WWUTT 734 Introduction to Nehemiah?

The Lord punished Judah by driving them out of their city and having their enemies come in and destroy Jerusalem, but He will rebuild it again if the people would be faithful and obedient when we understand the text.

Introduction to When We Understand the Text

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. Well, I apologize for the lateness of our Old Testament lesson today. I typically record these the night before, and when I sat down to do this, I thought I was going to be finishing Ezra.

Give me a break. I've been sick this week. My head's still a little foggy. And then I noticed, oh no, I'm starting a brand new study. We're supposed to be in Nehemiah today. And I hadn't done any prep.

I hadn't put any notes together for that or anything. And so after finishing that, my voice was gone. Because of the congestion I've had this week, my voice doesn't last as long. And so I had to just go to bed.

And then waking up this morning, I even had to wait for my voice to wake up and all that kind of thing. And I got other stuff done throughout the day before I finally sat down to get this lesson finished.

It may not be as long today, but we're at least going to give an introduction to the book of Nehemiah. So this is immediately following the events of the book of Ezra. About 13 years have transpired between the finish of Ezra and the start of Nehemiah.

Ezra completed the construction of the temple and he reinstituted temple sacrifice and made sure all of the work that was supposed to be done in the temple was following according to the law of God. So all of that has been put into place.

But the walls of Jerusalem are still broken. The gates are still torn down. The city is still exposed. They have reconstructed the temple. The people have asked forgiveness for their sins. And they're desiring to be obedient to God, even taking care of some of the sinful practices that were being done contrary to the law of God.

And once all of that's been taken care of, Nehemiah comes back to rebuild the walls. Now, throughout the Old Testament, we've seen that the blessing of God upon a people is reflected in successful building projects.

And so since Ezra has reconstructed the temple and the people of God have asked for his forgiveness, he's blessing them with the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem. And that's what Nehemiah is going to come back in to oversee.

So for Ezra, it was the temple. Now, Nehemiah continuing these building projects, the reconstruction efforts of Jerusalem is God is going to bless this people. It's now going to be through Nehemiah with the reconstruction of the temple walls.

Now, Jerusalem is eventually going to become a great and prosperous city, but that's not going to be over the course of what we're going to read here in Nehemiah. By the time we get to the days of Christ, which is going to be another 400 years from the events that we're going to read here, Jerusalem is quite large and the walls are very robust.

But Nehemiah, when he comes in, he goes and he tours and surveys the city and realizes where construction and repairs are needing to be done in order to protect the heart of the city and especially the temple.

That's what it is that they're concerned about. So again, this takes place in about 445 BC, 13 years after Ezra arrived, is when Nehemiah's arrives in Jerusalem. And then he makes several visits to and from Persia.

And this all of this covers a span of about 20 years. So we're certainly going to see some things written here in the first person from Nehemiah. And he was very likely one of the writers of this book.

And it is a certainty among scholars that Nehemiah was one of the writers. But the completion of this book may not have come about until after. And it could have been the same person who wrote Ezra. And as I said in an introduction to Ezra, he definitely wrote part of that.

But it was probably a different scribe who finished it. And it may have been even the same scribe who wrote First and Second Chronicles. So First and Second Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah may all have been written by the same person.

Overview of Nehemiah’s Structure

So here's kind of an outline of what it is that we're going to be looking at as we go through this book. And we'll read maybe about the first chapter or two here. Nehemiah is going to return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls.

That's in chapters one and two. Then we get to chapter three and the walls are being built. Chapters three through about seven, the start of chapter seven. And there is some antagonism there. And as a matter of fact, I read one overview of the book of Nehemiah that described this as an adventure story.

It's a hero story with Nehemiah as the hero. And we've got all kinds of antagonists and villains and people that come into the story to try to prevent Nehemiah and Israel from accomplishing the thing that God has blessed them to be able to do.

He blessed them to finish the temple. He's going to bless them to finish the walls, but they're still going to be facing adversity in order to get there. So we see some difficulties even in the attempt to rebuild the walls.

Chapters three, four, five, six, and again, the start of chapter seven. And then we're going to have a record of some exiles that have returned, just like we saw in the book of Ezra. And that's one of those chapters with a lot of names.

I may just skip over that, but you should certainly read it. The next section that we see is the reading of the law and a covenant renewal. And that's Ezra. So Ezra is in this story. He comes in. He reads the law to the people.

There's a renewal. There is the dedication of the temple walls. And then we even see Nehemiah dealing with some of the problems that are still going on among the people. Just as we saw that as a conclusion to Ezra.

So we see that as a finish to Nehemiah also at the beginning here. Let's let's start in chapter one with Nehemiah hearing about the walls of Jerusalem being torn down. And Nehemiah's reaction is very similar to a reaction we saw from Ezra when he heard about the sin of the people, even among the priests and the the chief persons there in Israel who were practicing sin that was contrary to the law of God.

So here we are in Nehemiah chapter one, the words of Nehemiah, the son of Hakeliah. Now, it happened in the month of Chislev in the 20th year, as I was in Susa, the citadel, that's one of the capital cities of Persia, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, the remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame.

The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are destroyed by fire. Now, they have this report about the walls in Jerusalem, but the statement that they are in great trouble and shame is not just about the animosity or the adversity that's coming against them because of the unruly people around them.

But shame means that some of them are sinning, some of them are in sin, and God is not blessing this people because they're not obeying him. So that's part of the report that they brought back to Nehemiah.

In verse four, as soon as I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days. And I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And this is just like Ezra's heart when he heard about the sin of the people and his heart was filled with grief.

And he prayed and asked God to forgive the people. We deserve so much more because of the sin that we've committed against you. And you've not punished us to the degree that we deserve. So please show your mercy to us that we would be granted forgiveness and that we would be able to complete the construction that you've blessed us to be able to do.

That was Ezra's prayer and Nehemiah's is going to be very similar. In fact, his prayer is even similar to something that Solomon prayed. So we get to verse five here. And Nehemiah prayed, Oh, Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome 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.

Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses saying, if you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples.

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

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

Now I was cut bearer to the king. That's the way we conclude chapter one with Nehemiah making a statement that he was a cup bearer to the king of Persia. He he kind of has the ear of the king of Persia, and we're going to see that then when we get into chapter two.

But first, let's reflect upon the things that we see here in this prayer. This is absolutely a prayer of repentance. So when Nehemiah hears this report that the walls in Jerusalem are broken down and he prays before God, his mourning is not that the city is in ruins, his mourning is that the people are sinning.

That's that's his concern. That's the grief in his heart that the people are sinning and not obeying God. And then because they are sinning and because they have not been obedient to the Lord, the city's been torn down.

He's not going to bless the people if they're not going to be obedient to the Lord and the punishment that they deserve because of their sinfulness, rebelling against God and worshiping all these other false gods, what they deserve for this is to be destroyed.

That's that's what they deserve to not even be a people anymore because God has been so generous to them. And yet they rebelled against him in this way and started worshiping the false gods of their enemies.

So Nehemiah knows that Nehemiah knows what we deserve is death. But we haven't been destroyed. You've allowed some of the exiles to come back. And yet the city is exposed. The gates have been torn down.

And what this communicates to Nehemiah is that there is no protection for the people. They are still susceptible to outside invaders, intruders, any enemies that would want to come against them and wipe them out.

And and they're certainly deserving of that because of the sin that they've committed against God. They're not walking in righteousness, not walking in holiness. And so God has left their gates open. He's left these gates exposed.

And if they would repent and come to the Lord, then God would enclose them in again. And he would show them blessing by protecting them and making them holy. And remember, that word holy means to be set apart.

So he would set them apart from all the other pagan peoples that surround Judah and Jerusalem. If the Lord would so bless this people with forgiveness and grace, they might be able to rebuild their gates again.

And the gates are very symbolic. There's a there's a lot of even spiritual symbolism of gates throughout the Old Testament. Oftentimes we'll read the New Testament and we'll think of New Testament is like the the spiritual understanding of the things that happened in the Old Testament, because Old Testament is types and shadows.

New Testament gives us how those things apply spiritually. But there is even a spiritual understanding of what gates represent. Given in the Old Testament, you think about the way that that gates are sung about in the Psalms.

Psalm 9, 13 and 14. Be gracious to me, O Lord, see my affliction from those who hate me. O you who lift me up from the gates of death, that I may recount all your praises, that in the gates of the daughter of Zion, I may rejoice in your salvation.

This is David praying that there are there's affliction that comes against me from those who hate me. But I am protected by God within the gates of the daughter of Zion, that I may rejoice in your salvation.

My protection is with the Lord. And and David using gates to symbolize that protection that he has, that God gives to his people. We we also see that gates are an access to the presence of God. Psalm 100, verse four, enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise.

Give thanks to him and bless his name. And the Lord lets in his gates those whom he favors and he keeps out those whom his heart is against. And so Nehemiah is asking if if we are your people and your heart is for us, may we be welcomed into your gates and may those gates keep out those that your heart is not for.

And so he is he is desiring that these people would repent and he would bless these people and protect them again from any of their outside invaders, lest they continue in this sin. And God would turn them over to destruction as he has done to them before.

In Psalm 147, we read verse 12. Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise your God, O Zion, for he strengthens the bars of your gates. He blesses your children within you. He makes peace in your borders. He fills you with the finest of the wheat.

He sends out his command to the earth. His word runs swiftly. He gives snow like wool. He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down his crystals of ice like crumbs. Who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word and melts them.

He makes his wind blow and the waters flow. He declares his word to Jacob, his statutes and rules to Israel. He has not dealt thus with any other nation. They do not know his rules. Praise the Lord. And if Israel is once again once again going to be a pleasing people in the sight of the Lord, they must obey his statutes.

As Jesus even said to his disciples, you will show me that you love me when you obey my commandments. The outflow of the faith that we have in God is obedience. The sincerity of the faith that we have, that it comes from God, that Jesus is the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Hebrews 12 too. The evidence of that is going to be in our obedience to the Lord. And that's the direction. Praise the Lord that we see Israel go in next. And we'll read that next week when we get to chapter two.

Well, thanks for bearing with me. I did have to pause a few times and cough and take care of everything else that was in my chest. Continue to be in prayer for me. I thank you very much. Let me pray for you briefly here.

Our wonderful heavenly father, we thank you for the salvation and the grace that you have shown us through your son, Jesus Christ. And I pray that your peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus, that we would be protected from any of the devil's schemes, the adversary who tries to get in and afflict us and discourage us and rob us of our hope and our joy.

But instead that we would delight in the way of God, we would be as David laying in his bed saying, oh Lord, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day. And your word would be that protection in our hearts that would protect us from the ways of this world and philosophies and all different kinds of things that try to rob us of the treasures that we have in Jesus Christ.

Help us to be completely satisfied in all good things that you have given us in our Lord and savior, in whose name we pray. Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com and let your friends know about our ministry.

Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word when we understand the text.