babylon and the loss of national sovereignty. What would happen to them if they now did not learn their lesson? So Nehemiah sets things on the right foot by insisting on obedience to God's law. "And I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do, and defile the Sabbath day? (18) Did not your fathers do this, and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by defiling the Sabbath. " It is good and proper to fear the consequences of sinful behavior. The wrath of God can mean that your business or health can be seriously affected by sin. I saw an extreme case of this in the Western Province of Papua New Guinea where 13 Christians renounced Christianity and signed up to join the Bahai faith in order to receive gifts of outboard motors. A few days later all thirteen died suddenly and mysteriously. I was sent to that village a couple of weeks after the incident and taught on what was wrong with the Bahai beliefs - to a very attentive and receptive audience. God's wrath is real, powerful and not to be trivialized. Nehemiah saw long-term trouble coming as a result of short-term economic gain. The Market was pushing into holy space - just as it did when the doves were sold in the Temple in Jesus day. This intrusion of commerce into holy things is a profound and constant force in world globalization and the Market demands less and less regulation and more and more territory to operate in. Few countries now ban Sunday trading and 24/7, global trade without borders, regulation or hindrance is the goal. These short-term economic gains are having spiritual consequences, as life becomes more hurried, less and less sacred spaces are left and accompanying economic injustices abound. In fact the reaction the invasion of the holy by the market is one of the driving forces of Islamic radicalization (see http://www.aibi.ph/tmk/ ). Nehemiah took practical steps to create a holy city. Nehemiah used his power as governor to enforce outward conformity to God's Law. Outward conformity cannot substitute for inner conformity but it's a lot better than no conformity at all! In fact outward conformity rightly practiced can often help train into people the right mindset for holiness. Nehemiah did not just plead with people, or timidly ask them to follow his example. He told them, he commanded them and he ordered them to comply. He contended with the elders and threatened the merchants. Nehemiah knew that money was talking loudly, that the elders were probably making good shekels on the Sabbath and that the law-breaking was tied to their personal enrichment of the elders and the merchants. The cost of Sabbath-keeping would be real and economic and therefore there was little incentive for the merchants and elders to obey. Pleading would have fallen on deaf ears and setting an example would have just been laughed at - after all there was money to be made. Entrenched economic injustice often requires force to remove it. The following is a paragraph from my book the Market, the Kingdom and the Terrorists: "For quite some time, in small ways and great, people have been sensing the evil nature of the global economic system. From bizarre conspiracy theorists to people complaining about the callousness of banks, from anti-globalization protestors to the Slow Food Movement, from labor unions angry at heartless restructuring and downsizing to Christian pastors and bible teachers revolted by the excesses they see around them and who try to get their flocks to worship Jesus not cars and houses. These messengers have at first been quite and reasonable. They brought out their statistics on global wealth distribution or heir bible verses on serving God and Mammon, they reasoned with management, they lobbied for controls, they started consumer movements and took on Big Business. But largely they have not been heard. So now they have resorted to being loud and unreasonable, now they hold anti-globalization rallies, attack McDonalds restaurants, and fly planes into buildings that house power and trade." (see http://www.aibi.ph/tmk/ ) The Nehemiah's of this world will rise up and rebuke the new "Sabbath-breakers" those who invade our holy spaces with commercial intent, who defile, pollute and disturb, who leave us no rest, and make our societies wastelands of materialism and moral emptiness. If we redefine the "Sabbath" as the state of rest necessary for the growth of persons and the preservation of the environment (the land also was to have a Sabbath for one year out of seven Leviticus 25:4) then we see why its there in the Ten Commandments. Its not a holy day or even a holiday, as much as a time of restoration. Christians who are so busy with church activities on Sunday so that they can hardly breathe is "breaking the Sabbath" as much or even more than the pagan who goes to the beach on that day. We need our "Sabbaths" and holy spaces and holy places. We also need undefiled forests and reefs, and we need pure streams and rested pastures that are not over-grazed. Environmentalism is in a sense just "keeping the Sabbath" for the land which has been so enslaved to the 24/7 demands of the industrial world. Two good books on this are Small Is Beautiful" by E. Schumacher and "God In Work" by his son Christian Schumacher. We need to forcefully create patches of quiet and rest and God-centeredness. We need to rebuke the invasion of our holy spaces by Mammon and "work". After all our value is in our souls, not in our material output. We need to start at home with quiet and rest, perhaps a nice garden and a day off a week. Then we need to "make Sabbath" in our workplaces - by creating a sense of calm and rest and professionalism and dignity - rather than enforcing a frenetic, stressed out, inhuman treadmill. Finally we may need to join in legislative solutions at whatever level we have some influence - local, regional, national or global. We may even need to have quieter Sundays in church. God is not a time-and motion expert, rather He is a love expert. God is not demanding more work, but deeper love. So we need a quite life, a good life, a fully human life, if we are to do His will - to love one another as Christ has loved us. (John 13:34,35) Blessings, John Edmiston Were you blessed by Eternity Daily Bible Study? To subscribe just send a blank email to: eternity-dbs-subscribe@strategicnetwork.org Visit the Eternity Daily Bible Study Archives - http://www.aibi.ph/eternity/ Study at the Asian Internet Bible Institute- Free online non-formal, in-service, bible and ministry training: http://www.aibi.ph