Nehemiah 13 Bible study: Remember me, my God, for good

The chapter opens with the book of Moses read aloud: "On that day they read in the book of Moses in the hearing of the people; and it was found written in it that an Ammonite and a Moabite should not enter into the assembly of God forever" (13:1). The reason given is Balaam: "they didn’t meet the children of Israel with bread and with water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them; however, our God turned the curse into a blessing" (13:2). The people act on it: "It came to pass, when they had heard the law, that they separated all the mixed multitude from Israel" (13:3). Then the chapter turns back: "Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over the rooms of the house of our God, being allied to Tobiah" (13:4) (tap rooms), "had prepared for him a great room" (13:5), the room where the offerings had been laid, and "the tithes of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites, the singers, and the gatekeepers" (13:5). The book has called him "Tobiah the Ammonite" (4:3). The chapter tells the reading and the room one after the other and doesn't join them. Nehemiah says, "But in all this, I was not at Jerusalem" (13:6). When he came back and "understood the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah" (13:7): "It grieved me severely. Therefore I threw all Tobiah’s household stuff out of the room" (13:8). "Then I commanded, and they cleansed the rooms" (13:9) (tap cleansed), and he brought back "the vessels of God’s house, with the meal offerings and the frankincense" (13:9).

Nehemiah 13:14→leads toMatthew 10:42

Nehemiah prays, "Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don’t wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances" (13:14). Just before it, the chapter tells that he found "the portions of the Levites had not been given them" (13:10), and set treasurers whose business was "to distribute to their brothers" (13:13). Jesus called his twelve disciples to himself (Matthew 10:1), and among his words to them were, "Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water to drink in the name of a disciple, most certainly I tell you, he will in no way lose his reward" (Matthew 10:42). Jesus doesn't cite Nehemiah, and no link between the Hebrew and Greek words is claimed, so setting the two side by side is a reading. It rests on what both speak of: good done for those who serve God, and whether it will be lost ("don’t wipe out", 13:14; "in no way lose", Matthew 10:42). Some hear in Jesus' words the same thing Nehemiah asks of God, that such good is not lost. Others read Jesus' words in their own setting, spoken to the twelve (Matthew 10:1), and Nehemiah's prayer in its own, and draw no line between them.

זָכַרzakharsay za-KHAR

Brown-Driver-Briggs: "remember". Strong's: "to mark (so as to be recognized), i.e. to remember". It comes four times in this chapter, each time with "my God": "Remember me, my God, concerning this" (13:14), "Remember me for this also, my God" (13:22), "Remember them, my God, because they have defiled the priesthood" (13:29), and the book's last words, "Remember me, my God, for good" (13:31). It comes nine times in the Hebrew of Nehemiah. Nehemiah's first prayer asked it of God: "Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses" (1:8), and the first time Nehemiah asked it for himself was "Remember me, my God, for all the good that I have done for this people" (5:19).