Nehemiah 11-13

Nehemiah closed his record of activity by confronting exile who had returned to Judah and failed to follow God's law in three areas:
Meeting the needs of the preist and Levites.
Not honoring the Sabbath.
Marrying foreign women.
In each of these cases he spoke harshly to the leaders and those who were disobeying God. We might view his reactions as excessive, because the transgressions he confront seem to be insignificant. If we do then we are very wrong. God's word was violated in each of those cases, and because of that God was dishonored. Those who serve a king would understand the depth of the offense of such action. We must be careful never to trivialize that which God has proclaimed as sacred.
Stuart