Who
were the Nethinims? Basically, they were temple-servants. Tradition is that the
Gibeonites were the original caste (Joshua 9:27). When Joshua discovered that
he had been beguiled by the Gibeonites into a covenant to let them live, he
reduced their tribe to servitude, and declared, “Now therefore ye are
cursed, and there shall never fail to be of you bondsmen, both hewers of wood
and drawers of water for the house of my God” (Joshua 9:23, 27). They
became known as the Nethinims.
Some
think they were descendants of the Canaanites whom Solomon employed in the
building of his temple (1Kings 5:15). It implies that the Nethinims were
originally foreign slaves or prisoners of war who had been assigned the lower
menial duties of the house of God.
We
read that the Levites were slow in coming forward at the return from Babylon;
there was none from the tribe of Levi (Ezra 8:15). You can’t get anything worse
than that. Imagine, the tribe which was given the charge to minister to the
temple did not turn up for the work. Why? Probably they were lazy; they didn’t
want to work in the temple, preferring their secular jobs. Many of us are like
them too; working hard at our secular jobs and neglecting the work of God.
Shame
on the Levites! But the Nethinims were not like them; they came without being
asked. They were foreigners and they didn’t have to turn up; but they did.
These Nethinims must have been a dedicated people to willingly be slaves to the
God of Israel and servants to the Levites in the temple. I would like to be
that kind of a servant and I wish every Christian is like them. The Nethinims
volunteered their services to serve in the house of God. Would to God we have
more Nethinims today in our churches: Christians who are willing to work behind
the scenes; Christians who are willing to quietly serve the Lord without the
applause and honour of men.
The
Nethinims did not have any title attached to their work; they were slaves. No
one remembered them. No one took notice of them. But they worked!
The
“Nethinims” reminds me of our foreign workers. No one knows their names. No one
takes notice of their work. No one appreciates their contributions to this
nation. But what if we do not have them? The streets will be dirty and the
public toilets will stink. There will be no construction activities going on
and no houses and MRT lines. There will be no drivers for the buses and not
enough nurses for the hospitals. Your wife has to stop her work and become a
full time home maker. Yes, no one will take notice of the works done by the
foreign workers until they are gone.
And,
these foreigners have done other good deeds beyond their call of duty: helping
drivers change tyres on the highway, scaling a two storey high apartment to
save a child who was stuck in between a clothes drying rack, helping to nab a
molester, and saving a resident from a fire. When Hotel New World collapsed in
1986, it was the construction workers who stopped what they were doing and
helped to search for survivors; we didn’t have the Civil Defence unit then; it
was formed in the aftermath of that disaster.
The
Nethinims were the foreign workers in the temple. It wasn’t their temple; but
they came. They teach us to work because it is the work of God. It doesn’t
matter if no one knows or appreciates it; God knows and that’s all that
matters: “For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love,
which ye have shewed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints,
and do minister” (Hebrews 6:10).
Be
like the Nethinims in the house of God. No one may know your work; but God
knows. The Nethinims did not serve for recognition; and neither our foreign
workers. It is their works that we recognize. Therefore, let our works shine
and not us: “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good
works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Be a
Nethinim!
Jimmy Lau
Psa
119:97 Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
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