| Church School Lesson: Here We Go Again! |
Here We Go Again!
May 25, 2025
Background: Nehemiah 8:1-10:39; Print: Nehemiah 10:28-39;
Key Verse: Nehemiah 10:39; Devotional: Jeremiah 31:27-34
Nehemiah 10:28-39 (ESV)
28 “The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers, the temple servants, and all who have separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the Law of God, their wives, their sons, their daughters, all who have knowledge and understanding,
29 join with their brothers, their nobles, and enter into a curse and an oath to walk in God’s Law that was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord and his rules and his statutes.
30 We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
31 And if the peoples of the land bring in goods or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on a holy day. And we will forego the crops of the seventh year and the exaction of every debt.
32 “We also take on ourselves the obligation to give yearly a third part of a shekel for the service of the house of our God:
33 for the showbread, the regular grain offering, the regular burnt offering, the Sabbaths, the new moons, the appointed feasts, the holy things, and the sin offerings to make atonement for Israel, and for all the work of the house of our God.
34 We, the priests, the Levites, and the people, have likewise cast lots for the wood offering, to bring it into the house of our God, according to our fathers’ houses, at times appointed, year by year, to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the Law.
35 We obligate ourselves to bring the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the LORD;
36 also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the Law, and the firstborn of our herds and of our flocks;
37 and to bring the first of our dough, and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine and the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God; and to bring to the Levites the tithes from our ground, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all our towns where we labor.
38 And the priest, the son of Aaron, shall be with the Levites when the Levites receive the tithes. And the Levites shall bring up the tithe of the tithes to the house of our God, to the chambers of the storehouse.
39 For the people of Israel and the sons of Levi shall bring the contribution of grain, wine, and oil to the chambers, where the vessels of the sanctuary are, as well as the priests who minister, and the gatekeepers and the singers. We will not neglect the house of our God.”
Nehemiah Chapter 10 (Commentary)
10:28-29 The rest of the people didn’t sign the pledge, but they still separated themselves from the ungodly people around them and determined in their hearts to obey God’s law. The group included gatekeepers, who could remind people every time they left the city that they had an obligation to come back and rebuild it. They included temple servants, who could tell the Jews every Sabbath day to honor God and his agenda for the sake of their wives and children.
10:30-31 God had told them everything they needed to know to build a solid and secure community, and now they promised to obey his commands. They would not intermarry with the surrounding peoples (10:30). They remembered that Solomon had brought wicked, idolatrous ideas into his life and into the nation by marrying women who did not worship the Lord. They, by contrast, would honor God by obeying his commands about the Sabbath day, fallow fields, and the year of jubilee (10:31).
10:32-34 The people realized that God had richly blessed them with all the resources they needed, and they could use a portion of it to improve God’s house (10:32). Likewise, God has provided his people with all the money and talents needed to rebuild our churches and our communities. We have the gospel of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. He will bless our submission to his program, but we must step out in obedience and give to access those blessings.
10:35-39 The Jews had a firstfruits mentality. They didn’t think of themselves first and leave God until second—or last! They made it a priority to bring their offerings to the Lord’s house (10:35) and not neglect it (10:39). They brought their riches: fruit, livestock, bread, grain, wine, and oil. Then, the storerooms of the treasury were equipped to fulfill God’s kingdom agenda (10:38). This is the mindset our churches need, too. God supplies the resources. Will we commit them to his work?