In those days I saw men in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. Men from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, "What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? Didn't your forefathers do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity upon us and upon this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath."
When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over. I stationed some of my own men at the gates so that no load could be brought in on the Sabbath day. Once or twice the merchants and
sellers of all kinds of goods spent the night outside Jerusalem. But I warned them and said, "Why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on they no longer came on the Sabbath. Then I commanded the Levites to purify themselves and go and guard the gates in order to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Remember me for this also, O my God, and show mercy to me according to your great love. Nehemiah 13:15-22
I read this last night and made me think about how deep Nehemiah's convictions were. I've heard in a sermon once, he was more like an elder and Ezra was more like the evangelist, compared to our churches today. This makes me appreciate more what our elders to in our church. Nehemiah had been removed from Jerusalem for just a little while, but as soon as he heard about people not setting aside the Sabbath for God's work, he returned and made some drastic changes to ensure everyone knew what their doctrine was on work on the Sabbath.
I imagine those vendors coming to visit then, were in shock about the changes being made. Like a friend who knew you in your non-Disciple days, wondering about why all of a sudden you stop doing those things that detest God. Of course they try to tempt you until you give in again. Then another Disciple sees you returned to participating in these things, calls you out and tells your non-Disciple friends to get away.
