The Man Who Rebuilt Jerusalem – Nehemiah 2:11-20
Nehemiah 1:1-11
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah (ha-kee-luh). In the month of Chislev (kiz-lev), in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capital, 2 one of my brothers, Hanani (hah-nay-nee), came with certain men from Judah; and I asked them about the Jews that survived, those who had escaped the captivity, and about Jerusalem. 3 They replied, “The survivors there in the province who escaped captivity are in great trouble and shame; the wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been destroyed by fire.”
August 3, 2014
Nehemiah 2:11-20, The Man Who Rebuilt Jerusalem
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[powerpress]
4 When I heard these words I sat down and wept, and mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5 I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments; 6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Both I and my family have sinned. 7 We have offended you deeply, failing to keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples; 9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are under the farthest skies, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place at which I have chosen to establish my name.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great power and your strong hand. 11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight in revering your name. Give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man!” At the time, I was cupbearer to the king.”
We heard in Nehemiah 1 how Nehemiah inquired about the situation in Jerusalem (verses 2-3), empathized with those who were hurting (verse 4), humbled himself before God (verse 4) & prayed (verses 5-11) expressing adoration to God (v. 5), confessing his nation’s sin to the Lord (verses 6-7)), & petitioning God for help (verses 8-11).
Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the Persian emperor Artaxerxes I, the most powerful ruler of that time. As cupbearer it was his duty to taste wine from the king’s cup before handing the cup personally to the king, a guarantee that the wine was not poisoned. He was what we might call today a top security agent, like a member of the Secret Service. Nehemiah’s life was marked by availability as a servant to an earthly ruler but in a deeper way as a servant of God. Nehemiah is a man of perseverance & he prays & plans for four months waiting for the right opportunity to ask the king to give him the authority, responsibility, & opportunity to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls. When the moment comes, Nehemiah offers one last brief prayer & shares his desire with the king & it’s granted. And so Nehemiah travels west to Jerusalem.
Listen to Nehemiah 2:11-20:
“So I came to Jerusalem & was there for three days. Then I got up during the night, I & a few men with me; I told no one what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem. The only animal I took was the animal I rode. I went out by night by the Valley Gate past the Dragon’s Spring & to the Dung Gate, & I inspected the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down & its gates that had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate & to the King’s Pool; but there was no place for the animal I was riding to continue. So I went up by way of the valley by night & inspected the wall. Then I turned back & entered by the Valley Gate, & so returned. The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing; I had not yet told the Jews, the priests, the nobles, the officials, & the rest that were to do the work.
Then I said to them, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” I told them that the hand of my God had been gracious upon me, & also the words that the king had spoken to me. Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good. But when Sanballat the Horonite & Tobiah the Ammonite official, & Geshem the Arab heard of it, they mocked & ridiculed us, saying, “What is this that you are doing? Are you rebelling against the king?” Then I replied to them, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success, & we his servants are going to start building; but you have no share or claim or historic right in Jerusalem.”
Reading an ancient text like this one which reflects the tension, division, and hostility over Jerusalem 2,500 years ago should humble anyone who thinks peace is easily made in the Middle East. Nehemiah has a very difficult task to accomplish: rebuilding a ruined city with opposition all around & a frightened, discouraged population, fortunately Nehemiah knows how to lead in a crisis. He can see that rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem is a restoration job on several levels. It’s about restoring a wall, rebuilding a sense of community, & constructing a sense of identity for the people. The wall had been broken down, community had broken down and with everyone thinking about themselves, people worked on their own places but no one was working for the common good. What good is it if you rebuild your own home but there are no city walls and no gate to prevent enemies from coming right in?
Nehemiah is the kind of leader we need in our nation & in the world today. He is a leader with vision, the ability to tell people the truth, commitment to doing God’s work & getting the job done successfully. Nehemiah says that after his westward journey from Susa, he spent three days personally reviewing the walls so that he has firsthand knowledge & intelligence of the situation. At the beginning, he also told no one the vision God had given him for building Jerusalem’s walls. Unlike Joseph in Genesis, he didn’t make the mistake of revealing God’s vision too soon. When that happens, the result is often that people like Joseph’s brothers try to kill the visionary. Nehemiah knows there will be opposition so he waits to share what God has put on his heart to do. When the work does become public, the opposition begins immediately & steadily grows, escalating in intensity to the point of his enemies unsuccessfully plotting his assassination.
Nehemiah begins with a moonlit tour of the walls to assess the damage & the scope of the work to be done. The job is bigger than he first suspected. This is not the last time that happened on a construction job. Only when Nehemiah knew all the facts did he make his final plans. He’s smart enough to know that one must have a true & accurate grasp of the facts in order to come up with a successful plan. If our plans are not based on reality or the facts it’s highly unlikely our plans will be successful.
Often times our need for faith will increase when we’re truly aware of the facts of a situation or crisis we are facing. Having faith doesn’t mean we ignore problems, that we’re blind to the facts, or that we are ignorant of what has taken place over time. This is true in our lives as well as for Nehemiah. Stepping out in faith means looking squarely at the problems, knowing the facts, & understanding what has taken place previously, then we look to God & use our God given gifts to come up with solutions & we work for success.
Rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem like so many challenges we face in life, including growing a church, is a two sided problem. There is the technical side & the human side. It’s not enough to know what needs to be done; we also need the motivation to make it happen. Often when we face a challenge, information can be plentiful but motivation is lacking. Many of us don’t lack the information we need to make positive changes in our lives or to live more like Jesus, what we need is the proper motivation.
Nehemiah is not a professional builder or contractor. But he’s motivated by God’s vision for Jerusalem & his love for his people. Do you know the difference between Noah’s Ark & the Titanic? The Titanic was built by professionals. A highly motivated amateur built Noah’s Ark. Noah was not a professional ship builder, but he was motivated by the dark storm clouds overhead & the knowledge that he was building a boat that would carry his loved ones, himself, & his future. He was motivated. What Nehemiah lacked in technical knowledge, he more than makes up for with his ability to motivate and unite people to share in the challenge of rebuilding the walls.
Nehemiah’s speech to the citizens of Jerusalem is masterful in its simplicity & directness. It contains three elements: identification with the people, an acknowledgement of the seriousness of the situation, & a call to action.
First, he describes himself as one of the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Even though he had an important job in the palace of the king, he has given that up to take on a dangerous job in a city that has been ruined by war. He doesn’t play the visiting political official saying, “You people are in a mess, & I’ve come to help you.” Rather he says, “You see the trouble we are in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer suffer disgrace.” Nehemiah is one of them. He’s going to share the risks & the hardships with the people. He’s a leader who leads by example & calls people to follow him. He is a true leader who leads, not one who issues commands from a safe distance.
In the second element of his speech, Nehemiah acknowledges the seriousness of the situation. He’s not afraid to use words like “trouble, ruins, disgrace.” No good comes from minimizing the difficulties of a task or situation that lies before us – whether it is physical, relational, spiritual, financial, emotional, political or something else. Whether as individuals, families, a church, a nation, or globally – difficulties must be faced fully & directly. Sometimes it’s not seeing the difficulties that prevent our taking action; it’s a failure to see the resources & means to a creative solution. Ironically, rather than raising people’s feelings of fear & anxiety; facing the brutal facts can have a remarkable impact on people’s confidence & motivation. In the darkest days of World War Two when Great Britain stood alone against the Nazis, Winston Churchill came into leadership as Prime Minister at arguably the lowest & most difficult time in his nation’s history. In a famous speech, he promised the British nothing but “blood, toil, tears, & sweat.” Perhaps no speech has ever united a nation more. Like Churchill, Nehemiah begins by stating how bad the problem truly is, looking not only at the wall but at their vulnerability without it. But he is a man of vision. He sees not only the reality of what is, but what can be. Because Nehemiah sees what others cannot, he issues a call to action.
The call to action is the third element of Nehemiah’s speech & in it Nehemiah’s confidence is contagious. He stands before the depressed, fearful, skeptical citizens of Jerusalem & says look at what God has done already, through the heathen king of Persia no less. God provided me with safe passage, timber, & the authority & permission to build. God has provided what is needed to get the job done. He stands before them, knowing what the problems are, but ready to begin the hard work of rebuilding & this encourages & gives hope to the people. “Then they said, “Let us start building!” So they committed themselves to the common good.”
One of the keys to rebuilding not only the wall but rebuilding community is a sense of “the common good.” When a church makes a positive influence in a community it is because the people who comprise it are committed to the common good & not just to their particular group or ministry. When I look at what is happening in our nation, I am seriously concerned that there is little to no concern for the common good as so many leaders & members of every political party seem more focused on power & money than what is for the long term common good of our country.
What do we learn from Nehemiah about how to face the challenges in our lives? Nehemiah believed in the power of prayer & perseverance in solving problems. With prayer, common sense, fervent speeches & brilliant planning, this godly leader motivated the Israelites to complete the reconstruction of the walls of Jerusalem despite severe opposition. Under Nehemiah’s inspirational leadership the people completed the rebuilding project in only 52 days.
Nehemiah was a servant of God & a servant of God’s people. He was available to God & answered the call to lead in a crisis & he did it effectively. Effective leadership in a time of adversity requires the wisdom & courage that result from dependence upon God, identifying with others, acknowledging the seriousness of a situation, & committing ourselves to the common good.
At our church, we face a similar task but on a smaller scale than the one Nehemiah faced. We’re literally rebuilding our oldest walls which were built over 150 years ago as well as the roof of the chapel and installing a new steeple. We’re seeking to build our community and to impact many more lives as we add two new full-time pastors. We’re praying and trusting God in the process and committing ourselves to the common good. Some people might think, our church is fine the way it is, why worry about ten years from now? Why take the risk and expense of hiring new people?
The answer was given during the July 20th the television program 60 Minutes which included a fascinating segment on the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. In an interview General Manager Peter Gelb said his challenge was to convince those who love opera that it has to change with the times or it will die with them. The church faces a similar challenge. He said, “The risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all.” That’s why we’re doing what we’re doing – because the risk of doing nothing is the greatest risk of all.
Blessing: Now may you go from this time of worship to serve the God who is ready to forgive, gracious & merciful, slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love. May the joy of the Lord be your strength.
(Nehemiah 9:17b; 8:10)