In Nehemiah, chapter thirteen, verse seven, Nehemiah had returned from Persia and was away from Jerusalem for some time, as in verses six through seven. When he returned, he discovered that the chosen people of God in Jerusalem had become lax in their moral and spiritual commitment to Him, and chapter thirteen records a number of these spiritual failures.
Tobiah the Ammonite, along with Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, had earlier mocked God’s people in their efforts at rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem, as in chapter two, verses ten, and verse nineteen. Now, however, he had married into the priestly family closely related to Eliashib, the high priest. By this relative association, Tobiah had insinuated himself into the favorable opinion of many of the people, especially those by making two alliances with families of this sort: for Johanan, his son had married the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, as in Nehemiah six, verse eighteen, who was one of the chief managers of the building of the wall of Jerusalem, and had married the daughter of Shechaniah, another great man among the chosen people of God. By these means, he had formed an interest and was looked upon as a worthy man, though, being an Ammonite, he could not but bear a national hatred to all of the race of Israel. In response, Eliashib remodeled and decorated a large room in the temple area as an apartment for Tobiah.
When Nehemaih saw this decoration, he burned with righteous indignation and tossed out Tobiah’s belongings and the luxurious furnishings Eliashib had put there for him. Nehemiah was angry because this discretion of God’s house was an affront to God’s holiness. Modern churches that give space to activities that do not promote God’s kingdom might as well take note. The evil inflicted by the pernicious example of the high priest lay in the disregard of all the measures recently taken to separate the people from ‘the heathen nations.’ Not so much by continual alliance but by this notorious instance, combining sacrilege towards the Temple and agreeableness towards the idolater.