Distinct Faith: Praying for a Godly Life (Neh 13:25, 28-31)

And I contended with 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.

And one of the sons of Jehoiada, son of the high priest Eliashib, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite; I chased him away from me. Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood, the covenant of the priests and the Levites.

Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; and I provided for the wood offering, at appointed times, and for the first fruits. Remember me, O my God, for good.

It is clear from Scripture that believers are to be distinct from the world in many ways. In today’s world, how can a Christian practice mercy while standing firm against a secular society? What role can prayer play?

Background

This passage and its three prayers continue the story of Nehemiah’s return to Jerusalem and his discovery that some reforms were still needed. The harshness with which Nehemiah draws lines between ethnicities is troubling to many in the modern world. Placing it in its proper context helps to understand it better.

Remember that the Jews had been taken into Exile mainly because they forgot who they were. They had ceased practicing and acting like God’s people and were heavily influenced by other religions—gods and goddesses who did not deliver them from Egypt, protect them in the desert, or help them grow into a nation. Part of Nehemiah’s task was to restore the distinctiveness and focus of the Jewish people.

In the last passage, he dealt with some reforms of the Temple and its services. Here, it has to do with marriages to foreigners (both the common people and even a priest) that were causing the people to lose their identity. Some of their children could not even read or speak their own language, but the language of foreign pagans.

This seems to have been a small group of people, but Nehemiah is outraged because this goes to the heart of what caused the Exile in the first place—Jews acting, thinking, and living no different from the other nations.

In the first instance, Nehemiah requires them to take an oath (a prayer vow) that they will not allow their daughters and sons to intermarry. They were apparently not capable of bringing foreigners into their faith, but were susceptible to outside influences.

The second and third prayer have to do with the marriage of a priest to a foreigner. Unlike the other group, where it was merely a bad idea, priests were forbidden to marry anyone outside the community. This seems to have been a particular problem with one couple, as no one else is punished. This was the grandson of the high priest. Nehemiah sent him away, and the narrative ends with one of Nehemiah’s “Remember” prayers, though this one, like the one in 6.14, is a negative prayer: “Remember them, O my God, because they have defiled the priesthood.”

The last prayer is part of the summary of the entire book, and fitting ends with the previous “Remember” prayer. Nehemiah summarizes his worth of reforming and establishing the community and the Temple, and asks God to remember all the good he did.

Meaning

As noted above, the theme of this passage is that believers should maintain a distinct identity from others in the world. People should be able to tell that Jews (and Christians) are different in the way they live, treat others, and practice their faith. External pressures had become too strong for them, and they began to look and act like everyone else.