Nehemiah 10:30 – We will not give our daughters to the peoples of the land or take their daughters for our sons.
The people were devoting their spiritual life, family, schedule, budget, and sexuality fully to God without reservation. When a true revival movement of God the Holy Spirit occurs, every aspect of life is affected. Because King Jesus is Lord over all, there is no such thing as a division between sacred and secular things. When His Lordship is lived out by His people, there is no aspect of life that remains unchanged and unaffected.
When true revival happens, vice and crime go down, economic prosperity goes up, mental health improves, social unrest wanes, and the Kingdom of God starts to show up on earth as it is in Heaven. The truth is that everyone lives in a culture, and there are ultimately only two sources from which culture is created. One, most people live hell up – pulling the culture of bitterness, vengeance, selfishness, pride, addiction, and brokenness into their lives. Two, some people live Kingdom down inviting the Holy Spirit to bring Heaven to earth with the fruit of the Spirit manifest in the lives, families, and communities of a culture. This is what we see happening in Nehemiah 10.
Since this was all very public, the husbands and fathers who signed the covenant were committing to being men of God. This allowed their wives and children to encourage them to live up to their promise, and also welcomed the men to spur one another on to love and good deeds. In this way, God’s people were giving up their selfishness so that they could live, work, and worship together like one big extended family made up of individual families. In doing so, they were demonstrating faith that God would provide for them in every way.
What do you think it was like for children to see their fathers publicly repent and covenant to lead their family in the will of God?