The second, major part of the Levites' prayer is a review of Israel's history. It begins with God's calling of Abraham (vv. 7-8), as Genesis does. The people must have been thinking about the actual text of Genesis at this time, for Nehemiah 9:7 contains the only Old Testament reference after Genesi
It strikes me that this is the exact opposite of what most people do today. When the Jews of Nehemiah’s day confessed the sins of their fathers they acknowledged their guilt for their fathers’ sins. Otherwise there would have been no meaning to confessing those sins. This meant in its fullness that
In yesterday’s study, we concluded by observing that when the people expressed sorrow for sin, Nehemiah and the Levites directed to people to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.I find two very interesting things about this. First, Nehemiah did not take advantage of the people’s first outburst of sor
The first evidence of a true movement of the Holy Spirit is an awakened conscience, leading to genuine sorrow for sin in God's people. It is only after this that revival comes. This is what happened in Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day, and it is why it is proper to speak of this as having been a true rev
4. Sorrow over sin (v. 9). The result of this anticipatory prayer, the reading of the Law of God and the explanation of the law was revival. And the first evidence that revival was truly on the way was grief over sin. It was intense grief, though the story does not dwell upon it. It says only that “
In yesterday’s study we looked at the first two steps to revival as seen in our passage. Today we consider the third step.3. The explanation of God’s Word (vv. 7- 8). One of the most important parts of Nehemiah is the statement in verses 7 and 8 of this chapter that the reading of the law was accomp
If we are to see a spiritual recovery in our land today, it will be helpful to review the steps to revival as revealed in these activities. 1. Ezra began by prayer (v. 6). This is the first appearance of Ezra in Nehemiah (cf. verse 1), and his prayer preceding his reading of the law, which is not ev
In the eighth chapter of Nehemiah we see the starting point for any true national renewal. It is the Word of God. Verses 2-12 tell of a great public assembly in which Ezra the priest read the law of God to the people and of how they were affected by it. The people showed extraordinary reverence for
Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem to rebuild the wall, and he had been successful in doing it. But we discover now that the rebuilding was far from all he had in mind. Nehemiah wanted to rebuild the wall, but beyond that objective he had the far more significant objective of rebuilding the nation. Up t
The final action taken by Nehemiah in his attempt to consolidate his earlier work and prepare for the tasks to come was to provide for those who would now be working in the temple. We find this in the last verses of the chapter. “Some of the heads of the families contributed to the work. The governo
2. Jews who were laymen (vv. 8-38). This is a long and numerically significant list, as might be expected. It is in two parts. The first part lists eighteen individuals from whom the then living descendants came. The second part lists twenty towns in which the returning exiles settled. The introduct
Nehemiah's first step after having completed the rebuilding of the wall was to make a few key appointments. The first verses of chapter 7 tell us about three general categories of appointments (gatekeepers, singers and Levites) and two specific ones: his brother Hanani as the civil leader of Jerusal
Yesterday, we said that the first thing Nehemiah did after the wall was completed was give glory to God.Second, as Nehemiah reports his achievement, he does not allow success to blind him to his continuing problems. Or, to put it another way, he does not pretend that his success was greater than it
What a thrill, to tackle something extremely difficult and to keep at it until you reach a triumphant conclusion. This is what Nehemiah did. Therefore, it remains thrilling to read his story even today. Nehemiah had come to Jerusalem from Susa with a single-minded objective: to rebuild the massive b
In these first chapters we learn something important about the secret of Nehemiah’s success as a leader and man of God. This is a place to review these leadership characteristics. There are five of them. 1. Nehemiah’s closeness to God, his prayerfulness. Nothing is more characteristic of Nehemiah th
The final form of opposition was outright intimidation. Like the others it too was subtle. Shemaiah, a man who was regarded as a prophet, sent for Nehemiah. Nehemiah tells us that Shemaiah was shut up in his house, though we do not know why. Whatever the immediate cause, the underlying reason was a
Who is not afraid or disturbed or hurt at times? We all are. Yet it is precisely when we yield those fears to God and press on that we show leadership. In his study of these verses Charles Swindoll speaks of this as “rumor” and notes the following:11. It is the case with rumors that the source is ne
Isn't dialogue good? Isn't it always better to talk than to fight, to keep the lines of communication open? Isn't refusal to talk to our opponents always unnecessarily and unreasonably belligerent? Isn't there a time to let bygones be bygones, to bury the hatchet? What possible reason can there be f
In the last two chapters of Nehemiah we have seen three forms of opposition, each of which threatened to defeat Nehemiah’s plan to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. The first two were external and came from Nehemiah’s pagan enemies: 1) opposition by ridicule; and 2) opposition by the threat of violence
What is our problem? Isn’t it our love of money, the very thing that was causing the officials of Nehemiah’s day to exploit those around them? Don’t we put the good life for ourselves first, at whatever cost? I cannot say that the evangelical church is consciously exploiting other Christians or even
I am indebted to Frank R. Tillapaugh for some important thoughts at this point, based on the fact that in order to have a public meeting Nehemiah must have pulled his workers off the wall. In normal circumstances this would not have been remarkable. But these were not normal circumstances. Nehemiah’
How is a leader to deal with injustices, such as that which occurs when the rich mistreat the poor, particularly when they are practiced by the influential against the uninfluential? How can a person confront evil when the strong have the law on their side, as they usually do? The first thing Nehemi
The problem that erupted internally at this point is described very well in verses 1-5. "Now the men and their wives raised a great outcry against their Jewish brothers. Some were saying, “We and our sons and daughters are numerous; in order for us to eat and stay alive, we must get grain.”The probl
In chapter 4 we saw how Nehemiah faced two common forms of opposition: ridicule, the easiest of all forms of opposition, and the threat of violence. The latter is the path often taken when ridicule fails. Nehemiah overcame the first by recognizing ridicule for what it was, namely, a weak attempt to
