Nehemiah 13:10,11

Nehemiah also discovered that the people had not given their *tithes and gifts to the *Levites. They had promised to give one tenth (1/10th) of their crops for the priests and the *Levites (Nehemiah 10:35-39). Then the priests and the *Levites could serve God and they could take care of the *temple all the time. But this was another promise that the people had failed to do. Instead the *Levites and the singers had gone back to their own fields. They had to produce their own food so they were not doing their work in the *temple.

Perhaps the people did not bring the *tithes and gifts because there was nowhere to store them in the *temple. Tobiah was using the special room. But perhaps the room was already empty even before Tobiah began to use it. Perhaps it was empty because the people were not still bringing their gifts to put into the room.

Nehemiah blamed the officials who were the leaders of the people. The people had promised not to neglect the house of God (Nehemiah 10:39). But Nehemiah said that they had neglected the house of God. And he made the *Levites and the singers return to their work in the *temple.

The *prophet Malachi lived about that time. God spoke to the people by Malachi. He said that the people were cheating God. They did not bring their gifts and their *tithes to his house (Malachi 3:8-10).

v12 Then all the people of *Judah brought the *tithes of grain, new wine and oil. They brought them to the special rooms in the house of God. v13 Then I appointed men to look after the rooms where the people stored the *tithes. These men were Shelemiah the priest, Zadok the teacher and Pedaiah the *Levite. I appointed Hanan to help them. Hanan was the son of Zaccur and was the grandson of Mattaniah. Everybody knew that these men were honest. Their job was to give shares to all their companions.