Bible Study Library

Dear Disciples:

I’m going to break trend and begin with a side note today:

Side Note: If you’ve read the “About” section of this blog you’ll know that the lessons on this blog grow out of a Sunday School class I teach.

Someone in class asked several weeks back the dimensions of the wall Nehemiah built. That proved to be a very difficult answer to find. However, I did find one measly little reference in an obscure book that says that Josephus (a 1st century Jewish  historian) said that in Nehemiah’s time Jerusalem was 33 stadia in circumference, which is about 4 ½ miles. Whether that is accurate or not, I do not know. I’ll try to get around to digging out my copy of Josephus: Complete Works and checking it out. I’ll post an update here if/when I do.

UPDATE 06.28.2008: I checked my copy of Josephus: Complete Works to see if I could confirm the above. I only read the section specifically about Nehemiah (Book XI, Chapter V, Sections 6-8), but I couldn’t find any reference to the wall’s or city’s dimensions. However, it could be that Josephus mentioned it in a different area of the book.

We have a large task in this lesson. We’ll be covering Nehemiah 7 through 12 in a single lesson. We’ll continue to learn how to identify and fully commit ourselves to God’s call in our lives.

Let’s begin by tying the past to the present, by way of review:

• The wall that had lain in ruins for nearly 100 years was rebuilt in 52 days (6:15) under Nehemiah’s leadership, despite strong opposition from without and within.
• This was able to happen because Nehemiah remained deeply aware that the project was God’s, and God can’t fail.
• Nehemiah remained humble and sacrificial - having up to 150 common people eat at his Governor’s table the wealth of food available to him as Governor, for instance.
• Nehemiah refused to be sidetracked. He was solely focused on the good of Jerusalem rather than himself, and he prayerfully trusted God to complete the work through him.
• Every time Nehemiah encountered opposition, he turned to God in prayer rather than directly dealing with the opposition himself. Then he got back to work.
• When the work of rebuilding the wall was done, Nehemiah’s job was done. That’s what God called him to do. He recognized that, so he stopped.
• 7:1 - Nehemiah appointed gatekeepers and Levitical priests
• 7:2 - He found God-fearing men — his brother Hanani and the commander of the citadel Hananiah - and put them in charge of Jerusalem.
• 7:3 - Nehemiah ensured that some important directives were communicated on how things should be run from this point on (posting guards).
• 7:4 - This section ends with some significant words; “the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt.”
• There’s no sense building a protective wall around a city that no one can live in.

You might think that since Nehemiah set out to rebuild the wall, now that it was built his work was done. But building the wall was really just a necessary step in accomplishing the real goal of rebuilding Israel. So, in 7:5-8:1, Nehemiah conducted a census and the people settled in their towns.

The priests, the Levites, the gatekeepers, the singers and the temple servants, along with certain of the people and the rest of the Israelites, settled in their own towns. When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns… (7:73)

Two weeks after the wall was completed, all the people assembled in Jerusalem. This happened on a very significant day for Israel, but the significance would likely escape most non-Jewish Christians. It was the “first day of the seventh month” (8:2), which was the first day of the Jewish month Tishri (September-October). This was New Year’s Day on the Jewish calendar!

Side Note: For an explanation of why the Jewish year begins on the 7th month, see http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/calendar.html

They asked Ezra, the scribe, to bring the Book of the Law and the Levites “made it clear and gave the meaning so that the people could understand what was being read (8:8). We should remember at this point that yes, this was the Bible. But it was also the Jewish legal code. They had just rebuilt their military fortress, which had been destroyed because their ancestors turned away from the Law. They needed to know not only how they should please God but how they should be governed in their rebuilt city.

The Levites translated the Hebrew into Aramaic, which had become the common language of the people, so that they could understand it (8:7-8) .  In hearing the Law, the people wept because they felt a great sense of guilt, but Nehemiah insisted that this was a sacred day for God — a time for joy, not mourning and weeping - and so he instructed them to go and celebrate (8:9-12).

When we repent of our sins, God and His angels celebrate in Heaven. It is misguided for us to carry on our lives weighed down by the guilt of sins we have already repented of. If you’ve repented, you’re forgiven. Celebrate and then get busy with the life God called you to live!

They celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles (8:13-18), which was a traditional celebration of the harvest. This particular Feast of Tabernacles, however, was more joyous than usual because it was not only a harvest of the earth but also of God’s people themselves being re-gathered. God’s people were once again being established!

They kept on gathering together, spending their days studying God’s Law, confessing their sins, and worshipping (9:1-5). Their sense of awe in God’s presence was renewed (9:6-37), which is evident especially in the prayer Nehemiah recorded:

The Levites said to the assembly: 5 Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting: “Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise. 6 You alone are the LORD. You made the heavens, even the highest heavens, and all their starry host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them. You give life to everything, and the multitudes of heaven worship you. (9:5-6)

The prayer ended in a recommitment of themselves to God and His law (9:38-10:28). But they didn’t just verbalize it, wrote it up, signed, and sealed it:

In view of all this, we are making a binding agreement, putting it in writing, and our leaders, our Levites and our priests are affixing their seals to it (9:38).

They bound themselves with a curse and an oath to follow God:

All these now join their brothers the nobles, and bind themselves with a curse and an oath to follow the Law of God given through Moses the servant of God and to obey carefully all the commands, regulations and decrees of the LORD our Lord. (10:29)

They were very specific about the things they as a community of people needed to change:

“We promise not to give our daughters in marriage to the peoples around us or take their daughters for our sons. When the neighboring peoples bring merchandise or grain to sell on the Sabbath, we will not buy from them on the Sabbath or on any holy day. Every seventh year we will forgo working the land and will cancel all debts. We assume the responsibility for carrying out the commands to give a third of a shekel each year for the service of the house of our God: for the bread set out on the table; for the regular grain offerings and burnt offerings; for the offerings on the Sabbaths, New Moon festivals and appointed feasts; for the holy offerings; for sin offerings to make atonement for Israel; and for all the duties of the house of our God. We–the priests, the Levites and the people–have cast lots to determine when each of our families is to bring to the house of our God at set times each year a contribution of wood to burn on the altar of the LORD our God, as it is written in the Law. We also assume responsibility for bringing to the house of the LORD each year the firstfruits of our crops and of every fruit tree. As it is also written in the Law, we will bring the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, of our herds and of our flocks to the house of our God, to the priests ministering there. Moreover, we will bring to the storerooms of the house of our God, to the priests, the first of our ground meal, of our grain offerings, of the fruit of all our trees and of our new wine and oil. And we will bring a tithe of our crops to the Levites, for it is the Levites who collect the tithes in all the towns where we work. A priest descended from Aaron is to accompany the Levites when they receive the tithes, and the Levites are to bring a tenth of the tithes up to the house of our God, to the storerooms of the treasury. The people of Israel, including the Levites, are to bring their contributions of grain, new wine and oil to the storerooms where the articles for the sanctuary are kept and where the ministering priests, the gatekeepers and the singers stay. We will not neglect the house of our God.” (10:30-39)

Have you ever prayed some generic prayer of repentance like “God, please forgive me for my sins and help me to be a better Christian?” What if instead you were to write out every single sin very specifically and offer that to God? But how many times have you committed yourself to changing something in your life and failed at it? What if you bound yourself with a curse if you failed?

If you took this approach, do you think you’d be more inclined to stay pure? [If you think that would make the difference, stay tuned for the last lesson in this series.]

Finally, chapter 11 describes how they repopulated Jerusalem by moving 1 out of every 10 families to Jerusalem. This provided a good cross-section of the population living in the holy capital.

Chapter 12 describes Nehemiah organizing the priesthood (12:1-26), leading a great dedication of Jerusalem’s walls (12:27-43), appointing a permanent temple staff, and reinstituting the tithe (12:44-47).

The temple would now continually be in service as the Law commanded.

Always remember the purpose of your ministry. Do not focus on the task to the exclusion of the result God is working toward through you.