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The book of Nehemiah deals with the time when a remnant of the Jews has recently returned from captivity and exile in Babylon (c. 445 BC). One hundred and forty years earlier, Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Judah, burning its cities, razing its walls and removing the Jews to Babylon. Persia subsequently conquered the Babylonians (530 BC), allowing the Jews to return to their homeland. Under the leadership of Sheshbazzar, Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and others, the Jews had found the land desolate, populated by foreigners, and open to attack. Though they had rebuilt the Temple, it was not enough. Nehemiah is the Persian emperor's cupbearer, a high position of trust and responsibility. He reacts with alarm when he learns that Jerusalem's walls are virtually nonexistent (Nehemiah 1:1-4). Because there is no wall, the Jews are allowing too much of the pagan world back into their lives. Nehemiah learns that intermarriage with neighboring pagans is commonplace, and the Sabbath is not being kept holy. Worldliness is everywhere. Support for the Temple and the Levites has all but stopped. Some of the priests and leaders have allied themselves with the enemies of the Jews. The very sins that had caused their captivity and exile are happening all over again! Realizing this, Nehemiah seeks and receives permission from the emperor to travel to Judah to rebuild its walls (Nehemiah 2:1-10). Nehemiah realizes some will resist the idea of having a wall at all. Such people see no danger in living unprotected and even believe something can be gained by being open to the world. So Nehemiah surveys the wall's condition by night, in secret, as he prepares his plans to rebuild it (Nehemiah 2:11-13). Chapters 3 and 4 describe the rebuilding process. Wall building is difficult, time-consuming, costly, and often boring and repetitive. Inevitably, discouragement sets in and building slows practically to a halt with the wall only half-completed (Nehemiah 4:6). Rubbish is everywhere. Few have any incentive to build anymore. Worse, word gets to Nehemiah that a conspiracy to attack Jerusalem is in the works, and the Jews feel that they will be overwhelmed (verses 7-12). In this crisis, Nehemiah conceives an ingenious idea to reignite the Jews' fervor for wall building: Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses." (Nehemiah 4:13-14) He makes each family responsible for part of the wall, probably the section nearest its home. How brilliant! How carefully would we construct a wall that would directly affect our safety and that of our families?
Staff
Rebuilding the Wall
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