Final Purification

     Read Nehemiah 13:15-31. Nehemiah restores the purity of the Sabbath by ordering the gates of Jerusalem closed on the Sabbath day. This was to stop the surrounding nations from bringing merchandise to Jerusalem to buy or sell.  He also told the locals that were working on the Sabbath, God would send his wrath upon them. 

     Nehemiah observed the young children could not speak the Jewish language. He dealt with the parents harshly for intermarrying with heathens. Even the high priest's grandson married Sanballat the Horonite's daughter. Nehemiah chased that grandson away and restores the purity of the Priesthood and the integrity of the Jewish people.