Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
Devotional: December 16th

Nehemiah 13:1-14

Nehemiah had been compelled to return to the king. Taking advantage of his absence, Tobiah, the well known enemy, had managed to gain access to one of the chambers adjoining the house of the LORD, thanks to the help of one of the priests. And the latter was none other than Eliashib who had already proved so negligent at the time when the wall was built. But the porters, the men who in the previous chapter had been "appointed over the chambers for the treasures", had not guarded either what their God had given them to keep (Nehemiah 12:45).

Filled with anger Nehemiah himself, on his return, throws out all the belongings of Tobiah. Then he has the chambers cleansed and he puts back in their places the vessels and the offerings (cf. Matthew 21:12-13). Our hearts are sometimes like those chambers in which the world has placed its concerns in the place of what belonged to God!

That first negligent act had led to others and Nehemiah must also deal with the portions of the Levites as well as the supervision and distribution of the tithes brought by the people.