Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20110313.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Nehemiah: Excelling In Leadership In Hard Times
Part XIII: Countering Divisive Split Loyalties By Following God's Unifying Signals
(Nehemiah 7:5-73 with 6:17-19)
  1. Introduction
    1. When the people of God have split loyalties, these can easily foster division in the people themselves, all the more so if the leader tries to pressure the people to give up their wrong loyalties against their will!
    2. Thus, this problem needs to be addressed with the wisdom and tact of the Lord.
    3. In grace, God the Holy Spirit in the present era works to create unity in the local church body opposite this problem (Ephesians 4:3), so it is our responsibility to recognize His practical guidance and to align with it.
    4. A practical way this happens is supplied in Nehemiah 7:5-73 with 6:17-19, so we view it for our insight:
  2. Countering Divisive Split Loyalties By Following God's Unifying Signals, Neh. 7:5-73 with 6:17-19.
    1. Nehemiah faced a significant problem of split loyalties in the people of Israel he led, Nehemiah 6:17-19:
      1. Tobiah who had scorned the wall effort (Neh. 2:10, 19), ridiculed it (Neh. 4:3), conspired to attack the builders (Neh. 4:7-8), tried to lure Nehemiah away from the wall to kill him or to attack his coworkers (Neh. 6:1-4) and who had tried to get Nehemiah to enter the temple to discredit himself (Neh. 6:10-14), had extensively communicated with Judah's nobles all during the wall building effort, Nehemiah 6:17.
      2. This correspondence rose from the family ties Tobiah had in Israel, Neh. 6:18: (a) many Hebrews were loyal to Tobiah as he was the son-in-law to Shecaniah the son of Arah, who is named in Ezra 2:5 of the Hebrew genealogy (Neh. 6:18b) and (b) as Tobiah's daughter-in-law was the daughter of Meshullam, son of Berekiah, who worked on two different parts of the wall, Neh. 6:18c with 3:4, 30; Ibid., p. 687.
      3. These ties had led many of Tobiah's Hebrew supporters to ignore his efforts to hurt the wall building effort. They even reported to Nehemiah of Tobiah's "good deeds" while getting back to Tobiah on Nehemiah's reactions to these reports, and Tobiah had then responded with letters sent to Nehemiah to intimidate him based on this "inside" knowledge he had of Nehemiah's reactions, Neh emiah 6:19!
      4. Nehemiah had thus been unable to oppose Tobiah directly or strongly lest it divide the people of Israel!
    2. Thus, GOD gave Nehemiah the idea of registering the people according to their genealogy, Nehemiah 7:5.
    3. This was a wonderful idea for countering the split loyalty problem involving Tobiah as follows:
      1. First, the genealogical listing appealed to every Hebrew as he deeply respected his Hebrew lineage.
      2. Second, this was an intensely Biblical move to make, and thus all the more acceptable to Israel: God wanted Israel's genealogy kept current for the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant, Genesis 15:2-5.
      3. Third, since only those with pure Hebrew ancestry would be included in Israel, this registration of the people in their genealogy at least limited if not excluded Tobiah from involvement in the nation Israel!
      4. Fourth, this move would thus save Nehemiah from having to confront Tobiah publicly lest it create a strong division in Israel where those with divided loyalties would side with either him or Tobiah.
    4. However, Nehemiah had to apply the genealogical registration consistently to insure the unity, and Nehemiah 7:63-65 tells of a difficult but needed exclusionary decision he had to make in that application:
      1. Some of the descendants of the priestly line had come from a man named Barzillai who had married a daughter of Barzillai the Gileadite and adopted her father's name, Barzillai, as his own, Neh. 7:63 NIV.
      2. Now, Barzillai the Gileadite had been the aged, wealthy hero of the faith who had helped feed David's men when David fled from Absalom, 2 Sam. 17:27-29; Zond. Pict. Ency. of the Bible, v. One, p. 484.
      3. To be a descendant of this particular man would have given a Hebrew great honor, but since these priests from Barzillai's lineage could not prove their priestly lineage, Nehemiah as governor (cf. Neh. 8:9a with Neh. 7:65) excluded them from the priesthood until a priest could arise to minister with the Urim and Thummim and determine God's judgment on whether they were really priests, Neh. 7:64-65!
      4. As difficult as it was for Nehemiah to exclude these honored men from the priesthood, it was necessary to preserve Israel's genealogical integrity, and provide a Biblical basis for true unity and single loyalty!
Lesson: God provided a Biblical idea for Nehemiah to use to foster the unity of Israel versus the threat of division caused by divided loyalties, but he had to apply it consistently and impartially to be effective.

Application: May we consistently and impartially heed God's leading to sustain the unity of His people.