We shall continue
the study of the book of Nehemiah
of the Old Testament this week.
(1) In spite of the scorn and ridicule, the people were able to continue to rebuild; in fact, they built the walls to half of its height. That means the work was 50% finished. The Bible told us the reason and that was they “worked with all their hearts” (4:6).
a. Why were they so different from before (as in Ezr. 4:4)?
b. What lesson might they have learned from the rebuilding of the temple?
c. What had Nehemiah meant to them? (Note his prayer in 4:4-5 which probably was said in public.)
(2) Though the work was only half done, the gaps were closed. What did it mean to the neighboring enemies? (Note: The description of the neighbors serves to remind us that Israel was basically surrounded on all sides by enemies.)
(3) The enemies did resolve to take real action. How did the people respond to their threat? (Note that in v. 9, Nehemiah used “we” and not “I”.)
(4) While they faced external pressure, internal troubles were also mounting. What was the internal trouble mentioned in this passage? The work had taken its toll which was just human, just natural! What do we normally do at church when the people feel tired, burned out, or, the task or burden is getting too heavy?
(5) In the meantime external threats continued and 24-hour protection was needed. What did Nehemiah do apart from posting armed guards at the lowest or still exposed points?
(6) You have the posted guards, you have workers with one hand on the sword, plus the supervisor and Nehemiah who was flagged by trumpeters―what kind of a scene was being depicted, and how may we apply it today to our spiritual warfare in the work of the Lord?
(7) From how Nehemiah handled the latest external threat, would you agree that he was a great strategist? However, have you also noticed what kind of attitude permeated his use of strategy all the time?
(8) How did he address the first internal complaint or did he?
(9) It was clear that Ezra greatly contributed to the re-establishment of the Law of Moses among the people, but Nehemiah definitely complemented him in areas that he was lacking. What might those areas be?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes, each had his weapon, even when he went for water.” (Neh. 4:23)
Under the
threat of violence from their enemies, Nehemiah devised a plan that would
safeguard the continuation of the rebuilding work and the safety of the
workers. It was quite a scene depicted
in the Bible:
“half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me.” (Neh. 4:16-18)
Such a plan revealed the wisdom of Nehemiah and the result was that the work would continue till completion and the enemies did not even try to attack them. However, through it all, Nehemiah taught his people not to rely on their own strength and he admonished them, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” (4:14)
Theirs was a real military battle as well as a spiritual battle and Nehemiah has set an example of how we, too, should fight our spiritual battle today.
Yes, our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Just the same, we should not simply go about doing the work of God’s ministry, we need to unite as one man and arm ourselves, as Paul admonishes us to do in Ephesians 6:12-18, with the full armor of God—the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit of God which is His Word. But let’s not forget the final weapon which is the source of our strength to persevere and not to be discouraged—praying in the Spirit on all occasions which marked the attitude which permeated throughout everything that Nehemiah did.
We have learned about the first internal trouble back in 4:10 and now more troubles surfaced:
(1) What was the first great outcry about in 5:2? Whose fault was it?
(2) What was the second outcry about in 5:3? Whose fault was it?
(3) What was the third outcry about in 5:4? Whose fault was it?
(4) To sum up the above outcries, what kind of social condition were the people living in?
(5) What risk was Nehemiah taking in confronting the nobles and the Jewish officials at this critical time of the rebuilding, especially in view of the violence threatened by their enemies? Why did he not wait till the work was completed before confronting them?
(6) What important lessons can we learn from him?
(7) How serious was their sin in this respect, according to vv. 7-9?
(8) It appears that even Nehemiah also lent money to the poor, but his loans to them were different. How different were they?
(9) How much were the rich charging the poor?
(10) What did Nehemiah ask them to do?
(11) Did the nobles and officials comply? Why?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against the Jewish brothers.” (Neh. 5:1)
This short period of history of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem under the leadership of Nehemiah was such a breath of fresh air. Not that there were no sins among the people, not that there were no setbacks, not that there were no internal squabbles—all these were present during the rebuilding work of the walls of the city, but there was also repentance and perhaps, even more rare, there was a great sense of mission. The latter was strangely demonstrated by the great outcries by the poor among them against the rich and the nobles.
The outcries appeared to have taken Nehemiah by surprise. He should have known about these sins of the rich and the nobles and the plight of the people. Perhaps he did, but the urgency of the task appeared to have taken over his focus. Now, the outcries of the people served to awaken even his own conscience and he knew that the task is never more important than the people, and he took immediate action to correct the injustice.
The
injustice done to these people was quite evil for these reasons:
- They had a hard time to “stay alive” (5:2): They were so poor and their resources were so depleted that they could not continue to feed their families properly anymore.
- Their plight did not begin with the rebuilding work, but presumably with a famine that happened earlier; but just the same, they had mortgaged all their lands for food.
- To add to their misery, they had to continue to pay taxes to the king (which definitely included taxes to the local governors); and worse
- As they borrowed from their rich countrymen to stay alive, the rich (like a loan shark) exacted a very high interest on the loan. They ended up having to sell their sons and daughters as slaves.
No wonder Nehemiah was furious upon hearing their outcries, both because of the gravity of the sins and also because he felt he was part of the problem as he also loaned money to the poor, although perhaps without pressing for repayment or charging a usury (5:10).
But the timing of these outcries was important. These were the people who “worked with all their hearts” to rebuild the walls of the city (4:6). That means, as poor as they were, as much as they had already mortgaged their lands, and as much as they still struggled to make ends meet, they threw themselves totally to work under Nehemiah, without complaints. In fact, their participation at the work of rebuilding only further deepened their plight, because they had taken time off work to be part of this work—to show their solidarity with God’s people and to fight for the glory of the Lord. It was only when they could no longer feed their families that they eventually had to cry out for help and they lodged their complaints with Nehemiah.
What a breath of fresh air.
(1) It is interesting to note that the peasants did not raise these problems until now. They had been totally focused on participating sacrificially to rebuild the wall, until they found themselves not being able to sustain their families any more while giving the bulk of their time to work under Nehemiah. If you were Nehemiah, would you not be asking yourself why you were not aware of these problems the whole time? Food for thought for all of us, especially those in Christian leadership!
(2) How did Nehemiah make this act of repentance binding on the rich?
(3) What was the shaking of robe about? What kind of spiritual leader would normally do this in the time of the Old Testament?
(4) What did previous governors and officials do to the people?
(5) What kind of an example was he setting before the people as a governor? How different was he from his predecessors?
(6) In having others eat at his table all the times, was he not flaunting his wealth and power? Did he have a higher purpose in so doing?
(7) How important were all these actions in not trying to deal with the outcries of the people cosmetically? How may you learn from his example?
(8) What was Nehemiah’s ultimate purpose in doing all these “good deeds” according to 5:19?
(9) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“In spite of all this, I never demanded the food allotted to the governor, because the demands were heavy on these people.” (Neh. 5:18)
It is never easy to be in a leadership position, even within the community of God’s people. Even with his above-average education (which was probably necessary to enter into the court of the king in a foreign land), backed by a royal decree to be the governor, Nehemiah’s leadership was by no means easy. He faced formidable enemies from without, and self-enriching officials and nobles from within.
We read of the outcries of the oppressed in the first part of chapter 5 — grave sins were committed against them by the “nobles and the officials” (Neh. 5:7). These sins went beyond usury that was prohibited by the Law of Moses (Exod. 22:25, Lev. 25:36), but forcing their own people to sell their sons and daughters without freeing them in the 7th year (Exod. 21:1-2).
However, it is interesting to read that once confronted by Nehemiah, these greedy nobles and officials immediately agreed to give everything back to the poor (5:12). One wonders what actually happened. For one, the authority of Nehemiah as the governor was unquestionable and he did have the Law of Moses on his side. But the loss would be very substantial for them to simply give everything back to the poor who owed them the money. Nehemiah gave us perhaps the most powerful reason for their compliance in 5:14-19, immediately following the act of repentance of these nobles and officials—Nehemiah had set an example of a life beyond reproach as the governor and that was how he led in the 12 years as the governor in the land of Judah:
- While the former governors exacted heavy taxes on the people and their assistants obviously collected even beyond what was officially imposed, Nehemiah and his officials did not eat of the food so allotted to them which does not mean there was no tax at all, but that the tax was far from being a burden to the people.
- He and his men devoted their time to the rebuilding of the wall, meaning they gave all their time to the welfare of the people, while the former governors were obviously leading a life of leisure and devoted their time to fattening themselves.
- Nehemiah further pointed out that they (some manuscripts have “I”) did not acquire any land. That means their focus was to serve and not to accumulate wealth for themselves, although they had the right to do so.
In history, we come across leaders of integrity like Nehemiah, however, Nehemiah pointed out his reason for so doing was “out of reverence for God”. In other words, the intention was not for the sake of doing good, but to please God and God alone. With such a godly example and such a godly life, he could confront the nobles and the officials to the point that they had to keep quiet, “because they could find nothing to say” (5:8).
That’s the power of a life beyond reproach!
(1) Now that the walls were rebuilt, what would it mean to the enemies if the gates were also installed?
(2) What was the first tactic that was used by the enemies in response to the almost completed work of securing the city of Jerusalem?
(3) How did Nehemiah deal with this plot, diplomatically or forcefully? Why?
(4) What was the next tactic used by the enemies? How potentially damaging was this tactic? How might you respond to it, if you were Nehemiah?
(5) Apart from rebutting the enemies’ false accusation, what did Nehemiah do?
(6) Why were the prophets or prophetesses of God willing to be hired by the enemies?
a. Did they not desire that Jerusalem be rebuilt?
b. Were they not afraid to be found out?
c. Were they not afraid of God?
d. What might be the real reason, if money was not the chief reason?
(7) What kind of trap did they set for Nehemiah? How did Nehemiah deal with it and why? What kind of an example did he set for us?
(8) What might be the reason that the neighboring nations realized that "this work had been done with the help of our God"? Would it have anything to do with their change from timidity to courage or the speed with which it was accomplished?
(9) As a footnote, Nehemiah was retelling us the internal betrayal he faced while the rebuilding project was going on (and yet the work was finally completed):
a. How influential were these people?
b. Can you imagine how exasperating it had been to Nehemiah?
c. From the accounts given in the previous chapters, can you tell how Nehemiah dealt with such a situation?
d. What might be the messages to us today concerning doing the work of God?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.” (Neh. 5:2)
As I reflected on that “breath of fresh air” about the poor in chapter 5 and how they participated in the rebuilding work of the city, setting aside their own financial plight until they could feed themselves no more, I was reminded of something that Carlo Carretto shared about the “real” poor. Allow me to share with you as follows:
“And when I thought of the poor I had met in my life, especially in recent years, it was clear that there were poor who were only poor—very sad, often angry, and certainly not blessed.
“And then again, I recalled very well, there were poor people who were quite otherwise, poor people who wore their poverty beautifully.
“Poor people who had the conviction that they were being guided by God, supported by His Presence.
“Poor people who were able to love, in spite of their sudden vexations—poor people who were patient in trial, rich in hope, strong in adversity.
“Poor people who were blessed because they could bear witness, every day, that God was present in their lives, and that He provided for them as He did for the sparrow of the sky, which possess no granaries.
“Yes, this captivated me.”
(From Guide to Prayer, 284)
This is a long passage, we shall focus on the first five verse. The rest is almost an exact copy of Ezra 2.
(1) Although the doors to the various gates were now in place, it did not mean that the threat of attack by the enemies was gone. Therefore, Nehemiah appointed, of all people, the gatekeepers, the singer and the Levites to guard the gates. What might be the reason, given the complaints lodged by the poor who presumably were the majority of the residents of the city?
(2) Now, Nehemiah appointed two persons to govern over the city: The appointment of his brother is understandable, because Nehemiah could trust him (given the ties many of the local Jewish leaders had with their enemies):
a. What was the reason he appointed Hananiah?
b. Have you come across someone in Christian leadership who fits the same description?
c. Do you fit such a description?
(3) The exiles had been returning to Jerusalem for many decades now. Why were there “few people in it”?
(4) Why did most of the returnees choose to live outside of the city (a condition that Nehemiah sought to correct, see 11:1)?
(5) If you live in a place in the US similar to Jerusalem (as in the time of Nehemiah) where there had been a massive exodus away from the inner city (called “white flight”) in the last few decades:
a. What was the reason for such a phenomenon?
b. How similar might the reasons be for the flight away from the inner city to those of the returnees of Jerusalem?
c. What did Nehemiah decide to do as a result?
d. What did Nehemiah give as the reason for so doing, according to v. 5?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
The list given here by Nehemiah was similar to the one listed in Ezra. While commentators give various reasons for the differences in the number, I believe the more logical and simpler reason is that the list in Ezra was compiled at the time of the first returnees which undoubtedly got updated over time (for the purpose of a more accurate allotment of land) before it was filed away for record purposes.
“Now the city was large and spacious but here were few people in it and the houses had not yet been rebuilt.” (Neh. 7:4)
It is a common phenomenon in the US that due to the rise of the “suburbs”, many middle and upper-middle class families vacate the inner cities of America, leaving them to rot and become crime-filled neighborhoods. Such a phenomenon has been dubbed the “white flight”.
As the Teacher in Ecclesiastes says, “There is nothing new under the sun” (1:9). The Exiles who returned to Jerusalem did exactly the same thing. As Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, only the poorest of the poor were left (2 Ki. 25:12). While most of the people were taken captive to Babylon, many also fled to Egypt (2 Ki. 25:26). After a lapse of 47 years (from 586-538 B.C.), the first batch of returnees came back under the edict of King Cyrus of Persia, and by the prompting of the Spirit of God (Ezr. 1:5).
However the growing opposition of their Gentile neighbors had not only caused them to stop the work of rebuilding the temple, but led them to shift their focus to the building of their own homes, vineyards and/or business. But, it appears the ruins of Jerusalem were not the most conducive to their endeavors, especially in the absence of a proper wall to protect them. As a result, many had chosen not to live in Jerusalem or to move away from Jerusalem to the other areas of Judah.
As Nehemiah returned, he witnessed not only the ruined walls of the city, but an inner city that nobody wished to live in. It is not too unreasonable to imagine that Jerusalem had turned into a very poor city, and the lack of residents only rendered it not only an unsafe place to live in, but also a place without the opportunity of work—not unlike many American inner cities today. A most notable example of late is the city of Detroit which is facing bankruptcy (the year is 2013).
CNN has just broadcasted an episode of Parts Unknown in which a good part of the city of Detroit was so abandoned that the host, Anthony Bourdain, compared it to Chernobyl. Although Anthony Bourdain did feature some of the rebuilding effort by people who are determined to return to the city to rebuild it—the chef, the organic farmer etc., he did not include in his report perhaps the most important sector—the Christian communities. Many Christian pastors, artists and other lay people have followed the footsteps of Nehemiah and his people to return to Detroit to reclaim the city for Christ and to give hope to the residents. It is worth quoting from some of the interviews done by Christianity Today, published in their January/February 2013 issue:
“Many Christians whom CT interviewed for the story explained their commitment to Detroit using an analogy from church history…When the plague ravaged Rome in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, inciting an exodus of citizens, many Christians rushed to care for the sick and dying, joining the many who were already there, refusing to leave.”
“'We came here because it was one of the most devastated areas', says Lisa Johanon, who decided to stay in Detroit to participate in community development after her former employer, Youth for Christ ended its ministry in Detroit in the early 1990s."
“ 'God has called me to minister to a broken city…God has not forsaken this place and neither will I', says Stacey Foster who moved from Florida to pastor a church in Detroit.”
There are many heart-warming stories in that issue on Detroit and I encourage you to go their website to read about them.
(1) It appears that Ezra’s reformation which began in 458 B.C. did not last long due to political pressure, leading to the ruin of Jerusalem. Now in the 7th month (which is the month of Tishri), one month after the completion of the wall (on 25th of Elul, the 6th month, in the 20th year of Artaxerxes, i.e. 445 B.C.), the people all assembled in Jerusalem. The first thing they did was that “They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses…”.
a. How important was the word, “they” in verse 1? (Emphasis, mine)
b. What does this bringing out of the Book of the Law signify, after perhaps 13 years since Ezra’ reformation?
(2) What does the statement, “those who were able to understand” tell us about the culture and spiritual conditions of these people?
(3) How long was Ezra’s first reading?
(4) If you had moved away from Jerusalem, say, for ten years now, and this was the first time you heard the Law being read—with the walls restored, enemies held in check and with hundreds of thousands of other people of God gathered beside you “as one man”, can you describe your feeling at the time?
(5) While scholars debate whether the Levites were translating the Law read by Ezra into the languages that these returnees from exiles could understand, or they were expounding it in Hebrew further, the important thing is that the Law was not just read as a ritual, but it needed to be understood (8:8):
a. How then does this speak to those who insist on reading the scripture in a version that is no longer understandable by the people (and especially those in the Roman Catholic Church who insist on using Latin only in their liturgy)?
b. What can your church do to make the Scriptures more understandable to the people?
c. What can you do to help yourself understand the Scriptures better?
(6) What was the result of the reading and the understanding of the Law to the people?
(7) Why should Nehemiah stop the people from mourning? Is weeping upon hearing of the Word not a sacred moment too?
(8) According to v.12, what was the basis of the joy of the people?
(9) Does the reading and understanding of the Word today bring you joy? Why or why not?
(10) What then should the mark of the worship of the Lord be?
(11) Is your Sunday worship marked by joy too? Why or why not?
(12) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
“This day is sacred to the Lord your God. Do not mourn or weep. For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law.” (Neh. 8:9)
After the completion of the walls of the city, all the people assembled as one man in Jerusalem and asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses and read it to them (Neh. 8:1).
We have no idea why the reform of Ezra in bringing back the teaching, listening to and observing the Law of Moses did not last. Perhaps, as a priest and scribe, Ezra lacked the political and military leadership that was needed at the time — the pressure from their enemies was mounting which possibly resulted in the burning down of the city. The fact was that the city of Jerusalem was left in ruin and people departed in droves to other parts of Judah. The fact also was that their departure meant that the Law of Moses was not central to their lives anymore.
What Ezra lacked was filled by Nehemiah some 13 years later, and with the walls now completely rebuilt, the people once again flocked into Jerusalem without fear, and the first thing they desired was listening to the Word of God. One cannot fail to get a sense that the people really hungered and thirsted for the Word of God, because once it was read (and more importantly understood), they wept.
Their weeping might be part of the emotion they had in being convicted of their sins. Indeed, we can have a general feeling that we have sinned, but it really takes the reading and understanding of the Word of God to deeply convict us of the gravity of our sins. This was the case with these people. This was indeed a sacred moment.
Not long ago, I heard a Christian share honestly and openly the horrible and shameful sin that he had committed. The honesty and genuineness of his confession made me immediately feel that I was on holy ground! The Holy Spirit was present!
Why then did Nehemiah and his leaders stop the people from weeping and order them to rejoice instead?
It is interesting also to note that they did not seize the chance to perform the ritual of sacrifice to “seal” their repentance. That is a great lesson for us to learn.
Sometimes, we are too obsessed with weeping and contrition as the only sign of the mighty work of the Holy Spirit. And when weeping and repentance happens, we tend to wish that it would linger for as long as it could. We enjoy sadness. We savor a heart of contrition. We like to indulge in melancholy.
But it is not the length of weeping and sadness that is important, it is its genuineness! If it is genuine, we are instantly and completely forgiven by the Lord. If we wish to linger in such sadness, it is because we want to feel good about it! It actually defeats its purpose or even lessens its genuineness. This is why Nehemiah ordered them to rejoice instead.
It is “the joy of the Lord” which is our strength (Neh. 8:10), not our weeping, sadness or even our contrition. Genuine repentance leads to genuine joy in the Lord.
(1) With this new-found joy, what did the heads of the families do on the second day?
(2) Upon this smaller setting of “giving attention” to the words of the Law (not unlike a small Bible study group), what did they discover? (see Note below)
(3) What was the original intent for observing the festival of living in booths, according to Leviticus 23:42-43?
(4) What might be the special meaning to these exiles who returned to Jerusalem to celebrate this festival of harvest by living in booths or tents?
(5) The Apostle Paul was a tent-maker and he uses tent-living as an analogy in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10 to talk about our earthly life. As we are considering this joyous occasion celebrated by the Israelites in Nehemiah 8, read also Paul’s reflection in 2 Corinthians 5:1-10:
a. Can you identify with the joy of the Israelites who now celebrated the completion of the transition from their sojourn into their permanent home in Jerusalem?
b. Are you living with a vivid sense that you are only living in transition — of tent-living only? Do you share Paul’s sentiment of tent-dwelling in your life?
c. Do you look forward to the day when your transition ends and you arrive at your permanent home in the New Jerusalem? Why or why not?
d. Can you imagine the joy that will be celebrated with on that day?
(6) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
Note:
The feast of Tabernacles was celebrated usually on the 15th of the seventh month, and so they had almost two weeks to do their preparation. While the Israelites did celebrate this festival in the past (as recent as one recorded in Ezr. 3), it appears that they had not celebrated it since the time of Joshua, with living in booths as a whole congregation as instructed in Exod. 23:16; 34:22; Lev. 23:33-43, Deut. 16:13-15; Num. 29:12-38.
“The whole company that had returned from exile built booths and lived in them.” (Neh. 8:17)
The timing of the completion of the walls of Jerusalem was not accidental. It fell in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, the month in which they should celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.
Leviticus 23:42-43 explains the reason for the setting up of tents to celebrate this festival: “Live in booths for seven days. All native-born Israelites are to live in booths so your descendants will know that I had the Israelites lived in booths when I brought them out of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.”
This provision was laid down to ensure that future generations would not take their harvest, their vineyards and comfortable living for granted. They were supposed to be slaves, without freedom and without their own place. It was the Lord their God who had mercy on them and used His mighty hand to bring their forefathers out of Egypt. However, their forefathers did not enjoy what they now had. They lived in tents for forty years in the wilderness. The fact that they now lived in houses bears witness to the faithfulness and power of the Lord, their God.
Therefore, as these people who were in exile once, built booths on their roofs (for those who lived in Jerusalem), in open squares (for those who lived outside of Jerusalem) and in the courts of the temple (for the priests and Levites), “their joy was very great” (Neh. 8:17).
This remind us of our present tent-living in this earthly life in which “we groan and are burdened” (2 Co. 5:4) by our sicknesses, weaknesses and sins. But far greater joy awaits us when we live in the New Jerusalem as we end our earthly tent-living within this decaying body. Indeed, “For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us as eternal glory that far outweighs them all” (2 Co. 5:5; 4:17).
Let’s not get too comfortable in this earthly tent which will disappear soon, nor should we be bogged down in spirit over our trials and tribulations. Far greater joy is awaiting us!