The Writings of Nehemiah

Nehemiah lived during a time when the Israelites, had turned away from God and were living in captivity far from Jerusalem.  Their city and their temple had been destroyed.  Isaiah had prophesied that God’s people would turn away, and that if they did, great destruction would follow, but they didn’t listen. They began to worship idols, and their hearts were not devoted to God. As a result, what Isaiah prophesied came true. Destruction happened everywhere in the city of Jerusalem. Homes were leveled, stores burned, and the Temple of God and the city wall was torn down. The once strong city was now a pile of ruble.  Years passed and just as God promised, the Israelites were eventually released from captivity. Some of the Israelites got together and began to rebuild the temple, with the help of a leader named Ezra. A few decades after this happened Nehemiah’s story began. 

Nehemiah’s heart hurt for his city. Even though the temple had been rebuilt, the wall, which was what protected the city, was still in ruins.  He remembered the writings of Moses, saying that if God’s people were unfaithful, He would scatter them, but if they returned to God, He would restore them and bring them back to the land He had chosen. Nehemiah repented on behalf of the people and asked God to bring restoration. 

God answered that prayer, and He gave Nehemiah an important job to do. God set Nehemiah on the mission of rebuilding the wall. Nehemiah would have heard the stories of the miracles God had performed for the people of Israel in the past, and maybe at first he thought that God would do something miraculous again. God was weaving together a miraculous story, but this story was going to require a lot of hard work and planning for Nehemiah and the Israelites.  God was working for them, helping them find favor and protecting them, but He was also calling them to hard work as well. Nehemiah became a great leader. He didn’t just plan, organize, and direct the people. He worked side-by-side with them with great determination to finish the project they started.

This story is a very spiritual story about a very natural event. Building walls is something every nation did.  However Nehemiah and Israel built the wall, with God’s help.  It was not an easy journey. Some people didn’t like that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall.  Nehemiah was doing the work of God and faced challenges of spiritual opposition.  The story is a battle of authority.  It is a battle of faith.  It is a story of wisdom as Nehemiah continued to adjust his plan as opposition came against him.  It is a story of perseverance as Nehemiah never quit. 

God orchestrated the work that Nehemiah was doing on the wall to point to the future work that God planned to do through Jesus Christ. God used Nehemiah, whose name means “comforter from the Lord”, as an agent to bring restoration to Jerusalem, and to put together what was previously broken.  The story of Nehemiah is more than a man leading people to repair a wall.  It’s a story as a picture of the work of Jesus.