Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Nehemiah. He was a character. Crackerjack administrator...but the dude had a temper. And he got rather...violent...at times. I imagine people were rather afraid of him. He didn't put up with ANY nonsense...not from the enemies of the people, and not from the people themselves.
When the story opens, he is a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in the Babylonian capitol of Susa. That means he was one of the king's most intimate and trusted servants. Nehemiah's brother had traveled to Jerusalem and returned, bringing word of how poor and unprotected the city was.
Nehemiah was sorely grieved to hear that news, and he began to fast and pray, first for the city, and then for favor with the king...because Nehemiah wanted to Do Something About It.
Sure enough, not too long after that, Nehemiah took the king his wine while he was pondering the condition of his hometown...and the king noticed.
so the king asked me, "Why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart." I was very much afraid, but I said to the king, "May the king live forever! Why should my face not look sad when the city where my fathers are buried lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?" -- Neh. 2:2-3; 'Heart' is the common Strong's H 3820 - Leb - 'the heart; also used (figuratively) very widely for the feelings, the will and even the intellect; likewise for the centre of anything'
The king then responded, 'What do you want?' (verse 4), and Nehemiah had a moment in which he realized his prayer was being answered. He breathed a quick prayer...the narrative doesn't say what, but I believe it was for favor and for the right words, then asked for permission to go and rebuild the city, with the proper letters for safe conduct and for needed supplies.
The king only asked him to set a time frame for this, which Nehemiah provided, and Nehemiah traveled with a military escort back to Jerusalem.
I went to Jerusalem, and after staying there three days I set out during the night with a few men. I had not told anyone what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. There were no mounts with me except the one I was riding. -- Neh. 2:11-12; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.
He inspected the wall, made a plan, and then shared that plan with the people, who immediately jumped on board. There were, however, foreigners nearby who were not happy to see Jerusalem rebuilt and who gave Nehemiah fits. At first, it was just scorn heaped upon the folks doing the building, but the people ignored them, following Nehemiah's lead, and kept working.
So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart. -- Neh. 4:6; 'Heart' is H 3820 again.
Then the jeering turned to threats...enough that the people began to be afraid. Nehemiah set guards and the workers were armed as they went about building the wall. There was a kerfluffle about borrowed money, and Nehemiah took the lenders to task for charging interest on the loans and the lenders agreed to NOT charge their brothers any interest. Nehemiah pointedly did not get any financial advantage for his position...deliberately not taking the governor's allowance.
Then the opposition plotted against Nehemiah himself, trying to get him away from the job so they could kill him, but he refused to even answer the charges they trumped up against him and the wall was finished in 52 days (Neh. 6:15), which was such an astonishing accomplishment that everyone in the area knew that it was done with the help of God (6:16).
So the wall was built, and the schedule for the opening/ closing of the gates was set, but the houses had not been rebuilt inside the city and there weren't a lot of folks living there yet.
So my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the common people for registration by families. I found the genealogical record of those who had been the first to return. this is what I found written there: -- Neh. 7:5; 'Heart' is, again, H 3820. This is followed by a long list of names and numbers, concluding that there were 42,360 folks who were there (likely just counting the men, but that's not clear), with 7,337 servants and 245 singers. Just for grins, I went back to Numbers to see how many folks came into the land originally...according to Numbers 26:22, the tribe of Judah alone had 76,500 men 20 and older. So there was, indeed, a remnant that took up residence in Jerusalem. Judgement had fallen hard on the people, but it was past.
First, there was a holiday in which Ezra read from the book of the Law, with the Levites explaining so the people could understand (8:8). The people, convicted by what they heard, were weeping, but Nehemiah encouraged them and told them to celebrate. There was a later day in which the people came together to fast and repent, with a prayer that reviews their history and confesses their sins that comprises most of chapter 9, with the final mention of 'heart' being a reference to Abram/Abraham:
You found his heart faithful to you, and you made a covenant with him to give to his descendants the land of the Cannanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Jebusites and Girgashites. You have kept your promise because you are righteous. -- Neh. 9:8; 'Heart' here is Strong's H 3824, lebab, which we have also seen used regularly, as it is the word from which H 3820 is derived.
There is more in Nehemiah about Nehemiah's zealous actions to set the people on a path to prevent them from ever repeating the mistakes of the past...which did creep in a little, but he was FIRM in his refusal to allow the people to return that way.
It is worth noting that the people indeed, never fell again into the trap of pagan influences again. Possibly due to Nehemiah's strict adherence to the Law in those matters. Following generations were taught what to do and what not to do and the people remained on their land until 70 AD. But that's a different circumstance and a different story for another day.
What impressed me going through this again is how much the heart matters in accomplishing God's will/plan. Abram's heart was faithful; Nehemiah's heart was grieved. God put into his heart a plan that saw a miracle happen, because the hearts of the people were committed.
How committed/ receptive to God is MY heart?
Selah.
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