Nehemiah 1:1

 

Nehemiah 1:1 says, The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,  Nehemiah was in the court of the king of Persia and served as his cupbearer.  Originally, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were considered part of the same book, then were divided into 1st and 2nd Ezra, before being designated as two books in the 16th century, according to Matthew Henry.  Nehemiah lived in the same time period as Ezra, and though he never wore a crown, Matthew Henry says Nehemiah was more honorable and noble than any earthly ruler or philosopher.   We as followers of Christ may never be rulers or noted for our philosophy, but if we are praying people, we will be honorable and noble people in God’s view. 

Verse two adds, That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.  When one of his brethren and certain other men of Judah came to him, he asked them about the Jews who had escaped from the captivity, or I believe had been allowed to return to Jerusalem though they were still not free from Persian rule, and how things were in Jerusalem.   We need to be concerned with the state of church today, even if we may be in a position of relative ease in the world. 

Verse three continues, And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.  What they told Nehemiah about Jerusalem was not good news.  The remnant of the people was in great affliction and reproach, and the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and the gates had been burned.  Too often today throughout the world, God’s people are suffering affliction, and His work is not getting done.   We cannot allow the fact that we may be living in relative ease keep us from doing all that we can to offer them support and encouragement. 

Verse four concludes, And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,  When Nehemiah heard these things, he sat weeping and mourning for certain days, though we aren’t told how many.  He also fasted and prayed to the God of heaven.  I believe that too often, when we hear about Christians being persecuted, we aren’t really affected by it.  We need to be weeping and mourning for them instead of just offering sometimes empty words of support.  We might say that they are far away from us, so there is nothing we can do, but like Nehemiah, we can begin by fasting and praying to the God of Heaven, Who is the only God.  Of course. one reason Nehemiah was so heartbroken was because these were his people, even if he wasn’t with them physically.  Before we become concerned about God’s people, we must become one of them, and the only way to do that is by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.  

Review

 

The people of Israel had been in exile for over seventy years, and Cyrus, the king of Persia, had authorized Ezra to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city, starting with the walls.  He had also given Ezra access to enough resources to accomplish this.  We may be in exile in the world because of our rebellion against God at times, but He will always authorize us to return to Him and He will provide all we need to do so.  Cyrus also returned the Temple vessels with Ezra and letters to assure he wouldn’t be bothered by other authorities while he did. 

The rest of the people seemed to be more interested in rebuilding their own homes than they were in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, so the walls of the city and the Temple were still in need of a lot of repairs.  We need to pray that we never get so interested in rebuilding material things that we own that we neglect the work of God.   

The people of Israel were still making offerings to God, but it was more out of fear of what other people might do to them if they didn’t than out of love for God.  We should never bring offerings to God simply to try to avoid having bad things happen to us. 

They did worship God with music.  Music always played an important role in worship in the Old Testament, and it still should in the church today. 

Opposition to the work existed, and people who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem tried to influence Cyrus and then Artaxerxes, stating that it would lead to their losing their power.  The building was officially stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius, who found the decree from Cyrus authorizing it.  People are still trying to stop God’s work today, often because they think it is going to cost them something.  The work continued unofficially.  There was a need to rebuild so that the people could be right with God, and whether we are authorized or not, we need to do what we are called to do by God so our relationship with Him will be good. 

Ezra, who was a descendant of Aaron, the father of the priests but not the Levites, took charge.  We are a part of the priesthood of believers as followers of Christ, and we need to carry on the work of the church, whether we are in charge or not.

The rest of the people seemed to be more interested in rebuilding their own homes than they were in rebuilding the city of Jerusalem, so the walls of the city and the Temple were still in need of a lot of repairs.  We need to pray that we never get so interested in rebuilding material things that we own that we neglect the work of God.   

The people of Israel were still making offerings to God, but it was more out of fear of what other people might do to them if they didn’t than out of love for God.  We should never bring offerings to God simply to try to avoid having bad things happen to us. 

They did worship God with music.  Music always played an important role in worship in the Old Testament, and it still should in the church today. 

Opposition to the work existed, and people who opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem tried to influence Cyrus and then Artaxerxes, stating that it would lead to their losing their power.  The building was officially stopped until the second year of the reign of Darius, who found the decree from Cyrus authorizing it.  People are still trying to stop God’s work today, often because they think it is going to cost them something.  The work continued unofficially.  There was a need to rebuild so that the people could be right with God, and whether we are authorized or not, we need to do what we are called to do by God so our relationship with Him will be good. Next, we will look at the book of Nehemiah.

Ezra 10:20

Ezra 10:20 says, And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.  The rest of Ezra simply lists the names of some of those who put away foreign wives, and I am going simply list them to close out the book.   

Verse twenty-one adds. And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.  

Verse twenty-two continues, And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.  

Verse twenty-three states, Also of the Levites; Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah, (the same is Kelita,) Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.  

Verse twenty-four adds, Of the singers also; Eliashib: and of the porters; Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.  

Verse twenty-five continues, Moreover of Israel: of the sons of Parosh; Ramiah, and Jeziah, and Malchiah, and Miamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.  

Verse twenty-six says, And of the sons of Elam; Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Eliah.  

Verse twenty-seven concludes, And of the sons of Zattu; Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza. 

Verse twenty-eight says, Of the sons also of Bebai; Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, and Athlai.  

Verse twenty-nine adds, And of the sons of Bani; Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, and Ramoth.  

Verse thirty continues, And of the sons of Pahathmoab; Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezaleel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.  

Verse thirty-one states, And of the sons of Harim; Eliezer, Ishijah, Malchiah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,  

Verse thirty-two adds, Benjamin, Malluch, and Shemariah.  

Verse thirty-three adds,  Of the sons of Hashum; Mattenai, Mattathah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, and Shimei.  

Verse thirty-four continues, Of the sons of Bani; Maadai, Amram, and Uel,  

Verse thirty-five continues, Benaiah, Bedeiah, Chelluh,  

Verse thirty-six states, Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,  

Verse thirty-seven adds, Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasau,  

Verse thirty-eight continues, And Bani, and Binnui, Shimei, 

Verse thirty-nine says, And Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah, 

Verse forty adds, Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,  

Verse-forty-one continues, Azareel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,  

Verse forty-two states, Shallum, Amariah, and Joseph.  

Verse forty-three adds, Of the sons of Nebo; Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Jadau, and Joel, Benaiah.  

Verse forty-four concludes, All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children. These were all Israelites who had fallen away from God’s word and were returning to Him in obedience to His word.  Of course, our first step has to be coming to God through putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, and if you haven’t, why not do so today.

 

Ezra 10:13

Ezra 10:13 says, But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.  When told that they needed to put away their foreign wives they replied that here were a lot of people that this would involve and then added that it was a time of much rain, so the people couldn’t stand, so this couldn’t be done quickly.  When we know that we are doing something against God’s will, we must correct it, no matter how many people might be doing the same thing, and the weather should never stop us from doing so. 

Verse fourteen adds, Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.  It was decided to allow the elders of the various cities to be put in charge of handling the cases of the people in their cities who were guilty of marrying foreign wives.  This was to be done to avoid the fierce wrath of God.  We cannot correct everyone who is living in defiance of God’s word, but we can start in our own life and then reach out to those who are closest to us who might be doing the same thing, not to judge them, but to call them to obedience to God.  

Verse fifteen continues, Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.  We are told of four men who were employed to do this, but they were not the only ones according to the previous verse, so I believe they must have been the ones in charge in Jerusalem.  I could not find a definitive answer to this.  

Verse sixteen states, And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.  Those who had returned from captivity did as Ezra had instructed and began to separate the men of Israel from their foreign wives.  They started to do this on the first day of the tenth month.  No matter how large the task of removing unacceptable practices from the church, we must start at some point in time to do so, no matter how large the task might be.  

Verse seventeen adds, And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.  It took three months to accomplish this, but it was done.  It may take us a while to remove practices that go against God’s word from the church, or even from our lives individually, but we must continue to work on doing so, even if we are never totally successful as they were then.  

Verse eighteen continues, And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.  Even some of the priests had married foreign wives.  Just because someone is a preacher today doesn’t mean that they cannot be guilty of disobeying God, but if they are, they need to confess and ask God’s forgiveness, and if they do, He will forgive them.  

Verse nineteen concludes, And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.  They promised to put away their foreign wives and offered a ram as a trespass offering.  There is only one sacrifice that will restore us to a right relationship with God, and that is the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us on the cross, but we must offer our life as a sacrifice to Him in order to benefit from His sacrifice. 

Ezra 10:10

Ezra 10:10 says, And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.  Ezra stood before the people and told them they had sinned by taking strange wives, or wives from other countries.  If we see sin going on in the church today, we need to stand up and tell people that what they are doing is a sin, not out of self-righteousness, but because God’s word says it is wrong.  

Verse eleven adds. Now therefore make confession unto the Lord God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.  Ezra told them to confess their sins and separate themselves from those who were not God’s people.  He said this would include separating themselves from their foreign wives.  We might think Ezra was asking them to commit a sin by divorcing their wives, but since I believe that a marriage is between a man and a woman and most importantly God, and they were disobeying God when they married these women, that action needed to be taken to return God’s people to obeying His commands.  

Verse twelve continues, Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.  The people agreed to do what Ezra had said, and we must agree to do what God calls us to do today.  I am not saying that if you are a Christian married to a non-Christian that you need to divorce them.  Actually, it would not be your choice to do so as I understand God’s teaching on divorce, but I also believe that you need to marry another Christian to start with.  These people had strayed away from God and His word and needed to repent and return.  Of course, in order to return to obeying God, they first had to acknowledge Him as God and His word as the truth, but they also had to have been a part of His people to begin with.  Being born into the nation of Israel made them a part of God’s chosen people, but it did not mean that they were automatically saved.  Their relationship with God was what determined that, and our relationship with God through putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord is what determines if we are a part of God’s people today.    

Ezra 10:6

Ezra 10:6 says, Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.  Ezra got up from his position of humbleness before the house of God, went into the chamber of Eliashib, but he was still mourning for the sins of the people of Israel while they had been in captivity.  He didn’t eat or drink.  I don’t think we often mourn that deeply for the sins of those who have been carried away captive to sin.  I believe that we need to be more concerned about the sins of the nation than we seem to be.  Ezra wasn’t just mourning for his sins, and we should take our sin seriously if we have allowed it back into our lives, but we need to also be concerned about the sinful practices of everyone that may have become acceptable.  

Verse seven adds, And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;  A proclamation was made throughout all of Judah and Jerusalem that they were to gather in Jerusalem.  This was the city of David, where he united the people of Israel.  There really was no better place for them to come back to in order to once again follow God’s laws.  Most of us don't really have such a place today, but we meet at the foot of the cross.  That is the only way that we can be made right with God, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on that cross to bring forgiveness for our sins, if we will only accept it.  The sad part about it is that everyone’s sins have been forgiven, but many will never accept that forgiveness.  We must put our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and lord in order to claim His forgiveness.   

Verse eight continues, And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.  Those who would not come within three days would lose everything and be separated from the nation of Israel.  Those today who do not come to Jesus Christ in their lifetime will lose everything and be forever separated from God and His people when they die or when Jesus Christ returns.  

Verse nine concludes, Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.  The people of Judah and Benjamin gathered there within three days.  They sat in the street of the house of God trembling, because of the great matter at hand and because of the great rain.   We might think that God would have made it nice and sunny for them, but He didn’t.  We should never allow the weather to come between God and us, especially if there is some great spiritual matter that needs to be settled.  Of course, the first step is to come to Jesus when He calls, and then to put our faith in Him as our personal Savior and Lord. 

Ezra 10:1

Ezra 10:1 says, Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.  Ezra prayed.  He didn’t just kneel down and bow his head to pray, but he confessed while crying from a broken heart and throwing himself down before the house of the Lord.  He wasn’t just going through the motions without any real feeling but truly repented and was grieved by the sins of the people, and even his own, before God.  I think we can say he knew that sin was real otherwise there would be nothing to confess to God.  We don’t often grieve like this over the sins of the nation, but even if we do, we cannot do so from an air of superiority.  We will always be sinners by our own merit, but we can be forgiven sinners if we put our faith in Jesus Christ and accept Him as our Savior and Lord.  

Verse two adds, And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.  One of the men there, Shechaniah, confessed to Ezra that the people of Israel had trespassed against God, and the one way that he singled out was that they had taken wives of the people of the land, which God had told them not to do.  If we have strayed away from God, it doesn’t matter what our sin is, because all sins are serious sins to God, so we need to confess and be brokenhearted before God.  Even though all our sins are forgiven when put our faith in Jesus Christ, that doesn’t mean that we can ever take them lightly.  

Verse three continues, Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.  Shechaniah proposed that they make a covenant with God to put away their foreign wives and the children born of them and do it according to the law.   According to the law, they shouldn’t have been married to them to start with.  Matthew Henry points out that from other scripture we see that Shechaniah was not married to a foreign wife, but his father was.  He also states that if we are married to sin that we must divorce ourselves from it.  Since divorce is also against God's law and He expects his people to provide for their children, I have to wonder if this was God's plan or Shechaniah’s, since we aren’t told that God led Him to this solution.  I guess my concern is that I don’t think we should ever break one of God’s laws to correct our failure t keep another.  

Verse four says, Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.  Shechaniah then told Ezra to arise and be of good courage and do as he had suggested.  I believe that since Ezra was humbling himself in prayer before God that God could have spoken to him directly to give him the answer.  Something needed to be done, but I am not sure this was the best way to do it, and we still don’t have any statement that God was the One Who devised this plan.  As Matthew Henry also points out, a believer should not divorce a non-believing wife unless she wants a divorce.  To me, it would seem having the men take responsibility and remove any idols from the home and to teach their children to worship God alone would have been a better solution, though that is but my opinion.  

Verse five adds, Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.  Ezra then got up and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all the people of Israel swear by this resolution.  I don’t think we can force people to do the right thing and it be very effective, especially when it comes to a right relationship with God.  Once more, we are not told that Ezra made them do what God had commanded, but to follow the resolution that Shechaniah had proposed.  Again, that would be my understanding of the situation.  I do know that we cannot force people to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.  All we can do is present the gospel to them and invite them to accept Him, and if you haven’t, I will invite you to do so today.

Ezra 9:13

Ezra 9:13 says. And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;  Ezra gives a warning to the people who had returned to rebuild the Temple and the walls of Jerusalem.  He said that their past iniquities had led to their punishment of being exiled, but even that was less punishment than they deserved.  Now, they were being restored by God’s grace.  We all deserve punishment for our sins, and we can only avoid that by accepting Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord, and through faith in Him, we will never receive the punishment we deserve.  

Verse fourteen adds, Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?  Ezra then asked if the people of Israel once again sinned by breaking God’s commandments and enjoying the abominations of the people around them, would God not then be justified in not leaving a remnant of Israel.  Once we accept Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord, we should never allow sin into our life again, but we likely will.  We certainly shouldn’t enjoy sinful actions that the world will tempt us with.  Still, even if we do sin again, though we need to acknowledge it to God and ask His forgiveness, we will never lose the gift of salvation, because God seals us to Himself forever.  

Verse fifteen continues, O Lord God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.  Just as Ezra said then, we cannot stand before the righteous God by our own worthiness, because sin has separated us from Him.  We can only stand before God by repenting of our sins and accepting His forgiveness through putting our faith in Jesus Christ as our personal Savior and Lord.