Nehemiah 1-2
Good morning! We are about to enter the wonderful book of Nehemiah. Last week we finished the Book of Ezra, and it is helpful to know that these two books are really two parts of one story. In fact, in the original Hebrew Old Testament, as well as in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament (a translation into Greek made about 2000 years ago), Ezra and Nehemiah were actually combined into a single book. The separation of the book into two separate works seems to have been first done by one of the early church fathers, Origen, who lived from 185-254 AD (plus or minus a year or two). He was an expert in Hebrew who studied and compared various translations of entire Old Testament.
It is possible that the separation was never meant to be deliberate, but a simply a practical thing because he wrote on scrolls of fixed length. When Jerome, about 150-200 years later, translated the Old Testament into Latin, he continued this practice, and it became established to keep them as separate books. Regardless of why the split into two books came to be, the important thing to understand is that we are continuing the story of the history of the Israelites in Jerusalem after the end of the exile that had followed the destruction of Solomon’s Temple.
In Ezra we saw how over a fairly long period of time, the Israelites were allowed to return to Jerusalem, how God protected them from harassment, how they rebuilt the Temple, how Ezra had come to serve as high priest, and how the people repented from their sin of taking up foreign wives. And so we pick up the story with Nehemiah 1:1.
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah: In the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa, Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. – Nehemiah 1:1-2
Kislev is the month, roughly, of December; the twentieth year almost certainly refers to the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes, King of Persia. Artaxerxes became king in 465 BC, so we are talking about the year, plus or minus a year or so, of 445 BC. For reference, Ezra returned to Jerusalem in 458 BC, about thirteen years prior to the date of the events in Nehemiah 1.
So we know the “when.” As to the “where,” the passage tells us it is the citadel of Susa (Shushan in Hebrew). Now, Susa was the capital of the Persian Empire. Susa was an ancient city, located close to the border between Iraq and Iran, not too far inland from the Persian Gulf. It was rebuilt by Darius, an earlier Persian king we have read about in Ezra, into the new capital of Persia. Susa was where the events of the book of Esther took place (Esther 1:2). And the citadel of Susa was the king’s palace (or one of his palaces). It too is specifically mentioned in Esther (Esther chapters 2, 3, 8, and 9), and it also appears in one of the visions of Daniel (Daniel 8). Daniel, in fact, also lived in Susa, although he did so earlier than Nehemiah. The amazing picture above is from a panel found in the remains of the palace in Susa built by Darius believed to have been there at the time of Nehemiah. A good many artifacts of this style of construction have been excavated.
Now, a good question to ask is “What is this lowly Israelite (lowly in the eyes of the Persians) doing in the palace of King Artaxerxes?” Well, if you jump ahead to the last sentence of Nehemiah 1, you learn a very important fact about Nehemiah: he was the cupbearer of the king. Now, what did a cupbearer do? He didn’t crawl around on all fours so that the king could put the cup down on his back! No, most likely, a cupbearer at this time had the task of sampling the king’s food and drink before the king ate it, to see if it was poisoned. If, after a few minutes, the cupbearer didn’t fall down dead, or otherwise in agony, the king knew that his food was safe to eat and his wine or other liquid was safe to drink.
All in all, it wasn’t a terrible job, that of being a cupbearer. You got to live in the king’s palace and you were able to travel with the king, in all his splendor; and of course, you were literally able to eat like a king. All was fine until the fateful day that someone really did try to poison the king; that day would probably be your last.
There is every indication that to be a cupbearer for the king involved more than just tasting food, but also of being a servant much like what today we would call a butler. To be the cupbearer to the king was a high honor. The king’s cupbearer would be someone who had, in effect, worked his way up, proving to be trustworthy, of high moral character, and diligent. There is every reason to believe that Nehemiah was just such a person. The king had to deal with him multiple times every day; any significant lapses in performance or judgment would have led the king to choose another for this honored position. And in those days, to fail to continue to please the king would not mean that you were demoted; it would mean that your life would be ended.
And so, on this particular day, Nehemiah had the occasion to talk with his brother Hanani, who had come with other men from Israel, and he asked them about how things were going there in what had once been called the Promised Land.
They said to me, "Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire." When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven. – Nehemiah 1:3-4
Now, what is this passage talking about? I don’t believe that Nehemiah, as the king’s cupbearer, had no knowledge at all of the history of the events in Ezra; it is hard to believe that he would be this uninformed.
I believe there is a big hint to the situation back in Ezra 4. If you recall, in Ezra 4 there was a section that jumped forward, far forward in the future, relative to the other events of Ezra. In fact, if you look at the chapter, you will find that a letter is written to King Artaxerxes, the very king that Nehemiah serves as cupbearer. In this letter, the people who wrote it complained about the building going on in Jerusalem, in particular, the building of walls around the city. They warned that Jerusalem had caused trouble to the king’s predecessors, and implied that the king should command them to put a stop to it. King Artaxerxes responded that they should issue an order to stop the men from working on the wall and foundations of the city. The result was this:
As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop. – Ezra 4:23
Now, we don’t know exactly where the event of Ezra 4 fits in with the book of Nehemiah, but I believe it happened between the events of Ezra and Nehemiah. It is not a stretch at all to imagine that the people who sent that letter to Artaxerxes, once they had received the king’s reply, not only made them “by force” abandon the building of the walls, but also burnt down whatever there was or was left from earlier times in the way of gates. Regardless, this is the sad situation reported to Nehemiah.
What was Nehemiah’s response? The news hit him hard. Initially, he couldn’t even stay standing; he collapsed and wept. Then, in the coming days, he mourned. Privately, when he wasn’t on call with the king, he continued to mourn, and fast, and pray. And then we are given one of his prayers.
Then I said: "O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer Your servant is praying before You day and night for Your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father's house, have committed against You. We have acted very wickedly toward You. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees and laws you gave your servant Moses. – Nehemiah 1:5-7
"Remember the instruction You gave Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to Me and obey My commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.' – Nehemiah 1:8-9
"They are Your servants and Your people, whom You redeemed by Your great strength and Your mighty hand. O Lord, let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of this Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who delight in revering Your name. Give Your servant success today by granting him favor in the presence of this man." I was cupbearer to the king. – Nehemiah 1:10-11
I love this prayer. In verses 5-7, I love how he starts with praise. I love how, initially, the prayer is not for himself at all, but for the people of Israel. I love how he uses the word “we” when speaking of the past sins of Israel and not “they” – this is the same thing we saw in Ezra’s prayer last week. In verses 8-9, I love how he quotes scripture, remembering the promises of God. In verses 10-11, I love how he then prays very boldly for himself that he could be a part of the solution; he prays that he could be a part of God’s redeeming work here on Earth.
We can learn so much from this prayer! Not as a formula to imitate, but as a guide for setting your heart on God. Praise should always be a part of our prayers. We serve, a great, wonderful, perfect, awesome God! And confession and repentance should be a regular part of our prayer life – not just our individual prayer lives, but our corporate prayer life. I believe there is something special, something that moves God’s heart, as well as something that moves the Holy Spirit in us, if we pray corporately such that confession and repentance are a part of those prayers. The nature of our culture makes it so hard for us to see this, but Scripture, over and over and over, shows that God sees people individually and corporately. God sees us, the believers in this building, not only individually, but also together, as a people. We can pray corporately; we can confess corporately; we can repent corporately. I firmly believe that God expects us to do this; I don’t know, otherwise, how to even begin to understand all the verses in the New Testament that talk about us, as believers, being “one.”
And of course, we should be people of the Bible, people of the Book, and spend so much time in the Word, studying it, reflecting on it, meditating on it, and even memorizing it, that it affects our prayer life. The Word should affect all of our thinking; when we are at the middle of our jobs, or at home, or wherever, that we think of Scripture, by way of analogy, or promises, or wisdom that Scripture contains. It should be only natural that this comes out in our prayers.
And then we should pray that God would put us in the game. Nehemiah’s prayer is so bold – he uses the word “today.” Who is the “this man”? It is the king. What is Nehemiah asking for? He is asking that he could speak with the king about the situation in Israel.
I should point out that if the events of Ezra 4 happened prior to this time, then the king has already made an initial judgment, a negative one, about Israel. And regardless, cupbearers don’t advise kings on foreign policy! Not only is it just not done; it is highly inappropriate, highly offensive to do so. This is exactly the sort of thing that gets you killed.
It reminds me so much of the situation that Esther faced. If you recall, she too, had the need (in her case, an even more urgent need), to speak with the king about matters of state. It was also completely inappropriate for a wife of the king to do this. Now, in Esther’s case, it was do it or die; do it or all her people died. But for Nehemiah, this is not a life and death situation. It also doesn’t even affect Nehemiah himself directly at all! He can go on living a happy life as a cupbearer; there is no need for him to get involved, to risk his life in this way. And yet, this is what he wanted to do.
One of the reasons the title today is “Overcoming Inertia” is because inertia is exactly what we all tend to feel when we are debating “getting into the game.” Why bring up spiritual things? Why share the gospel? Why ask that person how they are doing? We don’t want to do these things because they are awkward, because to do so breaks inertia. We should feel somewhat embarrassed when we compare ourselves to Nehemiah. Nehemiah is risking everything here. That certainly cannot be said for us.
In the month of Nisan in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was brought for him, I took the wine and gave it to the king. I had not been sad in his presence before; so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." – Nehemiah 2:1-2a
The details are so interesting here. We are now in the month of Nisan; that’s four months later! Nehemiah has been mourning, and fasting (on and off), and praying, for four months! Remember his prayer? Put me in the game today! This is such a good reminder of how God answers prayers but does so in His own timing. How many of us give up after praying something just a few times? Nehemiah did not give up. He continued to pray, and to fast, and to ask the Lord to use him, but it was four months before the timing was such that God gave the opportunity.
Now, Nehemiah’s job was, first and foremost, to sample the food, and then show that he was healthy, and give it to the king. Rule #1 here was that if you were in fact still healthy, to really demonstrate it to the king. Why? Because if you appeared to be unhealthy, and then gave food to the king, it would appear that you were in on a conspiracy to poison the king, even being willing to allow yourself to be poisoned for the sake of getting the king! To sample the food, and then sort of look ill, and then give the food to the king anyway, was a sure-fire way to get the king to no longer trust you, and as I have said, the job of cupbearer was not one you leave except in a wooden box. As so, as a cupbearer, it was your job, not only your job, but your self-interest, if you wanted to stay alive, to really demonstrate that you were healthy. Smile, bow, show energy, be clearly healthy, or else!
But on this day, Nehemiah slipped up. His burden for Israel, his continual praying and fasting, it all leaked out on this day, and the king saw his sadness. For the king to even ask Nehemiah this question was to begin to question his trust of Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s life literally depended on how he answered the king’s question.
I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" The king said to me, "What is it you want?" – Nehemiah 2:2b-4a
I don’t know if the phrase “May the king live forever!” was just a common sort of greeting you made to your king, but in this case it had a deeper meaning – Nehemiah was saying, “No, no, don’t doubt your trust in me – I truly serve you and would never be part of a plot to poison you. May you live forever!” (And by the way, for you Narnia fans, in The Horse and His Boy, this is the exact same phrase the Calormenes use when referring to their leader, the Tisroc.)
Nehemiah does not try to hide his true reason for sadness, but lays it out there. It was quite a bold outburst! I believe this was God’s answer to prayer! All that is about to happen – the way the conversation goes, the heart of the king, all of this, is God’s answer to Nehemiah’s persistent, unwavering prayer. We see this in the New Testament too – bold answers at moments of peril, in the book of Acts, for example, again the answer of prayer, and in both cases, the work of God’s Spirit. Recall how Jesus said the Holy Spirit would give us the words to say at times such as these. And the result? The king is not offended, as he “should” be, but instead asks Nehemiah what he wants!
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. – Nehemiah 2:4b-6
I love this insight in Nehemiah – his whole future, even life and death, depends on his reply, so what does Nehemiah do? He shoots a quick little prayer “arrow” to heaven. I would encourage you to do this! Yes, we should also have times of extended prayer, but to “pray continually,” as we are told to do in the New Testament, includes short little prayers like this. “O Lord, give me the words to say.” “O Lord, soften his heart.” “O Lord, use this for Your glory.” In times of peril, to say, “Lord, save me!” It is good to pray like this! I have had a habit I picked up as a new believer, when walking on campus, when I see another believer, after talking with them, or even just waving at them, to say in my head, “Lord, thank You for letting me see another believer here today.”
But now, let’s look at how Nehemiah, after praying responds to the king. He asks to be sent to Jerusalem so that he can rebuild it. Not “help” rebuild it, but rebuild it! He is asking to lead! This is so incredibly bold, so audacious. And God answered those prayers by turning the heart of the king, despite whatever interactions he had had over this city in the past, to agree!
Now, I don’t want to minimize at all the effect of prayer in this situation, but I also need to point out that this would not have happened had not Nehemiah been, over the years, a man of exceptionally good character – trustworthy, loyal, unselfish, and I’m sure, ten more qualities like this. He reminds me of Joseph, in Genesis, and he also reminds me of Daniel. Prayer does not replace character. They go together.
I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. – Nehemiah 2:7-9
Nehemiah had a lot of chutzpah! It’s miracle enough that the king would let him go at all, but Nehemiah also asks for letters to the governors, telling them to, in effect, stand down. In a way, Nehemiah was given authority over that of the king’s governors! And then he asked for and was given a letter to the keeper of the king’s forest (I just love how that is worded!), so as to be provided supplies, timber for the gates. These are not little waist-high gates! We will talk more about the gates in later messages.
And the most outrageous request to me is that he would be provided royal timber for his own house! And in even more evidence of God’s Spirit at work, the king sent army officers and cavalry with Nehemiah. And so, Nehemiah set out on that long journey to Jerusalem. Nothing is told of this journey, but we would expect that it took several months.
When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. – Nehemiah 2:10-12
We will learn more about Sanballat and Tobiah in later messages, but for now let me just point out that they are leaders, powerful men, and they both, although of very different backgrounds, were united in their hatred and distrust of the Israelites. The fact that this passage says they were very disturbed implies that, when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, after talking with the Israelites there he quickly learned about these men, and also learned of their displeasure over his arrival. So as not to stir up things even worse, and knowing that if these men knew exactly why Nehemiah had come things would in fact get much worse, Nehemiah kept his mission to himself and wet out to see the boundaries of the city at night, when no one would be watching. He takes only a single beast – perhaps a donkey, so as to minimize noise.
Nehemiah has only been here three days. What a world apart from his former life as a cupbearer! Is he trained in what he is about to do? No one is. But to paraphrase what Fred has said on multiple occasions, “God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified, but He always qualifies the called.”
And as we continue to read through Nehemiah, I will try to minimize the number of comments I make in the vein of the one I am about to make, but I have to say it a few times: Nehemiah is a good engineer. He is scoping out the project, gathering as much data as he can, before he makes any decisions about what to do. This is what a good engineer always should do. Jesus was a good engineer too – remember how He said no one goes out and builds a tower without at first counting the cost? This is what engineers do.
And Nehemiah is seeing it for himself. He doesn’t know the people around him; he doesn’t know how much he can count on their descriptions – remember how the spies described the Promised Land? No, Nehemiah is looking for himself. As we shall see, this also enables him to control the moment in which his plans are revealed to his people.
By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. – Nehemiah 2:13-15
This is not a short journey. Again, we will talk more about these locations as we progress through this book, so I will not dwell on these locations yet.
The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. – Nehemiah 2:16
So Nehemiah has done his homework, he has seen everything for himself, he has counted the cost, and now, he has formulated a good plan, and he is ready to inform the people. Here, again, there is a need to overcome inertia. These people may think it can’t be done, or it is too hard to do, or it isn’t worth trying. Nehemiah will need to overcome all this if they are even to begin to repair Jerusalem.
Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. – Nehemiah 2:17-18
There are subtle things here, marks of good leadership. “You see the trouble we are in.” He includes himself; he is not placing himself above the people, or outside the people, but as one of them. “Come, let us rebuild.” He is going to work with them, again, as one of them.
And then he tells them of what God has already done, in granting the king’s favor on him, a mere cupbearer. This reminds me of Moses and Aaron, when they came back to Egypt. But here, the result, at least initially, is better. The people are not rebelling, but are agreeing with Nehemiah – to their credit, they agree to do it.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." – Nehemiah 2:19-20
These three men, governors of three different areas outside Jerusalem, really had nothing in common. They had different territories, different people groups, different gods, and yet they were united in hating the Israelites, united in being opposed to their work. It’s always amazing how people can unite against God when they would not unite against anything else. It reminds me of the Pharisees and Sadducees uniting against Jesus.
I don’t know if you have ever been openly mocked, openly ridiculed. I was, a few times, back in my grade school days. It is not at all pleasant. You may think you have never experienced this, or that if you did, it was many years ago, but I beg to differ with you, and I will close today on this thought. We are being constantly mocked. We may not be able to audibly hear the taunts, and the put-downs, and the laughing, but that does not make it any less real. We too have an enemy, and he whispers to us in our heads. He ridicules us. He laughs at us when we take baby steps of faith and says, “What are you doing? Who do you think you are?” He reminds us of all our weaknesses and inadequacies and past failures and tries to get us to stop building every bit as much as Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem and their men tried to get the Israelites to abandon their building project before it even really began. Their attack was all about inertia, and so is Satan’s. I challenge you, this week, to be inspired by Nehemiah and the people of Israel. Overcome your inertia! Don’t listen to the taunts, but choose, this week, to build.
I want us to spend some time in silence, to ask God to show you where to build this week. It might mean taking a handful of tracts as you go and give them out. That is a wonderful way to build. It might mean choosing to call or visit certain believers this week purposely to encourage them. That is a wonderful way to build as well. It might mean inviting some friends to church this week. That is a wonderful way to build. Ask God to show you, and write down whatever comes into your mind. If, as you pray, nothing at all comes to mind, speak with me afterwards and allow me to help you. But even before you pray, be determined this week to overcome inertia and be a builder in the kingdom of God.
The details are so interesting here. We are now in the month of Nisan; that’s four months later! Nehemiah has been mourning, and fasting (on and off), and praying, for four months! Remember his prayer? Put me in the game today! This is such a good reminder of how God answers prayers but does so in His own timing. How many of us give up after praying something just a few times? Nehemiah did not give up. He continued to pray, and to fast, and to ask the Lord to use him, but it was four months before the timing was such that God gave the opportunity.
Now, Nehemiah’s job was, first and foremost, to sample the food, and then show that he was healthy, and give it to the king. Rule #1 here was that if you were in fact still healthy, to really demonstrate it to the king. Why? Because if you appeared to be unhealthy, and then gave food to the king, it would appear that you were in on a conspiracy to poison the king, even being willing to allow yourself to be poisoned for the sake of getting the king! To sample the food, and then sort of look ill, and then give the food to the king anyway, was a sure-fire way to get the king to no longer trust you, and as I have said, the job of cupbearer was not one you leave except in a wooden box. As so, as a cupbearer, it was your job, not only your job, but your self-interest, if you wanted to stay alive, to really demonstrate that you were healthy. Smile, bow, show energy, be clearly healthy, or else!
But on this day, Nehemiah slipped up. His burden for Israel, his continual praying and fasting, it all leaked out on this day, and the king saw his sadness. For the king to even ask Nehemiah this question was to begin to question his trust of Nehemiah. Nehemiah’s life literally depended on how he answered the king’s question.
I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" The king said to me, "What is it you want?" – Nehemiah 2:2b-4a
I don’t know if the phrase “May the king live forever!” was just a common sort of greeting you made to your king, but in this case it had a deeper meaning – Nehemiah was saying, “No, no, don’t doubt your trust in me – I truly serve you and would never be part of a plot to poison you. May you live forever!” (And by the way, for you Narnia fans, in The Horse and His Boy, this is the exact same phrase the Calormenes use when referring to their leader, the Tisroc.)
Nehemiah does not try to hide his true reason for sadness, but lays it out there. It was quite a bold outburst! I believe this was God’s answer to prayer! All that is about to happen – the way the conversation goes, the heart of the king, all of this, is God’s answer to Nehemiah’s persistent, unwavering prayer. We see this in the New Testament too – bold answers at moments of peril, in the book of Acts, for example, again the answer of prayer, and in both cases, the work of God’s Spirit. Recall how Jesus said the Holy Spirit would give us the words to say at times such as these. And the result? The king is not offended, as he “should” be, but instead asks Nehemiah what he wants!
Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, "If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it." Then the king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked me, "How long will your journey take, and when will you get back?" It pleased the king to send me; so I set a time. – Nehemiah 2:4b-6
I love this insight in Nehemiah – his whole future, even life and death, depends on his reply, so what does Nehemiah do? He shoots a quick little prayer “arrow” to heaven. I would encourage you to do this! Yes, we should also have times of extended prayer, but to “pray continually,” as we are told to do in the New Testament, includes short little prayers like this. “O Lord, give me the words to say.” “O Lord, soften his heart.” “O Lord, use this for Your glory.” In times of peril, to say, “Lord, save me!” It is good to pray like this! I have had a habit I picked up as a new believer, when walking on campus, when I see another believer, after talking with them, or even just waving at them, to say in my head, “Lord, thank You for letting me see another believer here today.”
But now, let’s look at how Nehemiah, after praying responds to the king. He asks to be sent to Jerusalem so that he can rebuild it. Not “help” rebuild it, but rebuild it! He is asking to lead! This is so incredibly bold, so audacious. And God answered those prayers by turning the heart of the king, despite whatever interactions he had had over this city in the past, to agree!
Now, I don’t want to minimize at all the effect of prayer in this situation, but I also need to point out that this would not have happened had not Nehemiah been, over the years, a man of exceptionally good character – trustworthy, loyal, unselfish, and I’m sure, ten more qualities like this. He reminds me of Joseph, in Genesis, and he also reminds me of Daniel. Prayer does not replace character. They go together.
I also said to him, "If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? And may I have a letter to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so he will give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple and for the city wall and for the residence I will occupy?" And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests. So I went to the governors of Trans-Euphrates and gave them the king's letters. The king had also sent army officers and cavalry with me. – Nehemiah 2:7-9
Nehemiah had a lot of chutzpah! It’s miracle enough that the king would let him go at all, but Nehemiah also asks for letters to the governors, telling them to, in effect, stand down. In a way, Nehemiah was given authority over that of the king’s governors! And then he asked for and was given a letter to the keeper of the king’s forest (I just love how that is worded!), so as to be provided supplies, timber for the gates. These are not little waist-high gates! We will talk more about the gates in later messages.
And the most outrageous request to me is that he would be provided royal timber for his own house! And in even more evidence of God’s Spirit at work, the king sent army officers and cavalry with Nehemiah. And so, Nehemiah set out on that long journey to Jerusalem. Nothing is told of this journey, but we would expect that it took several months.
When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard about this, they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites. I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding on. – Nehemiah 2:10-12
We will learn more about Sanballat and Tobiah in later messages, but for now let me just point out that they are leaders, powerful men, and they both, although of very different backgrounds, were united in their hatred and distrust of the Israelites. The fact that this passage says they were very disturbed implies that, when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem, after talking with the Israelites there he quickly learned about these men, and also learned of their displeasure over his arrival. So as not to stir up things even worse, and knowing that if these men knew exactly why Nehemiah had come things would in fact get much worse, Nehemiah kept his mission to himself and wet out to see the boundaries of the city at night, when no one would be watching. He takes only a single beast – perhaps a donkey, so as to minimize noise.
Nehemiah has only been here three days. What a world apart from his former life as a cupbearer! Is he trained in what he is about to do? No one is. But to paraphrase what Fred has said on multiple occasions, “God doesn’t necessarily call the qualified, but He always qualifies the called.”
And as we continue to read through Nehemiah, I will try to minimize the number of comments I make in the vein of the one I am about to make, but I have to say it a few times: Nehemiah is a good engineer. He is scoping out the project, gathering as much data as he can, before he makes any decisions about what to do. This is what a good engineer always should do. Jesus was a good engineer too – remember how He said no one goes out and builds a tower without at first counting the cost? This is what engineers do.
And Nehemiah is seeing it for himself. He doesn’t know the people around him; he doesn’t know how much he can count on their descriptions – remember how the spies described the Promised Land? No, Nehemiah is looking for himself. As we shall see, this also enables him to control the moment in which his plans are revealed to his people.
By night I went out through the Valley Gate toward the Jackal Well and the Dung Gate, examining the walls of Jerusalem, which had been broken down, and its gates, which had been destroyed by fire. Then I moved on toward the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool, but there was not enough room for my mount to get through; so I went up the valley by night, examining the wall. Finally, I turned back and reentered through the Valley Gate. – Nehemiah 2:13-15
This is not a short journey. Again, we will talk more about these locations as we progress through this book, so I will not dwell on these locations yet.
The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing, because as yet I had said nothing to the Jews or the priests or nobles or officials or any others who would be doing the work. – Nehemiah 2:16
So Nehemiah has done his homework, he has seen everything for himself, he has counted the cost, and now, he has formulated a good plan, and he is ready to inform the people. Here, again, there is a need to overcome inertia. These people may think it can’t be done, or it is too hard to do, or it isn’t worth trying. Nehemiah will need to overcome all this if they are even to begin to repair Jerusalem.
Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace." I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, "Let us start rebuilding." So they began this good work. – Nehemiah 2:17-18
There are subtle things here, marks of good leadership. “You see the trouble we are in.” He includes himself; he is not placing himself above the people, or outside the people, but as one of them. “Come, let us rebuild.” He is going to work with them, again, as one of them.
And then he tells them of what God has already done, in granting the king’s favor on him, a mere cupbearer. This reminds me of Moses and Aaron, when they came back to Egypt. But here, the result, at least initially, is better. The people are not rebelling, but are agreeing with Nehemiah – to their credit, they agree to do it.
But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. "What is this you are doing?" they asked. "Are you rebelling against the king?" I answered them by saying, "The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it." – Nehemiah 2:19-20
These three men, governors of three different areas outside Jerusalem, really had nothing in common. They had different territories, different people groups, different gods, and yet they were united in hating the Israelites, united in being opposed to their work. It’s always amazing how people can unite against God when they would not unite against anything else. It reminds me of the Pharisees and Sadducees uniting against Jesus.
I don’t know if you have ever been openly mocked, openly ridiculed. I was, a few times, back in my grade school days. It is not at all pleasant. You may think you have never experienced this, or that if you did, it was many years ago, but I beg to differ with you, and I will close today on this thought. We are being constantly mocked. We may not be able to audibly hear the taunts, and the put-downs, and the laughing, but that does not make it any less real. We too have an enemy, and he whispers to us in our heads. He ridicules us. He laughs at us when we take baby steps of faith and says, “What are you doing? Who do you think you are?” He reminds us of all our weaknesses and inadequacies and past failures and tries to get us to stop building every bit as much as Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem and their men tried to get the Israelites to abandon their building project before it even really began. Their attack was all about inertia, and so is Satan’s. I challenge you, this week, to be inspired by Nehemiah and the people of Israel. Overcome your inertia! Don’t listen to the taunts, but choose, this week, to build.
I want us to spend some time in silence, to ask God to show you where to build this week. It might mean taking a handful of tracts as you go and give them out. That is a wonderful way to build. It might mean choosing to call or visit certain believers this week purposely to encourage them. That is a wonderful way to build as well. It might mean inviting some friends to church this week. That is a wonderful way to build. Ask God to show you, and write down whatever comes into your mind. If, as you pray, nothing at all comes to mind, speak with me afterwards and allow me to help you. But even before you pray, be determined this week to overcome inertia and be a builder in the kingdom of God.
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