Today in our journey along Route 66 we are visiting the Old Testament book of Nehemiah...
Author
The Jewish Study Bible gives us insight into the authorship of Nehemiah…
Some scholars have suggested that Ezra-Nehemiah is produced by the same author(s) and editor(s) responsible for producing Chronicles, and thus Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah should be understood to form a single literary work. This proposal stems from the following arguments: The three share major themes; the conclusion of 2 Chronicles (36.22-23) overlaps with the introduction of Ezra (1.1-3); and 1 Esdras (in the Septuagint) combines parts of all three works… More recently scholars have challenged this theory [of unity] on the basis of significantly different theological assumptions and differences in use of language in Ezra-Nehemiah and Chronicles; this newer position, which does not assign the same authorship to these works, is now widely accepted.
There is significant ancient debate surrounding the question of the unity of Ezra-Nehemiah. In rabbinic tradition Ezra-Nehemiah was recognized as a single work authored by Ezra … Ezra-Nehemiah is considered a single unified work in early Hebrew biblical manuscripts, in the Greek version of the Bible (the Septuagint), and in later Jewish traditions.
The first formal division of Ezra-Nehemiah into two separate works appears in the 3rd century CE, among Christians, in the work of the early church father, Origen. This division is also reflected in Jerome’s extremely influential Latin translation, the Vulgate, which was completed in the 4th century CE. The division of the book into Ezra and Nehemiah among Jews appears in the first printed editions of the Hebrew text in the 15th century CE…
Ezra and Nehemiah are unique among biblical books in that they also include a genre identified as memoirs. These include both first-person and third-person narratives concerning Ezra and Nehemiah. The first-person narratives are typically considered to be authentic autobiographical accounts of Ezra and Nehemiah. The third-person parts of the memoirs are attributed to the editors of the final version of Ezra-Nehemiah.
Date
The traditional view is that the book of Nehemiah was written sometime in the fifth century BC. However, as noted in The Jewish Study Bible…
Most scholars date the present version of Ezra-Nehemiah to the 4th century BCE. Ezra-Nehemiah describes events that occurred, for the most part, in the 5thcentury BCE, but there are a number of references to later events and important figures. For instance, the Persian king Darius II (423-405) is mentioned in Nehemiah 12.22; this is the latest king mentioned and would support the claim that the traditions were compiled and completed by the early 4th century, and not later. Other significant details that would be expected in a late-4th-century or later composition are totally lacking.
To help you understand the place of Nehemiah in history I have included a timeline in your bulletin this morning.
Themes
Nehemiah is, in a sense, the last of the Old Testament historical books, and is post-exilic. It records the history of the third wave of Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity. This book tells how the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt and the people were renewed in their faith.
It is easy to analyze, scrutinize, and talk about all the problems in the world. But what is most needed are people who will not merely discuss problems but do something about them.
Nehemiah was such a person. Hearing about the broken-down walls in the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah was distressed. But instead of complaining or wallowing in self-pity and grief, Nehemiah acted. He believed that God wanted him to motivate the Jewish people to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls, so he left a responsible position in the Persian government to do what he believed God wanted him to do. Nehemiah believed the Lord could use his talents to get the job done. From the moment Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, everyone knew who was in charge. He organized, managed, supervised, encouraged, met opposition, confronted injustice, and kept going until the wall was rebuilt.
While Nehemiah organized people and rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, Ezra led the people in worship and taught the law of Moses. This twin effort led to a revival of faith among the returning exiles.
Structure
- Rebuilding the Wall (1-7)
- Reforming the People (8-13)
Key Concept—Prayer
So, who was Nehemiah? When we first meet Nehemiah at the beginning of this book, he is a Jewish cupbearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes. That means that Nehemiah was responsible for making sure the king didn’t get poisoned.
Let’s read together the first three verses of Nehemiah…
The words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
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 had survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.
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.”
So, here we see the major problem that Nehemiah faced and handled in his life. The wall of Jerusalem was broken down. Why was this a problem? This was a problem because Nehemiah knew that without a wall to protect their city the exiles returning to Jerusalem would be extremely vulnerable to attack by their enemies.
How do you respond to problems in life? Some people, facing a colossal problem such as Nehemiah faced, would be overwhelmed to the point of discouragement and even incapacity. Not so Nehemiah. He viewed this great problem as an opportunity.
Nehemiah’s response to the problem of Jerusalem’s broken wall was to fast and pray. Nehemiah says in verse 4, “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.”
It is important to note that when Nehemiah heard about the problem of Jerusalem’s broken wall, he was distressed. But instead of complaining, or wallowing in self-pity, he took action. And the first action he took was to get on his knees.
How do we respond when we are confronted with problems? Are we like Eeyore and say, “Oh, woe is me!” Or do we take our concerns to the Lord in prayer?
Nehemiah was not an Eeyore. Nehemiah prayed.
But how did he pray? Let’s read on in Nehemiah 1 and see how he prayed…
“Lord, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 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 family, 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.
“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.’
“They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and your mighty hand. 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 see in this passage eight things we can learn about prayer from Nehemiah. The first thing that Nehemiah did in prayer was that he recognized God as an awesome God. He recognized God as all-powerful. Nehemiah realized that there is no problem too big for God’s power.
Secondly, Nehemiah recognized that God is loving; God keeps his promises. Nehemiah realized that no person is too small for God’s love.
Nehemiah was motivated to pray by these two truths.
Some people assume consciously or unconsciously that their problems are too big for God’s power. Not so. The God who made the universe can certainly handle our problems. However large those problems seem to us they are not too big for God to handle.
Other people assume that they are simply too small for God to care about them. But that is not true either. We have even more reason to believe that God cares about us than Nehemiah had because we know that God became a human being for us and died on the cross in our place.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…”
Do you reckon you are part of the world? If so, then God gave his Son for you. And that shows that you are not too small for his love.
Somehow Nehemiah knew that no problem is too big for God’s power, and he also believed that no person is too small for God’s love. And these two facts motivated him to pray.
A third thing Nehemiah did in prayer was simply to ask God to hear his prayer. He said, “… let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear…” He asked God to hear him and see him.
1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.”
How do we know what God’s will is? We know his will only by what he has revealed to us in Scripture. It is so important to pray according to God’s will. That’s why we say, “In Jesus’ name,” at the end of our prayers. We are reminding ourselves and God that we are praying in line with Jesus’ will and character. And if we do that, then we know that God hears us. And isn’t that the most important thing of all in communication? Simply to be heard, that’s what we long for.
A fourth thing Nehemiah did was that he recognized his position before God as a servant.
Amy Carmichael once wrote that there are three points to effective prayer: don’t explain, don’t press, and don’t suggest answers to God. And Oswald Chambers once wrote, “Prayer is not getting things from God… prayer is getting into perfect communion with God. I tell him what I know he knows in order that I may get to know it as he does.”
A fifth thing Nehemiah did in prayer was to confess sin. When we recognize, in prayer, how holy God is, the most obvious thing to do next is to recognize how sinful we are. John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace said, “Although my memory’s fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
A sixth thing Nehemiah did was to remind God of his promises. I think God loves it when we remind him of his promises and ask him to be faithful to his promises. God is a loving father. And like any loving father, God loves to give good gifts to his children. 2 Corinthians 1:20 says, “For no matter how many promises God has made, they are ‘Yes’ in Christ.” Every time we read the Bible we should be looking for promises to claim. They are God’s blank checks in Jesus.
A seventh thing Nehemiah did in prayer was to ask God for specific help. Nehemiah prayed that God would give him success that day by granting him favor in the presence of the king. As Nehemiah fasted and prayed, God gave him a vision of how to solve the problem of Jerusalem’s broken wall. God put it into Nehemiah’s heart to ask King Artaxerxes for permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the wall. And because God was in the plan, it was successful.
How many of us pray like that? Most of the time we are afraid to pray that specifically before God because we are afraid that we will look like fools. We are afraid that God will not answer our prayers. But Nehemiah was bold in prayer because he trusted God to be true to his word.
Now, here is one final thing we can learn from Nehemiah about prayer… Nehemiah prayed immediately in the middle of his circumstances. As soon as he heard about the problem in Jerusalem, he prayed about it. Later, when he told King Artaxerxes about the problem, and the king asked him what he wanted him to do. Scripture says that Nehemiah prayed to the God of heaven, and then he answered the king. (2:4) Nehemiah developed the habit of praying on the spot, in the middle of his circumstances, and God honored that habit, giving Nehemiah wisdom whenever he asked for it.
Prayer is not something that we do only in church. Prayer is not something we do only in private. Talking to God is something we can do anytime, anywhere, and God will listen if we come to him the way Nehemiah did. Sometimes all we have time to pray is one word—“Help!”—but God hears us and he answers.
I challenge you today, ask God to make you like Nehemiah—a person who talks to God and walks with God, and one who thereby influences others for God.
Do you realize what Nehemiah was able to accomplish? He led a team to complete the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem and they did it in 52 days. And I believe they were able to do that all because Nehemiah began, continued, and ended in prayer.
One of the greatest blessings of my life was to spend a summer working with Billy Graham’s pastor, Calvin Thielman, in Montreat, North Carolina. The first time Calvin took me on a hospital visit, I thought I was going to be sick. I hated hospitals at that time. But I kept my eyes on Calvin and that kept me from being sick. We went to visit one of Calvin’s parishioners. And as we were getting ready to leave, Calvin turned to me and said, “Will, you pray,” and he bowed his head. What choice did I have? I prayed. And that was the first of many times that I saw Calvin, in the midst of his everyday life, simply bow his head, and without any fanfare, enter into the presence of the Almighty.
Eventually, I learned what motivated Calvin’s life of prayer. When he was in college, he had a vision of Jesus. Calvin is the only person I have ever met who had a vision of Jesus, face to face. And from that day on, Calvin devoted his life to serving the Lord. Calvin was a sort of modern-day Nehemiah in my mind. He never built a wall, but he did serve a president. Calvin served as special counsel to President Johnson and the president sent him on humanitarian missions to Vietnam on several occasions.
If we would but learn to pray like Nehemiah, we may never become people of great power, but it is guaranteed, we will become people of great influence. And God will give us the wisdom and strength to handle whatever problems we encounter along the way.
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