Nehemiah 11-12 
Welcome! Today we have our next-to-last message in our sequence of messages on Ezra and Nehemiah. To understand the context of today’s passage, let’s first turn back to Nehemiah 7:4:
Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. – Neh. 7:4
It has been about 100 years since the first Israelites had come back to Jerusalem after enduring the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Things that were destroyed close to 200 years ago are still destroyed. This is a really long time. If you wander around South Carolina, you won’t find very many signs of life from nearly 200 years ago. There are exceptions, of course, places that were never abandoned, like Charleston. But abandoned places can become really “ruined” after only a few years. Look at pictures of the parts of New Orleans that still have not been rebuilt. Or just look at what was the Holiday Inn on Highway 123 here in Clemson.
In the 100 years since the Israelites had returned, they had rebuilt the Temple and reinstituted sacrifices there, and they had just recently finished rebuilding the walls. But inside those walls were still ruins. In some ways the task of restoring the city to a vibrant, living place where people who worshiped God lived and worshiped together was a far more demanding, even impossible task than the task of putting up those walls. And we have seen how challenging that task was.
In the previous two weeks we covered Nehemiah chapters 7 through 10. In these chapters we saw that a genealogical table was found that listed the names and family tribes of those who had come back with Zerubbabel and Jeshua about 100 years prior. We also saw the people all assemble together in Jerusalem while Ezra read the Law of God (the Bible) to them and the Levites explained what it all meant. They had then celebrated together, celebrating the feast of booths, and they also repented and rededicated themselves to the Lord. The walls of the city were rebuilt, and in a sense you could say that the peoples’ hearts had been rebuilt, once again soft to God. But the city was still by and large unchanged, empty and in ruins. It was time at last to change this.
Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. – Neh. 11:1-2
In these two verses there is an incredible amount happening here. The leaders agree to move to Jerusalem. They are not leading by just telling others what to do; they are leading by example. They are going themselves. They are not asking anyone else to do anything different that what they are doing.
And then, the people cast lots in order to decide which additional families would move to Jerusalem. One out of ten would go. And the incredible thing here – if I understand verse 2 correctly, and I think I do, is that the people cast lots, but there was no police department around to force those to go who didn’t want to go, and there was no jail to put people into if they refused. No, the people cast lots, and then, it appears that all, or nearly all, of those who had been selected at random voluntarily went.
The final sentence here says that the people commended those who went. Why? Because it was not an easy thing to go! Most people were making their living, most people were surviving, by living as farmers. They grew wheat and barley and cultivated and harvested olive groves and grape vines. They grew chickens and goats and sheep. This is what most of them knew how to do, and this is what most of them did and had done for generations, for the last 100 years. These were country folk, and they were volunteering to go to the city. Why? Because their hearts were soft to the Lord. They would go wherever the Lord wanted them to go. They would do whatever the Lord would have them do. And they would trust in God to provide.
Most of them would have to learn new professions. Most of them would be leaving extended family behind. Most of them would have the difficult task of doing all this while trying to take care of the immediate families, without even having a roof over their heads. I don’t think they had false illusions about how hard it would be.
Can you imagine what this was like? How would you feel when it was your turn to draw a lot? Would you secretly hope that you wouldn’t be chosen? Would you pray that you wouldn’t be chosen? I’m pretty sure that’s not a wise prayer. I would describe such a prayer as an example of “kicking against the goads.” Do you know what this means? The phrase is used in Paul’s conversion story as he relates it in Acts 26:14. The goads were sticks with pointed pieces of iron fastened to the ends of them. They were used to prod oxen on when plowing. When a stubborn ox tried to kick back against the goads, instead of actually accomplishing something, he would only hurt himself.
How would you feel if you were selected? Would you weep and wail? Would you panic and worry? As you saw the people commending you and your fellow Jerusalem re-planters, would you suspect that the real reason they were cheering is because they were happy that you had to go instead of them? I’m not asking all these questions just to make you feel bad! And a little fear, a little trepidation, would be perfectly normal and understandable. But beyond that fear, above it, I would hope you would find peace. And this of course applies to all our trials. Do we trust God with the scary stuff? Do we hold fast to verses like Jeremiah 29:11 which says
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jer. 29:11
Welcome! Today we have our next-to-last message in our sequence of messages on Ezra and Nehemiah. To understand the context of today’s passage, let’s first turn back to Nehemiah 7:4:Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. – Neh. 7:4
It has been about 100 years since the first Israelites had come back to Jerusalem after enduring the seventy years of captivity in Babylon. Things that were destroyed close to 200 years ago are still destroyed. This is a really long time. If you wander around South Carolina, you won’t find very many signs of life from nearly 200 years ago. There are exceptions, of course, places that were never abandoned, like Charleston. But abandoned places can become really “ruined” after only a few years. Look at pictures of the parts of New Orleans that still have not been rebuilt. Or just look at what was the Holiday Inn on Highway 123 here in Clemson.
In the 100 years since the Israelites had returned, they had rebuilt the Temple and reinstituted sacrifices there, and they had just recently finished rebuilding the walls. But inside those walls were still ruins. In some ways the task of restoring the city to a vibrant, living place where people who worshiped God lived and worshiped together was a far more demanding, even impossible task than the task of putting up those walls. And we have seen how challenging that task was.
In the previous two weeks we covered Nehemiah chapters 7 through 10. In these chapters we saw that a genealogical table was found that listed the names and family tribes of those who had come back with Zerubbabel and Jeshua about 100 years prior. We also saw the people all assemble together in Jerusalem while Ezra read the Law of God (the Bible) to them and the Levites explained what it all meant. They had then celebrated together, celebrating the feast of booths, and they also repented and rededicated themselves to the Lord. The walls of the city were rebuilt, and in a sense you could say that the peoples’ hearts had been rebuilt, once again soft to God. But the city was still by and large unchanged, empty and in ruins. It was time at last to change this.
Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. – Neh. 11:1-2
In these two verses there is an incredible amount happening here. The leaders agree to move to Jerusalem. They are not leading by just telling others what to do; they are leading by example. They are going themselves. They are not asking anyone else to do anything different that what they are doing.
And then, the people cast lots in order to decide which additional families would move to Jerusalem. One out of ten would go. And the incredible thing here – if I understand verse 2 correctly, and I think I do, is that the people cast lots, but there was no police department around to force those to go who didn’t want to go, and there was no jail to put people into if they refused. No, the people cast lots, and then, it appears that all, or nearly all, of those who had been selected at random voluntarily went.
The final sentence here says that the people commended those who went. Why? Because it was not an easy thing to go! Most people were making their living, most people were surviving, by living as farmers. They grew wheat and barley and cultivated and harvested olive groves and grape vines. They grew chickens and goats and sheep. This is what most of them knew how to do, and this is what most of them did and had done for generations, for the last 100 years. These were country folk, and they were volunteering to go to the city. Why? Because their hearts were soft to the Lord. They would go wherever the Lord wanted them to go. They would do whatever the Lord would have them do. And they would trust in God to provide.
Most of them would have to learn new professions. Most of them would be leaving extended family behind. Most of them would have the difficult task of doing all this while trying to take care of the immediate families, without even having a roof over their heads. I don’t think they had false illusions about how hard it would be.
Can you imagine what this was like? How would you feel when it was your turn to draw a lot? Would you secretly hope that you wouldn’t be chosen? Would you pray that you wouldn’t be chosen? I’m pretty sure that’s not a wise prayer. I would describe such a prayer as an example of “kicking against the goads.” Do you know what this means? The phrase is used in Paul’s conversion story as he relates it in Acts 26:14. The goads were sticks with pointed pieces of iron fastened to the ends of them. They were used to prod oxen on when plowing. When a stubborn ox tried to kick back against the goads, instead of actually accomplishing something, he would only hurt himself.
How would you feel if you were selected? Would you weep and wail? Would you panic and worry? As you saw the people commending you and your fellow Jerusalem re-planters, would you suspect that the real reason they were cheering is because they were happy that you had to go instead of them? I’m not asking all these questions just to make you feel bad! And a little fear, a little trepidation, would be perfectly normal and understandable. But beyond that fear, above it, I would hope you would find peace. And this of course applies to all our trials. Do we trust God with the scary stuff? Do we hold fast to verses like Jeremiah 29:11 which says
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. – Jer. 29:11
By the way, what is the context of this verse? It was God’s promise to what group of people? The exiles from Jerusalem carried off to Babylon! Perhaps I am wandering a bit away from the direct context of Nehemiah 11, but I am struck how God calls even us to do some scary things. For most of us, bringing up spiritual conversations with unbelievers is a scary thing. Sharing our faith is a scary thing. Sharing the gospel is a scary thing. It is OK to feel some fear. But we should also find that our trust in God, our faith in Him, and our knowledge that He desires us to be salt and light and that He is with us, should help us to act despite our fear.
Now once again, we come across lists of names in Nehemiah. In the interests of time, and so that you don’t have to put up with me stumbling through all these names, I will summarize these verses.
These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon’s servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on their own property in the various towns, while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem): From the descendants of Judah: [two names, one descended from Perez, one from Shelah] The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of standing. – Neh. 11:3-6
By the way, you can verify from Gen. 46:12 and Numbers 26 that Perez and Shelah are two of the sons of Judah; two more (Er and Onan) are described in these verses as having died out without descendants.
Let me summarize the following verses. Verses 7-9 explain that there are 928 men who were descendents of Benjamin who moved to Jerusalem, and it lists their leaders. Verses 10-14 focus on the priests, a total of 1192 men (plus their families). Verses 15-18 focus on the Levites, 284 men. Two are described as being in charge of the outside work of the house of God, and one is described as the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer. Verse 19 focuses on the gatekeepers, 172 men.
The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on their ancestral property. The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them. – Neh. 11:20-21
The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mika. Uzzi was one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the musicians responsible for the service of the house of God. The musicians were under the king’s orders, which regulated their daily activity. – Neh. 11:22-23
What does it mean that the musicians were under the king’s orders? What king? Certainly a non-Israelite king had no interest in the day-to-day worship activities of musicians in the Temple in Jerusalem. I believe this goes back to Ezra 6 and 7, where we see that certain positions were established to be paid for by the king’s treasury that had been placed under the control of Ezra. It would seem that these musicians were a part of this. “Under the king’s orders” doesn’t necessarily mean a king was actively ordering them; instead, it could mean that they were simply positions established under the king’s orders through the authority the king had given to Ezra.
Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s agent in all affairs relating to the people. – Neh. 11:24
This seems to be a similar kind of position, one established by the king’s authority given to Ezra. By the way, Zerah is the 5th and final son of Judah. (The others were Shelah and Perez, mentioned in verses 3-6, and Er and Onan, mentioned to have no descendants in Genesis 46 and Numbers 26.) You know, I find it fascinating to think of having records going back so many generations. I don’t know if any other people on earth established such careful record keeping. Why did they do it? Well, part of the reason was because the Israelites’ land rights were tied to whom they were descended from. If you lost this information, you lost all rights to the land.
As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages, in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet, in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements, in Ziklag, in Mekonah and its settlements, in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom. – Neh. 11:25-30
The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Mikmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements, in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah, in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim, in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat, in Lod and Ono, and in Ge Harashim. Some of the divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin. – Neh. 11:31-36
I’ve included a map. This map is based on the time of Christ rather than the time of Nehemiah. I wanted to do this specifically. The Valley of Hinnom is very close to Jerusalem; probably it is immediately south of Jerusalem. Beersheba is southwest of Jerusalem, and Bethel is northwest, although not nearly as far north as Beersheba is south. Note that these settlements do not stretch very far north of Jerusalem. According to the map, what is further north of Jerusalem? Samaria. By the way, where is Galilee? North of Samaria!
When you see the isolation of Galilee compared with the main towns of Israel, you can see how they might dress differently or even have accents, so that others at the time of Christ could tell that some of the disciples were people from Galilee. You can also see how traveling between the main part of Israel and Galilee would naturally lead to going through Samaria; to avoid it you would have to go out of your way. Anyway, the lack of Jewish settlements to the north helps you see how the Samaritans ended up with a set of religious beliefs that were some kind of hodgepodge of beliefs from the Jews and other religions. I think the reason some people thought nothing good can come out of Galilee is that they were even further north.
Anyway, returning to our passage, Chapter 12 then begins with a list of people who returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua a hundred years earlier. Some Levites at that time are also given, including some who were in charge “of the songs of thanksgiving.” Verses 10-11 give Joshua’s ancestry and then verses 12-21 give the heads of the priests one generation earlier, at the time of Joshua’s father. Verses 22-24 says that information about the heads of the Levites in the previous generations were recorded in the reign of Darius and in something called the book of the annals. Again, specific leaders are mentioned who were in charge of praise and thanksgiving, and it says that they stood opposite one another in two groups, “one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.” Verses 25-26 refer to some of the earlier gatekeepers.
I encourage you to read through these verses on your own. But as I read them, a couple of questions come to mind. First, why are we going back in time? Second, why is there an emphasis on people in charge of praise and thanksgiving, including the details that they were in two groups? I believe we see the reasons in the following verses, which move us back to the “present,” a time shortly after the lots were chosen and people began to move back to Jerusalem. The event described in the remainder of Chapter 12 is a special dedication of the completed wall of Jerusalem. As for the reasons, I believe it is to give a sense of the historical importance and the historical continuity of this dedication; actions are being taken that go back to the time of David, who himself instituted many of the traditions and practices regarding praise and worship and the use of musical instruments. In the following verses we will see the continuity of these traditions and practices. And so, here are the verses regarding the dedication:
At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. – Neh. 12:27
How appropriate that we are reading this on Thanksgiving weekend! Now, what does it mean to dedicate something? A typical definition is to “give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause.” So the wall was being given entirely to someone or something. Of course, we know it was being given to God. I love the symbolism of this. They are going to give the wall back to God, because they know that He is the reason they are back in Jerusalem at all. He is the reason that they have been able to rebuild the wall.
Isn’t this a great picture of our Christian walk? We too have been given incredible things in Christ – forgiveness, eternal life, God’s Holy Spirit living within us, and so much more. And we too should be thankful; our hearts should be full of songs of thanksgiving to God. But what about dedicating? What do we have to give entirely to God? We have our new lives. We are born again, and we can give the rest of our lives completely to God. What does this look like? It is a lifelong journey, but it starts with simply thanking God for what He has done for you and then offering yourself back to Him, to be used as He wishes to use you. You dedicate yourself to Him. And then you allow Him to lead you, and you follow.
The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites, from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall. – Neh. 12:28-30
The priests had to purify themselves before they could serve any useful purpose. The rules for this go back to the time of Moses. And there is a message here for us as well. Before we can dedicate anything to God, before we can be used to “purify” others (that is, to lead them to Christ), we too should have a clear conscience before God; if there is un-confessed sin our lives, we should confess it, and in this way we too are purified. Now the purification for these Levites involved the blood of sacrifices; our purification also involves blood, but it is based on the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. As the book of Hebrews explains, ours is a much better sacrifice.
I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. – Neh. 12:31
The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people… - Neh. 12:38a
Verses 38b-39 gives the path they took. As we have seen multiple times in the past, we again see Nehemiah’s humility. He is not leading, but following. Although he is the chief architect, the chief engineer in this plan to rebuild the wall, he has no desire that attention or praise be given to him. The sole recipient of praise on this day is to be God. I love this! And the leaders I have most respected, for as long as I have been a Christian, have been those who are models of humility. Not false humility, but the genuine article. They simply desire to live for and please God. They don’t want recognition, or praise, or any attention in this life. They live as if they have truly dedicated themselves to God.
The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, as well as the priests… And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. – Neh. 12:40-43
I love this description of their celebration. Have you ever been to a football game and left early, and as you are walking away from the stadium, suddenly a giant yell, a roar, comes booming out of the stadium. This is the sound of rejoicing being heard far away. How do you feel when you hear it? If you went to root for the home team, you feel left out, perhaps a little disappointed that you left too early. But at the same time you are encouraged, excited that your team is continuing to do well. You are eager to learn what happened.
If you were one of a small number who went to root for the away team, you feel disappointed, or sickened. You hope you don’t hear that rejoicing again. I can imagine the situation was similar for people in Israel on that day. Those who were Israelites were so encouraged by seeing the people shout for joy to the Lord, that it was impossible not to join in. But those who were not Israelites, especially those who had previously plotted and schemed and threatened to prevent the rebuilding of that wall probably felt sick to their stomachs. Some were angry. Some were fearful. But all wished that the celebrating would stop.
I will save the final verses of this chapter for next week. I want to close by explaining my title this week. Each week we have been going through Nehemiah, the title has been Overcoming something. This week’s title is Overcoming Silence. What do I mean by this title?
Well, on a literal level there are two ways in which silence is overcome in this passage. One is with the repopulating of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been nearly silent for close to 200 years. But now, leaders were moving in. Families were moving in. You could again hear children playing, babies crying, men working, mothers talking in the streets. The silence of the city was finally being overcome.
And second, silence was being overcome with the boisterous dedication of the wall. The people’s shouts for joy were not only filling Jerusalem, but also echoing across the valleys and plains in the area around Jerusalem. These voices were praising the one true God, the one not made by human hands, but the One who had made human hands. The silence of oppression and fear enforced by Israel’s enemies was being overcome.
I have thought about how so much of this passage symbolically applies to us with respect to sharing our faith. Remember that our testimony is first and foremost exactly that: praise to God for what He has done in our lives. We should not be overcome by fear; instead, we should overcome the silence of the lost with the incredible true story of God’s love that has broken into our lives and is waiting to break into theirs as well.
We should even find that, as the verse says, perfect love casts out fear. We may find that the fear doesn’t begin to disappear until after we start talking, just as, in Joshua’s case, the waters of the Jordan river didn’t begin to part until after Joshua took a step. I am sure many of those selected by lot to move to Jerusalem felt all kinds of conflicting emotions. But that’s OK! They went. And they are all counted up, and in some cases listed by name, in the verses that follow.
Now once again, we come across lists of names in Nehemiah. In the interests of time, and so that you don’t have to put up with me stumbling through all these names, I will summarize these verses.
These are the provincial leaders who settled in Jerusalem (now some Israelites, priests, Levites, temple servants and descendants of Solomon’s servants lived in the towns of Judah, each on their own property in the various towns, while other people from both Judah and Benjamin lived in Jerusalem): From the descendants of Judah: [two names, one descended from Perez, one from Shelah] The descendants of Perez who lived in Jerusalem totaled 468 men of standing. – Neh. 11:3-6
By the way, you can verify from Gen. 46:12 and Numbers 26 that Perez and Shelah are two of the sons of Judah; two more (Er and Onan) are described in these verses as having died out without descendants.
Let me summarize the following verses. Verses 7-9 explain that there are 928 men who were descendents of Benjamin who moved to Jerusalem, and it lists their leaders. Verses 10-14 focus on the priests, a total of 1192 men (plus their families). Verses 15-18 focus on the Levites, 284 men. Two are described as being in charge of the outside work of the house of God, and one is described as the director who led in thanksgiving and prayer. Verse 19 focuses on the gatekeepers, 172 men.
The rest of the Israelites, with the priests and Levites, were in all the towns of Judah, each on their ancestral property. The temple servants lived on the hill of Ophel, and Ziha and Gishpa were in charge of them. – Neh. 11:20-21
Recall that the Israelites had been assigned land by tribe going all the way back to when they had first conquered the Promised Land. This makes the giving up of these rights so as to live in the ruins of Jerusalem an even greater sacrifice.
The chief officer of the Levites in Jerusalem was Uzzi son of Bani, the son of Hashabiah, the son of Mattaniah, the son of Mika. Uzzi was one of Asaph’s descendants, who were the musicians responsible for the service of the house of God. The musicians were under the king’s orders, which regulated their daily activity. – Neh. 11:22-23
What does it mean that the musicians were under the king’s orders? What king? Certainly a non-Israelite king had no interest in the day-to-day worship activities of musicians in the Temple in Jerusalem. I believe this goes back to Ezra 6 and 7, where we see that certain positions were established to be paid for by the king’s treasury that had been placed under the control of Ezra. It would seem that these musicians were a part of this. “Under the king’s orders” doesn’t necessarily mean a king was actively ordering them; instead, it could mean that they were simply positions established under the king’s orders through the authority the king had given to Ezra.
Pethahiah son of Meshezabel, one of the descendants of Zerah son of Judah, was the king’s agent in all affairs relating to the people. – Neh. 11:24
This seems to be a similar kind of position, one established by the king’s authority given to Ezra. By the way, Zerah is the 5th and final son of Judah. (The others were Shelah and Perez, mentioned in verses 3-6, and Er and Onan, mentioned to have no descendants in Genesis 46 and Numbers 26.) You know, I find it fascinating to think of having records going back so many generations. I don’t know if any other people on earth established such careful record keeping. Why did they do it? Well, part of the reason was because the Israelites’ land rights were tied to whom they were descended from. If you lost this information, you lost all rights to the land.
But I think this may be a backwards way of thinking about this. I think God gave them land rights tied to their ancestries so that they would have such meticulous record keeping. And the real reason God wanted such accurate record keeping is because He could then set up very specific prophecies about the coming Messiah, prophecies that could ultimately only be fulfilled by one person, and that person is Jesus.
And this is what we see; prophecy after prophecy linking the Messiah as descendants of various people. And I think it is no coincidence that shortly after Christ came, the Temple was destroyed, and this time, the records and the genealogies were lost. Today, nobody can come and claim to fulfill these prophecies, because there is no way to determine whether this person’s claims are true.
As for the villages with their fields, some of the people of Judah lived in Kiriath Arba and its surrounding settlements, in Dibon and its settlements, in Jekabzeel and its villages, in Jeshua, in Moladah, in Beth Pelet, in Hazar Shual, in Beersheba and its settlements, in Ziklag, in Mekonah and its settlements, in En Rimmon, in Zorah, in Jarmuth, Zanoah, Adullam and their villages, in Lachish and its fields, and in Azekah and its settlements. So they were living all the way from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom. – Neh. 11:25-30
The descendants of the Benjamites from Geba lived in Mikmash, Aija, Bethel and its settlements, in Anathoth, Nob and Ananiah, in Hazor, Ramah and Gittaim, in Hadid, Zeboim and Neballat, in Lod and Ono, and in Ge Harashim. Some of the divisions of the Levites of Judah settled in Benjamin. – Neh. 11:31-36
I’ve included a map. This map is based on the time of Christ rather than the time of Nehemiah. I wanted to do this specifically. The Valley of Hinnom is very close to Jerusalem; probably it is immediately south of Jerusalem. Beersheba is southwest of Jerusalem, and Bethel is northwest, although not nearly as far north as Beersheba is south. Note that these settlements do not stretch very far north of Jerusalem. According to the map, what is further north of Jerusalem? Samaria. By the way, where is Galilee? North of Samaria!
When you see the isolation of Galilee compared with the main towns of Israel, you can see how they might dress differently or even have accents, so that others at the time of Christ could tell that some of the disciples were people from Galilee. You can also see how traveling between the main part of Israel and Galilee would naturally lead to going through Samaria; to avoid it you would have to go out of your way. Anyway, the lack of Jewish settlements to the north helps you see how the Samaritans ended up with a set of religious beliefs that were some kind of hodgepodge of beliefs from the Jews and other religions. I think the reason some people thought nothing good can come out of Galilee is that they were even further north.
Anyway, returning to our passage, Chapter 12 then begins with a list of people who returned with Zerubbabel and Joshua a hundred years earlier. Some Levites at that time are also given, including some who were in charge “of the songs of thanksgiving.” Verses 10-11 give Joshua’s ancestry and then verses 12-21 give the heads of the priests one generation earlier, at the time of Joshua’s father. Verses 22-24 says that information about the heads of the Levites in the previous generations were recorded in the reign of Darius and in something called the book of the annals. Again, specific leaders are mentioned who were in charge of praise and thanksgiving, and it says that they stood opposite one another in two groups, “one section responding to the other, as prescribed by David the man of God.” Verses 25-26 refer to some of the earlier gatekeepers. I encourage you to read through these verses on your own. But as I read them, a couple of questions come to mind. First, why are we going back in time? Second, why is there an emphasis on people in charge of praise and thanksgiving, including the details that they were in two groups? I believe we see the reasons in the following verses, which move us back to the “present,” a time shortly after the lots were chosen and people began to move back to Jerusalem. The event described in the remainder of Chapter 12 is a special dedication of the completed wall of Jerusalem. As for the reasons, I believe it is to give a sense of the historical importance and the historical continuity of this dedication; actions are being taken that go back to the time of David, who himself instituted many of the traditions and practices regarding praise and worship and the use of musical instruments. In the following verses we will see the continuity of these traditions and practices. And so, here are the verses regarding the dedication:
At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres. – Neh. 12:27
How appropriate that we are reading this on Thanksgiving weekend! Now, what does it mean to dedicate something? A typical definition is to “give entirely to a specific person, activity, or cause.” So the wall was being given entirely to someone or something. Of course, we know it was being given to God. I love the symbolism of this. They are going to give the wall back to God, because they know that He is the reason they are back in Jerusalem at all. He is the reason that they have been able to rebuild the wall.
Isn’t this a great picture of our Christian walk? We too have been given incredible things in Christ – forgiveness, eternal life, God’s Holy Spirit living within us, and so much more. And we too should be thankful; our hearts should be full of songs of thanksgiving to God. But what about dedicating? What do we have to give entirely to God? We have our new lives. We are born again, and we can give the rest of our lives completely to God. What does this look like? It is a lifelong journey, but it starts with simply thanking God for what He has done for you and then offering yourself back to Him, to be used as He wishes to use you. You dedicate yourself to Him. And then you allow Him to lead you, and you follow.
The musicians also were brought together from the region around Jerusalem—from the villages of the Netophathites, from Beth Gilgal, and from the area of Geba and Azmaveth, for the musicians had built villages for themselves around Jerusalem. When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall. – Neh. 12:28-30
The priests had to purify themselves before they could serve any useful purpose. The rules for this go back to the time of Moses. And there is a message here for us as well. Before we can dedicate anything to God, before we can be used to “purify” others (that is, to lead them to Christ), we too should have a clear conscience before God; if there is un-confessed sin our lives, we should confess it, and in this way we too are purified. Now the purification for these Levites involved the blood of sacrifices; our purification also involves blood, but it is based on the once-for-all sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. As the book of Hebrews explains, ours is a much better sacrifice.
I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate. – Neh. 12:31
Verses 32-36 lists the people who went this direction, led by Ezra “the teacher of the law,” and verse 37 gives the path they took. A number of the people came with trumpets and other musical instruments “prescribed by David the man of God.”
The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people… - Neh. 12:38a
Verses 38b-39 gives the path they took. As we have seen multiple times in the past, we again see Nehemiah’s humility. He is not leading, but following. Although he is the chief architect, the chief engineer in this plan to rebuild the wall, he has no desire that attention or praise be given to him. The sole recipient of praise on this day is to be God. I love this! And the leaders I have most respected, for as long as I have been a Christian, have been those who are models of humility. Not false humility, but the genuine article. They simply desire to live for and please God. They don’t want recognition, or praise, or any attention in this life. They live as if they have truly dedicated themselves to God.
The two choirs that gave thanks then took their places in the house of God; so did I, together with half the officials, as well as the priests… And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. – Neh. 12:40-43
I love this description of their celebration. Have you ever been to a football game and left early, and as you are walking away from the stadium, suddenly a giant yell, a roar, comes booming out of the stadium. This is the sound of rejoicing being heard far away. How do you feel when you hear it? If you went to root for the home team, you feel left out, perhaps a little disappointed that you left too early. But at the same time you are encouraged, excited that your team is continuing to do well. You are eager to learn what happened.
If you were one of a small number who went to root for the away team, you feel disappointed, or sickened. You hope you don’t hear that rejoicing again. I can imagine the situation was similar for people in Israel on that day. Those who were Israelites were so encouraged by seeing the people shout for joy to the Lord, that it was impossible not to join in. But those who were not Israelites, especially those who had previously plotted and schemed and threatened to prevent the rebuilding of that wall probably felt sick to their stomachs. Some were angry. Some were fearful. But all wished that the celebrating would stop.
I will save the final verses of this chapter for next week. I want to close by explaining my title this week. Each week we have been going through Nehemiah, the title has been Overcoming something. This week’s title is Overcoming Silence. What do I mean by this title?
Well, on a literal level there are two ways in which silence is overcome in this passage. One is with the repopulating of Jerusalem. Jerusalem had been nearly silent for close to 200 years. But now, leaders were moving in. Families were moving in. You could again hear children playing, babies crying, men working, mothers talking in the streets. The silence of the city was finally being overcome.
And second, silence was being overcome with the boisterous dedication of the wall. The people’s shouts for joy were not only filling Jerusalem, but also echoing across the valleys and plains in the area around Jerusalem. These voices were praising the one true God, the one not made by human hands, but the One who had made human hands. The silence of oppression and fear enforced by Israel’s enemies was being overcome.
I have thought about how so much of this passage symbolically applies to us with respect to sharing our faith. Remember that our testimony is first and foremost exactly that: praise to God for what He has done in our lives. We should not be overcome by fear; instead, we should overcome the silence of the lost with the incredible true story of God’s love that has broken into our lives and is waiting to break into theirs as well.
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