Nehemiah 13

Neh 13
While reading aloud the book of the Law, Israel came across a passage in Deuteronomy, 23:3. They heard in the reading that no Ammonite was to be among their assembly. This is a good example where someone heard God's word and then 'did' God's word (But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves - James 1:22). So Israel sent away the foriegners among the assembly.

Eliashib the priest made a room for his relative, Tobiah, in the temple. Nehemiah was absent from Jerusalem at this time, and it seems that there was no one to stop Eliashib from doing this. Nehemiah returned and threw Tobiah out.

Also, when Nehemiah returned, he found that the Levites and singers had not been given the tithes required of Israel and left for their fields to make a living. Nehemiah restored them to their places in the temple and then calls on the Lord to remember his deeds and good works. At this point, Israel does not have a savior for sin and must count on their good deeds to get them to heaven. Thank the Lord that Christ died for our sins so that we could be reconciled to God without being required to perform good works (Colossians 1:22 & Ephesians 2:9).

Nehemiah goes on to call out all kinds of sin on the Israelites, like working on the sabbath and marriage to foreign women. Nehemiah could have said the same as the psalmists in Psalm 119:60-61 for himself that he did not delay of forget the law of the Lord.