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we’re attempting to rebel against artaxerxes truly rebuilding city walls could be interpreted as a sign of rebellion since when you have city walls that gives you an excuse to not listen to the king anymore besieging is a long arduous and annoying process so are besieging a walled city so potentially they could repel once they had walls and you may remember that’s the reason why their walls are broken down in the first place they had rebelled multiple times against nebuchadnezzar at Jerusalem had but notice Mia Meyers response to this mocking an accident accusation he tells the governor’s God will make us successful but you have no portion in Jerusalem right so we have observed many of the main details here let’s now ask some interpretation questions why would the conditions of Jerusalem’s walls such a great concern to Nehemiah and to the juice you you why is it such a big deal to have the walls or to not have them yes in the back you you you yeah I think that it’s a great great answer rolling I know two things happening here at least two things walls first of all are just practical to enhance the city security and that would be important for the Jews since we’ve already seen we’ve got some governors and we certainly have seen in other books there are some people hostile to the Jews so Jerusalem is the main city of the juice and you have a bunch of people who don’t like the Jews it would be good for that City to have walls but also as Roy was talking about the walls are symbolic they’re symbolic of the city’s strength its greatness and its prosperity and it’s one thing did not have walls at all there were towns and maybe even some cities that were not walled and in the case of attack the people they would have to flee to another city but another thing to have had walls but then to have those walls broken down remember there one any bulldozers in those days when walls or buildings were destroyed they turn into rubble and that debris was not easily cleaned up so often the rubble just SAT there and if the city was uninhabited or poorly populated it would never be removed so Jerusalem’s rubble and ruined walls were still there an ongoing reminder of the city’s destruction God’s judgment and the Jews humiliation the loss of the walls and the very visual ruin of the walls with a great sign of humiliation that’s why me and my refers to Jerusalem situation as a reproach so if the people were really to be restored the walls needed to be rebuilt in Jerusalem now why was me my very much afraid when the King asked him why Nehemiah was so sad what’s the connection you you we could give one of two answers here one is he’s afraid because he’s being sad in the King’s presence and that is not something you want to do you may remember that an ester Mordecai when he learned of what had happened would have been proclaimed by Haman and the King against the Jews he mourned he tore his clothes he put on sackcloth he was exhibiting great signs of sorrow and mourning and it says he was not allowed into the courts of the palace you weren’t allowed to be mourning and being the King’s compound because the King doesn’t want to see people being sad or morning rather people are supposed to be happy around the King because the King is such a great king and he’s doing such a great job it’s inappropriate for anybody to suggest that there’s something going on that the King has neglected to take care of and therefore the people are sad so perhaps Nehemiah was afraid of offending the king by showing a very obvious ad pneus and he the King noticed in so that’s why he was afraid but it could be it could be that Nehemiah was afraid because now that the King knows of Nehemiah sadness Nehemiah knows that now is the time to present his request to the king he is not sure how the Kings going to react after all he is Nehemiah is a very important person for the King he’s the King’s Cup Bearer and he’s about to ask extended leave to go and rebuild this once rebellious city in Judah to go and rebuild Jerusalem and rebuild its walls now if this is Nehemiah sphere that might explain why it took him so long to bring up this request as we noted about four or five months went by Between the time that he received a report of the people in Jerusalem to when he actually makes the request so it could be one of these two things but we don’t get more details to help narrow it down now notice the another question here for another another thing to note here notice the connection between God’s actions and Nehemiah actions in these two chapters Nehemiah is obviously acting righteously seeking to honor God and to build up God’s people he wants to go back in Jerusalem remove this reproach honor the Lord on and help his people yet we saw that it was actually God who put these things in Tunis Amaya’s heart and granted me in my success so this question will sound familiar who is really seeking to end Israel’s reproach and rebuild Jerusalem’s walls elf though Nehemiah is the one that we see acting it’s the Lord who’s doing all this he’s moving Nehemiah he’s moving the king he’s granting favor because God is going to remove the reproach on Jerusalem and on the people by allowing their walls to be restored and this is just like we saw in Ezra right so again we’re seeing the continuity between these two books the rubber bowl sought to rebuild the temple as we sought to teach God’s law but who is moving them to act thus it was God God was granting to Israel that the temple should be rebuilt the sacrifices restored the law taught again the people reproved and brought back into righteousness and now God is bringing about the rebuilding of the walls in Jerusalem and this is just God acting out of his abundant covenant kindness as he’s restoring his people bit by bit using human instruments so work on the wall begins but not everything goes smoothly we’re going to look now at our second section in today’s lesson where we look at the difficulties that arose and the construction of the wall and how Nehemiah and the Jews responded chapter 3 which we’re not going to look at is the detailed record of which families rebuild which sections of the wall recommend you take a look at this later you’ll be surprised by the different kinds of people who take part in the wall and the level of detail is also noteworthy not only precisely which family was working but also what sections of the wall they rebuilt it’s very historical very historical level of detail but we’re going to go over to chapter 4 and chapter 6 chapter 42 chapter 6 we’re going to read this we’re going to be this in parts it’s a long section we can’t observe everything here but we do want to focus on two things as we look through one is we want to pay attention to what problems come up that threaten the rebuilding work of the walls and then secondly we want to find out how to Nehemiah and the Jews respond to these problems we’re going to take each chapter in turn so we start with me mi for let’s read me my four verses 12 23 follow along with me please now it came about that when San ballot heard that we were rebuilding the wall he became furious and very angry and mocked the Jews he spoke in the presence of his brothers and the wealthy man of Samaria and said what are these feeble Jews doing are they going to restore it for themselves can they offer sacrifices can they finish in a day can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble even the burned ones now tobiah the ammonite was near him and he said even what they are building if a fox should jump on it he would break their stone wall down here o our God how we are despise return their approach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity do not forgive their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out before you for they have demoralise the builders so we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height the people had a mind to work now in San ballot to buy it the Arabs the ammonites and the ash Deadites heard that the repair of the walls in Jerusalem went on and that the breaches began be closed they were very angry all of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it but we pray to our God and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night thus in Judah it was said the strength of the burden bearers is failing yet there is much rubbish and we ourselves are unable to rebuild the wall our enemies said they will not know or see until we come among them kill them and put a stop to the work when the Jews who live near them came and told us ten times they will come up against us from every place where you may turn a nice station men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall the exposed places and I station the people and families with their swords spears and bows when I saw their fear I rose and spoke to the nobles the officials and arrest the people do not be afraid of them remember the Lord who was great and awesome and fight for your brother’s your son’s your daughters your wives and your houses on our enemies heard that it was known to us and I got it frustrated their plan then all of us returned to the wall each one to his work from that day on half of my servant carrying on the work well half of them held the spears the shields the bows in the breast plates and the captains were behind the whole house of Judah those who were rebuilding the wall and those who carry burdens took their load with one hand doing the work and the other holding a weapon as for the builders each wore his sword girded at his side as he built all the trumpeters stood near me I said to the nobles the officials and the rest of the people the work is great and extensive and we are separated on the wall far from one another now whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet rally to us there our God will fight for us so we carried on the work with half of them holding Spears from dawn until the stars appeared at that time I also said to the people let each man with his servants spend the night with in Jerusalem so they may be a guard for us by night and a laborer by day so neither I my brother’s my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me none of us removed our clothes each took his weapon even to the water alright let’s answer those two main questions I mentioned before what’s the first problem that comes up in verses 106 that’s right we got opposition from those two governors San ballot and to buy it but what specifically do they do how do they oppose you there there was some talk before if you remember back in chapter 2 where they were they were talking about are they rebelling against the King here there’s not really talk of rebellion but there there is some of the same mocking that we saw before and that’s really what we’re talking about here the work is mocked they mock and they scoring the work that the Jews are due at the Jews are doing and you may notice the initial response of the Jews verse 5 says this is a hound yeah verse 5 says the people were demoralized the builders were demoralized but notice when nehemiah does right after we hear about their mocking we get this prayer that just comes right into the narrative a prayer to God and Nehemiah praise God remember their wickedness and judge them don’t forget what they did but how did the people ultimately respond they keep on building so they were discouraged the neem I prayed and the people kept on building what’s the second problem that comes up in verses 7 223 you you yeah I’m honor or is that Shay I’m sorry ah you that’s right there’s an attack threaten against them so the mocking doesn’t stop the work they see the ball the walls starting to be completed and they resolved to attack the Jews secret attack now out of the Jews initially respond according to verses 10 and 14 not a very unexpected reaction they were afraid that little kind of song or that little section of poetry it says it was said in Jerusalem oh the builders are not able to work anymore they know the burden is too heavy the people lost your strength and they were afraid but we can see again what do the people ultimately do verse 8 i think is verse 8 no not verse 8 verse 9 what we pray to our God the people pray they arm themselves they set up a round-the-clock guard and they continue building and notice what Nehemiah does does a number of things here verse 14 he encourages the people to remember the Lord and fight for their brethren verses 19 to 20 he establishes an alarm system in case of attack we’ve got a trumpeter we’re going to be separated but whenever you hear the trumpet rally to that spot because that’s for the attack is taking place at verse 20 encourages the people by reminding them again that are reminding them that God will fight for them and then in verse 22 he causes the people to spend the night in Jerusalem as they’re working so that there’s always a defense ready people are just going to sleep right there and so they can get back to the work or they can defend if necessary and then notice also verse 15 what is God credited with doing it says he frustrated the plans of the governor’s so we’ve had two issues there’s first a mocking then there’s this threat of attack but the problems are not just from the outside let’s now look over at chapter 5 we’re going to read this and see what other problems come up Nia Nia my five now there was a great outcry the people love their wives against their Jewish brothers but there were those who said we are sons and our daughters are many and for let us get grained that we may eat and live there were others who said we are mortgaging our fields our vineyards in our houses that we might get grain because of the famine also there were those who said we have borrowed money for the Kings tax on our fields in our vineyards now our flesh is like a flesh for our brothers our children like their children yet behold we are forcing our sons and our daughters to be slaves and some of our daughters are forcing a bondage already and we are helpless because our fields and vineyards belong to others then I was very angry when I heard their outcry in these words I consulted with myself and contended with the nobles and the rulers and said to them you are exacting ussery each from his brother therefore I held a great assembly against them I said to them we according to our ability have redeemed our Jewish brothers who were sold to the nation’s now would you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us that they were silent it could not find a word to say again I said the thing which you are doing is not good should you not walk in the fear of our God because of the reproach in the nation’s our enemies and likewise I my brothers and my servants are lending them money and greenie please let us leave off this Ussery please give back to them this very day their fields their vineyards their olive groves and their houses also the hundredth part of the money and of the grain the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them and they said we will give it back I will require and will require nothing from them we will do exactly as you say so I called the priests took a note from them that they would do according to this promise I also shook out the front of my garment and said thus may God shake out every man from his house and from his possessions who does not fulfill this promise even thus may he be shaken out and emptied and all the assembly said amen and they praised Yahweh and the people did according to this promise moreover from the day that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah from the twentieth year to the 32nd year King Artaxerxes for 12 years neither I nor my kinsman have eaten the governor’s food allowance but the former governors who were before me labored ins on the people and took from them bread and wine besides 40 shekels of silver even their servants dominated the people but I did not do so because of the fear of God I also applied myself to the on this wall we did not by any land and all of my servants were gathered there for the work moreover there were at my table 150 Jews and officials besides those who came to us from the nations that were around us now that which was prepared for each day was one ox and six choice she also birds were prepared for me and once in ten days all sorts of wine were furnished in abundance yet for all this I did not demand the governor’s food allowance because the servitude was heavy on this people remember me oh my god for good according to all that I’ve done for this people all right let’s look at our main questions again what third problem arises in verses 12 13 you you yes in the bag you that’s right you yeah now you can see this would be a big hindrance the rebuilding work right you have this user II this oppression of the wealthier juice and it looks like the priests themselves were involved the wealthier Jews the nobles the priests they’re taking advantage of those who are not as well off those who haven’t been able to farm well or they’re suffering due to the famine and they make these loans but then the people aren’t able to repay so they end up taking their lands and then even it’s to the point where they’re going to take their children as slaves and this is exactly in opposite to what the Torah says it says you are not to lend that interest you are not to take advantage of your brethren but if there’s someone in need you give it to them you help them you’ll end without asking anything in return so we’ve got the nobles and priests oppressing their brethren and the reaction of the people’s they cry out they cry out against their brethren but notice Nehemiah response it does a couple things again verses 7 to 11 Nehemiah rebukes the leaders and the rulers and he tells them to give back what they’ve taken he also in verse 10 supplies his own example of generous lending to the needy I even supplying food for people every day and he called down a curse all right well actually that the food comes down in the second section but he does supply his own example generous lending in verse 10 and then verse 13 he calls down a curse on anyone who would not repent of this Ussery but the people do respond in a positive way the nobles and the rulers de repente they obey they give back what they had taken and the people praise Yahweh but we’ve got another problem verses 14 to 19 what’s the fourth problem this was really a problem from before Nia is time a fourth problem is that the governor’s the Jewish governor’s that I probably began to rain after the time of Ezra they were up using their position to impress the people it wasn’t just that the rich were pressing the poor but the governor’s the Jewish governors were using their position to impress the people they were exacting food they were exacting money from the people and the people were already heavily burdened now Nehemiah records or the detail to your show that Nehemiah was quite a different governor verse 15 he does not lay a burden on the people because he fears God verses 14 to 19 he doesn’t make use of the governor’s food allowance not only does he not oppress the people but he doesn’t even take what he what he has a right to because he knows that people are suffering he provides food for 150 Jews and officials and even some of the needy people from other nations had his own table and he asked God to remember his good deeds done on behalf of Israel so we’ve seen four issues they’ve got Gentile mocking we’ve got an attack threat we’ve got the Jews a practising usury we’ve got the governor’s the previous previous governors are pressing their own people but there are still a couple more problems we’ve seen threats without an oppression within but now Nehemiah himself comes into danger let’s look at chapter 6 chapter 6 verses 1 in 19 now when it was reported to San ballot Tobiah to guess him the Arab and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and that no breach remained in it although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates then San bout and gaseum sent a message to me saying come let us meet together at Keffer mean in the plane of oh no but they were planning to harm me so I sent messengers to them saying I’m doing a great work and I cannot come down why should the work stopped while I leave it and come down to you they sent message to me four times in this manner and I answer them in the same way then Santa ballot sent his servant to me in the same manner a fifth time with an open letter in his hand and it was written it is reported among the nation that gash and gash move says that you and the Jews are planning to rebel therefore you are rebuilding the wall and you are to be their king according to these reports you’ve also appointed prophets tube acclaim in Jerusalem concerning you a king is in Judah and now it will be reported to the king according to these reports so come now let us take counsel together then I sent a message to him saying such things you are saying have not been done but you are inventing them in your own mind for all of them were trying to frighten us thinking they will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done but now God strengthen my hands when I entered the house of shamaya the son of d’lai asana mahad’s Bell who was confined at home he said let us meet together in the house of God within the temple and let us close the doors of the temple for they’re coming to kill you and they are coming to kill you at night but I said should a man like me flee and could one such as I go into the temple to save his life I will not go in then I perceived that surely God had not sent him but he uttered his prophesy against me because Tobiah and San ballot had hired him he was hired for this reason that I might become fight ined and act accordingly and sin so they might have an evil report and order that they could reproach me remember oh my god to buy it and San ballot according to these works of theirs and also no diet a prophetess and the rest of the prophets were trying to frighten me so the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of the month evil in 52 days when all our enemies heard of it and all the nation’s surrounding Assad they lost their confidence they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God also in those days many letters went from the nobles of Judah to Tobiah and Tobias letters came to them from any and Judah were bound by oath to him because he was the son-in-law of shek and I at a son of aaron and his sons ahonen had married the daughter Michelle um the Sun aburro kiya Rover they were speaking about his good deeds in my friends and reported my words to him mental by sent letters to frighten me ok let’s look at this last section answer our questions what’s the fifth problem that arises in verses one and nine you you you oh yeah Shane you you right they send all these letters the kind of harassing me am I trying to get him to meet but why do they want to meet with him yes so they can harm him it’s a trap they are they’re trying to get him to come to this meeting place they can attack him he recognizes what they’re trying to do and we can see his response oh and we can add to it in the same section and they try and lure him into a meeting because I say we’re hearing that you guys are going to rebel we’re going to tell the King you better come meet with us but Nehemiah responds by refusing to go explaining why he can’t leave the work he counters the rumor saying you’re just making that up we’re not we’re not doing any such thing and he prays to God for strengthening and then we have a six problem in verses 10 to 14 what’s the sixth problem yes Danny yeah and what were this these prophets trying to get Nehemiah to do right exactly exactly so this sixth problem is a temptation for Nehemiah to compromise the governor’s higher false prophets and prophetesses to lure Nehemiah into the temple and he’s not allowed to go in there because he’s not a priest and he’s not a Levite but supposedly to save his own life he has to go in there but notice me and my eyes response he refuses to violate God’s law to save his own life and he asked God to remember the evil of the governors and of the false prophets and prophetess there is one other problem mentioned in verses 15 and 19 the kind of even after the work is completed there are certain Jewish Nobles that are loyal to Tobiah remember to buy has been harassing this work the whole time certain Jews are loyal to him because they have marriage bonds with him and therefore they speak well up to buy it even though to buy it is frightening the Empire trying to find Nehemiah and so we’ve got this problem of loyalty and intermarriage with an enemy of Israel so the number of problems but we do here in that last section nevertheless the wall of Jerusalem is completed and it’s rebuilt in only 52 days only 52 days that’s quite impressive and notice the effect on the nation’s the they lost their confidence they lose their confidence and why because they recognize the nation’s recognize the enemy’s visual recognize this work had been accomplished with the help of God so now we when we consider chapters 4 to 6 as a whole let’s ask a few more questions there were a lot of problems that arose and jeopardized the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls yet nian yet Nehemiah dealt skillfully with each one how is Nehemiah so successful you yeah that’s one aspect of it we see a constant reference to prayer Nehemiah was reliant on God how else could we answer that question why was Nehemiah so successful yeah and the ultimate we had to give God the credit we can point to certain practical things Nehemiah as Shay pointed out he was relying on God he was a praying man he also resolved to obey God and each situation and we know all throughout the Old Testament says if you obey the Lord he’s going to honor you he’s going to in general he’s going to bless those who obey Him and he says I’m not going to compromise here he resolved to a bag on each situation he also lived out a righteous example before the people and when you when you give a good example you often will cause other people to follow your example but ultimately and this was something emphasized also throughout the narrative it was God who brought his efforts to such success god blessed nehemiah has work and the work of all the Jews now a few times in this section though we heard descriptions of what God will do or what God did do Nehemiah says God will fight for us and we heard that God frustrated the enemy’s plans and God are at the very end it says god help them accomplish the work so we see God acting here and yet we see Nehemiah calling on the people to act at the same time it says get ready to fight don’t pay attention to the enemy’s words let’s build this wall and we see me am I taking a lot of action so how are we to understand the connection between someone believing that God will take action and understanding that he himself that person must take action how are we to understand that connection you prayer does not hinder action action does not prevent prayer I think that’s true I think we can go actually one statement further that one properly understood prayer should lead to action and those two things are really going together I’ll explain it this way a proper view of God saw sovereignty results in confident action because you know that god will provide as you rely upon him in your obedience believers whether back then Aenea mais de or today must never presume on God’s provision by simply doing nothing by waiting past the passively but neither must they disregard God and seek to accomplish everything on their bones rather as we see throughout the Old Testament Scriptures you go out into the battle because you know God will fight for you you suffer because you know God will be with you you do the work because you know that God will provide for you and you fight against sin because you know God will grant the victory let me remind you of that section from Philippians Philippians 2 12 to 13 which blends these two concepts very concisely where Paul exhorts the Philippians so then my beloved just as you have always obeyed not as in my presence only but now much more in my absence work out your salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who is at work in you both to will and to work for his good pleasure so we could say it this way do it because God is already doing it for you remember God doesn’t need people to accomplish his plans but he has her deigned that people go through their prayers and in their obedient actions to be the means of God’s work so we must never misunderstand God’s sovereignty as an excuse to nickel to neglect God’s means rather God’s sovereignty gives us his people the confidence that we need to obey Him we say because God is doing it I know that I can do it God has given me the ability God is the one who’s going to provide but he’s called me to obey as his means now relating this back to our account Nehemiah we can rightly danced we can rightly answer the question as we’ve already started to answer throughout this lesson who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem all we can say God did but God used faithful Nehemiah and the obedient Jews in and around Jerusalem to do it he raised them up for the work and he gets the credit yet he will remember the obedience of his servants and reward them just as Nehemiah praise even though God is the one who really did everything Nehemiah does say throughout remember remember what I did and then he says remember what they did and it’s the same for us God will remember our good works that is he will remember the good works that he himself has worked out in us as a result of saving faith we will get to experience if we persevere for the sake that Lord we will get to experience the blessing of reward for the works that God caused us to do for the fruit that God caused us to do in the first place and he will get all the glory we will experience the reward but he will get the glory and that’s just part of the great kindness and astounding wisdom of God that he does that for us so with the work led by Nehemiah as we come to more of a today Jerusalem has been sufficiently restored the temple is back the sacrifices and the festivals are back the teaching of the law is back and now the walls are back so God and covenant kindness has done all this for Israel using means but God is the one who did it but the question remains what about Israel’s heart as Israel’s heart yet changed the outside is restored in a sense but what about the inside may have noticed too even here in the first part of Nehemiah we again see some instant instances of compromise in Israel being led by the leaders even the priests but there’s also repentance so where is Israel’s heart I want to keep this question in mind as we look the rest of Nehemiah and then the final weeks of this quarter we look at Malachi but with those two books will actually be done with the Old Testament well they’ve finished our chronological survey through the Old Testament pretty crazy right any comments or questions on today’s lesson they have time for maybe one or two you yes Rob you mmm yeah certainly that’s a that’s useful comment Rob there is you can make some parallel between opposition to Nehemiah and the opposition to christ church or the opposition to Christ building his church obviously the wall is not a symbol of the church in the Old Testament but we can see that the wicked and Satan and the world forces they’re always going to be opposed to the righteous and so Nehemiah was acting righteously on behalf of the Lord and on behalf of his people so they opposed him and it almost looked at me like why are you so obsessed with trying to stop the Jews from rebuilding the wall but there’s a it’s that heart of man and it’s that that Saint anak inspiration that just causes them to hate the good and to hate God’s people and the same thing is true today it’s illogical how much people hate the Lord and they hate his people and they hate his work but it continues but just as God provided that Nehemiah was ultimately successful we have the same promise in the New Testament we will ultimately be successful even though the world may persecute us even though the world may kill us we know that ultimately God is going to vindicate us as we think about application in today’s lesson we’re at the time now so I’ll give you some application questions there’s some things to consider I have five questions here number one we are focusing a lot today on God’s action and man’s action is your life characterized by both confidence in God confidence in God’s acting and also resolution to act yourself in obedience to God’s commands is your life characterized by that does your prayer life another question does your prayer life lead to confident obedience in your life or do you pray without expecting to receive anything from the Lord if you pray and you’re still just as anxious as you were before you prayed number three and what areas of your life do you tend to rely on God without acting yourself or do you act yourself without relying on God perhaps evangelism perhaps the way you provide for yourself or your family perhaps in your spiritual growth and sanctification or maybe another area remember we honor Christ when we prayerfully act in faith number four how can you help others maintain or recover a biblical perspective of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility and how can you make yourself available for others to help you because we can get off course in this area number five do you give thanks and glory to God for everything that he has accomplished for you and what he’s accomplished through you he deserves all the credit let us not exalt ourselves that’s it for this week you have any other questions or comments please email me let me pray but I thank you for the people at Calvary I pray that you’d grow them and Lord we thank you that we can be confident in obedience because you are sovereign and you are accomplishing everything the power is not really in us it’s in you but you were dangerous as the means so we might experience your blessing I pray that we might that you would cause that to happen by your spirit amen thanks Calvary see you next week you you you