Nehemiah
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- Introductory Matters
- Nehemiah the man
- A cupbearer to Artaxerxes - typically in Persia a cupbearer was a
young and trusted official (2:1)
- Requested the king allow him to go to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, especially the walls
and gates (2:5-6)
- Some argument as to his authority - was he primarily a building
contractor (2:5) or did his authority extend to civil matters as a governor as well
(5:14-15)? - her certainly involved himself in civil and religious matters and thought of
himself as governor
- Served two terms - first term was 12 years, second term was of
unknown length
- Breathed new life into Jerusalem and the people
- Ezra-Nehemiah
- Originally Ezra-Nehemiah was one book
- Origen separated the two books in the 3rd century C.E. as did Jerome in the 4th century C.E.
- Hebrew Bibles did not separate the two until 15th century
C.E.
- Date of the book - 400-300 B.C.E.
- Probably written or at least edited by the Chronicler
- Chronology of Ezra and
Nehemiah
- Message of the Book
- Rebuilding Jerusalem's walls (1:1-6:19)
- Hearing of the sad condition of Jerusalem's walls and gates, Nehemiah
asked Artaxerxes to allow him to go to Jerusalem to coordinate the rebuilding - he also
asked for and received letters for permission to get building supplies
- Why rebuild the walls?
- To create a defendable city - perhaps this is why those who were
opposed to Nehemiah were so strong in their opposition - if they were inhabitants of
Jerusalem, they might have feared that a wall would make the Persians believe Jerusalem
was preparing to rebel and declare its independence (2:19) - if they were other officials
in other towns (4:2) they might have feared the Persian king was preparing to make
Jerusalem a separate province and they would lose jurisdiction over it
- To create higher morale - as long as Jerusalem was surrounded by the
ruins of a wall, it would be difficult for the city to recapture its past glory -
inhabitants would have been disheartened - a city wall would begin to restore the city and
pride in the city and God
- Enemies moved from taunting the rebuilding project (4:1-5) to
planning an attack on the builders (4:7-9)
- Nehemiah always had half of his work force armed and on guard - the
other half worked while holding a weapon - his strategy worked and the enemies were afraid
to attack
- Economic reforms (5:1-19)
- Abolished the charging of interest on loans - the interest was
becoming a heavy burden on many people and was slowing the rebuilding of the community and
economy - charging interest to fellow Israelites had also been forbidden by God (Exod.
22:25, Lev. 25:36)
- Nehemiah did not demand what former governors had demanded of the
people for their food needs - he fed himself and 150 others
- Enemies offered a peaceful meeting but Nehemiah saw treachery in it
and refused to come - the enemies hired a prophet to prophesy Nehemiah's death - Nehemiah
did not believe him
- Wall was completed in 52 days - enemies were afraid realizing God had
accomplished this work
- List of those who returned (7:1-73)
- Renewing the covenant (8:1-10:39)
- Ezra read the law before the people from
early morning to midday - Ezra made sure the law was also explained so the people
understood (8:1-8)
- The law was the completed Pentateuch or perhaps a collection of laws
from the Torah or perhaps the Book of Deuteronomy - no one can be sure
- Celebration of the Feast of Tabernacles or Booths (8:13-18)
- Ezra offered a beautiful prayer rehearsing God's graciousness from
Abraham's time to the present while at the same time enumerating the people's rebellion
(9:6-37)
- The people then renewed their covenant with God (10:1-39)
- List of those who lived in Jerusalem (11:1-12:26)
- Dedication of the wall (12:27-47)
- Continued reforms (13:1-31)
- Removed Tobiah the Ammonite from his Temple living quarters since
Ammonites and Maobites were forbidden to enter the Temple (Deut. 23:3-5) - Jews also
separated themselves from the foreigners living among them (13:1-9)
- Ensured the Levites received their portions so they had enough to eat
(13:10-14)
- Enforced the cessation of working and selling on the Sabbath
(13:15-22)
- Dealt with marriages to non-Jewish women (13:23-27)
- Like Ezra, Nehemiah was incensed by those Jews who had married
non-Jewish wives
- Why so harsh toward these mixed faith marriages?
- Intermarriage had caused problems for Israel all the way back to
Solomon's time (1 Kings 11:1-8) - this sin had led to the eventual destruction of both
Israel and Judah - Nehemiah had no intention of allowing history to repeat itself
- Certainly some of the Jewish spouses could have converted their
spouses to faith in God - for Nehemiah this was a great risk to take and one that would
take time - in the meantime more harm than good might come
- In addition, many of the children of these mixed faith marriages
could not speak or read Hebrew - the faith was in danger of coming to an end if parents
could not pass the words and God's will down to their children
- Nehemiah became quite physical as he remonstrated with the people -
he argued, cursed, beat, and pulled hair out of their heads - no one can doubt that
Nehemiah found the problem to be serious!
- He made the people promise not to allow their sons or daughters to
marry outside the Jewish faith
- Nehemiah got rid of a priest who was related by marriage to Sanballat
who had caused so much trouble (13:28-29)
- Summary of his reforms (13:30-31)
- Nehemiah was passionate in his faith and his love for Jerusalem
Artwork by C. F. Vos from the Bible Picture Library of Photo Art
(c) Christian Computer Art, 1994-97
