Nehemiah 13:15-18 – The call to observe the Sabbath

The third issue Nehemiah noticed when he returned to Jerusalem after a stint in Persia, was how the returned exile had violated the Sabbath.  Nehemiah 13:15-18 tell us that they treated the Sabbath like every other ordinary day. They did not attach any significance to it. The farmers were still treading the grapes they had harvested in their winepresses. Then there were those that would haul the harvested grapes and figs into the market on the Sabbath to sell them. Greatly astonished by their reluctance to observe the Sabbath rest, Nehemiah admonished them.

Then verse 16 tells us that they even allowed the men from Tyre who “were living there  who imported fish and all kinds of merchandise, and sold them to the sons of Judah on the sabbath, even in Jerusalem.” So Nehemiah reprimanded the nobles of Jerusalem and reasoned with them. In verses 17-18, Nehemiah was said to reprimand the nobles of Judah. He said to them, “What is this evil thing you are doing, by profaning the sabbath day? Did not your fathers do the same, so that our God brought on us and on this city all this trouble? Yet you are adding to the wrath on Israel by profaning the sabbath.” He was essentially telling them that it was because of breaking the Sabbath that their forefathers had found themselves incurring the wrath of God. He was appalled to find them emulating their disobedience.  So he set about to rectify it.

Keeping the Sabbath was God’s plan at the onset of creation. It was meant to give men a holistic approach to life. Genesis tells us that God brought about creation in six days and on the seventh day he rested. In instituting the seventh-day rest, God had introduced a work-life balance right at the very beginning.  And when he made Israel His covenant people, He again emphasized the need for the Sabbath rest in the Ten Commandments. Like them, we are not machines and cannot go on working endlessly without pausing to rest. We all need a day of rest after every six-day of work. God knew that right from the start so he instituted the rest day. It should be a day that we pull away from work to worship God and allow our bodies to be rejuvenated. Let us be sure to keep a day of rest wholly to connect with God and to be refreshed in Him.