The Mixed Multitude by Pastor Darrell Johns

We are familiar with the man Nehemiah through the Old Testament book that bears his name. Because of his heroic sacrifice and great leadership in spite of opposition, the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 54 short days. Although the reconstruction of the walls of that sacred city was a monumental feat, the spiritual revival that Nehemiah initiated was even more profound.

The revival described in the book of Nehemiah was the result of a commitment to obey the Word of God at any cost. There was such intense spiritual hunger among the children of Israel that hours were spent confessing sins, reading the Word and worshipping God. (See Nehemiah 9:1-3.)

The thirteenth chapter of Nehemiah documents one unexpected revelation during this time: the understanding that Israel had been living in disobedience to the Word of God by allowing the mixed multitude to dwell among them. An analysis of the history of this mixed multitude and the background of this edict imposed by the Lord can teach several lessons to the modern-day apostolic church.

The first mention of the mixed multitude was during Israel’s exodus from Egypt. While there is some conjecture about the exact identity of this mixed multitude, The Pulpit Commentary gives three possibilities: “Kalisch supposes that these strangers were native Egyptians, anxious to escape the tyranny of the kings. Canon Cook suggests that they were ‘remains of the old Semitic population’ of the Eastern provinces. Perhaps it is more probable that they consisted of fugitives from other subject races (as the Shartana) oppressed by the Pharaohs.” [i]

It is possible that the mixed multitude was a combination of several people groups. One thing is certain; whoever they were, they were not Israelites. Perhaps the mixed multitude applied blood to their houses during the Passover, or they may have awoken to the discovery of a dead firstborn son on the dawn of Israel's deliverance. Either way they must have been impressed by the plaques God poured out on Egypt. They surely acknowledged the powerlessness of the gods worshipped by the Egyptians, as they were eyewitnesses to the ten plagues. From the water being turned to blood to the death of the first-born, the Lord’s judgment on Egypt was overwhelming. (See Exodus 7:14-25 and Exodus 11:1-12.)

Whatever their reason, they chose to join themselves with Israel as they fled Egypt. It is clear that the mixed multitude was ready to celebrate their freedom from slavery, but they were not willing to embrace a love and loyalty for the God who delivered them. For many years after the Exodus, the mixed multitude was a hindrance to the people of God.

Soon after exiting Egypt with Israel the Bible says, “The mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting” (Numbers 11:4). The spirit of the mixed multitude reeked of carnality, wanting flesh to eat, while rejecting the simple diet designed by the Deliverer.

The attitude of the mixed multitude seems to mirror those who profess to be Christians while still having an unregenerate nature. We may compare the mixed multitude to those who attach themselves to the church because of its benefits, while refusing to commit to Christ. The reality is that they will never have the same values as those who have a truly converted spiritual nature.

In the story of Nehemiah, Israel was beginning the journey to their homeland after seven decades of captivity in Babylon. Centuries had passed since the mixed multitude had caused damage to the church in the wilderness. Before his death, Moses expressly commanded the people to forever forbid the Ammonites and Moabites from becoming a part of their congregation. This edict was put into place because of the Ammonites and Moabites refusal to help Israel when they came out of Egypt. To add insult to injury, they hired the false prophet, Balaam, to prophesy against Israel. (See Deuteronomy 23:4-6 and Numbers 22.) Now, once again, Israel had allowed the mixed multitude to corrupt the purity of their relationship with Jehovah.

The effect of the mixed multitude on Israel was costly and damaging. Israel lost their sacrifice, their reverence, and their identity. These three areas of backsliding were attributed, at least in part, to the presence of the mixed multitude. The influence of the modern day mixed multitude is equally as costly.

Loss of Sacrifice

Mahatma Gandhi, once the Prime Minister of India, said that seven things would destroy a nation: wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, knowledge without character, commerce without morality, business without ethics, science without humanity, politics without principle, and religion without sacrifice.

The Bible records the following story regarding the loss of sacrifice in the Temple of God: “And before this, Eliashib the priest, having the oversight of the chamber of the house of our God, was allied unto Tobiah: And he had prepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meat offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the corn, the new wine, and the oil, which was commanded to be given to the Levites, and the singers, and the porters; and the offerings of the priests” (Nehemiah 13:4-5).

Eliashib, the priest, was related to Tobiah, an Ammonite. To accommodate Tobiah, Eliashib combined several rooms of the Temple, converting them into living quarters for Togiah. This alone was unthinkable. Worse was the fact that the rooms Tobiah occupied were designed and built to store the sacrifices of worship to the Lord. These sacrifices provided income for the Levites and priests. Israel allowed an arch enemy, Tobiah, to take up residence in the house of the Lord, displacing sacrifice. With no room to store sacrifices, there was no provision for the ministry. The Levites were forced out of the ministry and returned to their hometowns to work. (See Nehemiah 13:1-14.) As they were to learn, the loss of sacrifice is more expensive than the cost of sacrifice.

The mixed multitude had no concept of the need for sacrifice. They never will. Sacrifice must always be in the heart of the church. The church was purchased by the sacrifice of the blood of Jesus Christ. Our foundation of apostles and prophets is stained with the sacrifice of martyrs’ blood. This gospel was spread throughout the world by the sacrificial giving of people like the Macedonians, who gave themselves and their financial resources in a great trial of affliction and a time of deep poverty. (See 2 Corinthians 8:2.)

Nehemiah did not take the loss of sacrifice sitting down. His scathing rebuke to the elders (whose responsibility it was to organize the offerings) was in the form of a question, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” (Nehemiah 13:11).

He evicted Tobiah from the Temple and threw his furnishings out into the street. Then Nehemiah restored the Temple area to its original use, organizing the distribution of the offerings. He brought the Levites and priests back into service to do the work of the Lord.

Genuine revival will always be accompanied by a spirit of sacrificial giving of ourselves and our money. In fact, sacrificial giving is a catalyst to revival. Whatever is occupying the place of sacrifice in your life must be removed so that true sacrifice and ministry can be restored.

Loss of Reverence

In the fourth commandment, the Lord decreed that Israel should “Honor the Sabbath day to keep it Holy” (Exodus 20:8). Greed caused the people to profane the Sabbath by working, buying and selling. They were treading out winepresses, bringing in sheaves and other goods, and conducting business on the Sabbath. As a result, they also lost their testimony, by allowing the merchants and sellers to come into the city on the Sabbath. (See Nehemiah 13:15-22.) The materialistic Jews and the mixed multitude thought they could squeeze out a little more income by adding another day to their work week.

Their lack of reverence was also a lack of trust. The Lord promised to provide for them if they would obey His commandment to honor a day of rest. Nehemiah reacted by closing down the city on the evening of the Sabbath, shutting the gates and sending the non-Jewish salesmen packing. Some defied Nehemiah’s order once or twice. He told them to obey or be permanently evicted. Nehemiah brought reverence back to Jerusalem and with that reverence came a revived people.

In the New Testament we do not keep a literal Sabbath, but we still show reverence for the things of God. True reverence for God is a key to revival, for reverence honors God.

Loss of Identity

The mixed multitude that had been allowed to live among the Israelites did exactly what their name implies. They mixed themselves into the nation of Israel, diluting their spiritual potency. In Jerusalem's backslidden condition, they had married heathen wives. The interaction and intermarriage of Israel with ungodly peoples led to a falling away from truth and commitment to the Lord.

Here is the account given by Nehemiah: “In those days also saw I Jews that had married wives of Ashdod, of Ammon, and of Moab: And their children spake half in the speech of Ashdod, and could not speak in the Jews' language, but according to the language of each people” (Nehemiah 13:23).

Many of the children from these marriages, possibly as many as half of them, could not speak the Hebrew language, but spoke the language of their heathen mothers. As a result, the children born of these mixed marriages could not be educated in the Word of God. The very foundation of their faith, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord," was written and taught in the Hebrew language (Deuteronomy 6:4). The hope of hearing the words of life was gone because spiritually drifting Hebrew men married into a mixed multitude.

With the loss of Israel’s identity, Nehemiah was pushed to radical action. He pronounced a curse on those living in disobedience. He actually smote them and pulled out their hair. He made them commit that they would not make the same mistake with their children that they had made in their own lives.

When Nehemiah saw Israel’s departure from the faith, he recalled the backsliding of Solomon and brought it before the people: “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God, and God made him king over all Israel: nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin” (Nehemiah 13:26).

We cannot allow such a problem to dilute the power of the apostolic church. We must imprint our young people with an apostolic Identity. We are not merely trying to preserve a culture - we are “earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3).

Ministers and parents should ask themselves a few questions about the identity of their children: Are your children doctrinally literate? Do they know what they believe and why they believe it? Do they relate to a move of the Spirit? Do your children understand holiness? Are they fluent in the gifts of the Spirit? Do your children speak the “language” of the church?

We cannot allow a generation to lose their apostolic identity. We must keep the purity of the church, lest it be diluted and absorbed into the world around us. If we lose our identity, we are just a generation away from nominal religion.

The mixed multitude wants to be part of the church for the blessing, but do not step forward when called upon to sacrifice. They refuse the balance of discipline along with their blessing. They want to be delivered from crisis, but not discipled to Christ. They don’t want trouble in the world, but they reject truth in the church.

The mixed multitude represents a spiritual condition of people who are of the church but not in the church. They accompany true Israel, without being partakers of the Divine nature and walking in the Spirit. They are the dead branches on the vine and the tares that grow among the wheat. (See John 15:6; Matthew 13:24-30.)

While the church should open its doors wide to the lost, we must make sure that we do not compromise the new birth message. We cannot disciple an unconverted person. It takes the Acts 2:38 experience to make a new creation in Christ Jesus. (2 Corinthians 5:17.) We need to preach true repentance; a change of heart, mind and life direction; away from sin and toward God. We must not compromise baptism in Jesus’ name for the remission of sins. We cannot compromise the necessity of the infilling of the Holy Ghost, with the initial evidence of speaking in tongues as the Spirit gives the utterance. Beyond the new birth, we must emphasize total commitment to Jesus Christ as a way of life.




This article was written by Pastor Darrell Johns and printed in the June 2008 edition of the Pentecostal Herald. Thanks to Bro. Johns for allowing me to post this on our website.

[1] The Pulpit Commentary, Electronic Database. Copyright © 2001, 2003 by Biblesoft, Inc. All rights reserved.