A great study in leadership, persistence and walking in faith!
I can see why it’s so confusing trying to figure out when the walls went up around the city, and whether the temple was there before them, etc. (Scholars disagree) This book says that Nehemiah didn’t come to build the walls until the 20th year of king Artaxerxes reign…but Ezra was thanking God for the walls around the city in his book, and at one point the text says they were together. It could be that the two men used different ways of stating the year, or maybe there were two kings with the same name (that happens). Either way, this much seems clear: the temple was built first after years of delay while there were no walls completed. The partially destroyed walls were repaired by Nehemiah many years later in a very short time. This means that the enormous amounts of gold and silver, etc. that Ezra brought to Jerusalem would have been secured by temple guards posted around the building…since no other defenses would have been erected, even if they were being worked on at the time.
Just a few thoughts for today:
1. Many different people helped build the wall. They weren’t all construction people, but they all joined together to help, and were successful. God is more concerned with your availability than your capability.
2. Some of the nobles wouldn’t help. I notice that the people of Tekoa are mentioned twice, I wonder why? It looks like they worked in two different places. They derive their name from one of David’s “mighty men”…they were certainly better examples than their overseers. I guess there are always people who feel that some tasks are “beneath them”.
3. The resistance to building was primarily from outside, but not entirely. The people from surrounding villages came to Nehemiah crying that they would be “attacked from all sides”. There are always people trying to instill fear into others…I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s their way of controlling the narrative, maybe they want an excuse to quit, maybe they truly are lacking in faith and afraid. Nehemiah doesn’t allow their fear to stop progress…but he does take some precautions (wisely).
4. It only takes 52 days for all this to happen, which is incredible. I notice that Nehemiah doesn’t announce it in advance, probably because he doesn’t want the enemies of Israel to know what he had planned.
5. When Nehemiah asks for lumber he also asked for enough to build himself a house. As the Governor of the area, that would be appropriate. He also could have assessed a tax and drawn a food allotment, but he did neither. I note that the true servant of the Lord will not try to become wealthy on the backs of others.
6. Thinking of the above comment: I doubt that the nobles would have cancelled their debts if Nehemiah were drawing a large salary and food allotment. I think his generosity and humble service were so compelling that they felt obligated to respond. As church leaders we shouldn’t be thinking about how we can receive more…..we should be thinking about how we can give more!
Faithfully,
PR