A BROKEN HEART FOR A BROKEN PEOPLE
Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on October 25, 2023 under AM Bible Study |
AM Bible Study Group: October 25, 2023 from Nehemiah 1:1-11
Theme: God used the bad news about the broken walls of Jerusalem to raise up a mighty rebuilder for His people.
(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).
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Today, we begin to study what might best be described as a ‘diary’. It’s not just any diary though. It happens to be the diary of a great man who was raised up by God to perform an amazing task for His chosen people. This ‘diary’ is what we have come to know in our Bible as the Old Testament book of Nehemiah.
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This Holy Spirit-inspired diary is named after the man who wrote it. His name—Nehemiah—meant “The Comfort of Yahweh”; and he proved to be the instrument by which God indeed brought comfort to His broken and needy people. He was a Jewish man who held an important position in a foreign land as the ‘cupbearer’ of King Artaxerxes—the king of the Persian empire. As cupbearer, he was responsible for ensuring that the king’s food and drink were safe. But since Genesis 40:13 describes another such man as both ‘cupbearer’ and ‘butler’; Nehemiah would have most likely had a larger role than simply as a food-taster. He could have even served as a valued adviser and confidant to the king. The king would have—quite literally—trusted his life to this Jewish man Nehemiah.
Just how it came about that he—a Jewish man in exile—was placed in such an important position isn’t told to us. But the stories of other Jewish servants to foreign kings (such as Joseph or Daniel) suggest to us that he—like they—must have been a man of remarkable character. And his story, as we find in the Book of Nehemiah, certainly bears this out. Nehemiah truly was a godly and trustworthy man whom God had providentially raised to serve his needy people at an important turning point in their history.
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Now; let’s consider something of that history.
The Babylonian empire had begun to take the people of Jerusalem into captivity in 605 B.C.; and then, the Persian empire later conquered Babylon. The city of Jerusalem and the land of Judah had laid in ruins for the 70 years of the captivity that God brought upon His people in judgment. But when the years of captivity were completed, God put it on the heart of the Persian king Cyrus to return the Jewish people to their land.
There were three great Jewish leaders involved in this process of restoration. Zerubbabel was sent to begin the process of rebuilding the temple (538-515 B.C.). You can read about his work in the first few chapters of Ezra, and in the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. Then—after 57 years, the Persian king Artaxerxes sent the scribe Ezra to take more people and help reform their spiritual life (458-456 B. C.). You can read about Ezra’s story in the later half of the book that bears his name. And then after another twelve years or so, in the year 444 B.C. in the 20th year of the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes (see Nehemiah 1:1), Nehemiah was sent to help rebuild the city wall. He ministered twice in Jerusalem—the first time from the years 444-432 B.C.; and the second time from the year 430 B.C. and beyond.
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.
In the Bible, the Book of Nehemiah falls in the section we call ‘the historical books’ of the Old Testament. It’s closely associated with the Book of Ezra; and also, the Book of Esther. The last book of the Old Testament—the Book of Malachi—was written around the time that Nehemiah ministered in Jerusalem in order to exhort the people to holiness before the coming of the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah.
The Book of Nehemiah is a portion of God’s word to us that teaches us many things. It shows us how, in His providence, God is able to raise up a man for His people at a time when they need a leader. It reminds us that God never forgets His people—even in a time of terrible discouragement and despondency. It also teaches us about the way that a godly leader works in rousing his people to God’s appointed task for the times. It’s also a book that is deeply personal—and in which Nehemiah shares his heart and writes down his prayers. It is a lot like the Book of Ezra; but unlike Ezra, Nehemiah boldly leaps from the pages in a very passionate way.
You can divide this Old Testament ‘diary’ into three main sections:
1. THE REBUILDING OF THE WALL (chaps. 1-7).
2. THE REVIVAL OF THE HEART (chaps. 8-10).
3. THE REFORMATION OF THE LIFE (chaps. 11-13).
These three divisions represent the kind of things that were necessary for getting God’s broken people back to where He wanted them to be. And we can consider Nehemiah 2:17 to be the key verse; where we find the words of Nehemiah to the broken-hearted people of Jerusalem,
“You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach” (2:17).
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Now; the first chapter of this diary tells us how God brought the need of His people to the attention of this great man Nehemiah—and how the news of his downtrodden people had broken Nehemiah’s own heart and motivated him to the work. The book opens with this introduction;
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah (v. 1a).
And the story begins with Nehemiah’s report of …
1. SOME DISTRESSING NEWS (vv. 1-3).
Nehemiah began his ‘diary’ by sharing with us how he was simply minding his appointed business in the palace of the king—doing his duty in the capital city of Susa (here called ‘Shushan’); when a simple question that he asked of a visiting relative set his heart in turmoil. He wrote,
“It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the citadel, that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem” (vv. 1b-2).
This man Hanani—who is presented to us as one of Nehemiah’s brothers (but who may have been a relative rather than strictly a brother; since the word in Hebrew can mean either)—must have, himself, been a remarkable man. We find later on in the story—after Nehemiah had assumed leadership over his people—that Hanani was also given the position of leadership over Jerusalem after the wall was completed (see 7:2). He was a trustworthy man from whom Nehemiah could get the latest and most reliable news about his people.
Nehemiah would naturally have wanted such news. Many years prior (under the 1st period of their return), the people of Judah had been released from their 70 years of captivity in Babylon; and the work of rebuilding the temple—ordered by the Persian king Cyrus—had begun. Nehemiah would have been very concerned for the condition of his people since the time that the order had been given, how they were all doing, and how the holy city fared. The work of restoring the city had been brought to a halt by the enemies of Israel sometime before then (as we’re told in Ezra 4:7-28); and the city wall was still in a ruined condition. Hanani must have hung his head—along with the other Jewish men who were traveling with him—when he gave this sad report:
And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire” (v. 3).
There are two pieces of bad news in this. The first had to do with the condition of the people themselves. Though they had been returned to their land, they suffered harassment from the surrounding enemies of Israel who sought to bring an end to the rebuilding of the city. The Jewish people in the surrounding province were “there in great distress and reproach”. It was a very dishonorable condition for the chosen people of God to be in. It was also a very dangerous condition to be in because of the hostile enemies all around them. And the second had to do with the city itself. It was also dishonored because the city wall—which was considered an important part of a city’s defense and respectability in those days—had remained broken down. Its city gates were burned—which meant that they were still in the condition that they had been in when the Babylonian captivity had begun. What a sad condition for God’s people to be in!
Now; this wall made Jerusalem a distinct city. And there is a spiritual parallel to our own lives. The Bible teaches that, as followers of Jesus, we’re to be a distinct people from the unbelieving people of this world—not entirely distant from them, of course; but distinct while living near them. As the Bible teaches, we’re to “come out from among them and be separate” unto the Lord (2 Corinthians 6:17). Our Lord’s church is at its very best—and is most useful to Him—when there is a ‘wall’ that distinguishes it from the values, priorities, beliefs, and practices of this world. But the church is at its weakest—and is least effective as a witness for its Lord to this world—when that ‘wall of distinction’ is broken down. And how does that ‘wall’ look today?
May God help us to rebuild that wall of distinction again in our time!
Now; the Book of Nehemiah is a book about the revival of God’s people. And before revival can really occur, there needs to be a realistic assessment of the condition of things. That assessment is what Hanani gave to Nehemiah. It broke Nehemiah’s heart to hear it. And so, we next read of …
2. A MOURNFUL PRAYER (vv. 4-9).
Nehemiah wrote in verse 4,
So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven (v. 4).
His first reaction to this news was to sit down and weep and mourn “for many days”. The condition of his people troubled him greatly. As we read on, we see that it was not just the condition of his people that troubled him, but also the dishonor that their condition brought to the God who had given the land to them. The broken condition of the people of God reflected dishonorably on the God who had called them to Himself.
But note that Nehemiah turned this trouble of heart into expressions of prayer to God. One of the things that we find throughout the Book of Nehemiah is that Nehemiah was a man of great prayer. This ‘diary’ contains many of his prayers—prayers that he actually put down in written form as a part of the record. Upon hearing this news, he immediately fasted and prayed. That’s always the beginning point of revival—when God’s faithful people not only see the condition of things, but also are moved to pray earnestly for restoration. The beginning rumblings of revival occur when God uses the desperate condition of things to set His people a-praying.
And look carefully at how Nehemiah prayed. His prayer is an exemplary one that establishes a good pattern to follow. Note first that he sought God’s honor … and exalted Him:
And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments, please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants …” (vv. 5-7a).
Note very carefully that Nehemiah did not lay any blame whatsoever upon God for the distressing condition of his people. He affirmed in this prayer that God is faithful to those who observe His commandments. God keeps His promises and is always faithful to His own word to them. The problem was that the people had been unfaithful. They had disobeyed Him; and just as He had warned them, they went into captivity for 70 years because of their sin.
And note also another very important element in Nehemiah’s prayer. When he mentioned the sins of his people, he didn’t separate himself from their sin. He himself confessed and owned the unfaithfulness of his fellow Jewish people. He went on to say;
“… I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You, and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses” (v. 7b).
In this prayer, Nehemiah—himself a very holy and faithful man—is following the pattern we find in some other great ‘revival’ prayers in the Bible; such as in Daniel 9, or Ezra 9, or Nehemiah 9. They were prayers in which holy leaders of revival did not simply point fingers at others; but in which they themselves owned the blame for the condition of things. That’s a great pattern for us to follow!
Nehemiah also justified God’s actions by remembering God’s warning. But he also remembered God’s promises. He prayed;
Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations; but if you return to Me, and keep My commandments and do them, though some of you were cast out to the farthest part of the heavens, yet I will gather them from there, and bring them to the place which I have chosen as a dwelling for My name’” (vv. 8-9).
These are words that reflect the warning God had given to the people through Moses long ago in Leviticus 26:33-35—that if they disobeyed Him, He would drive them out of their land and scatter them among the nations until His land had rest and enjoyed the sabbaths that the people had failed to keep. But these words also reflect God’s promise in Deuteronomy 30:1-5; that, if they would repent, He would bring them back to the land from which He had driven them. Nehemiah was not only praying a prayer of repentance, but also praying a prayer of trust in God’s faithful promises as they are given in the Scriptures.
What a great example this is to us—not only of praying in a time of trouble, but praying in accord with God’s revealed will!
And that leads us finally to the last words of Nehemiah’s prayer. He not only brought his concerns before God, but also brought himself to God as an instrument by which those concerns might be answered. In verses 10-11, we find …
3. THE EARNEST APPEAL (vv. 10-11).
He first affirms that God had not abandoned His own people. He said;
“Now these are Your servants and Your people, whom You have redeemed by Your great power, and by Your strong hand” (v. 10).
His prayer was a confident one, because He knew that God had not changed from His purposes for His chosen people. He had called the people of Israel to Himself. He had brought them out of bondage in Egypt to be His own. He had covenanted Himself to them. He had not abandoned them. Nehemiah affirmed God’s own commitment to them. And so, Nehemiah—the man named “The Comfort of Yahweh”—went on confidently to say;
“O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant, and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (v. 11a).
What “man” is he speaking of? We know who it is from what he writes at the very end of this chapter;
For I was the king’s cupbearer (v. 11b).
He knew that God had raised him up to the role of the king’s cupbearer for a reason. He was, in a sense, like Esther; who, by the providence of God, had “come to the kingdom for such a time as” was needed for the welfare of God’s chosen people (Esther 4:14). And looking ahead to the next chapter, we find that the circumstances then brought Nehemiah before the king to bravely ask permission to go—with the king’s own blessing and provision—to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem and restore the honor of God’s chosen people.
And thus, the great adventure of the Book of Nehemiah—and the rebuilding of the wall—and of rebuilding the people—began!
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When the sad news of the broken-down wall and the distressing condition of the people came to Nehemiah, he didn’t receive it indifferently. It broke his heart. He wept, and mourned, and confessed, and appealed to God, and even presented himself for service. And this should remind us of the words of our Lord Jesus.
The Gospel of Matthew tells us that, while in the course of His earthly ministry, Jesus was also touched by the desperate need of the people. Matthew tells us;
Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd. Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest” (Matthew 9:35-38).
Let’s not close our hearts up to those around us in deep spiritual distress and need. Like our Lord Jesus—and like His faithful Old Testament servant Nehemiah—let’s allow our hearts to be moved with compassion. And then, with a sincere yearning for revival, let’s pray for the need to be met—and even offer ourselves as a part of the solution.
AE
