Ezra and Nehemiah were originally considered one book and are often read together.
These books are "postexilic" which means that they happen after the Babylonian Exile.

Last month we read Exodus, so here's a quick summary to get us from the end of Exodus to Ezra/Nehemiah:

• After their time in the wilderness God grants the people entry into the Promised Land. The people spread out and settle in areas according to their tribe. The people are governed locally by judges.
• Then they ask God for a king.  God reluctantly agrees- God wants to be the people's king, but the people want a human king like all the other nations. We have King Saul, then King David, then King Solomon.
• When Solomon dies the people split in two - there is a kingdom in the south called Judah (made up of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin) and a kingdom in the north called Israel (made up of the other 10 tribes). Each kingdom is ruled by it's own king.  A few of the kings are good, some are okay, but most of them are bad (you can read all about them in 1 and 2 Kings).
• The Assyrians invade Israel (the northern kingdom) in 722 BCE and exile the people.  The people are kicked out of their homes and must leave their land.
• The Babylonians kept trying to take over the southern kingdom. When they occupied a new place Babylonians banned the local people from participating in their local religion.  In 586 BCE, Jerusalem is destroyed and the temple is burned. The people, especially the leaders, were deported to Babylon.
• But then in 539 BCE, the NeoBabylonian Empire fell to the Persians under Cyrus the Great. Unlike the Babylonians, the Persians allowed the people to worship their own deities. The people were able to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

That is where we are in Nehemiah. It's after the exile - "post-exilic."

Ezra focuses on the restoration of the Temple and the people. Nehemiah focuses on the rebuilding of the wall and the repopulating of Jerusalem.

As you begin reading, you’ll notice that a lot of Nehemiah is in the first person.  Much of the book is what scholars call “the Nehemiah Memoir.” Ralph W. Klein writes, “The Nehemiah Memoir recounts Nehemiah’s role in constructing the walls of Jerusalem, expanding its population, correcting social abuses, supporting the worship life of the community, and guarding against mixing with foreigners.”

Almost all of that sounds good, but what’s the deal with not mixing with foreigners? We saw a little of this issue in Exodus.  The worry was that if the people were to marry folks from other nations, then the spouses who were not Jewish would want their Jewish spouses to worship their gods/idols. The living God requires faithfulness as we read in Exodus 20 – “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth.”

We must not take prohibitions like this at face value.  We must understand the reasons behind these prohibitions.  It is best to come to scripture with openness and curiosity. These types of prohibitions have a deeper issue behind them.  When faced with a list of things to avoid in scripture it’s helpful to ask, “what were they worried about?”

For Nehemiah it was the lost of religious identity of the Jewish people. The people had been through so much – the kingdom was divided in two, the Kings that lead them were mostly bad, the exile of Israel, and then the exile of Judah with the destruction of the Temple.  The people were displaced from the Promised Land and now a faithful remnant of folks were coming back.  In Ezra the people rebuilt the Temple.  It’s the beginning of a new era in which it is imperative that the people understand who God is and who they are in relationship to God without the distraction from other religions/cults.
 
Jesus is a great example of not taking rules, prohibitions, laws at face value, but getting to the root of the matter. He does this anytime he heals on the Sabbath (Mark 3, Luke 13, Luke 13, etc.), when he allows the disciples to pluck grain on the Sabbath (Mark 2), when Jesus’ disciples do not participate in ritual washing before a meal (Mark 7). We know from Exodus how essential the Sabbath is to the people and to God, yet Jesus invites the people to not get bogged down in the details, but to focus on the spirit of the Sabbath.

Nehemiah serves in the Persian court as a cupbearer- he selected the king’s wine and would taste it (to protect against assassination attempts) and keep the king company.

Nehemiah questions his brother about conditions in Jerusalem.  They are not good – the city wall was broken, and the gates were burned. Nehemiah mourns the situation in the city.

Nehemiah prays and his prayer is mostly made up of quotes from the Old Testament.  He references Deuteronomy, 1 Kings, 2 Chronicles, and Psalm 130.

Nehemiah “quotes” Moses in verses 8 and 9.  Nowhere in the Torah do we see those exact words.  What the quote communicates is very similar to the message of Deuteronomy 30:1-4:

“When all these things have happened to you, the blessings and the curses that I have set before you, if you call them to mind among all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you and return to the Lord your God, and you and your children obey him with all your heart and with all your soul, just as I am commanding you today, then the Lord your God will return you from your captivity and have compassion on you, gathering you again from all the peoples among whom the Lord your God has scattered you. Even if you are exiled to the ends of the world, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there he will take you back.”

Nehemiah means “Yahweh has comforted.” It reminds us of Isaiah 40:1 “Give comfort to my people Israel.”

What does comfort mean to you?

Klein writes, “Comfort includes more than sympathy; it can also denote complete restoration of the people, as in Isaiah 52:9- ‘Break forth; shout together for joy, you ruins of Jerusalem, for the Lord has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem.”

Nehemiah’s prayer communicates that he doesn’t feel that Israel is fully restored in Jerusalem.  That could be because the wall is incomplete, and the gates are destroyed.  Nehemiah is looking for that promised land flowing with milk and honey.

Are they not Israelites anymore? In last month’s book, Exodus, the people were called Israelites.  Now in Nehemiah the people are referred to as Jews. This change happened around the same time as the Babylonian Exile.

Nehemiah asks the Persian king for permission to go home to rebuild Jerusalem. Notice, he doesn’t call the city by name but refers to it as “the place of my ancestors’ graves.” Nehemiah displays tact and a shrewd understanding of how to get approval for his plan. He waits until the time is right, he gives a good outline of his plan, he let’s the king be the one to make the final decision.

Nehemiah takes a pause in his conversation with the King to pray.  Before you have a tough conversation do you take a moment to connect with God?  Try it next time and see what happens.

Why do you think Nehemiah does his inspection of the wall at night?

Klein writes, “For Nehemiah it was a shame and a disgrace for Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, to lie in ruins. After all, this was the city God had chosen ‘to put his name there.’ (1:9).”

Nehemiah has another one added to his opponents – Sanballat, Tobiah, and now Gesham.  Why do they try to thwart Nehemiah’s mission?

Here is a list of those who worked on the wall and the gates, helping to restore Jerusalem. It shows Nehemiah’s gifts of organization and administration.

What gifts has the Holy Spirit given you? How are you called to employ those gifts for the glory of God? Does using your gifts have you in front of others or behind the scenes?  Take some time this week to think about your gifts and to notice how others in our church community utilize their gifts – behind the scenes or otherwise.

Mark Throntveit writes, “Chapter 3, while it deals with the “repair” of the walls, is actually yet another of the many lists that punctuate this material. We have seen at other junctures that these lists, originally designed to provide historical information, serve the theological purpose of charting the community’s status as they move toward becoming the reconstituted people of God. Here, the solidarity of the people is being lifted up. Priests, Levites, lay people, merchants, and political leaders all work as one on the project. By bringing these disparate elements of the society together, Nehemiah was also forging them into a cohesive community.”

What do you appreciate most about being part of a community?  How can our church community better live into the promise we make at every baptism:

With God's help we will proclaim the good news and live according to the example of Christ.
We will surround these persons with a community of love and forgiveness, that they may grow in their trust of God, and be found faithful in their service to others.
We will pray for them, that they may be true disciples who walk in the way that leads to life.

Nehemiah responds to the verbal threats of Sanballat and Tobiah with prayer.

There are external and internal threats to the work they are doing to restore Jerusalem.

Nehemiah takes measures to prevent external threats and gets the people organized so that the internal threat of not knowing what was coming is neutralized.

How has God guided you in times of distress? Has prayer been a help to you in times of turmoil?

Many of the families living in Jerusalem face economic crisis during the wall-building.

The people who cry out were experiencing famine. Because they needed so many workers in Jerusalem there weren’t as many workers able to work to bring in the harvest.

People were unable to purchase food, others could only buy food by mortgaging their property, others needed to mortgage their property or sell their children into debt-slavery to pay the Persian taxes.

Throntveit writes, “Nehemiah’s response was speedy and effective. On his own authority, he summoned those holding these perfectly legal pledges to release them and to forgive the debts, as would he. The lenders agreed to this sacrifice and released their holdings.
The text closes with a sketch of Nehemiah’s own generosity and financial sacrifice drawn from Nehemiah’s second term as governor. Though entitled to live off the provincial taxes (food allowance of the governor) Nehemiah led by example and refused this compensation.”

Nehemiah insisted that this problem involved the whole community – it’s not just the creditors and the people suffering involved but everyone together. The people had just bought back a lot of Jewish folks who were sold into debt-slavery to Gentiles so they could go to Jerusalem, to rebuild the city and live there together.  Now they’re selling themselves to each other in debt-slavery? Unacceptable.

Klein writes, “Nehemiah appeals to the creditor’s faith (‘should you not walk in the fear of our God?’) as well as to their pride (‘to prevent the taunts of the nations.’).”