Nehemiah 10-13

Chapter 10 contains a list of the people who signed the pledge to live according to the Law of Moses. The religious workers specifically promised not to intermarry with the locals and not to allow trade on the Sabbath and other holy days. They agreed to honour the Sabbath year and cancel debts then. They also agreed to pay for the upkeep of the temple and its services. Chapter 11 begins with the decision to have ten percent of the population live in Jerusalem to be selected by lot. It then lists (some of) those who were to live in Jerusalem and some of the places where others lived. Chapter 12 lists the priests and Levites who returned from exile. Chapter 13 is a summary of much of the wickedness that was occurring in the land and Nehemiah’s actions in dealing with it. It is explained how he dissuaded foreign merchants from selling on the Sabbath and how and why he prevented the people from marrying foreign wives.

Nehemiah 7-9

Chapter 7 recounts that the wall was complete and Nehemiah put his brother Hanani and Hananiah the commander of the citadel in charge of Jerusalem. Nehemiah had the people assemble and he took a census of everyone. The census was quite thorough: “The whole company numbered 42,360 besides their 7,337 male and female slaves; and they also had 245 male and female singers. There were 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys” (7:66-68).

Chapter 8 records that Ezra read the Law of Moses to the people. It sounds like there was some preaching involved in this: “They read from the Book of the Law of God, making it clear and giving the meaning so that the people understood what was being read.” While hearing the Law they realised that they should be having a festival during the seventh month so they immediately prepared for that. Then they engaged in something that we would do well at imitating: “They stood where they were and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day, and spent another quarter in confession and in worshipping the LORD their God.” The remainder of the chapter is taken up with a speech that reminds the people of their history and relationship with God. It ends with the state things are in today. Overall, it is remarkably like the sermon Stephen preached in Acts but without the orator being stoned.

Nehemiah 4-6

Their enemies taunted those rebuilding Jerusalem and threatened them physically. Nehemiah ensured the safety of the workers by taking precautions so that no one was working without being guarded by someone else prepared for battle. Then in chapter 5 he had to deal with internal strife between the rich and poor. The richer were lending money to those less fortunate with interest rates attached. Nehemiah challenged them to return the people’s property and land and they agreed. Nehemiah also refused to accept his due as governor because the people were hard pressed.

Nehemiah was continually under threat and the schemes of their enemies but he refused to waver from his mission. The wall was completed in 52 days and “When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God” (6:16).

Nehemiah 1-3

This book begins with Nehemiah’s discovery that Jerusalem still lies in ruins with her gates burned and wall broken down. In serving as cupbearer to the king he appeared sad and King Artaxerxes asked what was wrong. Nehemiah explained the situation and offered a quick prayer to God before requesting that he be sent to Jerusalem to rebuild the city. The king granted his permission and Nehemiah returned with letters authorising him to rebuild.

“But when Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite official and Geshem the Arab heard about it, they mocked and ridiculed us. ‘What is this you are doing?’ they asked. ‘Are you rebelling against the king?’ I answered them by saying, ‘The God of heaven will give us success. We his servants will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim or historic right to it’” (2:19-20). The descendants of these various groups are fighting over Jerusalem to this day. I find it very interesting that 2400+ years ago Nehemiah would make the claim that these other parties have no claim or historic right to the city.
Chapter 3 records the names of the various parties who were instrumental in rebuilding the city walls and gates. No doubt those mentioned were very proud of the job they accomplished and the speed at which it happened.