In the Bible of the Hebrews, the books of Nehemiah and Ezra are one book. Due to this fact, it is believed that Ezra must have been the person who wrote the book of Nehemiah. There is a likelihood that this book was first written probably between the years 445 and 420 BC. Ezra had led an early return to the Israel land where he did the work of restoration of worship in the temple of Jerusalem that had been rebuilt. Zechariah the prophet had done people to rebuild the temple before that time and so Ezra’s duty was majorly restoring worship. The Israelites never listened to the warnings of Yahweh through his spokesmen the prophets and, as a result, God gave them to the people of other nations as slaves. In the year 444, BC Nehemiah comes into the scene, and this was after around thirteen years when Ezra had journeyed to Jerusalem and almost after one hundred years of migration, and this was under Zerubbabel. Since there had been a lot of immense opposition, the building of the walls had achieved little success. Additionally, it is possible that through the attack by the Samaritan community the walls that had been built were utterly destroyed and also a number of the gates that had been repaired were burned by these Samaritans. Nehemiah finds himself as one among the many slaves who were taken to captivity. However, Nehemiah was just a layman privileged to serve in the king’s palace and, in fact, was given the duty of being a cupbearer to the Emperor, Artaxerxes I of the time a duty he performed faithfully. The news of the state of the walls of Jerusalem greatly saddened Nehemiah. Through the concern that Nehemiah had for the walls of the city and Jerusalem at large, he decided to request the emperor a favor, and this was to grant him the chance to go back his homeland Jerusalem to build the walls that lay in ruins. Through the intercession of God, the emperor gave Nehemiah his request. Through Nehemiah's story, we can see a number of great lessons to be learned, and these were his great mastery of leadership skill, organizations and also management.
Nehemiah was aware of his weaknesses as a fallen creature and as such he went into prayer to the God of heaven. He recognizes God as one with power and authority and worships him. He acted as an intercessor for the sins committed by the Jews before presenting his heart desire to God. His prayers were answered, and he found favor with the king who gave him a listening ear. Nehemiah grasped this opportunity to explain to the king the source of his sorrow. He told the king that the walls of Jerusalem were lying down, and that is why he was indeed sad. Before Nehemiah leaves the king’s palace, he diligently requests the king to write a letter to him to allow him to travel safely back to Israel. Additionally, he asked the King to write him another letter that was to request Governor Asaph. This governor was to give him timber to be used in making beams for Citadel gates. All these requests were granted to Nehemiah and in addition, he gave him army officers to travel with him. Here we see Nehemiah as a man of good counsel and exhibiting the character of a leader since he was able to convince the king much as he was a slave. Also, a deep sense of personal concern is exhibited here. Nehemiah is a man who is quite ready to face the facts and, more importantly, tell God about them. Moreover, he can be seen as a good planner since we see him giving the king a definite time besides making a thoughtful plan on how to approach the problem after he had done his assessment on the ground.
On reaching Judah Nehemiah surveyed the ground to ascertain the damage caused to the walls and Jerusalem. After the survey, he gathers his men and explains to them the state of things and the action required. He implored them that they needed to erect the walls and gave them the assurance of the hand of God amidst them by telling them what God had done for him. Immediately they started the work of rebuilding the wall and as a good leader, Nehemiah leads by example in rebuilding the walls in ruins. Here we can see Nehemiah as a great leader. The rehabilitation work was faced with so many difficulties. Serious evils came about, and this needed attention that had to be prompt. The man of the hour was Nehemiah. Under his courageous and efficient leadership and the people’s cooperation who worked wholeheartedly the walls were finally built. Through this episode, we learn that it is good to be patient just like Nehemiah was. The patience in him is seen when he arrived in Jerusalem. He could have chosen to ride into the town surrounded by his soldiers and start shouting to the people “Here I come to aid you to build up the wall” as a diligent man, he waited for three days, and that was when he started building. He moved with a lot of caution having his purpose concealed only to reveal it when the right time came.
As a good leader, Nehemiah got the wind of what Jews were doing to their fellow brothers and sisters. Those who were privileged were selling the unprivileged as slaves and even taking their possessions, for instance, vineyards, fields, and homes. As a man with great authority, he summoned the people and rebuked them for what they were doing. He judged them that they must not do such evil things to their fellow Jews as this brought disgrace to the people of God.
We see Nehemiah’s unselfish service to the people of God when he declined to impose more burdens on the people now that they were burdened already. They were required to give out forty shekels, and this was in addition to wine and food. But as a governor appointed by King Artaxerxes, he chose to eat with his fellow Jews at his table as well as those people who came from the surrounding nations.
Although Nehemiah was dedicated to building, the walls things weren’t as rosy as they ought to have been. For three days he was busy doing homework and cogitating on how to do a presentation on the work ahead to the people. He later called the leaders of the Jews and all the people where he started talking about the problem plainly. Nehemiah faced opposition from Sanballat, who was a Horonite and another Ammonite by the name Tobia. These guys told him that he was bringing trouble into the land by going against the king. Further, they alleged that Nehemiah and his team of builders were doing the work in vain. They could not complete it since the workload was too much. Instead of being discouraged, Nehemiah encouraged the people to continue with the work of building the wall. It is worth noting that Satan was tirelessly at work through these tribal chiefs trying to mock, bring discouragement and even bring the efforts of reconstruction to a standstill. The good thing is that Nehemiah did not know the art of backing down amidst their taunts. As a soldier of the Lord Almighty, he went on with the work much as they tried to stop it.
And there came a time of rededication. As people came to listen each day the words about the law, they were convicted of their sins and those of their nation’s past generations. The people were convinced that it is out of their rebellion against God that is why calamities were befalling them since God had removed his hand of protection from them thus the scattering of the children of Abraham to lands that belonged to foreigners. As the people presented themselves before the Lord and confessing their sins, the leaders encouraged them to have the strong believe that the Almighty God through his grace and mercy heard the prayers they offered. The Israelite people had returned to God having deep sorrows inside their hearts for backsliding. Indeed, they must have acknowledged the righteousness of God in dealing with their sinful ways. Now they were required to manifest faith in the promises of God. He had surely accepted the repentance of them, and they were now to rejoice in this assurance that the iniquities they had committed were now forgiven therefore the restoration for favoring so divine.
Just like Nehemiah served the people, we ought to learn the same. As Christians, we are called upon to be kind to people and always endeavor to respond with tact like Nehemiah did. However, when he was required he always confronted with a strength that was uncompromising. He knew quite well how to develop his relationship with a king who was unbelieving. Nehemiah was so tactful when speaking about Jerusalem. He well knew that if he talks the name the Jerusalem that might have hurt his king and so he referred to the place as a place of his fathers. This shows great wisdom from him.
In conclusion, Nehemiah led the Israelite people into love and respect for the scriptural text. Nehemiah desired to see God honored and given glory, and that is why he led the Israelites towards obedience and also faith that God himself had desired to see in his people for so long. The truths of the scripture are to be revered and committed to memory by all Christians. The spiritual revival will only come if we start the word that comes from God. The success that is seen in Nehemiah tells us what faith accompanied with prayer and action that is energetic will accomplish. Nehemiah was never a priest nor was he a prophet but an ordinary man who meekly became a reformer at a time when need had abounded.
References
Eskenazi, Tamara Cohn. In an age of prose: A literary approach to Ezra-Nehemiah. Vol. 36. Scholars Press, 1988.
Fishbane, Michael A. Biblical interpretation in ancient Israel. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985.
Fensham, F. Charles. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1983.
https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/brown_john/neh/nehemiah_1.cfm
http://www.gotquestions.org/Book-of-Nehemiah.html
Japhet, Sara, and Anna Barber. The Ideology of the Book of Chronicles and Its Place in Biblical Thought. Vol. 9. P. Lang, 1989.
