The Book of Nehemiah: Introduction
Please refer to the Preface to the Book of Ezra (Scriptural Reflection Ezra 1:1-4) in Year 2 Week 45 Day 309 for information concerning the authorship and historical background to the book of Nehemiah. While the prophets Haggai and Zechariah succeeded in encouraging the people to resume and finally complete the rebuilding of the temple by 516 B.C., and Ezra returned in 458 B.C. to restore the teaching and observance of the Law of Moses, it appeared that relentless political opposition from their neighbors had ruined the city of Jerusalem, with its walls burned down, and many returnees from the exile had chosen to move away from the city. It was in the year 445 B.C. in the 20th year of Artaxerxes that God moved Nehemiah, a trusted personal attendant to the king (as a cup-bearer) to return to rebuild the city itself (and was appointed governor of Judea), and to seal a national commitment to return to truly practice the Law of Moses as their national religious, civil and moral code of Law.
(1) After a period of 141 years after the fall of Jerusalem, Nehemiah would be a 3rd or 4th generation foreign born Jew serving in the court of the Persian King.
a. Spend a moment to put yourself in his shoes, and try to get a sense of his cultural, religious and educational makeup as a, say, 4th generation foreign born Jew.
b. Why then would he be so concerned about both the remnant and the city of Jerusalem?
(2) Within the comfort and luxury of the court of the king, how did Nehemiah react to the news of his people and his hinterland?
(3) Have you ever wept, mourned, fasted and prayed before God? What was it about?
(4) There were several great prayers recorded in this book. Let’s reflect on this prayer of Nehemiah in greater detail:
a. Adoration (v. 5): How did he address the Lord? What was his emphasis?
b. Petition (v. 6a): Judging from his prayer, can you get a sense of whether he prayed for Jerusalem only after the news he just heard, or it had been his habit to pray for his people and his homeland?
c. Confession (vv. 6b-7): How special was his confession?
d. Confidence (vv. 8-10): In spite of their sins, where did Nehemiah find his confidence in pleading to the Lord? (Note that vv. 8-9 was a rather free but accurate quote from Deut. 30:1-4.)
e. Petition (v. 11): It is likely that through his fasting and praying for “some days” (1:4), that Nehemiah had arrived at a decision. Before acting on it, he now laid it before the Lord. From the way Nehemiah approached his decision, what can you learn from him, especially in this petition?
(5) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Although a cup-bearer was not a high-ranking officer in the court, he was nonetheless a very personal attendant to the king, and one that would have earned the complete trust of the king. How then could a foreigner hold such a position? What might this say about the person or character of Nehemiah?
(2) Do you think Nehemiah purposely looked sad before the king? Why or why not?
(3) The king’s question was obviously God’s answer to his prayer. Why then was Nehemiah afraid when asked by the king?
(4) What was Nehemiah’s reply? Why would he think that the king should care about the city where “his fathers were buried”?
(5) Upon being asked by the king about what he wanted, why did Nehemiah feel the need to pray (likely in his heart) at that time? Did he not pray about it for days already?
(6) How improbable was his request? Did he just blurt it out or was it premeditated?
(7) The king’s reply was a favorable one:
a. Why did the king set a time limit?
b. How long a time did Nehemiah request? (See 5:14)
(8) What else did Nehemiah ask of the king?
a. How does it reflect the risks associated with such a mission?
b. How does it reflect the political leadership potential of Nehemiah?
(9) Throughout this book, Nehemiah repeatedly attributed his success to the gracious hand of God. In these eight verses, how many different times can you detect the working of the gracious hand of God?
(10) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
It may be helpful to understand that Artaxerxes’ reign was marked by instability. First was the revolt of his own brother at the beginning of his reign, followed by an Egyptian revolt in 460 B.C. and the rebellion in 455 B.C. by a satrap in the Trans-Euphrates region. Therefore an armed escort for Nehemiah was a necessity. According to extra-biblical documents, Sanballat the Horonite was the governor of Samaria. However, it was unclear as to what kind of an official Tobiah was. In any case, v. 10 sets the tone for the kind of political opposition that awaited Nehemiah.
(1) Why did Nehemiah choose to inspect the city for himself at night?
(2) Why did he choose to hide his plan from even the priests or any of the Jewish nobles or officials?
(3) What kind of condition did Nehemiah find Jerusalem in?
(4) What was the response of the people upon his call to rebuild the city? Why would they respond positively given the opposition they had experienced in the past?
(5) The adversaries of Israel were successful back in Ezra 4:12. Now knowing Nehemiah had the backing of the king, what tactic did they use to frighten the people?
(6) How did Nehemiah respond to their ridicule and threat? How special was it?
(7) Why didn’t Nehemiah appeal to the king’s authority?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
As a devotional reflection, we will not concern ourselves with the exact location of the various gates, not to mention that “after the lapse of so many centuries, during which great changes have been made in the positions of the gates and walls” (Bertheau), and “how little has been discovered in Jerusalem from the Persian period” (Avigad), any determination would only be speculation:
(1) Nehemiah began the work (or at least the description of the work) with mentioning the high priest. What might be the significance of this?
(2) What does the remark about the nobles of the men of Tekoa indicate in v. 5?
(3) What does the mentioning of perfume makers and goldsmiths indicate?
(4) What does the mentioning of the help of Shallum’s daughters indicate in v. 12?
(5) What other descriptions caught your attention?
(6) From your reading of this passage, what impression do you get from this list of walls, the various participants and some of their backgrounds?
(7) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?
(1) Why do you think Sanballat, the governor of Samaria, was so upset with the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem?
(2) Sanballat was mocking the Jews with five questions. What was he trying to achieve? (See if each question carried some kind of significance.)
(3) What impact, do you think, did Sanballat’s ridicule together with that of his ally, Tobiah, have on the Jews? Should they even be bothered by their ridicule?
(4) Presumably Nehemiah took their ridicule seriously:
a. How did he respond to their ridicule?
b. What did he ask God to do?
c. Should he have bothered with their ridicule? Why or why not?
(5) Did their ridicule have any impact on the people and the rebuilding work? Why or why not?
(6) It is believed that the Arabs moved into the southern part of Transjordan in Persian times, the Ammonites resided to the east of Israel, the Ashdodites were their western neighbors and the Samaritans were their northern neighbor. With these geographical locations in mind, what kind of a situation do vv. 7-8 depict?
(7) What actions did Nehemiah and the people take, as a result?
(8) What is the main message to you today and how may you apply it to your life?