Nehemiah 1:1-2:10The story of Nehemiah puts us at the end of the exile. Actually, beyond it. Some of God’s people have already gone back to the Land. The events of Nehemiah may be about 60 years after the return of the first exiles. It is the twentieth year of the reign of Artaxerxes (1:1), and 15 years since the events of Ezra. So Nehemiah is hardly arriving out of the blue. There is already a long history of God raising up people to lead the Church in rebuilding her life in the Land. Zerubbabel, Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah have also all played their part in recent history... A lot of progress has been made, and obstacles already overcome. But while there is much to celebrate, there is much to lament. The glorious work of rebuilding the Church has stalled, and with Nehemiah, we enter the narrative at a critical moment.

What should Nehemiah do when he hears of the state of the walls of Jerusalem? He could simply celebrate what has already been done. He could easily have seen the progress that had been made and decided that should be where the focus should lie. So much had already been achieved. Might it not be discouraging to focus on what is still needing to completed? Or he could assume it should be someone else’s responsibility. There were leaders in Jerusalem. He could easily justify not getting involved. Here, in this position of influence in the king’s court, this is where he could more for the cause of the Gospel. He was a politician, a bureaucrat, not an architect or builder. Or, he could simply accept the situation as it was. The Church will always be derelict and incomplete in this age... this is just the way things are.

In fact, Nehemiah does something that we don’t see anyone else doing. He weeps (1:4). It’s easy to miss the significance of this. But it seems he is unique in being so deeply affected by the news of the state of the Church. The people are in great trouble and distress, and when he heard that, Nehemiah sat down and wept. Others could see the condition of the Church as well as he – likely better as they had actually been there. Yet there doesn’t seem to be the same distress of soul. And it isn’t that Nehemiah is a particularly emotional guy, who breaks down at the slightest provocation. His emotional response is linked to a spiritual response. ‘For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven’. And in these days the foundation is laid for the rest of the book and everything that is achieved in the coming chapters. Before he requests anything of the king, before his journey, before his surveying, vision-casting, organising, responding to the political enemies of the Church, before his reforming activities, there is mourning, fasting and prayer. Could it be that without this, none of the rest of what is recorded in the book of Nehemiah would have ever come to pass?

Questions:

For almost as long as Nehemiah has been written, the Church has seen the state of the walls as a ‘visual aid’, a kind of parable for the spiritual state of the Church at the time. The story of Nehemiah then is the story of how to (re-)build the life of the Church. Do you think this is good way to read the book of Nehemiah?

Following this line, Nehemiah is seen as a fore-shadowing of the archetypal Church builder, Christ (Matt.16:18). What can we learn from Nehemiah about Jesus and His vision and heart for the Church?

Why do you think we aren’t told of anyone else responding to the state of the Church in the way that Nehemiah does?

Do you think Nehemiah’s response to the situation is appropriate? Why / why not?

Have you ever wept over the state of the Church? ...or beyond that, mourned, fasted and prayed?

re-read Nehemiah’s prayer in 1:5-11.

Do you think Paul is overstating the case when he says that we don’t know how to pray (Rom.8:26)?

To what extent should we use prayers like this one from Nehemiah to shape our own prayers for the Church?

What is it about God that gives Nehemiah such confidence as he prays (1:5-6 & 8-10)?

How do you feel about Nehemiah’s qualifying God’s keeping His covenant of love with ‘those who love Him and keep His commandments’ (1:5)? What does this mean for people who don’t love God and keep His commandments?

Why does Nehemiah identify himself so strongly with a history of sin in the Church? In what way has the people of God acted ‘very wickedly’ towards God? Is this sort of language appropriate?

Does Nehemiah think that God doesn’t hear the prayers of those who don’t revere his name (1:11)?