Nehemiah 10 - Commited to the Lord

10:1-39

Israel, under Nehemiah, had decided to confess their sins and to commit themselves to the Lord. This commitment was made more certain by having it sealed. So in this chapter we get  a list of all those who sealed this commitment. Nehemiah is the first mentioned, the list that follows is presumably a list of officials. This is followed byLevites and priests., then the “leaders of the people”. There was a  mass binding of themselves to the Lord. two particular ordinances of the law are highlighted. One is not marrying non-Jews, and the other is the observance of the Sabbath, including the sabbath years and jubilees. They had not been doing this, so the exile had ensured that the land would get its sabbath rest. It is estimated that the seventy years in exile would account for the sabbath years the land had filed to have.

“We will not neglect the house of God” sums up the whole process. The people had seriously committed themselves to God.

Nehemiah 9:1-38 - Recommittment to the Lord

9:1-38

Fasting, sackcloth and ashes was a traditional way of expressing repentance. So the Israelites gathered to express their repentance, both for themselves and for their ancestors. Mingling with, and marrying foreigners was one of their sins. They read from the Law, confessed their sins and worshipped the Lord. Not marrying non-Christians is still a good recommendation for Christians.  The objection may be that by doing so they may bring the unbelieving person to faith. Sometimes this may happen, but more often than not it is the other way round. The Levites led the people in worship, the worship recounted how God had faithfully saved and led the nation over many years, The Lord had given them regulations and laws, the observing of which would have blessed Israel, and other nations as well. However, the people “became arrogant and stiff-necked” and did not obey the commands.And so they ended up in exile, but God was gracious and compassionate, and eventually brought them back to the land. Note that it says “you gave your good Spirit to instruct them”. Part of the work of the Holy Spirit is to instruct us in the ways of the Lord.

The people had many opportunities to repent. The Lord sent numerous prophets, but they killed them. Time and time again (see Judges) God delivered them from an enemy, only for them to turn back to their evil ways again.

The people admitted all this, and committed themselves to the Lord. Their commitment was backed up by the leaders, Levites and the priests.

Nehemiah 8 - Hearing the word of the Lord

8:1-18

Ezra had returned some fifteen years before Nehemiah, his task was to teach the people the Law. So the wall and gates had all been concluded, now the task was to complete the walls in peoples’ lives, so they all gathered to hear the Book of the Law of Moses. It was read to both men and women, and children who could understand it. The people listened attentively. On hearing the word Ezra and the people praised the Lord. and responded “Amen! Amen!” and worshipped the Lord. There were also Levites who instructed the people. Ezra was on a raised platform, so everyone could see and hear him. On hearing the word the people wept, perhaps because they realised that they had sinned against God, and so were in big trouble. However, the people were told not to mourn for the day was a day holy to the Lord. Instead they were to “enjoy choice food and sweet drinks”. The joy of the Lord was their strength. The gospel is about us being saved from our sins. So there is a two part realisation, first realising the reality of our sins, and then realising the effectiveness of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Joy in our salvation is a key part of our lives.. The people learnt from the word of the Lord and enacted it. So they celebrated the festival of shelters.

Nehemiah - Numbering the people

7:1-3

The work was completed with walls rebuilt and the doors set in place. The musicians and Levites were then appointed. Nehemiah put his brother Hanani in charge of Jerusalem. He was chosen, not just because he was his brother, but because he was a man of integrity and who feared the Lord “more than most people do”. These are vital characteristics for any appointment, for a man with these characteristics is (i) less likely to go astray; and (ii) more likely to make the right decision in key circumstances. Nehemiah also took practical steps to ensure the safety of the city.

7:4-63

Relatively few people had returned to Jerusalem, partly because few houses had been rebuilt. Nehemiah set about compiling a list of the returnees. God had put this in his heart to do this, so it was not like the census that David had carried out and which caused so much trouble. There are some discrepancies with equivalent lists elsewhere in the Bible, particularly in Ezra 2. These may be due to copyist errors, or other reasons.

7:64-73

The purity of the priesthood was considered to be of particular importance. AFter the numbers had been obtained Ezra read the Law.

Nehemiah 6:10-19 Discernment

6:10-15

Next we come across Shemaiah who proved to be a rather foolish individual. He suggested a meeting inside the temple, saying Nehemiah's life was in danger. Either way this would have been bad for Nehemiah, and his cause. Again Nehemiah demonstrates his insight, recognising Shemaiah as a false prophet. If he had gone along with it, Nehemiah would, at best, have looked weak, at worst he would have been accused of desecrating the temple, he would have sinned, for he was not a priest. As usual Nehemiah prays to God, and puts his enemies in God’s hands. So the work continued and the wall was completed.

6:16-19

The nations and Israel’s enemies were afraid, on hearing of the completion of the wall.. They realised that God was helping Israel.The nobles were rather naive and stupid, sending letters to Tobiah. The same sort of thing can happen today within churches. We can have the equivalent of Lenin’s useful idiots. They tried to make out that Tobiah was really a rather good man, when the truth was that he was an enemy of Israel. Some supposedly godly people can lack discernment.

Nehemiah 6:1-9 Oh no to Ono.

6:1-4

The opposition does not just attack once, but will try several times. If we repulse one attack we should not become complacent, another attack, or attacks, may follow on, and that is what happened here. Sanballat Tobiah and Geshem learnt that the wall had been finished, though the gates still needed to be put in place. Sanballat and Geshem sent Neehemiah a message suggesting a meeting.Nehemiah realised that this was a distraction. We need to be wise, not always thinking the best of people. So he declined the invitation, saying he had more important things to be attending to. They sent the message four times. Sometimes we need to be persistent in resisting temptation, so Nehemiah gave them the same answer each time. 

6:5-9

They now modified the attacks, now accusing the Jews of plotting a rebellion. We should not be surprised if unfounded accusations come our way. There was some plausibility to the attacks,for Nehmiah was governor, maybe he fancied even more power!. Rebuilding the wall could be in preparation for the rebellion. Nehemiah knew he wasn’t planning any rebellion, so dismissed the charges out of hand. Sometimes we should treat false accusations with contempt. Nehemiah also prayed to the Lord for strength. Accusations maybe utterly false, but they can still take their toll.

Nehemiah 5:1-19 - Doing it right

5:1-5

So far we have read of problems from without, now we come to internal issues.  It is important that we as individuals and as congregations act in accordance with God’s ways. The people were having financial problems, and this was highlighting other issues. They were struggling with “the cost of living”, to put it in terms that we use today. They were having to mortgage fields, vineyards and homes in order to survive. They were having to borrow money in order to pay the king’s taxes, they were even having to sell sons and daughters into slavery. Now the system of the day allowed this, but the Law expressly forbade Jews taking other Jews as slaves. Just because something is common, even normal and legal, does not mean that we should do it.

5:6-11

Nehemiah was very angry. He called a large meeting and told the well-off people (nobles and officials) that they should not be charging fellow Jews interest. Note that even though they had a higher position in society, the poorer Jews were still their fellow Jews. Nor should they take JEws as slaves. They could find nothing to say about Nehemiah's rebuke. Instead they should walk in the fear of the Lord. Nehemiah and his men would stop charging interest, and return anything taken as surety. Note that they would not charge even one per cent interest. Now this seems to be a very low rate of interest. Our economy in the West is based on borrowing, and this calls into question the whole basis of our society.

5:12,13

The nobles and officials agreed to follow Nehemiah’s instructions. Nehemiah then had them all take an oath, this would make the commitment more real.The people did as they had promised.

5:14-19

Nehemiah was appointed governor over the land of Judah. There were many privileges, or perks, that he could have taken in that role, but these would ultimately have been paid for by the people, so he refuses to take them. We do not have to take everything we are entitled to.Nehemiah genuinely sought to work for the benefit of the people.