Category: Nehemiah

Throughout scripture there are a number of prayers. The largest collection of them, of course, is in the Psalms. Some simply are parts of collections of prayers and serve as examples of how God’s people have prayed throughout time. Others, particularly those in the historical narratives, serve a variety of other purposes. They can underscore the character of the Pray-er. They can also tell us something about the God who has been prayed to.

Four particular prayers in the historical narratives have something in common: they are prose prayers of confession and specifically use the word “confession” in their presentation. Each of these tells us something about the God being worshipped.

One of those prayers is in Nehemiah 9. You see there the long-suffering of God is emphasized. On the basis of this long-suffering, the Jews determine to renew their covenant with the Lord in chapter 10.

You would think, given some of the ethical problems presented in the book thus far, that their promises would include commitments not to steal or gossip or oppress one another. They do not. Instead, the promises have to do with the religious activities of Israel: to maintain religious purity, observe the sabbath and laws about sacrifices and offerings and, in general, a promise to keep the religion of Israel alive.

Put in modern (and Christian) terms, the promises are like committing to not marry non-Christians, attend church each Sunday, give generously to support the works of the church, observe the Lord’s Supper, and make sure the church is taking care of the poor, and keep the building clean and the bathrooms sufficiently stocked with paper towels and soap.

None of these things typically rank high on our scale of Christian “duties.” Why were they so important to Israel? We could answer that this is an example of people who had their priorities wrong, or folks who were committed, but didn’t know how to be committed.

But that’s not the presentation here. These people understand that the focus of their lives is held in place by a proper response to worship, and corporate worship at that. Notice that this renewal of commitment is not an individual renewal, but a community-wide renewal undertaken by the leaders in behalf of those they led. It is a corporate affirmation of dedication. When the body of Christ is inattentive to the religion of the body, the parts of the body will forget they are first and foremost a community, that they are the community of God, and that they have responsibilities as a community to serve the Lord. Church is where these ideals are affirmed and reaffirmed, in rituals specified by God.

In Ezra 4 we noted the opposition of surrounding nations to the rebuilding of Jerusalem during the time of Darius (ruled 522 – 486 B.C.). Then, in the same chapter, we learn that this persecution and opposition continued well into the reign of Artaxerxes (ruled 465 – 424 B.C.).

Rebuilding Jerusalem, at least the wall anyway, was forbidden by the royal decree of the Persians. It continued to the 20th year of Artaxerxes (445 B.C.) when Nehemiah was specifically commissioned to get the work done. But even royal decree couldn’t insure against conflict.

Sanballet was the governor of Samaria. Tobiah is a powerful figure in the region of Ammon. Geshem is the ruler of Moab, Edom and parts of Arabia extending toward Egypt. Jerusalem and Judah is virtually encircled and these men exerted powerful influence among the Jews. Tobiah had married the daughter of Shecaniah, whose identity is somewhat obscure. The name is one of the priestly divisions created by David as well as the name of a priest during the days of Hezekiah. His son also married the daughter of Meshullam who was also likely related to the Levites. These connections help explain how he could have access to a storage room in the temple (see Nehemiah 13).

The pressure on Nehemiah must have been great. Four times these men, with military armies at their disposal, sent him “orders” to meet them at the plain of Ono, half way between Jerusalem and Samaria– which Nehemiah refused.

Sanballet then sends an unsealed letter, calculated to feed the curiosity of the messengers and be spread throughout the area, stirring up trouble for Nehemiah. Shemiah, possibly also of the priestly family, tried to scare Nehemiah into taking refuge in the temple to avoid assassination. Nehemiah, not being a priest, would have committed sacrilege by doing so (remember King Uzziah – 2 Chronicles 26:16ff).

Nehemiah focused on the task at hand and refused to be deterred. The result was the completion of the wall of Jerusalem in fifty-two days.

We cannot always be guaranteed the protection Nehemiah received during these difficult times, but the lesson here is not that if we are followers of the Lord nothing bad will happen to us. The message is that we must be followers of the will of God even if bad things could happen to us as a result.

As we come to the end of Nehemiah – and in just a bit, the Old Testament – I am struck by the question: “How do you get people to be obedient to God?”

Ezra seems to have been a reticent fellow, but highly respected. When he heard about Israel’s intermarriage with the Canaanites, he pulled the hair from his own head and beard, tore his clothes, sat down appalled and prayed. His actions had only moderate success, for the people were at least embarrassed and repented.

Their repentance however was not whole-hearted. A generation later, they were guilty of the same things again – and even more. They used the temple of the lord as a storage rental facility, refused to support the Levites so that the work of worship in the temple could be carried on, and once again intermarried with non-Israelites. Nehemiah was not inclined to do himself harm to get people to change, so he pulled out the hair from the heads and beards of the offenders. But it didn’t change things.

You can make people sit in the broiling sun outside the city gate to force them to keep the Sabbath, but that won’t make them Sabbath observers. In the end, the only way to effect real change is to change people’s hearts. God will attempt to do this by sending Jesus to die in behalf of mankind, but it will not be a rousing success. In the end though, that’s the secret. When you change people’s hearts, you change their lives. It’s really the only way.

In the seventh month of the year, the law prescribed an assembly to observe the “Feast of Trumpets.” Ezra used that occasion to read before the people the law of the Lord – which made them sad because they recognized how greatly they had failed to live up to it.

In their second day of Bible study, Ezra got to the part of observing the Feast of Tabernacles and, realizing how long it had been since such a feast had been observed, preparations were made for it. It was to be a week-long affair, but the revival meeting didn’t end on time. Some were so engrossed in what they were learning that they stayed beyond the twenty-second day. Considering all they had been through, it seemed an appropriate time to renew their commitment to God.

In Chapter nine, we have the preamble of their commitment. It rehearses Israel’s past to their present time, and in reading it several things are striking. First, it mentions nothing of the sins of the worshipers. It mostly refers to the sins of their forefathers. They are not saying: ‘our forefathers were bad, but we are not.’ They were connecting their lives to those of their forefathers. They recognized Israel’s status as a community.

Christian people are prone to “beginning anew” far too often. Churches split and new groups are formed (note the proliferation of “Bible” churches that maintain a distinction from their theological forebears). But we all have a common heritage, and no matter the failings of previous generations, we are one with them and we are who we are because of them. We cannot begin without their influence – which is why we so often fall back into the sins of old. We never learned their lessons.

But second, notice how God is described. He is the life-giving creator, the covenant maker and promise keeper. He is the compassionate deliverer and benevolent law-giver – all traits that show up in how He treats sinful Israel.

On the basis of what they know about God, and what they know about their past and present, Israel is moved to repentance and making a new commitment to God (chapter ten).

It took fifty-two days for the workers to complete restoring the wall around Jerusalem, but it wasn’t an easy build – for a variety of reasons. First, there was the opposition from surrounding nations. Despite that fact that Artaxerxes had given his approval and obvious support, leading figures outside of Israel determined to stop the building. Second, surprisingly, there was the opposition of the leaders of Israel. The previous generation had come from Babylon to begin afresh and carve out for themselves success in a new land – at least, new to them. They had succeeded through hard work and careful alliances with non-Jewish neighbors around them. They did not want to risk their positions and fortunes by upsetting the balance of power. Those who succeeded most wanted the least to do with the building (note that the nobles had refused to be involved in chapter three).

Then, there was the sheer difficulty of the work itself. Not only were they trying to do things outside their skill level (note the participation of goldsmiths – jewelers – women and priests), but they built with one hand and carried a weapon against attack with another. Finally, in building, it took people away from their normal jobs when many of them were living “hand to mouth” already.

The complaint comes in chapter five from those working diligently, but who have mortgaged everything they have just to stay in business. And they have mortgaged their assets to the more successful – politicians and businessmen – who have, in turn, seized their assets by loaning money at such high interest rates that the debtors cannot pay.

You can’t say, “it’s just business.” In Israel, no one was allowed to take advantage of another’s misfortune. Not even the land could be sold forever. Every seventh year, it had to be returned to its original owner. We look at this today and note that it violates our ideas of a free-market economy, but this economic way of thinking is not God’s. God is most concerned that the needy are cared for – and that the rich care for them. Nehemiah is a delightful example. As governor, he was not a “taker.” He was a “giver.”