Book of Nehemiah Part 1

Kongsvinger Lutheran Church

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Book of Nehemiah Part 2

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We are gonna pray and we're gonna get started. Lord Jesus, again, as we open up your word and we consider the great work that you have done through your word and those who have faith in you, we ask that you would help us and strengthen us in the proper understanding of your word so that we may rightly believe, confess, and do all to the glory of your holy name.

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We ask in Jesus' name, amen. All right, so before we get to the minor prophets, we're gonna actually spend some time in Ezra and Nehemiah.

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Now, I see a hand up already. We're gonna start off with a question. Yes? With the Psalm today in your sermon. Yes, it has everything to do with the

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Lord's Supper. So the question is, in Psalm 23, that you prepare a table before me in the midst of my enemies, that is actually a reference to the

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Lord's Supper. And so you'll note that as Christians, we recognize that we gather around the

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Lord's Supper, the meal that Christ has prepared us, which is a foretaste of the feast to come. That, you know, it's a picture.

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You know, we're eating in the presence of our enemies. That, you know, how does the hymn go? We walk in danger all the way, right?

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So that's really what that is a reference to. So that, by the way, great question, so.

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All right, we are going to embark on a study of the book of Nehemiah and then the book of Ezra before we get into the minor prophets.

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And I think that this is an important thing because if you work your way through the minor prophets, there are books that are written pre -exile.

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There are books that are written exile. There are books that are written post -exile. And so we worked our way through the prophet

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Jeremiah and we noted, you know, the apostasy that led to God acting in judgment and then basically banishing them from the land and they went into exile.

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And then we took a look at the book of Daniel and along the way, if you remember, we also picked up, we did the book of Esther.

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That was a while back. But over and again, we have to recognize that as Christians, some of these exile books are referenced as ways in which we are to consider the

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Christian life. And so in the book of Esther, you'll note that everything is done by prayer and God's name isn't even mentioned, right?

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That's not a throwaway detail. That's a detail that gives you an example of how you are to consider, you know, the walk of the

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Christian faith. Now, the book of Nehemiah, if you've ever spent any time in purpose -driven or seeker -driven or attractional megachurches, the book of Nehemiah is specifically held up as an example of what happens when

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God gives you your divine God -given purpose and the attitude that you're supposed to have regarding those who are trying to keep you from achieving your purpose, okay?

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So have any of you ever had the joy of being called a Sanbalat, okay?

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And I'm not talking about the movie, The Sandlot. I'm talking about a Sanbalat, okay? Yeah, you're killing me, Smalls.

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But, you know, but a Sanbalat is the character, the man who's opposing a

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God -given purpose. So everything in the seeker -driven movement looks at the book of Nehemiah as if it's some kind of an allegory of your life and what you're supposed to go through as you've now received your purpose and now you have to go and execute your purpose.

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And so this is how it's really twisted and misused. That's not what this book is about at all.

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So as a result of it, there's kind of a lot of unlearning that you have to do if you wanna correctly understand it.

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And you're gonna note, first and foremost, that Nehemiah, that's the right way to pronounce his name, by the way,

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Nehemiah is a fellow who is a man of the word and he's a man of faith.

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And the things that he does, he knows he needs to do, but he has some encouragement because he understands the word.

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And as a result of it, Nehemiah stands as an example for us of a man who still confesses his faith and does the right thing in the face of real persecution and opposition.

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Now, the persecution and opposition that he faces is not to knock out his purpose -driven life. Instead, the opposition he faces is to live a godly life and proclaim and confess the one true

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God. That's really what this is all about. So we can look at it as an example. And there's nothing wrong with looking at these examples and saying, that's a good way for us to kind of frame things up as we walk through this treacherous life that we live in.

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After all, we are all exiles. Now, the exiles are returning, but watch kind of how the theme works, okay?

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Let me go to the book of 1 Peter real quick. All right, one, hang on a second here, I wanna go here, there we go.

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One Peter, one Peter. All right, in the book of 1

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Peter, watch what Peter says. Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, to those who are elect, exiles of the dispersion in Pontia, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the

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Father in the sanctification of the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and for sprinkling with his blood.

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And so you'll note that that word exile pops up, but if I'm not mistaken, if I were to just do a quick real word search here, exile, okay, and I were to say that I want it to be a flex search, and I'm going to only search in the epistles, there we go, and let's make it so we just drop off the context here.

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You'll note that that word exile shows up a couple of times in the book of 1

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Peter. And if you call on him as father, 1 Peter 1 .17, who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile.

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Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh.

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So note there's a theme here that the New Testament is picking up on, and that is as Christians, we are truly exiles.

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Have you been to the promised land yet? No, we were born in exile.

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Now in the great theme here then we see the exiles are going to return, and so there's little undertones that'll have some eschatological implications, if you would.

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But one of the things I will note is that when you read Nehemia and you read

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Ezra, both of them, they don't really fully develop this idea then of the eschaton.

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That's not really their purpose. And so they're still basically picking up in this idea.

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If we're exiles, where's Christ's kingdom, by the way? Is Jesus's kingdom here on Earth?

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No, if I were to take a globe and spin it and put my finger down, would I ever accidentally, randomly put my finger on the kingdom of Christ?

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No, his kingdom isn't here. I would note, and I'd like to point this out, and this is a good way to think about this, is that when you come into Consavinger, where's our

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American flag, by the way? It's in the foyer, right? Why? Why is it in the foyer?

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Two kingdoms, right? When we step outside these doors, we're leaving embassy grounds, right?

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And so this sanctuary, this building, on this side of the door, this is an embassy, which means this is a small meeting, a gathering, if you would, in hostile territory of the kingdom of Christ.

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But when we're done with our business together and we disperse, okay?

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So I can make out glimpses of the church here right now and the kingdom of Christ right now, looking at you all.

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But when we disperse, we disperse into the world, and you'll note that here, where Consavinger is located, the governing authority of note is the

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United States of America. If we were gathering with NEA, it would be a different governing authority altogether, or we could travel, next time we're able to travel together as a group, maybe we'll make a trip to Germany, right?

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So if we have a church service in Germany, near Wittenberg, okay, when we gather together, wherever we're gathered, that becomes an ad hoc embassy of the kingdom of Christ, and once we disperse, where will we be?

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The Republic of Germany, right? But all of that being said, we're all citizens of a different kingdom together.

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And so when we look at the story of Nehemiah and the exiles returning, we gotta remember just how beaten, battered, and bruised these saints were.

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Yeah, they multiplied a wee bit in exile, but you'll note, only 5 ,000 of them survived the attacks of Nebuchadnezzar, only 5 ,000 of them went into exile, and when they come back, they're a little less than 50 ,000, and then when they come back, the state of the temple, totally in ruins, not even functioning.

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They can't defend themselves, they don't even have a wall, and even though you'll note that Cyrus is the one who lets them go, and they have the blessings to rebuild the wall by the

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Babylonian emperor himself, they still face political opposition and all kinds of slander and false accusations, and have you noticed, we

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Christians, we too face slander and false accusations and things like this.

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So I find Nehemiah to be a very comforting book for Christians who recognize that things can get a little topsy -turvy, a little rough here where we are, as we are, you know, even though we are heading towards the promised land, we still haven't got the

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King Jesus to raise us from the dead so that we can finally, once and for all, return to the true promised land, which is the new earth.

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So with that, we're gonna start into this narrative. It happened in the month of Heslav in the 20th year as I was in Susa, the citadel, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

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And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

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And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who have survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

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The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, its gates are destroyed by fire. And as soon as I heard these words,

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I sat down and I wept and I mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the

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God of heaven. And I said, oh Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome

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God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you, day and night for the people of Israel, your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you.

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I and my father's house have sinned. Now, just listen to this prayer.

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Again, I just compare and contrast real biblical prayers to what is being passed off today in so many places as prayer.

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Where people, they say, okay, we're gonna pray for such and such a person, and then they're commanding and decreeing and declaring and all this kind of stuff.

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But here, in the beginning of this, Nehemia has received a very, very bad report.

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His kinsmen are not doing well. Jerusalem is in shambles. The gates are still burned.

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The temple is unusable at this point. And anybody who was alive prior to the assaults of Nebuchadnezzar, they would have seen the temple that Solomon built, which was not a shabby building.

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It was built splendidly with gold and filigree and all this kind of stuff.

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It was supposed to be this shining jewel of a building. And it's not that anymore.

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And so you'll note that for the Jews, they have a problem. And the Jews have a problem on multiple fronts.

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They can't defend themselves. They're not politically independent at this point.

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And the people who will be put up as governors over them will still be their own kinsmen.

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This is true. And that will remain all the way up until a particular fellow, which is interesting when you think about it.

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The people who are going to be governing under the different empires. We're gonna start with the Babylonian Persian Empire, then moving on to Alexander the

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Great's, empire, then to the Romans. The Jews are still gonna have their own people over them, but they're not really kings.

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They're not really from the house of David. And it's all the way up until Herod, Herod the

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Great. Herod the Great is the first non -Jew to rule them. And that's fascinating when you consider it.

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And here's the reason why, is because there's one interpretation of one of the prophecies as it relates to the

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Messiah. And it has to do with the fact that Jews would be able to govern themselves until the

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Messiah appears. And so Herod the Great, he's not a

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Jew, he's an Edumean. And he liked to pass himself off as a

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Jew for political expediency, but he was not. He was Edumean. And so if you go with that interpretation of that particular prophecy, it works perfectly.

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So Nehemia is gonna be a fellow who's going to be part of the governing authorities set up underneath the

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Persian Empire. But he's still gotta get approval from Babylon for the things that he does, right?

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So it's really a mess, and he's praying at this point humbly. And note, he confesses his own sin.

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He confesses that his fathers have sinned. He confesses that God has done the things he's done righteously, that they deserved what happened to them, and probably deserved worse, as we all do.

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And he then invokes the scriptures. Remember the word that you commanded your servant

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Moses, saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.

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But if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there

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I will gather them and bring them to my place that I have chosen to make my name to dwell there.

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They are your servants and your people whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

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Oh Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name and give success to your servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

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Great prayer. Super humble, straight up, right on, okay? I bristle at the fact that there are so many people who would see a prayer like this and cringe at it, as if somehow they would describe it as groveling, they would describe it as beneath us as Christians, or whatever, because after all,

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Christ has made us a kingdom of, you know, we are kings and priests, so we shouldn't grovel like this.

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We just need to decree and declare and claim our royal authority and stuff. No, no, no, no, no.

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So Nehemiah continues. I was cupbearer to the king, chapter two.

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In the month of Nisan, in the 20th year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him,

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I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence, and the king said to me, why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick?

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This is nothing but sadness of heart. And then I was very much afraid, and I said to the king, let the king live forever.

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Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my father's graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?

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So then the king said to me, what are you requesting? So I prayed to the

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God of heaven, and I said to the king. So note, king asked him, what are you requesting? And Nehemiah throws up a quick prayer.

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God, please don't let me screw this up. We're not sure what the content of that prayer is. We just know that he quickly prayed.

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And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my father's graves, that I may rebuild it.

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And the king said to me, the queen sitting beside him, how long will you be gone, and when will you return?

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So it pleased the king to send me, when I had given him a time. And I said to the king, if it pleases the king, let letters be given me, to the governors of the province beyond the river, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah.

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And a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king's forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.

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And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me.

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Now, you're gonna note here, is Nehemiah getting the right permissions necessary to do the things he's doing?

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Correct. So you'll note that not only is he going to rebuild the wall, he has approval to do so, he has approval to get the timber necessary to rebuild the temple, and he also has approval to build himself a house, a place where he can reside.

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He's got approval from the king in all of these regards. Now, I don't like paperwork, I hate government paperwork, and especially, did

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I mention that I don't like it? It's just loathsome stuff. But we all have to do our taxes every year, and every few years,

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I have to fill out the paperwork in order to get my driver's license renewed, and before too long,

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I'm gonna have to get my passport renewed and things like this. We all require to do these things. But when you go through the process, you decide, all right, it's time to renew my driver's license.

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You go through the process, you fill out the paperwork, you present yourself at the department that's responsible for motor vehicles and things like this, you pay the fee, you take the test, you do the thing, and afterwards, you get the permit, right?

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Does any police officer have the right to say, you shouldn't be driving? None. You say, of course,

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I have the right to be driving. Here's my driver's license. So this is an important aspect of this, and the reason

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I'm digging into it is because you'll see as the story unfolds, what's going to happen is that there's going to be opposition to the things that Nehemia has been authorized to do.

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And the opposition is gonna come from people who do not care that the king has given approval or that Nehemia has the right paperwork demonstrating that he has the authority to do the things that he's doing.

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They are instead going to do what liars and malicious gossips and slanderers do, just make stuff up.

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And one of the moves that people who are slanderers and malicious liars do is they're really good at projecting onto their victims the motivations that they claim that they know that are behind the reasons that they're doing the things that they're doing.

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I know the real reason why you're doing that, it's because you're a X, Y, or Z, or because you wanna do this, that, or the other thing, right?

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But when people are projecting, oftentimes they tell you more about themselves than they tell you about the person who is their target.

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So, so far, so good. I mean, this is a great story up to this point. Nehemia seems like he's a legitimately humble,

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God -fearing man. He's not up to anything malicious. He's not up to anything that's no good.

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He's got the proper approvals. He's got the right authority. Everything's going great. So God has granted him success.

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So then I came to the governors of the province beyond the river. So we don't know about his travel, how his journey worked out, how many people were with him, but the province beyond the river, there's gonna be a river and that's a border, and now he's going there and he's making sure he's presenting them with all the proper paperwork.

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I came to the governors of the province beyond the river and I gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent me with officers of the army and horsemen, and here it is, first mention of this fellow, but when

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Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.

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Maybe they're making a good living by making sure that that's not in place, right?

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I would note this, Ammonites and Israelites historically have not gotten along.

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Okay, Horonites, that's a smaller clan. And watch this, so I went to Jerusalem.

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This word right here, I, what does that tell you who the author of this book is?

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Nehemiah, Nehemiah wrote this book. He's the author, he's giving us a firsthand account.

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So I went to Jerusalem and I was there for three days. Then I arose in the night,

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I and a few men with me, and I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem.

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Now a lot of people really focus in on this part. Look at that, God had laid on his heart this desire to do something for Jerusalem.

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So what is the wall that God has put into your heart that he wants you to build?

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It's a wonderful sleight of hand, but it's a sleight of hand nonetheless. And you'll note he's recognizing that the very desires that he has to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, he recognizes that these are godly desires, right?

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And that you'll note that of all the people who are Jews at this time, Nehemiah is the fellow who is best equipped to be the guy leading this project.

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There's nobody better for this job than him. And so is it any wonder that he feels within his heart a burden for these things, right?

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So there was no animal with me, but the one on which I rode. I went out by night, by the valley gate, to the dragon spring, to the dung gate.

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What a contrast, dragon spring sounds cool. I'll skip the dung gate, thank you. It's right, it's just south of the poop deck.

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Yeah, the dung gate is just south of the poop deck. Wow, okay, I see where this is going.

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It's even on the bad side. Okay. I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire.

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And then I went on to the fountain gate and to the king's pool. But there was no room for the animal that was under me to pass.

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Then I went up in the night by the valley and inspected the wall. I turned back and I entered by the valley gate and so returned.

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And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing. And I had not yet told the

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Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, and the rest who were to do the work.

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So you're gonna note, Nehemiah doesn't ride in with kind of like official status.

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He doesn't ride in and expect people to recognize him as the governor or things like this. He knows what he's been authorized to do.

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And he knows that he's going to need help in doing it. And you'll note, he doesn't put on pretenses or airs or anything like this.

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In fact, he doesn't say, I'm here. You know, kind of like Darth Vader. You know, I'm here to put you back on track, right?

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You know, we'll redouble our efforts. You bet you will or you'll be floating through space dead. Right? No, it's not like that at all.

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In fact, he goes and he does this inspection all by himself so that he can kind of take in, all right, what's gonna be necessary to get this project finished?

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He's not asking for anybody's help. He's not putting anybody to work yet. He's not getting people's hopes up.

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He's not leading a revolt. But does he have the authorization to do what he's gonna do?

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Yep, he does. He has the papers to prove it. So then I said to them, you see the trouble we are in, how

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Jerusalem lies in ruins. And this is an important word here too, we. Over and again, when

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I used to work in the corporate world, one of the things I would listen for when

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I was dealing with an employee is what were the pronouns that they were using? And I'm not talking about the way people talk about pronouns today, okay?

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But if you're in a corporate setting, okay, and you're working on a team, or your company is in a big competition with another company and you're fighting for market share and things like this, the one thing you want is for people to feel like we're working together to make something happen.

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We're working together so that we can succeed as a team. And when you're in a corporate strategy meeting and somebody on your team is using you, them pronouns rather than we pronouns, you know you got a problem.

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In fact, a couple of times I've caught people using pronouns, y 'all, talking about us as a team, talking about you, and using pronouns like that.

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And I've took them aside and said, have you got another job offer? Because it sounds like you already have one.

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Because, and I can tell by the pronouns, because they don't include themselves mentally as part of the team. Dwayne. Well, when

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I was doing management analysis and work group analysis like that, process development, the biggest wins that I had were people that, you know,

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I didn't necessarily interface with, but were part of that work group that had been in meetings or whatever with me. They would come approach me in the hallway and talk about all the great things that their team was doing to make improvements.

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You know, and it's like, then I knew I was getting through to the crowd because, you know, at the lowest level of the crowd.

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Yeah, yep. When you have people who are distancing themselves in their language, and they're not talking about the team, they're talking about themselves, or they're talking about the team as something different than what they're a part of, you know you got a problem.

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But here in Nehemia, I mean, this is a guy who was the cup bearer for Attuck -Urxes himself, and he is now in the midst of it, and he sees the trouble that the

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Jews are in, and he's not, I'm here to fix your problem. He's saying, we're in trouble, okay?

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So note here, their trouble is his trouble, these are his people, and we are in trouble, okay?

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You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned.

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Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision.

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And I told them of the hand of my God that had been upon me for good, and also of the words that the king has spoken to me, and they said, let us rise up and build.

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So they strengthened their hands for the good work, okay? So far, so good, but Sanballat, the

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Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite, Servant, and Geshem, the

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Arab, heard of it. They jeered at us, and despised us, and said, what is this thing that you are doing?

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Are you rebelling against the king? Are you teaching

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Lutheranism in the basement? Did I say that out loud?

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He's my neighbor. So you'll note that these are quite the interesting questions that are being asked here, right?

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And so Nehemia has done everything right. He's got the right approvals, he's got the king's, king's got his back, and these fellows, by opposing

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Nehemia, who are they really opposing? The king, they are opposing the king.

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But do you think they care about that? No, because they're out in the frontier, in the province beyond the river, and it takes a while for things to travel back and forth, right?

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It's kind of like the wild west of the Persian Empire. What I like here is in his response, he doesn't take out his papers and go, read them and weep, suckers.

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It's not what he does. Instead, because you gotta note, Nehemia believes that the project that he's in, that he's been sent to do, is not merely a project approved by Artaxerxes, but God himself is behind it.

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And he has this confidence because he knows God's word. You can hear his understanding of God's word right there in his prayer where he's invoking part of the

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Mosaic Covenant, praying it back to God, knowing that God's going to fulfill his words, right?

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So he said to him, the God of heaven will make us prosper, and we, his servants, will arise and build.

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But you have no portion or right to claim in Jerusalem. This isn't even your territory, guys.

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As Glenda, the good witch, would say to the wicked witch of the west, be gone, you have no power here, go away, right?

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So then Eliashub, the high priest, rose up with his brothers, the priests, and they built the

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Sheep Gate. One of the things I like about this part of the story is that we're now into bivocational duties at this point.

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I'm, as a pastor, I don't think I would be really good at building any kind of gate.

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In fact, without a good supervisor, you know, I'm looking at Nate over here, you know, he would need to explain to me where to put the bricks and to do the things and stuff, and he would have to sit there going, no.

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You know, but yeah, I'd be a good worker with a great supervisor.

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So I'm wondering, who's supervising these priests? Because you gotta know, these guys are now bivocational, right?

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A crescent wrench is not a hammer. It can be a hammer, you just have to be creative. Okay, crescent wrenches can easily be a hammer.

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Oh, ye of little faith. Okay, so they consecrated it, they set its doors, they consecrated it as far as the

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Tower of the Hundred, as far as the Tower of Hananel, and next to him the men of Jericho built, and next to them,

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Zachor, the son of Imri, built. So you know, all hands on deck, everyone's getting mortar in their fingernails, everyone's getting, it's gonna be stinking up, and everyone's doing the work.

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They're slinging hammers, they're brushing with paint, they're all doing the things that they're supposed, everyone's involved.

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And here's the thing, because of the distribution of the duties, they could identify the exact portions of the wall that different families and different clans were then dedicated to building, right?

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And you'll note that this is the type of stuff you would expect to hear in a history. I remember over and again,

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I'm a Civil War nerd. That's not a sin,

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I don't need to repent of that. But one of the things that I do always find fascinating,

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Civil War is a unique war in American history, because you have entire battalions coming from one state.

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And so you think of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, and they would talk about his brigade, and then you got a brigade from New York, and you got another group from New Hampshire, and then you got the 50th of Maine fighting.

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And then if you were to go to Gettysburg, and you were to look at how the lines were drawn up for the

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Union, you could see each of the different states, where they were, where their troops were stationed on the line at Gettysburg.

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And so over here you had the 50th of Maine, over there you had the 23rd of New York. And there's little monuments along the line that throughout

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Gettysburg, from different states honoring the men who fought there. And so it's kind of similar to what we see going on here.

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We see these different families, we know the place where they built. And it's wonderfully, wonderfully memorialized here.

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The son of Hassanah built the fish gate. They laid its beams, set its doors, its bolts, and its bars.

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And next to them, Meramoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hachaz, repaired.

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And next to them, Meshulam, the son of Barachiah, the son of Meshezabel, repaired.

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And next to them, Zadok, the son of Baanah, repaired. And next to them, the

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Techoites repaired, but their nobles would not stoop to serve their lord.

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All right, so the nobles at this point, they said, no, we're not gonna do this. But we know who did what and where they did it.

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Jehoiada, the son of Passiah, and Meshulam, the son of Bessodiah, repaired the gate of Av -Yash -ah -nah.

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And they laid its beams, and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them, repaired

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Melatiah, the Gibeonite, and Jadon, the Meranethite, the men of Gibeon, of Mizpah, the seat of the governor of the province beyond the river.

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Next to them, Uziel, the son of Harhahiah, goldsmiths, repaired.

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Next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, repaired, and they restored

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Jerusalem as far as the broad wall. Next to them, Rephaiah, the son of Hur, ruler of half of the district of Jerusalem, repaired.

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Now, isn't it interesting, you're gonna note here that now we actually do have nobles that decided to get involved, and where they were working is memorialized.

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You could look at it on a map. You could see it from a diagram of the city. These were all the different people where they were working and repairing.

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Next to them, Jadaiah, the son of Harumoth, repaired opposite his house.

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And next to him, Hatush, the son of Hashabaneah, repaired. Malkijah, the son of Harim, and Hashub, the son of Pahath -Moab, repaired another section, and the tower of the ovens.

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Next to him, Shalum, the son of Halohesh, ruler of half of the district of Jerusalem, repaired he and his, what?

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Daughters. All right? So you got men and women getting involved.

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So this is, so we know that this fellow, he didn't have sons to help out, so his daughters got involved, and everyone's getting to work.

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So this is now becoming a matter of civic pride, if you would, yeah. Did the gates, the naming of the gates, have some religious significance, or do they have some regional significance?

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Obviously the dumb gate will probably not have religious significance. Yeah, you get the feeling that different gates are being used for different purposes, all right?

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So, and you'll note that some of these gates legitimately sound like they have market significance.

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So when you hear of something like the sheep gate, okay? So a good way to think of it is this, is that you would need to travel outside of the

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United States to places that still are organized according to how the ancient markets were organized.

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You can see bits of this in Japan and other places. I like watching YouTube channels and channels dedicated to travel, because I love seeing how different people around the world experience this life of ours, because we have a unique experience here in the

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States, but people outside of the States, they experience things very differently. And so back in the ancient world, they didn't have malls.

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They didn't have strip malls and things like this, and things had to be within walking distance. But one of the things that often would happen is that there would be markets dedicated to particular types of products.

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So when it comes, so the sheep gate really legitimately sounds like this was the gate used for people bringing sheep in who were being brought to market, right?

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And the fish gate, yeah, fishing is a whole other thing unto itself. And so like in Japan, what if you see how their fish markets work, you have these guys out at sea, they're bringing in their catch, and then the catch go into these bigger rooms, if you would, where you got people who are like buying these fish just as they're coming off the boat and they're bidding against each other and all this kind of stuff.

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And then it's going out to different places like restaurants and other markets that then sell them.

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And so you can tell with these names, the sheep gate, the fish gate, and stuff like this, this has much more to do with how the commerce was set up and how things were set up in the market.

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Dungate tells me this is the place where the sewage ended up. This is, you know, but you'll note that they're very practical in how they're naming their things, right?

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Okay. Now, again, you're gonna note there's nothing really sexy about this section of the

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Hemian. This is minutiae. But all

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Scripture is God -breathed and is profitable for teaching, correcting, rebuking, training in righteousness.

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And I would note that a passage like this, reminding

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Christ's believers of a passage like this at a time when we have to come together to do something together, that this sets a good godly example for us.

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And you'll note these names now being memorialized in Scripture, the word of the

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Lord endures forever. Heaven and earth will pass away, but God's word will never pass away. These families, these people, from sons and daughters to nobles and people who are not of high standing to priests and common people, all these people who did their work, this drudge work, difficult work, construction work, their names will be remembered forever.

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Right? And so it gives you a real good sense then that every little good work that we do, even if we consider it to be despised and lowly, not that important.

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God sees these things. And he remembers them and he rewards them.

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So Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoha repaired the valley gate. They rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts, its bars, and repaired 1 ,000 cubits of the wall as far as the dung gate.

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Melchizedek, the son of Rahab, ruler of the district of Beth Hacherem, repaired the dung gate.

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He rebuilt it and set its doors, its bolts and its bars. I bet that was a poopy job.

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All right. I just had to say that. And Shalum, the son of Kol Hoseh, ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired the fountain gate.

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He rebuilt it and covered it and set its doors, its bolts, and its bars. He built the wall of the pool of Shelah, of the king's garden, as far as the stairs that go down from the city of David.

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After him, Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, ruler of half the district of Bethzur, repaired to a point opposite the tombs of David and as far as the artificial pool and as far as the house of the mighty men.

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After him, the Levites repaired. Rahum, the son of Bani. Next to him,

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Hashabiah, ruler of half of the district of Keliah, repaired for his district.

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After him, their brothers repaired. Bavai, the son of Hanadad, ruler of the half of the district of Keliah.

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Next to him, Ezra, the son of Jeshua, ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the buttress.

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After him, Baruch, the son of Zabaih, repaired another section from the buttress to the door of the house of Eliashim, the high priest.

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And after him, Meromoth, the son of Uriah, the son of Hazah, ha, ha, sorry, Hakaz, repaired another section from the door of the house of Eliashim to the end of the house of Eliashim.

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After him, the priests, the men of the surrounding area repaired. And after them, Benjamin and Hashub repaired opposite their house.

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And after them, Azariah, the son of Maasaiah, the son of Ananiah, repaired beside his own house.

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After him, Benui, the son of Hanadad, repaired another section from the house of Azariah to the buttress and to the corner.

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Palal, the son of Uzziah, repaired opposite the buttress and the tower projecting from the upper house of the king at the court of the guard.

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And after him, Padaiah, the son of Parosh, and the temple servants living on Ophel repaired to a point opposite the water gate on the east and the projecting tower.

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After him, the Tekoites repaired another section opposite the great projecting tower as far as the wall of Ophel.

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Again, detail after detail after detail, these names memorialized forever.

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One of the things I recently had the opportunity to teach our catechumens, my youth, is this idea that when we talk about the church, the church is a stewardship, right?

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And I enjoyed being able to pull up a photograph of Kongsvinger and point to them the portion of Kongsvinger that was, the building that was built, the small thing that was built after the fire.

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There was a previous building that was burned down by a lightning strike, and then they rebuilt Kongsvinger.

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And you look over here, you kind of see where the building would have been. And now the altar is facing liturgical east, and I learned that the other day.

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But here's the thing, the building that we're in, and that we are able to worship in right now, that sanctuary was built as a gift from all the people who used to attend

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Kongsvinger in ages past. That was a gift to each other at the time, and continues to be a gift to us.

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The extension of Kongsvinger, which we're all able to enjoy, it's a wonderful facility, that was a different generation, right?

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Don Mastin's father leading the charge there and building this fellowship hall portion of it, right?

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And that being the case, this building that we're in right now is a gift given by the people who came before us.

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And even now, we're planning some minor tweaks and changes here at Kongsvinger, which is designed to be what?

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A gift to ourselves and to the people who are serving, on into posterity.

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And if sometime in the future somebody decides they're gonna put stained glass windows or do these little things, a church building is a unique thing because in the truest sense of the word, everything in the church building is a gift from all of the members, the members who are giving that gift to everybody, right?

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And it continues to be. And so you'll note there, nothing that we have here is mine, but everything we have here has been given to us, right?

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And anything that we give then to the church, we give to all of us, right? And that's a great way to think about it.

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And so it's appropriate when you're able to look on a wall and see names of the people who helped build a particular thing in a church or who did a particular work at rebuilding this or building that or fixing this or fixing that, because everything that they've contributed is a gift that benefits not only the people who were there at the time that that happened, but that continues to be a gift for everybody who continues to enjoy the things that they've offered.

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Stewardships are a good thing. And so I think it's a unique thing that we have to recognize here, that these people, they gifted this labor.

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How much do you think they got paid to rebuild this wall? Zip. Zip. Okay, and you're gonna see as the story develops, not only did they not get paid anything, but remember what

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I said in the sermon, no good deed goes unpunished. We have already had two run -ins with Sanbalat and Tobiah, and do you think those guys are done?

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Nope. All right, so I'm just kind of laying the groundwork as we continue to consider this.

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And so you'll note, the only thing these people got paid for the things that they were doing, and how much you wanna bet a lot of these folks ended up having to donate the materials necessary for this wall to be built?

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Their thank you was their names written in this portion of Scripture, but God remembering what they've done.

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So you know, they're stewarding the city that God has given them, and together they are collectively sacrificing, contributing, working together to rebuild what was torn down in God's wrath, and now in his mercy, he's allowing to be rebuilt.

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Above the horse gate, the priests repaired each one opposite his own house. After them,

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Zadok, the son of Emer, repaired opposite of his own house. It's kind of nice, they got to work in their own neighborhood.

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After him, Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate, repaired. After him, Hananiah, the son of Shalamiah and Hanun, the sixth son of Zaloph, repaired another section.

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After him, Meshulam, the son of Barakiah, repaired opposite his chamber. After him,

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Malkijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants of the merchants opposite the muster gate to the upper chamber of the corner, and between the upper chamber of the corner and the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants, they repaired.

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Even the guys who are goldsmiths, they are participating in this as well. Huh? And the perfumers, those guys stink, by the way.

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Those perfumers, they really stink. What? Why are you looking at me like that?

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Boo. You know that they prefer that smell to you? I cannot answer this question.

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So far, so good, right? Okay, now things are gonna come to a head. So when

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Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, greatly enraged, and he jeered at the

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Jews. And he said in the presence of his brothers and of the army of Samaria, what are these feeble

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Jews doing? Will they restore it for themselves? Will they sacrifice?

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Will they finish up in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish and the burned ones at that?

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They're just jeering, jeering, jeering, and reviling, and reviling, and reviling. It sounds like everything's going well.

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You can hear the sound of hammers and stuff like that. And so Tobiah, the

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Ammonite, was beside him, and he said, yes, what they are building, if a fox goes up on it, he'll break down their stone wall.

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You know what these are? These are just a bunch of snowflakes thinking that they can engage in memetic warfare and writing memes against what's going on.

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It ain't working, okay? I have a note. SJWs cannot meme to save their life, okay?

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But that's what they're trying here. So, hear, O our

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God, for we are despised. Turn back their taunt on their own heads.

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Give them up to be plundered in a land where they are captives. So note here, it's a wonderful little prayer so they are just reviling them.

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It's like, O God, hear how we're being despised. Turn their taunts back on themselves. Do not cover their guilt.

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Let not their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have provoked you to anger in the presence of the builders.

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Interesting, right? It's an interesting prayer. God, give back to them and don't forgive them.

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That's a strong prayer. That's like an imprecatory song. So we built the wall. All the wall was joined together to half of its height, for the people had a mind to work.

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But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabs and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem was going forward and that the breaches were beginning to be closed, they were very angry.

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Ashdodites, these would be the Philistines, the descendants of the Philistines at this point.

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And they all plotted together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.

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And we prayed to our God and we set a guard as a protection against them day and night.

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Now, I like this right here. We prayed and then we set a guard. Okay, this is an important thing.

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Okay, over and over and over again, one of the things that I'm kind of dumbstruck by is weird ideas regarding how

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God operates. Okay, let me give you an example, okay? Somebody says, oh,

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I've been diagnosed with XYZ disease, but I'm going to trust that the

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Lord is going to heal me. Are you gonna see your doctor? No, I'm gonna trust that the

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Lord is going to heal me. You need to go see your doctor.

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No, I'm trusting in the Lord to heal me. Uh -huh, okay, and then they die.

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Okay, what happened? It was completely curable, but they didn't go and get the treatment they needed and things just got out of control, right?

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Pray and go and see your doctor, just like we prayed and we set a guard.

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Okay, you're gonna note that they didn't pray and then just expect angels to arrive if Sambalat and Tobiah were there to mix things up, okay?

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They prayed and then they set a guard, okay? With the understanding here that you'll note that God uses means to answer our prayers.

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When was the last time you prayed that God would help you pay your bills and money just fell out of the sky in your living room, right?

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It doesn't work that way, all right? You ask for God to help you pay your bills and then you go and put your resume out and get a job, okay?

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That's how this works. So we prayed to our God and we set a guard as protection against them day and night.

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In Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. All right, let me just end off here.

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So in Judah it was said, the strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There's too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall and our enemies said, they will not know or see till we come among them and kill them and stop the work.

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At the time the Jews who lived near them came from all directions and said to us 10 times, you must return to us.

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So in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall in open places I stationed the people by their clans with their swords, their spears and their bows and I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, do not be afraid of them.

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Remember the Lord who is great and awesome and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your homes.

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You'll note protecting yourself might require you to bear arms. I'm just saying. I think Nehemiah is a great example of how the idea here is that defending ourselves even with lethal force sometimes is a necessary evil.

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So all right, I'm gonna end off here and I'm gonna head off to Emmanuel. So great to see you all.

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Lord willing, we will see you next time. Caribbean Blazing Saddles, we're enjoying the sunshine you sent to us.