Book of Nehemiah - Bible Survey

As sequel of the book of Ezra the book of Nehemiah reports the third return to Jerusalem in 445 BC. Ezra stresses the religious restoration of the remnant when writing of the erection of the altar, the building of the temple and the law of Jehovah (that is the Word of God).

In Nehemiah we witness the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, and the restoration of what may be termed the civil condition of the people, but under circumstances that definitely prove their subjection to the Gentiles.

Nehemiah (his name meaning "comfort of Jehovah") writes the history of his connection with the remnant of the returned captivity. He followed Ezra by about thirteen years in going to Jerusalem, stirred through news he had received of the decayed condition of the city. God gave him favor with Artaxerxes, king of Persia, whose cupbearer he was. He obtained authority to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

"The words of Nehemiah (the Lord is comfort) the son of Hachaliah." It is therefore the personal narrative of his experience which is before us in the first six chapters of this book, in which he describes his soul exercise, and how the Lord made it possible for him to return to Jerusalem, and how the wall was rebuilt. Nehemiah was a young man, born in captivity holding a position of nearness to the great Persian king and living in the beautiful palace of Shushan. He lived in luxuries, and was an honored servant of the king. It was in the month of Chisleu, in the twentieth year (445 B.C.) when Hanani his brother (7:2) visited him with certain men out of Judah. The question he asked them at once shows the deep interest he had in God's people. "I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." Though he had never seen Jerusalem, the city of his fathers, he loved Jerusalem and felt like all pious captives, so beautifully expressed in one of the Psalms--"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy" (Ps. 137:5-6). Though he lived in prosperity his heart was with his people. It was bad news which they brought him. The remnant was in great affliction and reproach, the wall of Jerusalem in a broken-down condition, and the gates burned with fire.

Nehemiah was at Shushan, the court of that same Artaxerxes, king of Persia, who had protected Ezra, when he returned from Babylon to Jerusalem. One of Nehemiah's brothers and several men who had come with him from Judah brought news to Nehemiah at Shushan concerning "the Jews that had escaped" who settled in the "province" beyond the river (that is to say, in the land of Israel) with details about the miserable condition of the holy city. He is deeply afflicted by what he learns concerning the misery and reproach of the people, and the ruins of the city with its broken walls. After being restored, this weak remnant was continually threatened with becoming the prey of enemies conspiring to destroy them. They had not yet, by their own fault, established anything lasting. What had the men of Judah done during such a long lapse of years? Once they had the energy to purify themselves from evil, but now they lacked the energy to preserve themselves. What would become of them now? Ezra had foreseen that the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem was necessarily the next step after the construction of the temple, if the people would continue in the spirit of the revival (Ezra 9:9); but this had not been the case. Long years had passed by without any event indicating activity or energy; there was nothing, except increasing affliction and reproach.

When Nehemiah hears these things, like Ezra and like all men of God in a day of ruin, he deeply humbles himself: "I sat and wept, and mourned for days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of the heavens" (v. 4); although he did not do so on account of a positive sin as Ezra did (Ezra 9), but rather, on account of the misery the people had brought upon themselves through their lack of perseverance and trust in God. Nehemiah begins by acknowledging the faithfulness of God toward those who obey Him, then he confesses the sins of Israel against God, without in any way excluding his own sins or the sins of his father's house, or their common disobedience to His Word (v. 5-7). But although God had given warnings and had carried them out, according to what He had said to Moses (Deut. 28:64), He also had given promises, in the event that the people should return to a condition of obedience, saying that He would gather them together and bring them back to the land. This had actually occurred (Deut. 30:1-6), and Nehemiah then pleads the cause of the restored people; they were now servants of the Lord. Would the Lord disown them? Impossible. Nehemiah was a servant of the Lord also. How could God fail to hear him? Nehemiah identifies the people with himself in service, conscious that the he must continue the work; he ardently desires to do so, knowing that he is in communion with the will of God, from the moment when He had restored these escaped Jews from among His people. But at the same time (and this is what we find in all men of faith — including Zerubbabel, Ezra, Daniel and others — in the midst of the ruin of the people), Nehemiah does not attempt to throw off the yoke of the nations, for this would mean failing to take the unfaithfulness of the people into account before God. He merely asks God to "grant him mercy on the sight of this man" (v. 11). This is how he calls the king when he speaks to God, for what else is he to the Sovereign God who directs the heart of the most exalted and powerful men, in order to cause them to carry out His plans? When he stands before the king, Nehemiah changes his language and honors him as is becoming (Neh. 2:3), but, before God, he gives honor and power to Him alone.

God blesses the labours of the faithful Nehemiah, and Jerusalem is once more encompassed by walls; a less touching condition than when the city of God was defended by the altar of God, which was a testimony to His presence and to the faith of those who erected it; but a condition that proved the faithfulness and loving-kindness of God, who, nevertheless, while outwardly re-establishing them, revoked no part of the judgment pronounced on His people and His city. He who rebuilt the walls was but the vicegerent of a foreign king; and it was the security of the people, and that which uprightness of heart required of them to acknowledge this; and it was done (Neh. 9: 37). Still, God blesses them. Nehemiah recurs to the numbering of the people, according to the register of their genealogies that was drawn up at their first return from captivity, an already distant period. Thus the people are again placed in their cities.

(2) Nehemiah, then, gives to this remnant so returned (as his name imports) the "comfort of the Lord." The walls of the city are built, and their deliverance from their enemies accomplished. "As the hills stand round about Jerusalem, so the Lord standeth round about His people."

To rebuild the shattered walls of Jerusalem after they had been so effectively destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar must have been no light task; yet, moved by divine impulse, Nehemiah undertook it and, what is more, successfully carried it through.

Nehemiah restores the city by building its wall and encouraging people to inhabit it. His work is that of demarcation, separation, and defense. But he is in continual conflict, and with those within as well as without.

Thirteen years pass, and this remnant that had escaped from captivity, was in great affliction and reproach, Seeing that "the wall of Jerusalem," that speaks of separation, was broken down; and "the gates" that stand for the place of discipline, were burned with fire (Neh. 1:2-3). Under the exhortations of Nehemiah, the people were led to build the walls and erect the gates (Neh. 3; 6:15). The result was that once again separation and discipline were maintained.