In the previous chapter of Nehemiah, we were told that the hard work of the building of the city wall was completed. Nehemiah 6:15-16 tells us;AM Bible Study Group: December 20, 2023 from Nehemiah 7:1-73
Theme: In setting up walls of holy distinction, there must also be a preservation of holy service.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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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 (Nehemiah 6:15-16).Against remarkably hostile odds, and against continual strain and discouragements, the work was done in a remarkably short time—in only fifty-two days. Clearly the ‘good hand of God’, that was upon the work at the beginning (2:8), had brought the work to completion. And now, we come to Chapter 7. The purpose of this chapter can best be appreciated by looking at its very last verse. The latter half of Nehemiah 7:73 says, “When the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.” This means that the people were settled. That last verse, then, serves as a transition from the building project that’s described in Chapters 3-6 to the spiritual reform that’s described for us in Chapters 8-10. And as Chapter 7 shows us, Nehemiah wasn’t just concerned with the city wall; but also with the spiritual condition of the people within the land itself. And so, in preparation for the great spiritual reforms that would be brought about, the spiritual life of the people—those spiritual concerns that the wall was ultimately meant to distinguish and protect—must also be provided for. The gates to the wall had to be set up and secured; so that those who didn’t belong inside were kept out, and those who did belong inside were kept holy. The times in which those gates were active needed to be defined; so that nothing was happening at any time that could cause harm. And within the city, those who ministered needed to be confirmed as having true spiritual authorization to do the work they were charged with doing. A spiritual parallel might be drawn with respect to the church. A church is not meant to function without spiritual leaders. But it can’t be that just anyone who wants to lead may be permitted to do so. They must fulfill certain spiritual and personal qualifications. In Titus 1, the apostle Paul wrote to Pastor Titus and told him;
For this reason I left you in Crete, that you should set in order the things that are lacking, and appoint elders in every city as I commanded you—if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination. For a bishop must be blameless, as a steward of God, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but hospitable, a lover of what is good, sober-minded, just, holy, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict (Titus 1:5-9).And so, in that spirit, we come to Nehemiah 7. It’s a careful record of Nehemiah’s attention to the important provisions for the spiritual care of God’s people. The wall of the city is meant to be a symbol to us of a holy distinction of God’s church from this world. And as this chapter shows us, in setting up walls of distinction, there must also be the establishment of standards for holy service in God’s household—so that God’s gracious work is protected and preserved. Without attention to the holy standards inside, there’s not much point in having the walls to make a distinction from that which is outside.
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Nehemiah begins by telling us about … 1. PROTECTING THE PERIMETERS (vv. 1-3). Nehemiah wrote;Then it was, when the wall was built and I had hung the doors, when the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many (vv. 1-2).Hanani was the brother of Nehemiah who first brought a report to him of the condition of the wall and of the people (see 1:2-3). Hanani was a trustworthy man who, obviously, had a heart for the condition of the city. Now that the wall was completed, Nehemiah was required to return to his role of service to King Artaxerxes; and he could trust the city to his brother. Along with Hanani was Hananiah—an established leader who had apparently served with Nehemiah at the king’s palace in Shushan (see 1:1). What a testimony Nehemiah gives of him!—that he was a faithful man who “feared God more than many”. After the walls were completed, Nehemiah didn’t leave the city without first establishing reliable leadership that had a heart for God and for His people. Along with them, Nehemiah established “gatekeepers”. A good wall has good entries and good exits. The gates must be supervised so that no one was kept out who belonged in. And they must be guarded so that no one came in who needed to be kept out. The gatekeepers were responsible for making sure that the activities of the gates were protected—so that nothing was brought in under the cover of night. He entrusted this responsibility to Hanani and Hananiah:
And I said to them, “Do not let the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while they stand guard, let them shut and bar the doors; and appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, one at his watch station and another in front of his own house” (v. 3).But Nehemiah was concerned with more than just keeping bad things out. He wanted to make sure that good things were going on within to the glory of God. He established “singers” who were responsible for preserving sacred worship—preserving joy and reverence within the city. And he also appointed the Levites as the established servants of the sacred worship of God—preserving the sacred duties of the temple. In keeping the church as a distinct people in the world, we ought to have well-protected, well-supervised ‘gates’—keeping the sins of this world out, but making it possible for those who seek to know our Savior to come in and discover Him—to find Him being worshiped in truth.
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Next—in the longest section of this chapter—we find Nehemiah telling us how he went about the task of … 2. PRESERVING THE PEOPLE (vv. 4-73a). Nehemiah wrote;Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt. Then my God put it into my heart to gather the nobles, the rulers, and the people, that they might be registered by genealogy (4-5a).The records of the families of Israel were important to God’s plan for them. He had established boundaries and land allocations for His people. And also, He established that certain tribes had certain roles. And so; with so few people, and so much space, some strategic planning needed to take place. The God who cared about the inheritance of His people also put it in Nehemiah’s heart to do this. This wasn’t left to anyone’s imagination as to how it was to be done. Nehemiah wrote; And I found a register of the genealogy of those who had come up in the first return, and found written in it (v. 5b) … Do you remember the timeline that we considered in our first study of Nehemiah?
1st Return (under the leadership of Zerubbabel) 538-515 B.C.
__________________ (57 years pass) ________________
2nd Return (under the leadership of Ezra) 458-456 B.C.
__________________ (12 years pass) ________________
3rd Return (under the leadership of Nehemiah) 444-430 B.C.
Some twelve years before the events of Nehemiah 7—around the year 456 B.C.—the scribe Ezra preserved a careful record of the families who came in the first wave of return from captivity in 538 B.C. It may have been that Ezra passed on this careful record from previous sources, or it may be that he carefully wrote down a copy for himself. But in any event, Nehemiah obtained this record and included it in his own ‘diary of events’ in this book. His reproduction of this ‘register’ is almost identical to the one given to us in Ezra 2. There are a few differences between the lists of names in order; and there are omissions here or there. But as a passage-by-passage comparison shows, there is remarkable agreement. Below, you’ll find the two records set side-by-side. First, we see the prologue to the record; showing us the leaders who came to Jerusalem with Shishbazzar, prince of Judah (Ezra 1:8-11) with the permission of Cyrus, king of Persia:| Nehemiah 7 | Ezra 2 | |||
| These are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his city. Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, and Baanah (vv. 6-7a). | Now these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity, of those who had been carried away, who Nebuchadnezzare the king of Babylong had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, everyone to his own city. Those who came with Zerubbabel were Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah (vv. 1-2a). |
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