Hymn 297, “God Be Merciful to Me” opens our singing for Sabbath School this week in the cleansing process learned in the Memory Text. Nehemiah 13:22 goes on to request that Sabbath be a sanctified day:
Hymn 381, “Holy Sabbath Day of Rest” and
Hymn 388, “Don’t Forget the Sabbath”.

Nehemiah came back to the people and asked them for commitment:
Hymn 634, “Come, All Christians, Be Committed”. The tithes and offerings were again put in place:
Hymn 639, “A Diligent and Grateful Heart”.
“We Give Thee But Thine Own”, Hymn 670 is our response in giving our tithes and offerings back to the Lord.

On Wednesday, Nehemiah again says
“Don’t Forget the Sabbath”, Hymn 388.

2 Timothy 2:15 KJV – “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

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1. Here’s an example of backsliding! Did your jaw drop an inch when you read the description at the opening of our lesson describing the backsliding of God’s people while Nehemiah had been away from Babylon? Imagine if this were your church–no more tithes or offerings, secular meetings held on sabbath in the church, young people encouraged to marry non-Adventists and even non-Christians, total disregard for Sabbath keeping–and all of this under the leadership of local members? Imagine how Nehemiah felt to see the fallen spiritual condition of God’s people. And all this after what God had done for them.
2. Tainted temple leadership. As if the backsliding mentioned above wasn’t enough, Nehemiah immediately learns of the total acceptance by God’s people of non-believing foreign leaders to the extent that the Jewish leadership had become corrupted by the assumption of control, pushing Nehemiah aside. Heart-broken prayer and weeping by Nehemiah must have taken over his spiritual life. Would you have advised Nehemiah not to pay attention to what was going on? To focus on living a godly life? How alarmed must Nehemiah been when he learned that one of his fiercest enemies, Tobiah, moved into the temple to live and rule the people of God. True or False: Seeing there was so little he could do, Nehemiah just wept, watched and listened. Discuss. 
3. Levites in the field. What did Nehemiah do when he saw that tithe-paying practices had been abandoned and that singers and other workers had left because they weren’t being paid for their time-consuming work as they had before? How did things change at the temple to correct the horrible, fallen state of worship there? What did Nehemiah do about it? Read Nehemiah 13:10-14 for details. Notice that one corrupt leader of God’s people was allowed to hold his position. Why do you think this was allowed? Can you see light at the end of the tunnel for the people of Judah under the leadership of Nehemiah? 
4. Tithes and offerings. What happened when God’s followers stopped giving a faithful tithe for the temple work? Our note for this question mentions that services stopped because the leaders who had organized the services didn’t have time to do so any longer without pay. Could something like this ever happen in your local church? Or the conference that oversees the finances for your church and others in a given territory? Is it less than ideal to return the tithe as evidence of our generosity? If so, what is a more acceptable motive?  
5.  Treading the wine presses on Sabbath. You probably don’t know any church member who presses grapes to make wine on Sabbath or any other day, but what if you did? “God’s people keep the Sabbath,” you might say. Or “the Sabbath keeps God people.” How is it true that the Sabbath keeps us together as God’s people?   
6. Keeping the Sabbath holy. What was Nehemiah’s responsibility in Sabbath keeping in the nation of God? Why? How was it possible that the Sabbath had been observed for so many hundreds of years? Isn’t it wonderful that God’s people never disagreed with each other about how the Sabbath should be kept? It wasn’t that important? Do you think that Sabbath keeping has weakened through the ages? What opportunities do you and I have to share our spirit of worship on the Sabbath with others–including fellow Seventh-day Adventists? 

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Key Thought: When Nehemiah returned, the people had stopped giving tithes and offerings, stopped keeping the Sabbath properly, and were intermarrying with other nations around them..
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December 14, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 13:1-9.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Who were Eliashib and Tobia and what did they do that was unacceptable?
3. Personal Application: How do we sometimes downplay the sacred and allow it to be compromised by the unholy and common in our worship and attitudes? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “Why do people allow themselves to be so easily led astray when it comes to Spiritual things and compromise, especially with family and friends?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Malachi 3:10.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. Why is tithing so important in the furtherance of the gospel and maintenance of God’s church?
3. Personal Application: Why is tithing important for our own spirituality and a measure of our trust in God?. Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “I think churches invented tithing just so the ministers and churches could get rich. There are too many fancy buildings and rich mi9nisters running around that I don’t see how that glorifies God. How do we know our tithes are being used in the right way?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 13:15-22.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What excuses do we see for people buying and selling on the Sabbath, when they know better? Do credit cards make it easier to justify buying and selling on the Sabbath?
3. Personal Application: What are some ways you see people trending toward compromise toward Sabbath-keeping? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “How strictly do you promote Sabbath-keeping? Is cooking, doing dishes, laundry, eating out at a restaurant, watching a sports game things you can do on the Sabbath, or are they prohibited?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Luke 6:6-11.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What did Jesus teach about the principle of Sabbath-keeping that the religious leaders didn’t understand?
3. Personal Application: How do we sometimes become too judgmental on other people’s Sabbath-keeping? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

(Truth that is not lived, that is not imparted, loses its life-giving power, its healing virtue. Its blessings can be retained only as it is shared.”Ministry of Healing, p. 148).

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Nehemiah’s reforms of the temple services included the implementation of tithes and offerings.

Read Numbers 18:21-24; Malachi 3:10; Matthew 23:23; 1 Corinthians 9:7-14; 2 Corinthians 9:6-8; and Hebrews 7:1-2. What do these texts teach us about the importance of tithes and offerings, not just in the temple service, but for today as well?

Tithing

Without the collection of tithes and offerings the temple could not function. When tithing stopped, the services in the temple fell apart, and the whole worship system was in jeopardy. As temple personnel went to look for other jobs to feed their families, they couldn’t focus on taking care of the temple. Consequently, the worship of God diminished.

“The tithing system is beautiful in its simplicity. Its equity is revealed in its proportional claim on the rich and on the poor. In proportion as God has given us the use of His property, so we are to return to Him a tithe.

“When God calls for the tithe (Mal. 3:10), He makes no appeal to gratitude or generosity. Although gratitude should be a part of all our expressions to God, we tithe because God has commanded it. The tithe belongs to the Lord, and He requests that we return it to Him” – Seventh-day Adventists Believe . . . (2nd ed). (Boise, Idaho: Pacific Press ® Publishing Association, 2005), p. 304.

Just as happened with the Israelite temple, our church would fall apart without the support of the members’ tithes and offerings. Our church services would not function without people who are paid to put time into quality ministry, planning, and management of the church for God. Worship of God would also be diminished in quality. Most importantly though, without tithes and offerings evangelism would be non-existent.

Moreover, we give tithes because God established the system in His Word. There are times when God doesn’t have to explain why He set something up. He expects us to trust that He is in control. We should find out and be informed on how the system works, but then entrust it into His hands.

<–Monday Wednesday–>

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Read Nehemiah 13:10-14. What is Nehemiah seeking to remedy here?

The singers, gatekeepers, and other temple servants had to go back to working in their own fields in order to feed their families, because the work for God was not being supported. The whole tithes-and-offerings system that was so painstakingly established now lay in ruins. Nehemiah had to start over. The act of throwing everything out of the room shows desperation.

Image © Jeff Preston from GoodSalt.com

“Not only had the temple been profaned, but the offerings had been misapplied. This had tended to discourage the liberalities of the people. They had lost their zeal and fervor, and were reluctant to pay their tithes. The treasuries of the Lord’s house were poorly supplied; many of the singers and others employed in the temple service, not receiving sufficient support, had left the work of God to labor elsewhere” – Ellen G. White, Prophets and Kings, p. 670.

It is fascinating to see that all of Judah came together again and rebuilt what had been destroyed. The people were on Nehemiah’s side against Tobiah and Eliashib, because they must have realized that Nehemiah did everything he could for the benefit of the people. Additionally, Nehemiah entrusted the temple grounds overseers’ positions to men whom he considered faithful and trustworthy. They were given the task of collecting tithes and offerings, making sure the goods were stored properly, and distributing the resources to the appropriate parties. In other words, Nehemiah came in and uprooted the corrupt system of leadership seemingly in one fell swoop.

Although Nehemiah appointed faithful men over the organization of the temple, the corrupt High Priest, Eliashib, did not lose his position, because it was handed down through Aaron’s descent. His work in the temple might have been crippled by Nehemiah’s measures of appointing others over some of the High Priest’s responsibilities, but he was still the High Priest.

<–Sunday Tuesday–>

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