Nehemiah 13:31
I also arranged for contributions of wood at the appointed times, and for the firstfruits. Remember me, O my God, with favor.
Sermons
Prayer for God's BlessingNehemiah 13:31
Simplicity and PowerE. Monro.Nehemiah 13:31
The Appeal to GodW. Clarkson Nehemiah 13:31
The Blessing of God on an Active Life Founded Upon His WordR.A. Redford Nehemiah 13:1-31
Personal Purification of the BelieverW. P. Lockhart.Nehemiah 13:7-31
The Devoted PatriotM. G. Pearse.Nehemiah 13:7-31
The Religious ReformerW. Ritchie.Nehemiah 13:7-31
Unholy AllianceW. Clarkson Nehemiah 13:23-31














Nehemiah 13:31 (see also Nehemiah 5:19; 13:14, 22)
During the latter part of this book these words recur like the refrain of a psalm. They are an appeal to God - an appeal to God from man. There is something plaintive as well as supplicatory in their tone. We look at -

I. THE HUMAN NEGLIGENCE OF WHICH THEY ARE SUGGESTIVE. What! exclaims an earnest but inexperienced voice; is it meant that Nehemiah, the patriot prophet, who ventured so much in Persia for the people of God at Jerusalem; who, in the teeth of such dangers and difficulties, threw a wall of protection round Jerusalem, and made her safe and strong for centuries; who virtually repeopled and largely rebuilt her; who reinstituted her sacred feasts, and re-established her temple worship in its regularity; who redeemed her children from bondage; who purified her domestic life; who put down her sabbath desecration; who refused to receive fee or payment for his services, all the while showing a princely hospitality, - is it meant that he had to appeal to God from the indifference, the negligence of man? Only too possible, is the reply. Do we not remember that the ancestors of these Jews wearied of the faithful Samuel, and preferred the weak and vacillating Saul; that Greece had her Socrates and Aristides, and Rome her Coriolanus, and Spain her Columbus, and England her William Tyndale? Nay! can we forget that once a greater than Nehemiah was "despised and rejected of men"? He was despised, and men esteemed him not. Nehemiah, to be the builder and restorer he was, had to be an ardent and energetic reformer, i.e. he had to come into sharp collision with the views and (what was more) the interests of his contemporaries, and to challenge and even denounce their doings. These words, "Remember me, my God," follow his record of the vigorous part he took in the matters of

(1) usury (ch. 5.);

(2) the non-payment of tithes (vers. 10-14);

(3) sabbath desecration (vers. 15-22);

(4) the work of cleansing (ver. 30).

They speak of coldness, of suspicion, of disregard, of backbiting, on the part of some, if not many, of those he sought to serve. The strain is this: This people are overlooking my work for them, forgetting the sacrifices I have made, not sparing me their reproaches. Remember THOU me, O God, for good; wipe not thou out my good deeds, spare thou me in the greatness of thy mercy. We must not enter the field of Christian work only, or chiefly, for what man will give us as the reward of our labour. If we do, we may be miserably disappointed; we may reap more tares than wheat in the harvest-time; we may find more thistles on the ground than fruits on the tree; we may be like the Master, who had the crown of thorns pressed on his bleeding brow instead of the crown of honour laid lovingly on his head. It is not for us to "covet earnestly" the smile or praise or recompense of man. Doubtless it ought to be given in response to faithful work; it is better both for him that gives, as well as for him that receives, that it should be given; but as those that serve the Lord Jesus Christ, as those that follow the Son of man, we must be prepared to do without these things. And we can afford to do so, if needful, for there remains -

II. THE DIVINE FAITHFULNESS ON WHICH THESE WORDS ARE BASED. "Think upon me, my God, for good, according to all that I have done (ver. 19). But dare we ask God to think on us according to what we have done? For him to deal with us after our actions and to reward us according to our doings, is not this for him to deal with us after our sins and reward us according to our iniquities? Dare we, sinners, make our appeal to the God of righteousness? Must we not address ourselves to him as the God of mercy, who does pass by, blot out, remember no more" the things we had thought and said and done? Truly; yet this doctrine of grace and the doctrine that God will reward those who try to please and honour him stand well together. So Nehemiah felt; for while asking God to remember him for "this also" (this good deed), he asks him to "spare him according to the greatness of his mercy" (ver. 22). So Paul felt; for while speaking of those who "by patient continuance in well-doing seek for glory, honour, and immortality," etc. (Romans 2:7), he speaks of "counting all things but clung to win Christ and be found in him, not having his own righteousness" (Philippians 3:8, 9). The full truth on this subject is that

(1) God's general acceptance or condemnation of us at the last will turn on our acceptance or rejection of Jesus Christ in this life, but that

(2) the character of his approval and the measure of his award will depend on the kind of Christian life we shall have lived. There will be an acceptance which will simply be a not being condemned, a "being saved as by fire," and there will be a cordial, hearty, emphatic "Well done." There will be, for some, fewer cities and narrower spheres; for others, more cities and broader spheres over which to rule. Many Christians live in practical forgetfulness of this, and make no effort to win a cordial approval and a large reward. Hence their Christian life is

(a) indulgent,

(b) negligent,

(c) idle and unfruitful.

Others, happily, are wiser than they. To such we say, Be faithful in every good word and work, like Nehemiah, and you may make a confident appeal to God for recognition, remembrance, recompense. Do not look anxiously about you for man's smile, but do look earnestly above you for Christ's approval, and beyond you for his reward. Do not think it wrong to gain incentive and inspiration from the hope of recompense because that may not be the very highest motive. It is not wrong to do so; it is wrong not to do so; for Christ calls you so to do. He calls you to put out all your talents, not only because you ought to put them out, but because, thus doing, you will be blessed hereafter; to run your race with patience (perseverance), not only because you ought to do this, but also that you may win the prize. So bear your witness bravely, live your life holily and blamelessly, do your work diligently and in the spirit of full. consecration; be not dismayed, deterred, or even checked by the absence of man's appreciation; walk with elastic step, with psalms of hope upon your lip, the path of holy usefulness, because the Lord your Saviour will "remember you for good;" because he will not "wipe out" your efforts, but write them in a book of remembrance which no hand may touch to blot or to erase; because he will give you a large reward, "abundance "of eternal joy, in the day of his appearing. - C.

Remember me, O my God, for good.
Consciousness of religion cannot be of necessity wrong, and it is only a false estimate of human nature with regard to God which enables men to take another view with regard to such sets. With boldness and without hesitation Paul says he has run good course and fought a good fight; and he based upon this declaration that there was laid up for him a crown of righteousness. In the same way we find constant recognition by David of his own good conduct throughout the Psalms; And Samuel protests his innocence in the sight of the congregation. Hezekiah upon his sick-bed narrates the better sets of his life as a reason for God to prolong his term of years; while more than one of the apostles reminds our Lord of their self-denying adherence to His cause. While Nehemiah's consciousness of certain acts that he knew he had done to please God shines with a soft and mellowed lustre on his figure whenever he comes into notice, the evident simplicity of his purpose and sincerity of his mind, and the utter absence of anything like censoriousness or boastfulness, prevent him from being in the least degree shadowed by vanity or presumption. A view like Nehemiah's of those sets which are performed with a pure intention of pleasing God is justified, because —

1. The doing so involves truthfulness in our estimate of moral action.

2. Of the very direct encouragement that we receive from the consciousness that we have done what is pleasing to God. In our intercourse with our fellow-creatures nothing so encourages in the effort to please as the fact of having pleased; nothing so discourages as the consciousness of not having given satisfaction, or what is worse, the impression that we have dissatisfied.

(E. Monro.)

The Rev. Dr. Brock, of Bloomsbury, when about twenty-one years old (1828), and just out of his apprenticeship, left Devonshire for London. "He had not gone far from his home before he stopped, and sat down under a hedge, in a lane, and opening his Bible at the 13th chapter of Nehemiah, his eye fell upon the 31st verse: 'Remember me, O my God, for good.' Kneeling down upon his knees under that hedge, with his hand upon the passage, ha put up a fervent prayer that God would befriend him by remembering him for good in his metropolitan life. How strikingly was that prayer answered! Dr. Brock himself used to say, 'Who can tell how much of the success of my after-life may be traced back to that prayer?'".

People
Artaxerxes, Balaam, Eliashib, Hanan, Israelites, Joiada, Levites, Mattaniah, Pedaiah, Sanballat, Shelemiah, Solomon, Tobiah, Tobijah, Tyrians, Zaccur
Places
Ammon, Ashdod, Babylon, Jerusalem, Moab
Topics
Appointed, Arranged, Contributions, Designated, Favor, Firstfruits, First-fruits, Fixed, Fruits, Mind, Mindful, O, Offering, Provided, Remember, Supply, Wood, Wood-offering
Outline
1. Upon the reading of the law, separation is made from the mixed multitude.
4. Nehemiah, at his return, causes the chambers to be cleansed.
10. He reforms the offices in the house of God;
15. the violation of the Sabbath;
23. and the marriages with the strange wives.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Nehemiah 13:31

     1055   God, grace and mercy
     4442   firstfruits
     8460   pleasing God

Library
Sabbath Observance
'In those days saw I in Judah some treading wine presses on the sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and lading asses; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. 16. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish, and all manner of ware, and sold on the sabbath unto the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. 17. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

Two Famous Versions of the Scriptures
[Illustration: (drop cap B) Samaritan Book of the Law] By the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Egypt, lies Alexandria, a busy and prosperous city of to-day. You remember the great conqueror, Alexander, and how nation after nation had been forced to submit to him, until all the then-known world owned him for its emperor? He built this city, and called it after his own name. About a hundred years before the days of Antiochus (of whom we read in our last chapter) a company of Jews
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

The Last Days of the Old Eastern World
The Median wars--The last native dynasties of Egypt--The Eastern world on the eve of the Macedonian conquest. [Drawn by Boudier, from one of the sarcophagi of Sidon, now in the Museum of St. Irene. The vignette, which is by Faucher-Gudin, represents the sitting cyno-cephalus of Nectanebo I., now in the Egyptian Museum at the Vatican.] Darius appears to have formed this project of conquest immediately after his first victories, when his initial attempts to institute satrapies had taught him not
G. Maspero—History Of Egypt, Chaldaea, Syria, Babylonia, and Assyria, V 9

The Formation of the Old Testament Canon
[Sidenote: Israel's literature at the beginning of the fourth century before Christ] Could we have studied the scriptures of the Israelitish race about 400 B.C., we should have classified them under four great divisions: (1) The prophetic writings, represented by the combined early Judean, Ephraimite, and late prophetic or Deuteronomic narratives, and their continuation in Samuel and Kings, together with the earlier and exilic prophecies; (2) the legal, represented by the majority of the Old Testament
Charles Foster Kent—The Origin & Permanent Value of the Old Testament

Questions About the Nature and Perpetuity of the Seventh-Day Sabbath.
AND PROOF, THAT THE FIRST DAY OF THE WEEK IS THE TRUE CHRISTIAN SABBATH. BY JOHN BUNYAN. 'The Son of man is lord also of the Sabbath day.' London: Printed for Nath, Ponder, at the Peacock in the Poultry, 1685. EDITOR'S ADVERTISEMENT. All our inquiries into divine commands are required to be made personally, solemnly, prayerful. To 'prove all things,' and 'hold fast' and obey 'that which is good,' is a precept, equally binding upon the clown, as it is upon the philosopher. Satisfied from our observations
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

Jesus Heals on the Sabbath Day and Defends his Act.
(at Feast-Time at Jerusalem, Probably the Passover.) ^D John V. 1-47. ^d 1 After these things there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. [Though every feast in the Jewish calendar has found some one to advocate its claim to be this unnamed feast, yet the vast majority of commentators choose either the feast of Purim, which came in March, or the Passover, which came in April. Older commentators pretty unanimously regarded it as the Passover, while the later school favor the feast
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

Ezra-Nehemiah
Some of the most complicated problems in Hebrew history as well as in the literary criticism of the Old Testament gather about the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Apart from these books, all that we know of the origin and early history of Judaism is inferential. They are our only historical sources for that period; and if in them we have, as we seem to have, authentic memoirs, fragmentary though they be, written by the two men who, more than any other, gave permanent shape and direction to Judaism, then
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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