Letting the Enemy In

Nehemiah 13:4-5 And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: (5) And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests.

If you know who Tobiah is then you can see why Nehemiah reacted the way he did beginning in verse 7. He called what Eliashib did an evil thing. If we go back to chapter 2 verse 10, we see that Tobiah was one of those who were already in the region when Nehemiah's party returned to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. "...it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." So apparently they did not care for the well being of the Israelites. Nehemiah tells us that Tobiah and the others "laughed us to scorn, and despised us" (2:19) But I love Nehemiah's answer: "The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem." (2:20) Again we see in 4:7-8 that Tobiah was among those who became very angry when they heard that the walls were being rebuilt and "conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it." There are other episodes all throughout the book describing their enemies' efforts to disrupt their work or to attack them. We can probably safely presume that Tobiah was involved in most if not all of them.

So going back to chapter 13, we now understand that Eliashib sinned greatly in what he did. He became the ally of Tobiah; he brought him into the house of God and gave him a space of his own; in order to do so he had to remove the stored grain offerings, frankincense, the temple implements, etc. which were used in temple service. The gravity of this act is evident in what Nehemiah had to do when he found out about it. He threw Tobiah's possessions out and ordered the room to be ceremonially cleansed before it could be used again.

There is a lesson here. We should not ally ourselves with the world. We are told to "come out from among them, and be ye separate...and touch not the unclean thing..." (2 Cor. 6:17) Any time we compromise with the world the gospel suffers. The items which Eliashib removed all signified in some way the atoning work of salvation which Jesus Christ would accomplish on the cross; the cleansing which was ordered by Nehemiah did the same thing. Thus we have our answer to such a problem. Should we find that we have compromised with the world's system in any way, we should repent (because it is sin) and return to the cross because it is the only answer for sin.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

2 Chronicles 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

We should also realize that this is a warning to Christians. We must be careful and take heed not to be deceived. We may be able to see the obvious, overt attacks on the Faith (sometimes we fail even at this); however we often lack the discernment to notice the subtle deceptions introduced through our own leadership. (Sometimes this may be done by those who are purposely trying to deceive and mislead the Body of Christ; however, I believe that most of the time, when a pastor, teacher, etc. goes down a wrong path, it is because of their own ignorance of a particular subject or because they have been deceived despite their having meant well.) It should not shock us to realize this possibility; we are warned many times in Scripture of this very thing.

Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood. (29) For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. (30) Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them. (31) Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Jude 4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron;

2 Corinthians 11:13-15 For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. (14) And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

I think it is time for us, as Christians, to get serious about serving the Lord, to humble ourselves, to repent of our wicked ways, to ask the Lord to help us to thoroughly learn and understand His Word, and to separate ourselves from the ways of the world. Don't allow the enemy to enter in any way because "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump." (Galatians 5:9) Let us rely on the power of God rather than allying ourselves with the world in a common purpose.

James 4:4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.