The leaders, priests, and Levites signaled their intention to take
God seriously. They not only made their intention known verbally but also had
their names recorded in a sealed document. Now joined by the rest of the people
which included priests, Levites, gatekeepers, singers, and temple servants Nehemiah 10:28-29 said they renewed their oath to God. Notice that the
pledge is referred to as “a curse and an oath.” Walking in obedience
to God’s law was the intention but a curse would be triggered if they chose to
disobey it. In other words, the best way to avoid the curse was to walk in
obedience to God's stipulation.
The
whole community unitedly made their commitment. Verses 28-29 said at all of
them including “…their wives, their sons, and their
daughters, all those who had knowledge and understanding, are joining with their kinsmen, their nobles, and
are taking on themselves a curse and an oath to walk in God’s law….” Making the allegiance earnestly, they pledged to keep and observe
all the law, and commandments of God their Lord, all His ordinances and His statutes, which He had
given through Moses, His servant. They had made up their mind to live as a
separate community from the people of the land.
In verses 30-31, firstly, they pledged not to intermarry with the
people of the land, saying, “… we will not give our daughters to the peoples of
the land or take their daughters for our sons.” Secondly, they pledged to
refrain from buying any items from foreigners on the Sabbath and any holy day.
Thirdly, they would do what had been stipulated for the Sabbath
year. They would not plant crops and nor exact debt owed to them.
The crux of the text is about living a life that is separated unto
God. As Christians, we are people called out of the world to be God’s own
possession. We are called to live wholly for God and not to be conformed to the
system of this world. We must choose to renew our minds by tearing down the
value system of the world and building a new value system based on the Word of
God. Friendship with the world, according to James, would make us enemies of
God. We must no longer seek to follow the pattern of this world but to live
lives based on the principles derived from God’s Word. As we do so we will
practically experience the perfect will of God.
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