Women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab

Nehemiah Chapters 11-13

They Cast Lots (11:1-12:26)

These last chapters of Nehemiah, with several long lists of names and a general feel of final odds and ends, present challenges to the reader. If we have a little perseverance, however, and give ourselves license just to skim over the long lists of names, we can come to some understanding of the importance of the events they record.

The beginning passage records the initial repopulation of the city itself (11:1-3). We have read (Ezra 2:1) that the remnant of the Israelites who returned to Judah went “each to his own town.” As the whole company were few in number, and those distributed throughout the area of Judah, Jerusalem itself remained comparatively empty (7:4).

Jerusalem was no longer a place of trade and, being subject to an external government, taxes were flowing our of, rather than in to the city. As a result, living in the city was an economic hardship, as the only source of livelihood was to be found in the fields and pastures which surrounded the city.

We will later read that Nehemiah was not in Jerusalem at this time, and there is no mention here of the leadership of Ezra. Instead, just as the people themselves had initiated the reading of the law (8:1) so we read here that the people tithed of their selves to repopulate Jerusalem.

The idea of casting lots for such purpose may sound strange to our ears, but in the Old Testament times it was seen as a means of determining the will of God (Leviticus 16:8-10; Numbers 26:55-56). Whether they volunteered or were selected by lot, the people willingly submitted themselves to the repopulation of the city.

The Dedication of the Wall (12:27-47)

The story of the dedication of the wall also starts with the actions of the people, as gather and prepare themselves for the ceremony (12:27-30). Nehemiah’s first-person narrative picks up again as he describes the division of the company of Jerusalem into two great choirs proceeding in opposite directions around the wall, finally meeting at the temple (12:31, 37-40).

The description of sacrifices and sounds of praise is obviously intended to connect the dedication of the wall with the dedication of the temple (12:43; Ezra 3:10-13). And the people might well have cause for rejoicing: they had re-established the alter of the Lord, rebuilt the temple, and refortified the city; but Nehemiah makes it clear that their joy was not of human accomplishment, but a work of the Lord (8:10).

While all this Was Going on (13:1-14)

This section begins with a reference that will be significant later on, as Nehemiah is careful to point out that, as the people had read the book of the law, they had learned anew the command to keep themselves separate from other nations. Nehemiah refers specifically to a passage from Deuteronomy forbidding association with Ammonites and Moabites (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). This law in itself refers back to a story from the Exodus (Numbers 22:1-12).

Having reminded us of this prohibition, Nehemiah proceeds to tell us that Tobiah, an Ammonite and an adversary of Nehemiah, had been installed in the temple. With somewhat confusing chronology, Nehemiah informs us that these events took place during a period in which he had returned to the court of Artaxerxes. This statement is hard to understand when coupled with the referential clause “on that day” with which the passage began. We might naturally associate that reference with the day of the dedication of the wall, or of the reading of the law. But as Nehemiah had been present on both occasions, it is not clear what passage of time had occurred.

Upon his return, Nehemiah not only found an Ammonite installed in the temple, but he found that the people had not continued to support the temple, so the the Levites were forced to return to their fields for their livelihood. Nehemiah corrected both of these situations.

In Those Days (13:15-22)

Another situation with which Nehemiah was confronted upon his return is one which reminds us how dependent Jerusalem was on external resources. Nehemiah witnessed a continual supply of goods that was uninterrupted by the sabbath. In response, Nehemiah ordered the gates closed and a guard posted, just as he had in the days when Jerusalem’s neighbors were threatening with force (7:3). The connection of the two shows us that Nehemiah took the threat to the sabbath as seriously as he had threats to the physical safety of the city.

Women from Ashdod, Ammon and Moab (13:23-31)

The final situation with which Nehemiah was confronted was the intermarriage of the Israelites with the people of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. In reading the passage, we must first remember that it was not national identity that Nehemiah sought to preserve, but the identity of the people as the chosen of God.

We must also come to some understanding of the behavior of Nehemiah in this passage. We would not, in these days, find any objection to intermarriage, but we certainly object to leaders who, however their motivation, obtain their objectives by violence.

In response to the question of intermarriage, we might ask ourselves how Nehemiah might react to the way we dress, the amount we lavish upon ourselves, the way we entertain ourselves, and the way that the poor and oppressed live invisibly in our midst. Human culture may err in one way or another, but the righteousness of God is always the same. We should not approve of Nehemiah’s methods, but we need people to confront us when we fail to behave as the children of God.

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Psalm 139

You Know Me

After an initial inscription, the psalm confesses the intimate and complete knowledge of God (1-4). I may not always know what I have done event after I have done it, but the knowledge of the Lord is not bound even by time. He knows our words even before we say them. His knowledge is so complete and detailed that even the hairs of our heads are numbered (Luke 12:6-7). What are we to God, that he should have such intimate knowledge of us?

This question is famously asked in another psalm (Psalm 144:3) and somewhat more anxiously by Job (Job 7:17-18 – Note that the word that the NIV translates as “care” in these passages is the same word it translates as “know” in Psalm 139:2). As our psalm continues, we hear an ambivalent mixture of anxiety and awe for the omniscient, omnipresent nature of God (5-12). Jonah is known for his attempt to flee from the presence of God (Jonah 1:1-3). But as he was both literally and figuratively in the deep, he called to God and knew that God heard him (Jonah 2:1-2).

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Various theologies seek to address the role of an omniscient, omnipotent God in a world of evil and suffering. Some say that God must be removed from creation, aware but apart – that he has flung the world into existence and stands aloof, waiting for the final day. The psalmist feels differently. The God who has created continues to create (13-16). The great God who has formed our “inmost being” in a way and place removed from our understanding is the personal God who, with skill and care, has crafted us in the womb.

How is it that the psalmist can swing from this prosaic description of our beginnings to the confession that we are “fearfully and wonderfully made”? As God had revealed to Jeremiah (Jeremiah 1:4-5) so the psalmist is aware that God has known us even before we received our physical form. Only the one who has known us from eternity can promise to love us for eternity.

Know My Heart

It may seem an abrupt departure as we hear the psalmist cry “O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked!” (17-22; quotation is GNB) But it is only natural, when considering the timeless perfection of the Creator, to be confronted by the evil in creation. We should never be afraid to bring to God the petitions that are on our hearts, and often we cry to God for relief from the evils and horrors of our lives.

But as this thought has thrust itself upon the psalmist, a new thought creeps upon him – can it be that the evil that is in my world is in myself (23-24)? The words “search” and “know” that are used here are the same words with which the psalm began, but where they had been used to acknowledge the all-knowing God, they now express our desire to be known by God, and not only to be corrected, but to be lead. The God who knew us from the beginning is active in our present situation and will love us through eternity.

After Jesus finished saying this, he looked up to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Give glory to your Son, so that the Son may give glory to you. For you gave him authority over all people, so that he might give eternal life to all those you gave him. And eternal life means to know you, the only true God, and to know Jesus Christ, whom you sent. (John 17:1-3 GNB)

The Joy of the Lord

Nehemiah Chapters 8-10

Ezra Opened the Book (8:1-8)

In these chapters we address a new section of Nehemiah, actually begun in the last half of the last verse of Chapter 7, where we are told that the events began “when the seventh month came” (7:73b). In this section, the subject matter shifts from restoration to revival. While the entire latter half of Ezra is devoted to reformation, as is Chapter 5 of Nehemiah, this section is unique in that it begins with the desire of the people for the covenant of the Lord.

Responding to that desire the leaders gathered the entire adult population for an extended reading of the word of God (8:1-3). On the hearing of that word, the first reaction of the people was to worship their God (8:5-6). As Nehemiah had been an instrument of the Lord in the rebuilding of the city, his attention to preparation and organization was instrumental in transforming this great occasion of worship into an occasion of edification and rededication (8:8).

Do not Mourn or Weep (8:9-12)

While their initial response had been praise, as the event continued from proclamation into teaching, the people began to weep. As we consider this reaction, we must certainly be aware of their status: even though they had returned to the city, they remained a minor remnant under the rule of a foreign king. But whenever we come before the majesty of our Lord we are always aware of our inadequacy, and the evidence of the extended passage is that the Jews found themselves short of their responsibility as the people of God.

While the books of Ezra and Nehemiah provide us a positive story of the active presence of God in human history, they contain few of the great, uplifting moments we often look for in scripture. But this passage has one of the best, as Nehemiah tells the people, “The joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The life of David had foreshadowed the journey of the people of Israel, and like David, the people found themselves before God pleading for restoration (Psalm 51:8-12). But as they left that place of meeting, they had become assured of their restoration through the everlasting love of God which had been proclaimed by Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:2-4) and began to celebrate with the joy prophesied by Isaiah (Isaiah 35:10).

From the First Day to the Last (8:13-18)

The festival of booths is observed at harvest time to commemorate the receiving of the law at Mount Sinai (Leviticus 23:39-43). The “booths” or “tabernacles” recall the temporary structures in which the people lived during their journey through the desert – a time in which they were totally dependent on the grace of God. And so, in keeping with the theme of rededication to the covenant of God, we see a strange image of a people who have returned from captivity and refortified their city and who abandon their homes for booths made of leaves and branches.

The more literal translations of verse 17 state that the people had not observed the festival at all since the days of Joshua. Such a reading is difficult to understand, since we have already been told that the exiles had observed the feast when they had rebuilt the alter (Ezra 3:3-4). So, perhaps the NIV has it right in the reading that the festival had not been celebrated “in this way” – either with such rejoicing or with such dedication to the reading of the word.

From Everlasting to Everlasting (9:1-6)

There is in this passage an echo of the thought in earlier passages. As in the previous chapter the people reacted first in sorrow and then in joy, so here they begin in sackcloth and end in praise. But also, as the prayer of Nehemiah began with confession of sin (1:6-7) and continued with confession of the redeeming greatness of God (1:10) so here the people begin in almost overpowering awareness of their condition and end with the recognition that God is the unique Lord, the author of all creation.

Slow to Anger and Abounding in Love

What follows are two extended passages in which the Jews relate both their rebellious ways (9:7-37) and their commitment to rededicate themselves to a covenant relationship with their God (10:1-39). That they were able, as we are able, to come into the presence of God after stubbornly resisting again and again is a testament to the fact that we serve the God who is slow to anger and abounding in love (9:17).

The People Had a Mind to Work

Nehemiah Chapters 4-7

Hear Us, O Our God (4:1-5)

Chapter 4 begins with another iteration through the cycle of opposition that is characteristic of the book of Nehemiah. Immediately upon his arrival in Jerusalem, Nehemiah was greeted with the grumblings of the local Persian authorities (2:9-10). When these officials heard of his plan to rebuild, they scoffed at the possibility and threatened to report the to the king (2:19). In keeping with the general process of escalation, the current passage tells us that they became more furious and taunted the Jews with discouraging jeers.

Nehemiah’s reaction to these obstructionists was one that we might find completely understandable, but at the same time one that might make us cringe. These obviously were Nehemiah’s enemies, we have been taught to love our enemies (Matthew 5:38-48). we might address this conflict by observing that Nehemiah lived before the coming of our Lord, and therefore under the terms of a different covenant. Indeed, when Jesus said “You have heard it said” he knew full well where it had been heard, for “eye for eye, tooth for tooth” was a pillar of the law of the first covenant (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20; Deuteronomy 19:21).

This appeal to changing covenants only shifts the conflict, however, because the God of the Old Testament law is the same God of the New Testament liberation – the unchanging God who has always loved us (Exodus 3:13-14; Jeremiah 31:3).

The resolution of this conflict is beyond the scope of this lesson. What we may observe here is the boldness with which Nehemiah prayed. We must feel free to go to the Lord in prayer with the petition that is on our hearts and with the assurance that the Lord will respond to us with grace. Indeed, it is not recorded that the Lord granted Nehemiah’s request in any other way than supporting Nehemiah and the rest of the Jews in the face of their enemies.

Remember the Lord

The NIV says (4:6) that the people “worked with all their heart” and the Hebrew word (labe) is properly translated “heart”, but the Jews did not have our Western view of the separation of heart and mind, as evidenced by the NASB translation “the people had a mind to work.” Taken together, these two phrases give us the idea of a people who not only worked whole-heartedly in the moment, but who had a continuing, reasoned disposition to do the work they were given.

In fairly short order, the wall was rebuilt to half of its original height. As we should now expect, this accomplishment was met with an increased opposition, as the enemies begin to plot an assault on the Jews (4:7-23).

Nehemiah’s response to this new situation was characteristic, as it involved careful planning and organized execution, all founded on an unshaking faith in God. It is easy to allegorize from the story and wonder if we might best follow the examples of these Jews who were not only continually on guard against the enemy, but continually prepared for attack. Our Lord has warned us to be always on our guard (Luke 21:34-36) even of the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1).

Would You Even Sell Your Brothers?

There is some scholarly debate as to the placement of Chapter 5. As it appears, it seems to break the cycle of advancement and opposition that has characterized the tale of the reconstruction. Partially for this reason, some scholars believe that it more properly belongs in the latter section of the book, which deals with various reforms. We have the Bible we have, however, and while we should not be ignorant of informed debate over such matters, they only serve our purpose to the extent that they aide us in understanding scripture as it has come to us.

One aspect of the way the material interrupts the cycle of opposition is that it serves to emphasize the fact that the Jews experienced internal difficulties as well as external pressures. The opening verses (5:1-4) not only describe the situation, but provide a sense of the urgency and helplessness felt by those Jews who were being victimized by their brothers.

While the Jews remained subject to the rule of Persia and were not a sovereign nation, they had nonetheless achieved a certain status such that they were, as a class, no longer slaves. As remains to this day, though perhaps in some nations in milder forms, individuals could become enslaved for financial reasons. The complaint was that some of the Jews had escaped from Babylonian servitude only to become indentured to their own people. This gives us just a glimpse into the difficulties of life in that era, when everyday existence was hard enough, and this difficulty was added to, or perhaps multiplied by, the enormous task of rebuilding the city and by the requirement to pay taxes to several levels of government.

That some of the people were using for their own benefit what was extreme hardship to others was unconscionable, and Nehemiah said as much to them (5:6-19). To their credit, though they were not as extreme in their reaction as Zaccheus (Luke 19:8) when the money-lenders were themselves called to account, the practice was stopped and the accounts were rectified.

In the modern Western world, at least, the word “slavery” and the idea that it evokes have become reprehensible, and it may sound strange to our ears that the principle objection to the situation was that those being enslaved were of the Jewish race, while it appears as though the Jews themselves had slaves or servants, presumably from other races (Ezra 2:64-67).

We may wonder how what now seems morally bereft was once tolerated, if not endorsed, by the morality of the Bible. But with the leaven of the Pharisees in mind, we might also wonder how our society would function without the lending of money, and who among us gains and who loses when money is lent.

With the Help of Our God

In Chapter 6, the cycle of opposition not only becomes more intense, but more personal, as Nehemiah himself becomes the focus. First (6:1-9) the group of officials sent messages to Nehemiah requesting that he meet them for some unspecified reason. Nehemiah readily saw through this ploy and politely refused each invitation. In response, the group sent him an “open letter” so that their accusations would be available to everyone.

Among the accusations was the fairly direct statement that Nehemiah intended to proclaim himself king of the Jews in Jerusalem. This would have been not only a threat to the king of Persia, but to the local authorities in the area, also. Again, Nehemiah recognized these machinations as further efforts to discourage the people from their work, and we may again recognize Nehemiah’s discipline of prayer, which seems always at the surface of his life.

After these accusations, the group hired one of Nehemiah’s own countrymen to suggest that Nehemiah sequester himself for refuge in the temple (6:10-14). What the details of this plot may have been are not clear, but it was successfully evaded, in any case. The prayer that closes this section suggests that there were many who were involved in the attempt to shake Nehemiah’s faith.

At last we are told that the rebuilding was completed (6:15-19) and that even their enemies had to admit that it could only have been accomplished through the faith of the people in the grace of God. At this, the cycle of opposition is not so much completed as left in perpetuation as we are told that Nehemiah’s enemy Tobiah continued to have an influence on the Jews in Jerusalem.

The Book of the Genealogy

Nehemiah gives us in Chapter 7 an official ending to the period of rebuilding. As on this occasion he established Hanani and Hananiah as leaders over Jerusalem (7:1-4) it may be that he was required to return to Persia. Though there is no overt mention of a new census, his return to the King may have warranted some official report,. At any rate, Nehemiah took the opportunity to review “the book of the genealogy” and quotes from it, almost in verbatim agreement with Ezra (Nehemiah 7:5-73; Ezra 2:2-70).

When we address Chapter 8, we will begin a new section of the book, where Ezra and Nehemiah work to reform religious and moral practices.