Nehemiah draws up a covenant between the people and their God, in which they promise to obey God and keep His commandments.  No less than eighty-four seals are fastened to that document, but not one of those seals bears the name of Eliashib.

How could he engage to keep that covenant, one article of which was a promise to have nothing to do with the heathen, when at the very time he was living on the most friendly terms with both Sanballat and Tobiah?

Then comes the grand service of dedication, when the city and all it contained was devoted to God.  Not a single mention is made of Eliashib in the account of the services of the day.  Many priests are mentioned by name, but the high priest, who, we should have expected, would have taken a prominent part in the proceedings, is never heard of throughout.

Eliashib’s connection with the heathen had made him cold and remiss in the service of God.  It is no wonder then that so soon as Nehemiah went away, and the restraint of his presence was removed, Eliashib did worse than ever, and at length actually entertained Tobiah in the temple itself.

But poor Nehemiah had not come to the end of his painful discoveries.  He inquired next what had become of all the stores of corn and wine belonging to the Levites, all the tithes which the people were accustomed to bring to the temple for their support, and which, in that solemn covenant, they had so faithfully promised to supply.  Since these stores have been removed from the place which was built on purpose to receive them, Nehemiah wishes to know what new store-house has been prepared for them.  But the governor finds, to his sorrow and dismay, that no sooner was his back turned upon Jerusalem, than the people had ceased to bring their tithes and their contributions for the house of God.

It was not surprising then that Nehemiah found the temple so deserted.  How could the Levites serve, how could the choir sing unless they were fed?  They could not live on air, no food was provided for them; what could they do but take care of themselves?  In order to save themselves from utter starvation, they had been driven to leave the temple, and to go to their fields and small farms in the country, which they had been accustomed to cultivate only at such times as they were not engaged in the work of the temple (Num. xxxv. 2).  Now they were compelled to resort to these fields, as a means of keeping themselves and their families from beggary.  No wonder then that few were found ready to help in the temple services.

The first Sabbath after Nehemiah’s arrival, he sets out, with an anxious heart, to see how it is kept by his fellow-countrymen.  In the solemn covenant the people had promised carefully to observe the day of rest.  They have broken their word in the matter of the tithes; have they kept their promise with regard to the Sabbath?

Nehemiah, as he walks through the city on the Sabbath day, finds a regular market going on in the streets.  He is horrified to find that all manner of fruit and all kinds of food are being bought and sold, as on any other day of the week.  Wine, and oil, and merchandise of all kinds is being bargained for, and the streets are filled with the noisy cries and shouts of the sellers and purchasers.