Week 5
Monday
Read: Nehemiah 10:28–39; Matthew 6:21
SOAP: Matthew 6:21
For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Into the Text
The people of Jerusalem committed to keeping God’s covenant. In the first half of chapter 10, we see the people agree to the covenant by signing their names. In today’s verses, the people commit to obeying very specific aspects of the new covenant God had made with them.
The promises God’s people made in this covenant were the same laws they had promised to uphold when God first gave them the land of Canaan. These regulations set them apart from neighboring nations, establishing them as God’s chosen people. They promised to not intermarry with people who did not worship God. They committed to keep the Sabbath holy and to observe the Sabbath years they had neglected before the exile. They committed to bringing offerings and giving to the temple, especially from the first fruits of their fields, vineyards, cattle, herds, flocks, and families. They promised to not neglect the temple of God but to keep it sacred as the place where God’s presence would dwell.
As the people made these promises, God was not merely interested in their external keeping of rules and rituals. He wanted their whole hearts to be committed to Him, which was the case with these Jews. They had seen what happened when their ancestors did not honor God’s covenant, and they truly wanted to obey God.
But, sadly, many of the Jews fell into legalism over the next four-hundred years, devoting themselves to very narrow interpretations of the law, and not treasuring God Himself. That is why Jesus taught so much about the condition of the human heart when He came. Our hearts will follow our treasure, whatever that may be.
Like the Jews, we are often pulled away from our loving God by things that appear to be more attractive than Him. We can keep Him as our ultimate treasure by looking away from the world and back to Him, getting to know Him better, reading and thinking about the things He said and did, and asking Him to open our eyes afresh to His beauty and worth. He truly is the greatest treasure we could ever seek, nothing in this world compares to Him.