Sermon
Nehemiah
August 1, 2004
Pastor Donald Sheley

Our subject today is a very interesting individual. His name is Nehemiah. Throughout the summer months we've been learning life's lessons from Old Testament saints, and here's a gentleman that has really fascinated me. He's known as Nehemiah the builder.

I'm going to ask you to take your sermon notes because it's important that we understand the historical setting of the story, and I want to take just a few moments in the opening of our lesson today to give that to you, so go to your notes. I begin our lesson by making these comments: Before we consider this historical story of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem by Nehemiah, we should understand the history that preceded this event.

The twisted story of the Kings...and I said it that way because for nearly 500 years -- remember there was first Saul, then David, then Solomon, and at Salomon's death the kingdom is divided so now you've got the two kingdoms, the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. And throughout the pages of Scripture you have the stories of these kings who rule; some of them only for hours. It's a twisted story and it's not a beautiful story.

So the twisted story of the Kings, a matter of nearly five centuries, had ended disastrously in 587 B.C with the sack of Jerusalem, the fall of the monarchy and the removal to Babylonia of all that made Judah politically viable. When Nebuchadnezzar finally demolished Jerusalem in 586 B.C., a large portion of most of the important Jews, especially artisans and the craftsmen, were carried to Babylon in exile. And with the temple in ruins, the Jews left behind had no place to worship the Lord properly.

Although an altar was erected on the site of the demolished temple, the official cult, or Judaism, was for all practical purposes terminated. Jeremiah, belonging to a group who had warned the Jews not to rebel against the Babylonians, was left behind in Palestine.

Archeological results have shown how utterly devastated Judah really was when Nebuchadnezzar walked away. The Jews in Palestine were poor and they were thus not able to restore the damage done to their country. The Babylonians left after they appointed Gedaliah as governor, and the local Jewish population came out of their hiding places to try to make a living on their devastated land.

Now during the Jews' captivity, off in Babylon which was 70 years, world leadership changed hands from the Babylonians to the Persians, after which Daniel received most of his prophetic revelations. The Book of Ezra which precedes Nehemiah, begins with the decree of Cyrus, A Persian king, to return God's people to Jerusalem to rebuild God's house. In other words, he released them from their captivity to go home and build the house of God.

At the time in Judah's history, the Persian Empire dominated the entire Near Eastern world. Its administration of Judah, although done with a loose hand, was mindful of disruptions or any signs of rebellion from its vassals. So rebuilding the walls of conquered cities posed the most glaring threat to the Persian central administration. Only a close confidant of the king himself could be trusted for such an operation. And at the most critical juncture in Judah's revitalization, God raised up Nehemiah to exercise one of the most trusted roles in the empire. He was the cupbearer and confidant to the king.

Now life under the Persian king Artaxerxes had its advantages for Nehemiah. Much like Joseph, and Esther, and Daniel, he had attained a significant role in the palace which then ruled the ancient world, a position from which God could use him to lead the rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls in spite of its implications for Persian control of that city.

Now there are several other historical notes that are of interest. First, Esther, who we studied some weeks ago, was Artaxerxes' step-mother and could have easily influenced him to look favorably upon the Jews, especially Nehemiah. Secondly, Daniel's prophetic 70 weeks began with the decree to rebuild the city issued by Artaxerxes in the year of 445 B.C.

Finally, Nehemiah and Malachi represent the last of the Old Testament canonical writings, both in terms of the time the events occurred and the time when they were recorded by Ezra. So thus, the next messages from God for Israel did not come until over 400 years of silence. And that's the 400 years between the Old Testament and the New Testament, so I put that in there so you could realize that Nehemiah falls almost parallel with Malachi in writing time. Now with that historical setting, we begin our study of the Book of Nehemiah.

And in our study it deals with the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. And so I have included below a map of Jerusalem in Nehemiah's day. Now you'll notice clear up there at the top it says the present wall of the old city, and so you follow that around; it's a much larger area. Inside, is that smaller area that has reference in the book of Nehemiah. You'll notice there's the Old Gate, and the Fish Gate, and the Tower of Hananel, and the Tower of the Hundred. Just so that you can kind of get an idea how big that wall is or how long it was, the distance between the Old Gate and the Fish Gate is a distance of about 200 yards or the distance of two football fields.

Now you can take that scale and kind of move around the wall and you'll notice that it was a very, very small area that was going to be enhoused. In ancient cities the walls were exceedingly important and that's why it was such a deep concern to Nehemiah. He wanted to rebuild those ancient walls of the little village -- it was a village then -- and became the city of Jerusalem.

The main character of our story is Nehemiah. His high assignment was to serve as cupbearer to the great "Artaxerxes Longimanus," who ruled Persia from 464-423 B.C. He is identified as the son of Hachaliah to distinguish him from other Jews of the same name. Interestingly, we do not have any other reference to Nehemiah's father. Nehemiah means "the Lord has comforted."

I'm at the top of page 4. A cupbearer was much more than our modern butler. It was a position of great responsibility and privilege. At each meal he tested the king's wine to make sure it had not been poisoned. A man who stood that close to the king in public had to be handsome, cultured, knowledgeable in court procedures, and able to converse with the king and advise him if asked. And because he had access to the king, the cupbearer was a man of great influence, which he could use for good or for evil.

That Nehemiah, a Jew, held such an important position in the palace speaks well of his character and his ability. For nearly a century, the Jewish remnant had been back in their own land, and Nehemiah could have joined them; but he chose to remain in the palace. It turned out that God had a work for him to do there that he could not have accomplished anywhere else. God put Nehemiah in Susa just as He had put Esther there a generation before, and just as He had put Joseph in Egypt and Daniel in Babylon.

So at the heart of our study we want to get acquainted with this very unique person, and as we do we're going to find some of the marks of his character that stand out. I ask the question, 'What is it that marks the character of men who mark history, not only biblical history, but world history?' There are common things that mark great men. Now as we read the story we're going to find them, and we're going to read much of the story. And as we have done throughout the summer much of our sermon has been just simply the reading of the story straight from the Scriptures.

I begin: The words of Nehemiah, the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel (that's the palace), that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

And they said to me, "The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire." So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

And I said: "I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses.

Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, "If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name.

Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer.

And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, that I took the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had never been sad in his presence before. Pause -- why? Because it was against the court policy. No cupbearer could come in sad. He always had to be joyous no matter what his problem was or the king literally could have him killed if he came in with sadness.

Therefore the king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing but sorrow of heart." So I became dreadfully afraid, and said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?"

Then the king said to me, "What do you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it." Then the king said to me [the queen also sitting beside, "How long will your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.

Furthermore I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region beyond the River, that they must permit me to pass through till I come to Judah (he wanted his passport and some traveling papers. And then he also wanted a letter, notice verse 8), and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy." And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.

Then I went to the governors in the region beyond the River, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me (he's leaving the palace precincts and he's going as a messenger, as a man assigned by the king and he's got his horses, and he's got his captains - it was a large traveling group. But when he nears Jerusalem, look at what happens in verse 10.) When Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite official heard of it, they were deeply disturbed that a man had come to seek the well-being of the children of Israel.

Pause -- why were Sanballat and Tobiah angry? Well Sanballat was the governor of the town just north of this devastated little village known as Jerusalem, and he was the governor of Samaria. And he did not want ever for Jerusalem to be rebuilt because he knew it being a city of prominence and its ancient days, if the city of Jerusalem would be rebuilt then his power, his struggle, would end and he would lose his power and he didn't want to see it any other than a devastated village. And so when Nehemiah arrives he's got suspicions and he doesn't like Nehemiah.

Look at verse 11: So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem; nor was there any animal with me, except the one on which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate to the Serpent Well and the Refuse Gate (that would be the Dung Gate), and viewed the walls of Jerusalem which were broken down and its gates which were burned with fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no room for the animal under me to pass. So I went up in the night by the valley, and viewed the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the officials did not know where I had gone or what I had done; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, or the others who did the work.

Then I said to them, "You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach." And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. So they said, "Let us rise up and build." Then they set their hands to this good work.

But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official, and Geshem the Arab heard of it, they laughed at us and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?" Now he asked that question because a few years earlier efforts had been made to rebuild the wall and the king sent a cease and desist order and said 'Stop it', so he's referring to the king's order. He said, are you going...are you rebelling against the king? And it's the same king that issued the order to build to Nehemiah.

So I answered them, and said to them, "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem."

And then we come to chapter 3, and it's a very interesting chapter. I'll not read it for you, but Nehemiah is a brilliant organizer. So what he says -- he says to various families and various groups within the little village -- he says, now you take this 10 foot of the wall and you build that gate over there to the next family. All the way around that wall he set the people inside as builders, so each one had a designated distance to build of that wall.

Now, we come to chapter 4. But it so happened, when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, "What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish--stones that are burned?"

Notice verse 4, then he prays: Hear, O our God, for we are despised; turn their reproach on their own heads, and give them as plunder to a land of captivity! Do not cover their iniquity, and do not let their sin be blotted out from before You; for they have provoked You to anger before the builders. So we built the wall, and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, for the people had a mind to work.

Look at verse 8 -- but old Sanballat hasn't given up. They've all conspired now together to come and attack Jerusalem.

So what does old Nehemiah do? Look at verse 13: Therefore I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall, at the openings; and I set the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, "Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses."

Verse 16: So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor. And look at verse 18: Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side. Verse 23: So neither I, my brethren, my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me took off our clothes, except that everyone took them off for washing.

Now we have to find out how long they wore those clothes, so let's go to chapter 6...look at verse 15. I mean these guys are set; they are going to build it. Look at verse 15: So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

So here's a fascinating guy. He's lived in the pomp and the luxury of a palace. He hears the sad story of his own hometown in ruin. He gets on his knees and begins to pray, and God puts it in his heart to go home and rebuild that ancient city. And he's left his mark and 2500 years later you and I are talking about him today. What were the basic characteristics that made that man what he was?

Well right from the beginning of our story we find the first characteristic. Here he is he's in that palace and he hears the story, and in the original Hebrew text it suggests that Hanani was his real brother; that his brother had earlier moved over to Judah and he's so upset about what he sees in his hometown so he goes back over to see Nehemiah. Notice he has a very high position. He said, brother, it's bad, I mean, there is much distress and the walls are broken down and the gates burned.

You know what Nehemiah could have done? He could have said, well, that's hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles away and I just hope things get better, and he could have gone on with his duties in the palace. But he didn't do that. He sat down and started weeping, weeping for his people, and somehow as he wept and he mourned and he cried, God put a tenderness and a compassion in his heart to go home and rebuild those walls.

So the first characteristic of Nehemiah was that he was a caring man. He was compassionate. He didn't let all of the wealth and all of the glamour in which he lived change his heart, and he had compassion. You know, when you read the stories, the biographies, of great men who have touched history, you find that they were men and women of tremendous compassion. It's the mark of greatness.

The Bible tells us over and over again, Bear ye one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. Paul says don't think only on those things of yours, but on the things of others. Be concerned for others. And the writer of Hebrews says visit those who are in need, and you be as if you were in their position. In other words, kindness and compassion is a mark of greatness.

I was reading a story this week, really fascinating, many, many years ago in Philadelphia there was a young lad who was the night clerk in a third-rate hotel in the bad part of the city. One night while he was on duty, this elderly couple came in the door. You knew that they were tired and they had walked a long distance, and this old gentleman walked up to this young lad and said, son, don't tell me that you don't have a room. He said, my wife and I made the mistake we didn't call for reservations; we didn't know there was a big convention going on in town, and son for hours we have been going from hotel to hotel and there are no rooms. Do you have a room?

And the young lad stood there for a moment then he said, folks, all of my rooms are rented, but my personal room is empty. It's small. It's not elaborate, but it's clean. I'll be here at the desk all night, so while I'm here at the desk, you use my bedroom and you be my guest. So he took this lovely aged couple to his little private room and welcomed them as his guest.

They had a wonderful sleep, and the next morning this couple is sitting over at the table in the area where they're serving breakfast, and they see this night clerk standing behind his desk and so they motion for him to come over. He sat down. The elderly gentleman said, you know son, you're too good of a hotel man to be working here. He said, if I buy some property in New York, and I build a beautiful hotel, will you come and be the general manager for my hotel? And the lad stuttered yes, I'll come. And the man handed him his calling card and it said, John Jacob Astor.

John Astor went to New York, bought the property, and build the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, one of the world-famous hotels, and when he finished he called the night clerk and said your job is ready; you're the general manager. And that young lad became known as one of the finest hotel men in the world, and about hotel became known worldwide. But it was all because of kindness. Mr. Astor was so impressed with the kindness of this gentleman.

Ladies and gentlemen, you never can lose when you're kind. It's a mark of greatness...to share compassion, love and concern for those less fortunate than we are. I like Nehemiah and I understand why his life story was written in biblical history. He's a man of compassion and a man who cared.

Now the second thing that I like, and I won't have time to finish it, you have to read the rest of the sermon for your lunch hour, but the second one, he was a praying man. Do you notice? Immediately as soon as he hears and his heart is touched, he begins to weep and he begins to pray, and he prays to the God of heaven; and we read that beautiful pray that he played and he opens his heart he says, God, I know why we're in the condition -- I know why the conditions over there are like they are, because we've sinned grievously. We have corrupted your commandments. We are sinners.

He's pleading for forgiveness. But a mighty man of prayer, and again, I find it interesting when you study the history, the biographies, of men who have marked the pages of world history -- they were men of prayer...because there's something that happens when a person on their knees and in prayer moves into the presence of Almighty God. The whole matter of faith takes on a new dimension and it's in prayer that God opens our hearts and our minds and he allows us to see the potentials and the possibilities of life we wouldn't have seen with our natural eye. And there's Nehemiah on his knees praying and I'm sure that as he's praying God reveals to him those walls can be rebuilt and I'll help you. He was a man of prayer.

You never get very far in life beyond the dimensions of the normal unless you are a person of prayer. Many of you sitting here today, you know that when life dealt you a blow or an issue came before you or a challenge confronted you, it's when you got on your knees God began to talk to you and faith began to rise in your heart. That which you thought was impossible all of a sudden became a possibility. It happened in prayer. It never comes any other way.

Another thing that I like about Nehemiah is that in that prayer God gave him the gift of vision. You see, he goes home, he's outside Jerusalem, he doesn't say anything to anybody...I'm sure even though him being there raised quite a stir. He goes out in the nighttime and starts around looking at that wall in the moonlight and he sees that wall. Now if he were looking at it through his natural eyes, he would have seen the same devastation that his brother Hanani had reported. Somehow, Nehemiah now a man of prayer and a man of concern, God gives him a vision and he can see that wall being rebuilt in his minds eye. It's in his heart.

He doesn't tell anybody what he's doing, but when he finishes his survey and comes back, now he's going to tell them; he's going to tell them what God has told him to do. And they get excited. They said let's rise up and let's build! Vision comes by God through prayer.

You say, how does that fit into my life Pastor? Because I believe it's in our prayers, on our knees in prayer, that God helps us to see maybe a family, our family, like he'd really like it to be, and what he will do if we'll just let him do that in our family. Things we thought never could happen...dreams that we just thought were just dreams...but all of a sudden, in prayer, God shows us that he has power to do anything and he can do it, and he gives us a vision for what can take place.

Now the last thing that -- you can read much more in the notes -- the last thing, he not only cared, he not only prayed, he not only saw through the eyes of faith by a vision what God wanted him to do, but he's a tremendous guy of courage. I mean old Sanballat comes at him, and Sanballat is bringing his little army from Samaria and what does old Nehemiah say? Well fellas, what you do is you carry your sword and your spear in one hand and you have your hammer and your saw in the other. And we'll use the hammer and saw when we can use it, and when they come we'll use the spear. Now that's courage.

And he stands up and old Sanballat sends for him -- he couldn't disrupt him and Sanballat says, well let's meet some place. He says, look at, man, I'm doing such a great job why should I leave my great job and come down and talk to you? Sanballat then says, well then I'm going to report you to the king. Well he doesn't know that old Nehemiah has already gotten a written document that okayed the job. There was such bravery and such courage, and it became courage because courage is the byproduct of conviction.

Many years ago someone said to me, Pastor, there is a world of difference between an opinion and a conviction. I waited for the next sentence. An opinion can change. You have a certain opinion about something, then you hear something, and you hear another side, and maybe you shift your opinion. Opinions change, but convictions don't. Once you know something deep within you, that it's right, that it honors God, and that he'll be praised for it -- convictions don't change, convictions create courage and I like that about Nehemiah. He has a courageous heart.

Go to the last page with me, and in the middle of the page I write: Courageous! When persons refuse to listen to the advice of quitters, pessimists, doomsayers, and wet blankets, great feats can be accomplished. Edison didn't give up on the light bulb, even though his helpers seriously doubted that the thing would ever work. Luther refused to back down when the church doubled her fists and clenched her teeth. Michelangelo kept pounding and painting; regardless of the pope's negative put-downs. Lindbergh decided to fly the ocean blue, when everyone else said it was ridiculous and dangerous. Julliard School of Music saw past leg braces and a wheelchair and with courage, admitted an unlikely violin student named Itzhak Perlman...acts that take courage because of conviction.

So here's what we learn and then I'm all done, because we're trying to learn life's lessons from these various characters, and every one of them has been different. Why are we talking about Nehemiah today? Because 2500 years ago amidst all of his wealth and grandeur he never lost the compassion for the hurting, and with that compassion came prayer, and through prayer came the vision, and with the vision came the conviction that it was the thing that God wanted him to do and he became a man of courage. I like him. I'd like to be like Nehemiah. Amen? Let's pray.

Father, thank you for these Old Testament stories. We're learning so much about people, and we realize they were human beings, but with their heart committed to you, dear God, they became mighty men of history. Thank you.

Now I'm going to add a P.S. -- take your Bible and I want you to see just one verse. Because all the time we think, are these guys superhuman? Are they more than just human beings? Go to chapter 13. I want to show you how...this is fascinating, chapter 13:23. This is a P.S., okay?, to the sermon. In those days I also saw Jews who had married women of Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab. One of the things that disturbed Nehemiah is these people were marrying pagan ladies. God didn't like that.

And so what does he do? He said, half of their children spoke the language of Ashdod, and could not speak the language of Judah, but spoke according to the language of one or the other people. So I contended with them and cursed them. Oh shame on you Nehemiah. No, I struck some of them and pulled out their hair.

I mean...he was just as human. He had to temper just like us. And there were times when the things around him just really got to him and he just yanked out their hair. Now there are a lot of times I feel that way, but I'm not Nehemiah. God bless you folks. That's the story.