“OUT OF THE PRIESTHOOD”
The Jews, returning from Babylonian captivity, had a tremendous job ahead of them. The city of Jerusalem had to be rebuilt, with the walls around it and the temple itself. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah address the difficulty that these people of God had to face in order to finish their task. It was not only the building back of buildings and walls but worship, itself, had to be established once more. Who, then, could handle the idea of proper worship as in the killing of animals, collecting the blood of animals, oil for the lamp stand, bread for table of showbread and the burning of incense? The only ones given that responsibility were those from the tribe of Levi.
Nehemiah found a register of the genealogy of them that came up at the first, when they returned from the captivity (Nehemiah 7:5). From this register, then, those whose names were there would be allowed to serve. Effort was then made to find the names of those who could serve in guiding the proper worship toward God. In verses 7 through 60 is a listing of names. When we come to verse 61 there were those who could not prove they were of Israel or not. Their names could not be found and, hence, it was not certain what their roots were as per the nation taken away by Nebuchadnezzar.
The sixty fourth verse states that they sought their name in the record of the genealogy. Sad to say, they just could not find their names. Human compassion and reasoning would cause most people to just let it slide and accept them anyway. Here then is a powerful truth that all faithful people must face. God does not think as we do (Isaiah 55:8,9). As one who searches the Scriptures, I must be willing to find God’s thoughts as revealed in the Holy Scriptures. God’s revealed answer was that they were to be put out of the priesthood. This is not a declaration that these were not good people, just that without finding proof in the genealogy, they, according to the law, could not serve.
One of the first major moves as a nation away from God was done by Jeroboam when the nation divided. He took ten tribes out of twelve under his rule. He began to see the danger that if the ten tribes returned to Jerusalem for the annual feast he could lose his power over them. He changed, therefore, the place for them to worship. He also instituted priests of the lowest of the people to conduct the false worship. The days of Nehemiah are many years from the time of Jeroboam. The message was clear about doing what God said as opposed to what man thought. These of Nehemiah seven were not excluded because they were in some way inferior. They were excluded because they did not meet God’s requirements.
Such incidents in the lives of God’s people should cause us all to stop and ponder about the way of God. Some argue today that women should be given an expanded role in public worship. It is not an argument about how good a woman is or may be in terms of ability or her life. She may very well possess an ability to communicate to others, the will of God in public speaking. She may possess the ability in terms of leading a congregation in singing. Ability is not the issue. The issue is, "…is their name in the registry"? Paul states a woman cannot teach nor usurp authority over the man (I Timothy 2:12). Some are not allowed to teach then, not because they are not good people or have ability, they are not allowed to teach because it violates the will of God.
How many scores of times, have we all heard sermons dealing with the events in the garden prior to Jesus being taken to trial? A key element in those kinds of lessons is, "…not my will but thy will be done". When we care more for what “I want” instead of what God wants, then we are headed for trouble. Not everyone can be an elder or a deacon. Some will never lead in public worship. Does it mean they are bad people or less spiritual? The answer lies in a willingness to look at the registry and if my name is not there, then accept the limitation of my role.