Year 2, Week 27, Day 3 Bible Reading Observations

Year 2, Week 27, Day 3

I have a brief observation for today’s reading of Nehemiah 1-2.

Today’s reading begins with the Book of Nehemiah. While we moved on from the Book of Ezra, we have not moved on from Ezra. Ezra will emerge again in Nehemiah 8. There is a close connection between the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The opening scene of Nehemiah takes place in Susa and occurs in around 445 BC, or about fifteen years after the closing scene of Ezra. The events recorded in the Book of Nehemiah unfold over a period of approximately thirteen years. Nehemiah 1 introduces us to Nehemiah, who while he is a cupbearer for King Artaxerxes, he is burdened for the lack of a protective wall around Jerusalem: “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” (Nehemiah 1:3). Nehemiah 2 records how Nehemiah was sent to Jerusalem by the authority of King Artaxerxes: “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 fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it…And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me” (Nehemiah 2:5,8b). Upon arrival in Jerusalem, Nehemiah discreetly assesses the condition of the wall: “Then I arose in the night, I and a few men with me. And I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. 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 and to the Dung Gate, and I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that were broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire” (Nehemiah 2:12-13). The need for the wall around Jerusalem was a task needing immediate attention.

One of the things that struck me from today’s reading was the role that prayer played in starting the work of rebuilding the wall: “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” (Nehemiah 1:4). Nehemiah will be moved to action that involves rebuilding the wall, but the start of his actions were fasting and praying. These initial actions took place for several days and reflected the grief and sadness he felt over Jerusalem not having the appropriate protection that a wall would provide. Nehemiah is moved to plead to the LORD on behalf of the situation in Jerusalem. Nehemiah opens and closes his prayer with the plea for God to hear him: “let your ear be attentive and your eyes open…O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant” (Nehemiah 1:6,11). Nehemiah’s confession accurately indicates who he is approaching: "O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments” (Nehemiah 1:5). The fact that the LORD is great and faithful to His covenant obligations draws Nehemiah to continually seek Him. Nehemiah is drawn to the reality that the LORD is lovingly loyal to His people.

While Nehemiah acknowledges that being in covenant relationship with the LORD, who is faithful and loving; also requires a reciprocal love and obedience from His people. However, Nehemiah honestly acknowledges that they had not lived before the LORD with a true devotion: “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” (Nehemiah 1:6b-7). The sense that is conveyed is Nehemiah’s prayer in general, but confession of sin in particular was voiced for days: “to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants” (Nehemiah 1:6a). A further sense that is conveyed is that Nehemiah’s prayer of confession of sin, corruption, and failure to keep the commandments, implies a return to the LORD and a resolve of true love and obedience.

Nehemiah’s chief request is for the LORD to remember: “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” (Nehemiah 1:8-9). First, Nehemiah asks the LORD to remember His Word, that is, remember what He promised to His people: “And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you, and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you today, with all your heart and with all your soul, then the LORD your God will restore your fortunes and have mercy on you, and he will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers” (Deuteronomy 30:1-5). Nehemiah is appealing to the LORD to do what He promised He would do. Second, based on the first thing that Nehemiah asked the LORD to remember, he now specifically asks the LORD to remember His people: “They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand” (Nehemiah 1:10). And in remembering His people Nehemiah asks that the LORD would give the success in rebuilding the wall: “O 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” (Nehemiah 1:11). Nehemiah turned to prayer first and foremost. However, his prayer was not so he didn’t have to do the work of rebuilding the wall; but so that he would have the LORD’s power to rebuild the wall.

What struck you in today’s reading? What questions were prompted from today’s reading?

Pastor Joe