Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Confrontation (1)

Confrontation

Now before this, Eliashib the priest, having authority over the storerooms of the house of our God, was allied with Tobiah. And he had prepared for him a large room, where previously they had stored the grain offerings, the frankincense, the articles, the tithes of grain, the new wine and oil, which were commanded to be given to the Levites and singers and gatekeepers, and the offerings for the priests. But during all this I was not in Jerusalem, for in the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes king of Babylon I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave from the king, and I came to Jerusalem and discovered the evil that Eliashib had done for Tobiah, in preparing a room for him in the courts of the house of God. And it grieved me bitterly; therefore I threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the room. Then I commanded them to cleanse the rooms; and I brought back into them the articles of the house of God, with the grain offering and the frankincense. – Nehemiah 13:4-9

We are still learning from the leadership playbook of Nehemiah. The lesson we will focus on today is confrontation, specifically his ability to confront and redress anomalies. While he was away, having returned to his principal in Babylon, a priest took an advantage of his position by allowing Tobiah to stay in one of the storerooms meant for storing grains to be used for sacrifice.

This was not right in two counts; firstly, Tobiah was not a jew, not to talk of being a priest who should qualify an abode in the temple. Secondly, the rooms were meant for storing items of sacrifice to God. But, Eliashib, the priest in question cleared out all these items in order to allocate the room to his buddy, Tobiah. When Nehemiah returned and heard about this, he was livid with rage and confronted Eliashib for this anomaly. He did not stop there; he also threw out all the property of Tobiah from the room and ordered that the removed items of sacrifice should be retuned there.

By so doing, Nehemiah did not only show himself capable of anger, but more importantly, he channeled his emotion into action. Confrontation is not something most people like to do, as we all do not want to appear as a difficult person. Everyone likes to be liked. However, to establish sanity and order, one must not shy away from confronting systemic and societal ills. Nehemiah demonstrated that he was not afraid to have difficult conversations or take on an authority figure when there is a cause for it.

Some secular leaders might have been wary about confronting a spiritual authority like Eliashib, thus tolerating the wrong he did. But we have read enough about Nehemiah’s forthrightness to know that he would not have any scruples about blasting the erring Eliashib and taking steps to redress the ill he had done at the hallowed temple of God.

As a leader, you must learn to translate strong feelings into action. You should also not be afraid to have difficult conversations when occasion demands for them. More so, you should not avoid a confrontation when necessary so as to set things right.

You Will Succeed in Jesus Name!

Also read:

• Nehemiah’s Leadership Playbook: Reparation
• Understanding God: God of Reproduction
• Salt, Glass of Water and the Lake
• I Came Out Without a Scratch!