The Book of Nehemiah begins to show us an additional perspective of those living near Jerusalem trying to reclaim their heritage and struggling to survive. The Jews were forced to work against corrupt officials, opposing nations, and their reputation as a rebellious nation that was loyal to their God rather than the nations who owned them. All of this weighs on Nehemiah, working as the King’s cupbearer, and he feels a responsibility to change it. His position historically meant that Nehemiah had the King’s utmost trust, as he was in charge of the drinks for the entire royal table, so he prays for favor before asking for the King’s permission to go. Nehemiah’s part in the return of the Jews to their land is to rebuild the wall and defenses of Jerusalem, to secure them while Ezra’s people can renew the Temple in its dedication to the Lord.

In Nehemiah’s prayer, he recognizes that the Jews were told if they turned away from God that they would be scattered, and only through obedience and following the Lord would their land be returned to them (Neh 1: 8-9). When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he helped Ezra in the purging and cleaning of Jewish ancestry as the heads of families were brought together to properly recommit to the covenant as a whole community. As we saw in Ezra’s story, the Law was read to all of the people, and a celebration was thrown in accordance with the Feast of Tabernacles to strike a revival of spirit and faith.

In this return of faith, they renew their covenant with the Lord for many of the priests, the Levites, and leaders of the people to sign, as listed in Neh 10.  In it, they vow to not mix with the other nations, to follow the Law that was set out with Moses, to dedicate their offerings, firstfruits, children, animals, and to reconfirm the yearly collection that would support the Temple of the Lord and the Levites who tended to it. (Neh 10:33, 36). In bringing back this annual collection of money and resources for the Levites and the descendants of Aaron, they once more promise to give one-third of a shekel, a culmination of the different 10ths during the Mosaic Law we spoke on before, in their contributions.

Following their rededication, they worshipped daily, reading the entire book of Moses to the people, beyond simply the Law, and the corruption of leadership is weeded out.  At this time, those that worked in the Temple, the Levites, were not being paid their part to support their families and their livelihoods, as the collections were being stored as treasures. Nehemiah is forced to correct this, bringing the Levites back from outside work and paying them what they are due, pulling them again away from intermarriages with other peoples. They try again and again through multiple situations to be steadfast and demonstrate God’s power in their lives, rather than giving up.

Ezra and Nehemiah worked from different directions to rededicate an entire people to the Lord, restoring first their faiths and then their obedience. As each part came together, the people, the Temple, and the wall, the Lord blessed and protected each piece. The Jews had been living so far from the law, that it was through the efforts of both of these major players that they were continually able to pull the Jews back towards God, again and again, each time they turned away. In the midst of all these changes, they returned also to a time when they had to commit more than their hearts. The Jews were required by Mosaic law to give offerings, firstfruits, firstborns, and separate from this, the annual collection of all things as a third of their harvest, not just a tenth, to support the Levites who served the Temple and were paid for their work with this monetary collection. Again, we see this contribution collected in a long list of other requirements that started first with obedience and blessing, then the maintenance of the responsibilities to the Levites and the Temple of the Lord.

Following the 70 years of exile from their lands, the Jews were granted permission by Cyrus, king of the Persians, to return to their land and rebuild their temple and walls. Their cities and land had been destroyed when they were taken away by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, and then overtaken by the Persians as well, dispersing the people of Judah and Israel. The book of Ezra opens by telling us that in order for Jeremiah’s prophecy to be fulfilled, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus to rebuild His Temple. He calls for all those willing to go and for others to contribute to the cause of their brethren. The  Jews give willingly and freely to Ezra and to the people who will be returning with Cyrus’ blessing as they re-realize their faith and return to God. These people had a burden to restore not just a sense of nationalism but also the worship and godliness that had been lost, causing their situation in the first place. All in all, a force of 42,360 people return alongside Ezra and Joshua the High Priest.

Fulfilling the words of Haggai and Zechariah, the prophets, Joshua as High Priest had great influence and support during the reconstruction of the Temple because of his position. It began the return of the order of the High Priest to the promised land. With Ezra acting as the politician to keep favor up for their efforts in the King’s court and Joshua as the spiritual leader, they began to rebuild the Altar and started laying the foundation for the new Temple. Their first step in restoration was to separate out the Levites of true heritage to work there and to set up the offerings upon the altar.

In fear of the hostile countries around them, the Jews offered up burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the feast of the tabernacles as it is written and offered daily burnt-offerings by number according to custom as the duty of every day required. Afterward they offered the continual burnt offering both of the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, everyone willingly gave the freewill offering,” (Ex 23:16/Lev 23:33-43/Num 29:12). The people then gathered to keep the Passover for the first time since diaspora. In celebration of the Lord changing the attitude of the King of Assyria towards them, they feasted for seven days as the Assyrians came to help them build the Temple. Once more, as they restored themselves to God, He extended blessings and protections over His people.

When Ezra comes to join them, following his time in the King’s court, he brings even more people with him but finds the people there continuing to break the laws set forth by God through Moses and reinstated by Joshua the High Priest. Ezra finds the people having issues though following some of the ordinances and has to call for a time of confession. The people had failed to fully separate themselves from the neighboring nations and had once again taken wives from them, so they are forced to confess and separate themselves once again.

The Jews had been restored to their land by the efforts of Ezra and Joshua and began to rebuild the Temple and their walls with God’s protections over them. They began again the long journey to restoring the covenant between them that marks them as the chosen people, through festivals, offerings, and obedience to God’s laws, with the Levites again tending to the Temple. Though they sinned again and again, God forgave them and gave them another chance to restore their land and their covenant as they followed his laws and commands.

As the kings of both kingdoms turn away from God taking their nations with them, they fell into the captivity and the reign of neighboring nations. The northern kingdom of Israel was taken by the Assyrians around 740 BCE after strong resistance. The southern kingdom of Judah remained until around 600 BCE, at which time it was overtaken by the Babylonians. In both situations, the conquering forces took the educated and skilled families from the Jews and left behind the poor laborers. Part of the assimilation of the Judeans was to feed and educate this next generation of advisors in a particular manner, there were some that chose not to follow those rules. Daniel 1:1-7. Through the simple act of not defiling themselves with the diet chosen by the king or worshipping the idols, God blesses Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah and gives them wisdom and favor beyond anyone else in this program. Because of their obedience here, and in the situation of the Golden Image, they were saved from burning in front of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. When the king sees this miracle, he decrees that no one is to speak against their God (Daniel 3:29).

Just as He had done during their wandering in the wilderness, they would find blessings from God through obedience to Him and his statutes.  We all know the story of Daniel, who like his friends Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, his faith was questioned and tested, and he prevailed, earning the protection of the Lord.  Esther and her cousin, Mordecai, later encounter prosecution for their Jewish faith, despite the success and favor with the King, and only through their good faith and dedication do they earn protection for the Jewish people in his lands.

These accounts are there to show us that although the Kingdoms had fallen due to apostasy that God was still there for his people. By a simple act of obedience or prayer, these people could be in contact with their Jehovah in the midst of a heathen nation. There were many Prophets speaking out and calling the people back to proper worship of the one true God and their responsibility as a community of godly people. The disobedience had to be punished and brought to an end, to show that it was not okay, but God never once left his people without an answer. He required them to show their faith through their actions, to love no other god but Him, and we find no real mention of yearly tithing or the offerings that were previously given to the Temple. Those that found favor with God and were blessed and protected by Him had only to give their love and faith, without any monetary or animal payments towards Him.

The Exile would come to an end as it had been foretold along with their exile from the promised land. The children of Judah knew that God would not leave them, and their land would be restored. While the prophets foretold their exile for disobedience, they also told that God would forgive them and keep watch over them in spite of their sins (Hosea 14).

            In the years of Jehoiada, in 2 Chron 22-24, following the takeover of the Kingdom of Judah by Athaliah and the murders of the royal family, he makes a covenant with the commanders to gather the Levites from among the Israelites and the heads of households. He took the Levites to protect and serve the Temple of the Lord first, observing all restrictions of who may enter and how to care for it, following the covenant with the Lord from the time of Moses. They put Athaliah to death, being careful to keep the murder outside of the Temple and then in a covenant with all of the Israelites, he proclaims that their people will be the Lord’s people again. In this, they destroy all of the altars and idols and the priest of Baal to destroy the god that was separating them from the Lord’s protection and blessings. Ahaziah and Athaliah had done evil in the eyes of the Lord and led them astray, for idols of Baal and following the house of Ahab were disobedience to the Lord. It is after the new covenant is made that Jehoiada collects up an annual tithe from all of Israel to repair the temple (2 Chron 24:5).

         Following Jehoiada’s death, each king fails the Lord in his own way (2 Chron 25:7-8; 26:18; 27:2; 28:2-3). After Ahaz, the final king of 2 Chron 25-28, his son, Hezekiah, takes the throne and immediately turns back to God and caring for the Temple. His first act is to purify the temple as a rededication, assigning Levites and priests to serve the needs of the temple according to the law. He then calls for a celebration of Passover, which had not been possible due to the small number of priests. This causes them to destroy the idols to other gods. Finally, Hezekiah sends out a  collection of all tithes of the Israelites in 2 Chron 31:4-12 that support the Levites as their inheritance in their work for the Temple. This rededication of the Temple and of His people to the covenant of the Lord and the promises and duties of the Israelites is to put them back in good standing with the Lord, not just in fearful obedience but in celebration and praise of His glory in their lives. Hezekiah and his reign are then marked by prosperity, because he sought to do everything precisely to God’s instructions and to obey Him faithfully (2 Chron 31:21). In the closing of Chronicles, we see the fulfillment of God’s promise in the establishment of a king over Israel, that all will be good if they and their king follow the Lord. However, the many kings who do evil in the eyes of the Lord set His hand against them (1 Sam 12:13-15).  The kings of Israel and their people fail the Lord so horribly, that they lose their kingdom as we will see in the next section following exile from their lands (2 Chron 36:14-23, 2 Kings 25, Jeremiah 39).

          Each time that we see the mention of tithes during the kings, the disobedience of the Israelites is called out. The people worship other gods, neglect their responsibilities to the Levites and the Temple, and marry and bear children with women of other nations, neglecting the unique heritage that God had given them. He turns away from His people only after they have turned away from Him. The use of tithing and offerings is a way of keeping their attention to God and sacrifices to Him that are given willingly and freely. The grains and animals serve to support the Levites which supports the Temple which houses the Lord, as Mosaic law dictated. Any failure of the Israelites to give of their harvest, which was blessed first by God, undermines the appreciation of what He has done for them and promises to do, if only they obey Him.