Read Nehemiah 13.
- When has it been hard for you to keep a promise or commitment?
- Why was it important to exclude people of foreign descent from the Jewish nation? In that situation, why wasn’t this narrow-minded and unloving?
- Think about what Eliashib, the priest, did. What might be something similar that someone might do wrong today?
- What other abuses did Nehemiah have to clean up?
- Why was it such a big deal that people were buying and selling on the Sabbath?
- The people had broken their covenant promises from chapter 10. How did Nehemiah respond to the people’s broken promises? Why? What do his responses tell you about Nehemiah?
- What might the Jewish people have done to protect themselves from breaking so many of their promises?
- How can we prepare ourselves for a lifetime of obedience? How can we guard ourselves against breaking promises or our covenants with God?