Neh 13:19 | KingComments | STEP | If the house of God is neglected, the sabbath is secularized. Instead of being consecrated to the LORD, it is used for satisfying one’s own pleasures, and thus degraded to an ordinary day. The people have forgotten what they promised in Nehemiah 10 ( ). While Nehemiah is in the process of making everything right again for the service in the house of God, he sees the sabbath being profaned. He warns the traders. Then he approaches the nobles and talks to them about these evil practices. There is nothing against trade, as long as it is not on the sabbath. He points out that it is for this very reason that God has brought disaster upon the people ( ). Then he takes measures to stop this evil work by having his servants posted at the gates. When he sees that there are traders who spend the sabbath just outside Jerusalem to enter as soon as the gates open, he takes action against them as well. He knows what an impact it has if the evil that has been removed remains near. The traders might indeed not be able to bring the Jews to violate the sabbath commandment, but the Jews would be reminded of it all the time. Their minds would be filled with the things they could do tomorrow, with the profits they would gain. God would be driven out of their minds. To deal with this evil, he has Levites guarding the gates in addition to his servants. Before the Levites guard the gates, they must first cleanse themselves. In order to guard the gates, there must be nothing with them that would prevent them from doing their duty properly. Similarly, we, too, can only keep imminent evil at a distance if we have removed from our lives what may be a connecting factor to the evil we must stop. The sabbath commandment is a commandment, that like no other commandment, asks every Israelite for simple obedience. The reasonableness of any other commandment can be seen after contemplation because it governs the relationship between God and people and between people. The sabbath commandment is given because God wants the sabbath to be held. Surely in doing so He has the welfare of man in mind. But fallen man considers especially the sabbath commandment to be something difficult. The sabbath is the clearest test of obedience to man under the law. The Christian does not live “under law, but under grace” ( ). Therefore, he is not under the sabbath commandment. He stands in the freedom of Christ in heaven. Every Christian who truly understands this will not be living a loose life. His life is subject to Christ. The norm of his life is not the law, but Christ. He is interested in everything Christ is interested in. Christ’s interest is particularly in the house of God, the church. For the church it is not the sabbath, but Sunday is the special day of the week. This does not mean that what applies to the sabbath in Israel applies to Sunday in Christendom. It is a day that in a special way belongs to the Lord. A remarkable connection in the use of words in two biblical texts clearly indicates this. We read of “the Lord’s Supper” ( ) and of “the Lord’s day” ( ). I quote the footnote that the Dutch TELOS translation puts in Revelation 1:10: “In the Gr. there is an adjective derived from ‘Lord’ (i.e. different from e.g. in ), in the sense of belonging to the Lord. The word is further only found in .” These two Scriptures show how much the Supper belonging to the Lord, celebrated by the church, is connected with the day belonging to the Lord. It is clear that the day of the Lord is no other than the first day of the week, Sunday. There are several indications in Scripture that the first day of the week is the day of the meeting of the church ( ; ; ; ). And if it is a day that belongs especially to the Lord, there is every reason to spend that day as such. In this spending, the Lord gives us complete freedom – except that He says to us to “not forsaking our own assembling together” ( ). Any thought of acting under the pressure of some law is foreign to the freedom in which the Christian stands. If, however, the interest in God’s house diminishes, the day of the Lord also becomes more and more a day in which one’s own pleasures are satisfied. We may still visit the church, but for the rest we hang out in front of the TV, surf the Internet endlessly, go out and do all kinds of things, but without dedicating ourselves to the service of our Lord. Hanging out in front of the TV is not an activity (well, activity …) that is a Christian’s honor. A Christian is expected to live consciously for the Lord every day of his life. But if Scripture itself marks a day especially as ‘His’ day, it is surely a call to dedicate ourselves to His house on that day. On that day we can, for example, concentrate a little more on fellowship with our fellow believers. It is good to have a day on which we, as far as possible, distance ourselves from things that we, by order of the Lord, have to concern ourselves with on the other days of the week. It is just like the Lord’s Supper. We will, if it is good, be occupied with His death every day. After all, we owe everything to Him. But how good it is to have a special opportunity to think about His death, to remember it, when we come together for that purpose as a church. After Nehemiah has again given the sabbath its rightful place among the people, consecrated this day anew to God, he again speaks out for God ( ). He does this every time he has done a work. He asks if God will remember him with regard to what he has done for the maintenance of the sabbath. Last time he asked this concerning what he has done for God’s house. He places each work separately before God. He asks if God will have compassion on him. After his resolute performance there may have been a feeling of exhaustion. It takes a lot of effort to show God’s people the right way and to correct what is wrong. As long as the effort has to be made, there is strength. But when the work is done, you can feel very tired. We may say that to the Lord. We also feel that our actions, no matter how powerful they may be, are still exercised in great weakness. Then, like Nehemiah, we may call upon God’s great lovingkindness. He knows who we are, He knows us through and through, for He has made us. To remember that gives courage to go on. That’s what Nehemiah does.

‏ Nehemiah 13:19

The Sanctification of the Sabbath Restored

If the house of God is neglected, the sabbath is secularized. Instead of being consecrated to the LORD, it is used for satisfying one’s own pleasures, and thus degraded to an ordinary day. The people have forgotten what they promised in Nehemiah 10 (Neh 10:31).

While Nehemiah is in the process of making everything right again for the service in the house of God, he sees the sabbath being profaned. He warns the traders. Then he approaches the nobles and talks to them about these evil practices. There is nothing against trade, as long as it is not on the sabbath. He points out that it is for this very reason that God has brought disaster upon the people (Jer 17:21-27). Then he takes measures to stop this evil work by having his servants posted at the gates.

When he sees that there are traders who spend the sabbath just outside Jerusalem to enter as soon as the gates open, he takes action against them as well. He knows what an impact it has if the evil that has been removed remains near. The traders might indeed not be able to bring the Jews to violate the sabbath commandment, but the Jews would be reminded of it all the time. Their minds would be filled with the things they could do tomorrow, with the profits they would gain. God would be driven out of their minds. To deal with this evil, he has Levites guarding the gates in addition to his servants.

Before the Levites guard the gates, they must first cleanse themselves. In order to guard the gates, there must be nothing with them that would prevent them from doing their duty properly. Similarly, we, too, can only keep imminent evil at a distance if we have removed from our lives what may be a connecting factor to the evil we must stop.

The sabbath commandment is a commandment, that like no other commandment, asks every Israelite for simple obedience. The reasonableness of any other commandment can be seen after contemplation because it governs the relationship between God and people and between people. The sabbath commandment is given because God wants the sabbath to be held. Surely in doing so He has the welfare of man in mind. But fallen man considers especially the sabbath commandment to be something difficult. The sabbath is the clearest test of obedience to man under the law.

The Christian does not live “under law, but under grace” (Rom 6:14b). Therefore, he is not under the sabbath commandment. He stands in the freedom of Christ in heaven. Every Christian who truly understands this will not be living a loose life. His life is subject to Christ. The norm of his life is not the law, but Christ. He is interested in everything Christ is interested in. Christ’s interest is particularly in the house of God, the church.

For the church it is not the sabbath, but Sunday is the special day of the week. This does not mean that what applies to the sabbath in Israel applies to Sunday in Christendom. It is a day that in a special way belongs to the Lord. A remarkable connection in the use of words in two biblical texts clearly indicates this. We read of “the Lord’s Supper” (1Cor 11:20) and of “the Lord’s day” (Rev 1:10). I quote the footnote that the Dutch TELOS translation puts in Revelation 1:10: “In the Gr. there is an adjective derived from ‘Lord’ (i.e. different from e.g. in 1Thes 5:2), in the sense of belonging to the Lord. The word is further only found in 1Cor 11:20.”

These two Scriptures show how much the Supper belonging to the Lord, celebrated by the church, is connected with the day belonging to the Lord. It is clear that the day of the Lord is no other than the first day of the week, Sunday. There are several indications in Scripture that the first day of the week is the day of the meeting of the church (Mk 16:2 ; 9; Lk 24:13 ; 33-49; Jn 20:19-29; Acts 2:1 ; Acts 20:7). And if it is a day that belongs especially to the Lord, there is every reason to spend that day as such.

In this spending, the Lord gives us complete freedom – except that He says to us to “not forsaking our own assembling together” (Heb 10:25). Any thought of acting under the pressure of some law is foreign to the freedom in which the Christian stands. If, however, the interest in God’s house diminishes, the day of the Lord also becomes more and more a day in which one’s own pleasures are satisfied. We may still visit the church, but for the rest we hang out in front of the TV, surf the Internet endlessly, go out and do all kinds of things, but without dedicating ourselves to the service of our Lord.

Hanging out in front of the TV is not an activity (well, activity …) that is a Christian’s honor. A Christian is expected to live consciously for the Lord every day of his life. But if Scripture itself marks a day especially as ‘His’ day, it is surely a call to dedicate ourselves to His house on that day. On that day we can, for example, concentrate a little more on fellowship with our fellow believers.

It is good to have a day on which we, as far as possible, distance ourselves from things that we, by order of the Lord, have to concern ourselves with on the other days of the week. It is just like the Lord’s Supper. We will, if it is good, be occupied with His death every day. After all, we owe everything to Him. But how good it is to have a special opportunity to think about His death, to remember it, when we come together for that purpose as a church.

After Nehemiah has again given the sabbath its rightful place among the people, consecrated this day anew to God, he again speaks out for God (Neh 13:22b). He does this every time he has done a work. He asks if God will remember him with regard to what he has done for the maintenance of the sabbath. Last time he asked this concerning what he has done for God’s house. He places each work separately before God.

He asks if God will have compassion on him. After his resolute performance there may have been a feeling of exhaustion. It takes a lot of effort to show God’s people the right way and to correct what is wrong. As long as the effort has to be made, there is strength. But when the work is done, you can feel very tired. We may say that to the Lord.

We also feel that our actions, no matter how powerful they may be, are still exercised in great weakness. Then, like Nehemiah, we may call upon God’s great lovingkindness. He knows who we are, He knows us through and through, for He has made us. To remember that gives courage to go on. That’s what Nehemiah does.