Intro to Nehemiah

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” 4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 
Nehemiah 1:3-4 

The book of Nehemiah continues the historical narrative that is found in Ezra as we read the people of God completing their construction of the walls of Jerusalem. In the Hebrew Bible, Ezra and Nehemiah were put together as a single book and encouraged the Jewish community to continue to trust God and to remain faithful to Him by being obedient to His laws. In these historical narratives, the people of God have not heard, seen or had wonders performed in their midst. In fact, quite the opposite was true as they faced many trials and struggles while they were rebuilding Jerusalem.

In Nehemiah, we find essentially a memoir by Nehemiah documenting the various struggles he faced while leading and reforming the Jewish people to God. Because of the writing style we are provided with a unique perspective as we read of Nehemiah's prayers which are sprinkled throughout the narrative and insights into his thoughts and emotions; for example, Neh 2:2b "Then I was very much afraid" or Neh 5:6a "I was very angry…".

Like I said before, the story continues on from Ezra and the theme of God's sovereignty is also very present in this book. We see this expressed in Nehemiah’s prayers, in how God moves the king of Persia, and in frustrating the evil plots of the Jews’ enemies. Like Ezra, Nehemiah can also be divided into parts, with the first seven chapters focusing on the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, chapters 8-10 dealing with the Reading of the law, and the last few chapters focusing on the Nehemiah's reformation of the people. Truly throughout the book, Nehemiah has several occasions which require him to rebuke the people and to call them back to covenant faithfulness. And although Nehemiah is a man of prayer and seeks to avoids conflict on multiple occasions, this does not mean that he is weak. In fact, he was very bold in reforming the people and he even records of how he “argued with those people, put curses on them, hit some of them and pulled out their hair" (13:25). This does not establish the model for every Christian who is trying to bring about a reformation, but does show us that action should be taken and that we should never become complacent to sin.

And this reformation was stirred in the heart of Nehemiah when heard of the troubles of his people and how his city was still in ruin. There are times when we may look around and see others in spiritual and physical pain and do nothing. Nehemiah sets a correct paradigm in showing genuine compassion and giving of himself to do something about it. And even if that may bring us to places where we will be uncomfortable, go and be God’s minister to others and boldly show the world that we believe God is sovereign, both in our lives and in the world. Who knows what sort of reformation may occur in your community when you trust God and are obedient to His word?

Grace and Peace,
Alex Galvez

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