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Ezra 9 - Nehemiah 2
Leading and Rebuilding
People and Walls
Psalm 66:13-20 The Basis of Praise
13.I will come into Your temple with burnt offerings. I will pay my vows to You,14.which my lips promised, and my mouth spoke, when I was in distress.15.I will offer to You burnt offerings of fat animals, with the offering of rams, I will offer bulls with goats. Selah.16.Come, and hear, all you who fear God. I will declare what He has done for my soul.17.I cried to Him with my mouth. He was extolled with my tongue.18.If I cherished sin in my heart, the Lord wouldn’t have listened.19.But most certainly, God has listened. He has heard the voice of my prayer.20.Blessed be God, who has not turned away my prayer, nor His hesed/loyal covenantal love from me."Observation
66:13-20.This is a great psalm for understanding praise and glorifying God in both the OT and modern times. The psalmist had been tested and refined, but God delivered. During that time of difficulty the psalmist had prayed and vowed to praise God for His help; God heard and delivered. Now the psalmist makes good on his vow. He sacrifices the offerings he had vowed, and calls all those who fear God (are careful to do what's right in His sight) to listen to what God had done for him. He notes that if he had cherished and held onto sin in his heart, God wouldn't have responded. But, since God saved him, because of His hesed, the psalmist blesses God (speaks well of Him), so that His character and power are seen. Thus He is glorified.
Application
Don't cherish sin; call to God when in trouble, and tell others how He was loyal to His promises in answering and delivering you.Prayer
God, thanks for hearing and answering my prayers, coming to my rescue, and prospering me; may my responses glorify You. Amen.
Proverbs 17:13-15 Responding Appropriately
13.“Whoever rewards/repays evil for good, evil shall not depart from his house.14.The beginning of strife is like breaching a dam, therefore stop contention before quarreling breaks out.15.He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Yahweh.“Observation
17:13-15.God is all about loyalty, justice and righteousness, so those who repay evil to others who are doing good (like reproving, rebuking, warning them of the negative consequences of their behavior, etc) are asking for destruction. To keep peace, don't let irritations build to contentions, which release the floodgates of quarreling/fighting, which in turn, will destroy one's house. Resolve conflicts quickly and seek or grant forgiveness readily (or suffer the consequences). Those who justify the wicked (including themselves) and condemn the righteous (particularly the person seeking to do them good) are equally abominable in God's sight (which sets up their own judgment).
Application
Don't be quick to contend with or condemn those with whom we differ, or we might find ourselves being an abomination in God's sight.
Prayer
Lord, may my dealings with others always be in righteousness and justice, responding to them as You would want me to. Amen.
Ezra 9 – Nehemiah 2 Leading and Rebuilding People and Walls
This post considers the last and climactic chapters of Ezra, the repentance of the people, and the opening of Nehemiah beginning the rebuilding of the wall. They were considered one book in the Masoretic text because of the parallel subject matter. The people of God return after exile and are rebuilt, spiritually and militarily. Although Ezra was no slouch, Nehemiah is a great study in leadership. As you read, see if you can identify key traits of leaders whom God blesses.
Ezra 9 Sorrow for Sin
1.Now when these things were done, the princes drew near to me, saying, "The people of Israel, and the priests and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands, following their abominations, even those of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.2.For they have taken of their daughters for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have mixed themselves with the peoples of the lands. Yes, the hand of the princes and rulers has been chief in this trespass."3.When I heard this thing, I tore my garment and my robe, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down confounded.4.Then were assembled to me everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of their trespass of the captivity; and I sat confounded until the evening offering.5.At the evening offering I arose up from my humiliation, even with my garment and my robe torn; and I fell on my knees, and spread out my hands to Yahweh my God;6.and I said, "My God, I am ashamed and blush to lift up my face to you, my God; for our iniquities have increased over our head, and our guiltiness has grown up to the heavens.7.Since the days of our fathers we have been exceeding guilty to this day; and for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests, have been delivered into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plunder, and to confusion of face, as it is this day.8.Now for a little moment grace has been shown from Yahweh our God, to leave us a remnant to escape, and to give us a nail in his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give us a little reviving in our bondage.9.For we are bondservants; yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage, but has extended hesed/loyal covenantal love to us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving, to set up the house of our God, and to repair its ruins, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem.10."Now, our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments,11.which you have commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land, to which you go to possess it, is an unclean land through the uncleanness of the peoples of the lands, through their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their filthiness.12.Now therefore don’t give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters to your sons, nor seek their peace or their prosperity forever; that you may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.'13."After all that has come on us for our evil deeds, and for our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and have given us such a remnant,14.shall we again break your commandments, and join in affinity with the peoples that do these abominations? Wouldn’t you be angry with us until you had consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape?15.Yahweh, the God of Israel, you are righteous; for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is this day. Behold, we are before you in our guiltiness; for none can stand before you because of this."Observation
9:1-15.The people were up to their old tricks again, intermarrying with pagans, who would turn their hearts to be unfaithful to Yahweh. This unholiness would reap the same judgment as the pagans. God had expressly forbidden this (Ex 34:15-16; Dt 7:3-4), and sent them into exile for it, but some people are just really slow learners. Ezra not only ripped his robes, but tore out his own hair as an expression of extreme grief over sin (Nehemiah tore out the hair of the sinners. Neh 13:25). Ezra acknowledges and confesses the guilt of the nation in what is one of the greatest penitential prayers in the Scriptures (cf. Daniel 9; Nehemiah 9). He focuses mainly on God's graciousness and their sin, including himself among the sinners, as their representative, and as one who shares in their fate. He doesn't ask for pardon or forgiveness, but does hint at the mercy and fearsome justice of God.
Application
We should be sensitive to the causes and consequences of sin, and grieved by them.
Prayer
God, You are gracious in not punishing as our sins deserve, but You are patient with us, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance, before it's too late. Amen.
Ezra 10 Separation from Sin
1.10:1 Now while Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there was gathered together to him out of Israel a very great assembly of men and women and children; for the people wept very bitterly.2.Shecaniah...answered Ezra, "We have trespassed against our God, and have married foreign women of the peoples of the land. Yet now there is hope for Israel concerning this thing.3.Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God. Let it be done according to the law.4.Arise; for the matter belongs to you, and we are with you. Be courageous, and do it."5.Then Ezra arose, and made the chiefs of the priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they would do according to this word. So they swore.6.Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God...he ate no bread, nor drank water; for he mourned because of their trespass of the captivity.7.They made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem to all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together to Jerusalem;8.and that whoever didn’t come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the assembly of the captivity.9.Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together to Jerusalem within the three days...trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.10.Ezra the priest stood up, and said to them, "You have trespassed, and have married foreign women, to increase the guilt of Israel.11.Now therefore make confession to Yahweh, the God of your fathers, and do his pleasure; and separate yourselves from the peoples of the land, and from the foreign women."12.Then all the assembly answered with a loud voice, "As you have said concerning us, so must we do.13.But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand outside; neither is this a work of one day or two; for we have greatly transgressed in this matter.14.Let now our princes be appointed for all the assembly, and let all those who are in our cities who have married foreign women come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and its judges, until the fierce wrath of our God be turned from us, until this matter is resolved."15.Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahzeiah the son of Tikvah stood up against this; and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.16.The children of the captivity did so. Ezra the priest, with certain heads of fathers’ households, after their fathers’ houses, and all of them by their names, were set apart; and they sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.17.They made an end with all the men who had married foreign women by the first day of the first month.18.Among the sons of the priests there were found who had married foreign women: of the sons of Jeshua, the son of Jozadak, and his brothers, Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.19.They gave their hand that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their guilt.20.Of the sons of Immer: Hanani and Zebadiah.21.Of the sons of Harim: Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.22.Of the sons of Pashhur: Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethanel, Jozabad, and Elasah.23.Of the Levites: Jozabad, and Shimei, and Kelaiah (the same is Kelita), Pethahiah, Judah, and Eliezer.24.Of the singers: Eliashib. Of the porters: Shallum, and Telem, and Uri.25.Of Israel: Of the sons of Parosh: Ramiah, and Izziah, and Malchijah, and Mijamin, and Eleazar, and Malchijah, and Benaiah.26.Of the sons of Elam: Mattaniah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, and Abdi, and Jeremoth, and Elijah.27.Of the sons of Zattu: Elioenai, Eliashib, Mattaniah, and Jeremoth, and Zabad, and Aziza.28.Of the sons of Bebai: Jehohanan, Hananiah, Zabbai, Athlai.29.Of the sons of Bani: Meshullam, Malluch, and Adaiah, Jashub, and Sheal, Jeremoth.30.Of the sons of Pahathmoab: Adna, and Chelal, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattaniah, Bezalel, and Binnui, and Manasseh.31.Of the sons of Harim: Eliezer, Isshijah, Malchijah, Shemaiah, Shimeon,32.Benjamin, Malluch, Shemariah.33.Of the sons of Hashum: Mattenai, Mattattah, Zabad, Eliphelet, Jeremai, Manasseh, Shimei.34.Of the sons of Bani: Maadai, Amram, and Uel,35.Benaiah, Bedeiah, Cheluhi,36.Vaniah, Meremoth, Eliashib,37.Mattaniah, Mattenai, and Jaasu,38.and Bani, and Binnui, Shimei,39.and Shelemiah, and Nathan, and Adaiah,40.Machnadebai, Shashai, Sharai,41.Azarel, and Shelemiah, Shemariah,42.Shallum, Amariah, Joseph.43.Of the sons of Nebo: Jeiel, Mattithiah, Zabad, Zebina, Iddo, and Joel, Benaiah.44.All these had taken foreign wives; and some of them had wives by whom they had children.Observation
10:1-44.Ezra's grief over their sin spurs the nation to repent and make a covenant to put away/divorce the defiling wives and their offspring, beginning with the leadership. Apparently God, who hates divorce, did not view the people as married in His sight. (See notes on Malachi.) The people come up with a plan to obey God, and do His pleasure rather than their own (remember the basic appeal of foreign gods and sensual pagan worship). Anyone who didn't fear God and repent would forfeit their possessions and place among Yahweh's people. Rain was a blessing of fertility which God promised to send to those who wholeheartedly obeyed Him (Dt 11:13-17).
Application
Being sorry for sin is not the same things as separating from it. God wants sorrow to lead to repentance.
Prayer
God, I want to view the enticement to sin as pain, and obedience to Your will as my highest pleasure. Show me where I am not pleasing to You so I can repent in both my values and deeds. Amen.
Nehemiah 1 The Cup Bearer Confesses
1.The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,2.that Hanani, one of my brothers, came, he and certain men out of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.3.They said to me, "The remnant who are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and its gates are burned with fire."4.It happened, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and prayed before the God of heaven,6.Let your ear now be attentive, and your eyes open, that you may listen to the prayer of your servant, which I pray before you at this time, day and night, for the children of Israel your servants while I confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Yes, I and my father’s house have sinned.7.We have dealt very corruptly against you, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which you commanded your servant Moses.8."Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘ If you trespass, I will scatter you abroad among the peoples;9.but if you return to me, and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts were in the uttermost part of the heavens, yet will I gather them from there, and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, to cause my name to dwell there.’10."Now these are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power, and by your strong hand.11.Lord, I beg you, let your ear be attentive now to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants, who delight to fear your name; and please prosper your servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." Now I was cup bearer to the king.
Observations
1:1-7.Nehemiah was cup bearer to the king of the world, the best job in the world. He had all the privileges, and none of the responsibility. (Well he did have to sample the king's wine every day for poison.) He choose to leave that for the glory of God. Nehemiah the leader has concern and compassion for God's people, asks questions to get facts, and then goes to God for guidance and direction. Like Ezra, he fasts and prays, identifying with the sins and needs of his people.
1:8-11.
But Nehemiah also reminds God of His promises, demonstrating a solid understanding of the Scriptures and their bearing on the situation, and asks God for favor in the sight of the king.
Dt 30:1 “When all these things have come on you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you shall call them to mind among all the nations, where Yahweh your God has driven you, 2 and shall return to Yahweh your God, and shall obey his voice according to all that I command you this day, you and your children, with all your heart, and with all your soul; 3 then Yahweh your God will turn your captivity, and have compassion on you, and will return and gather you from all the peoples, where Yahweh your God has scattered you. 4 If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of the heavens, from there will Yahweh your God gather you, and from there he will bring you back: 5 and Yahweh your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and he will do you good, and multiply you above your fathers.”
Application
Understand the situation and the Scriptures, then ask God for guidance and wisdom for the things that concern you.
Prayer
God, thanks that You are clear about what You want, and always keep Your promises. May I always keep Your commandments. Amen.
Nehemiah 2 Nehemiah the Leader
1.It happened in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when wine was before him, that I took up the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad before in his presence.2.The king said to me, "Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart." Then I was very much afraid.3.I said to the king, "Let the king live forever! Why shouldn’t my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates have been consumed with fire?"4.Then the king said to me, "For what do you make request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven.5.I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ tombs, that I may build it."6.The king said to me (the queen was also sitting by him), "For how long shall your journey be? And when will you return?" So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.7.Moreover I said to the king, "If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah;8.and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel by the temple, for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into." The king granted my requests, because of the good hand of my God on me.9.Then I came to the governors beyond the River, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me captains of the army and horsemen.10.When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly, because a man had come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.11.So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.12.I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God put into my heart to do for Jerusalem; neither was there any animal with me, except the animal that I rode on.13.I went out by night... and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and its gates were consumed with fire.16.The rulers didn’t know where I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest who did the work.17.Then I said to them, "You see the evil condition that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come, let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we won’t be disgraced."
18.I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, as also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. They said, "Let’s rise up and build." So they strengthened their hands for the good work.
19.But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they ridiculed us, and despised us, and said, "What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?"20.Then answered I them, and said to them, "The God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore we, his servants, will arise and build; but you have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem."
Observations
2:1-8.Being sad in the presence of the king was a reason to be put to death, but a risk Nehemiah was willing to take for the glory of God. Nehemiah understood and appealed to the authority of the king for permission to go and rebuild the city of his father's tombs, an honorable task. Knowing how to appeal to authority is an important leadership task, as is the planning Nehemiah demonstrates in his request. The most important though, is being in a position for God to bless. Nehemiah was sensitive to the purpose and plan of God (2:12), and thus in the center of God's will.
2:9-18. Nehemiah the leader again gathers first-hand, accurate information, and uses discretion in communicating. He presents the problem, then the solution, soliciting help. He then shows that God is already working, so all people have to do is join in with what God is doing.
2:19-20. God's work, done God's way will never lack Satan's opposition and God's provision. Nehemiah responds to the opposition with confidence in God's promises to cause His name and people to dwell in Jerusalem.
Application
Being sensitive to God's will is the surest way to be successful in doing it.
Prayer
God, please put Your desires in my heart, as well as strength to carry them out. Amen.
Digging Deeper
God in a nutshell: God has sovereignly attached certain consequences to certain behaviors. Blessings for seeking and doing His will, and cursings for forsaking Him and doing what pleases us. He requires holiness, being separate and distinct from the values and practices of those around us who don't obey Him. He forgives those who wholeheartedly repent and turn from their sin. He moves both individuals and kings in the direction of His desire, and gives them encouragement as they obey.Us in a nutshell: We need to develop a sensitivity to sin and to God's will if we are going to bring Him glory. Our value system should be grieved over sin, and motivated by glorifying God. When we confess and repent of our sin, God relents of the consequences He attaches to it. When we engage in God glorifying behavior, He prospers us. We must maintain holiness in our associations, refusing to join ourselves with those who are not in a position to be blessed by God, and separating from those who won't separate from their sin. Leaders need to be especially sensitive to what God wants, and courageous in carrying it out, in the midst of inevitable opposition.