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OK, so in past postings we 1) saw Israel and Judah go into exile for their sins, 2) saw Israel and Judah return from exile after 70 years, and 3) the Temple being rebuilt. But the city of Jerusalem itself was still largely in ruins. The book and story of Nehemiah tells about this last piece of Judea’s restoration from the disaster of God’s punishment, the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls.

Who was Nehemiah?

Nehemiah was the cup bearer to the king of Persia, Artaxerxes I, about 90 years after the Persians had allowed the exiles to return to Judea. Cup bearers held a unique position with any king: they were almost always in the king’s presence (you never know when you might get thirsty), they were highly trusted servants (you didn’t want to be poisoned), and you might get into casual (personal) conversations with the king between appointments. Cup bearers would not be advisors, but they 1) had unique access to the king’s ear, and 2) the king would often come to know them as a friend.

Why is this important? The story itself begins with Nehemiah hearing reports from fellow-Jews returning from Judea about the continuing ruined state of the city of Jerusalem, the center of Jewish religion and national pride. “They said to me, ‘The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.’” (Nehemiah 1:3). This moved Nehemiah to heart-broken prayer for rebuilding the city of Jerusalem.

Great courage to take on a great project

A few months later, an opportunity came to Nehemiah, when the king asked why Nehemiah’s face was sad. Nehemiah explained the situation of his homeland’s capital city and when the king asked what he could do, Nehemiah silently uttered a prayer to God and asked the king for permission to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. The king asked how long the project would take, and Nehemiah gave him a definite time frame and asked for credentials to travel through the various provinces and kingdoms of the Persian empire and  permission to use local materials for building. Through God’s blessing, the king granted Nehemiah everything he asked for plus a small unit of army officers and horsemen for protection.

Great opposition

When Nehemiah arrived in Judea, he presented the king’s letters, credentials, and permissions to the local authorities. However, the local authorities were not particularly happy that anyone had come to help out the local Jews. Seeing their displeasure, Nehemiah acted wisely. After arriving and probably taking care of official business, Nehemiah took a night-time tour and survey of the ruined walls of Jerusalem, so the enemies of this project wouldn’t know. After the survey, Nehemiah formulated a plan and called the local Jews together to tell them about it. They all agreed wholeheartedly and committed themselves to this good work.

The Gentile authorities of the area were expectedly upset and even accused Nehemiah of rebelling against the king. But despite their resistance and displeasure Nehemiah and the Jews of Judea went forward with the plan Nehemiah had formulated.

A great plan

What was the plan? Essentially, it was to first set up the city gates, and then assign rebuilding sections of the wall to the people who lived nearest to them. In this plan, your experience, your vocational skills, nor your place in life were taken into consideration. Men from every walk of life put their hands to the work with enthusiasm; their motivation was to build the wall near their house as strong and as quickly as possible.

Great zeal and accomplishment

Their Gentile enemies tried to distract them with threats, ridicule, and attacks, hoping to stop the work or delay it enough that Nehemiah would have to leave the work unfinished. Nehemiah, however, simply called upon the workmen to go on with the work, even if it meant holding a tool in one hand and a sword in the other. But it was not a matter of forced labor, the Scriptures tell us, (Nehemiah 4:6) “…the people had a mind to work.” Everyone—Nehemiah, nobles, craftsmen, everyone—pitched in; and due to the plan, the zeal of the workers, and the blessings of God, they finished the wall around the city in an amazing 52 days! That’s less than 2 months! Their enemies lost all their confidence, since it was clear that the work had been accomplished by the help of God.

Great restoration

The completion of the wall became an impetus to restoring other important things, too. Ezra read the law on the following Rosh Hashanah, all the people celebrated the Feast of Booths, confessed their sins before God, recommitted themselves and their families to faithfulness to God, and dedicated the wall which they had built. Nehemiah also reformed the poor stewardship of the Temple, restored Sabbath observances against traders and merchants who wanted to do business on the sacred day of rest, and stood firm against the intermarriage with Gentiles, which had begun to sprout up again.

Things to think about…

  • The story of Nehemiah’s story and great success could be summarized this way: Great motivation, great prayer, great courage, great planning, great zeal, great example, great accomplishment, great faithfulness. Is this a formula that could be used today in doing great things for God?
  • What happens when people “have a mind to work”? What happens when they don’t?
  • What do you think of the strategy of giving people the responsibility for building the wall in front of their own houses? Could this work in sharing the Gospel by giving Christians the responsibility of their neighborhoods?