Perhaps there is nowhere in the book where Nehemiah’s pointing us to Jesus is more profound than in his orchestrating the worship that provides the context for the dedication of the walls (see e.g. Heb.2.12). Worship is the epicentre of Christian spirituality. In fact, one way to answer the question of why Jesus came into the world would be to say: ‘To find worshippers’ (Jn.4:23). We are made in the image of a God who sings (Zeph.3:17). And there is something incredibly appropriate when our ability to sing is brought to the service of worship.
One of my favourite verses in this section is Neh.12:43: The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away. They rejoiced because God had given them great joy (also v.43). There is a time to recognise what God has done in and through His people... and to worship joyfully in the light of it. There is of course a deeply prophetic dynamic in all of this (Heb.12:22-24), but for now maybe we can focus on the sheer emotional and spiritual energy that is on display as these immense choirs lead the ancient Church in their worship?
We can easily turn up to worship not having prepared. I’m not talking here only about the spiritual preparation that will have gone into this! But think for a moment about the logistical planning and organisation that went into this incredibly choreographed event. There is a rather bizarre idea around that the more ‘spontaneous’ something is the more spiritual it is. Laying aside the cynicism of then making things look spontaneous when they aren’t, we only have to look at a passage like Neh.12 to see how vacuous such a notion is.
This must have taken weeks to plan out. Creating the space in everyone’s diaries, seeking out the Levites from wherever they lived (12:27), bringing together the musicians (12:28-29), the rites of purification (12:30 & 45), the rehearsing... and so it goes on. Space was given to the complex preparing of and participating in this momentous event. This wasn’t something squeezed in between all the other demands on people’s time. Although this is a unique spiritual moment, it reflects the sense that the ancient Church is recapturing the rhythm of worship as having a routine claim on people. Weekly, monthly and annually, time is now being given to worship, and this liturgical ebb and flow underpins everything else in the Church’s life.
Of course, this isn’t just about what happens in a ‘service’. We’ve seen in Ch.10, and again now in Ch.12 the commitment there is to live a life that reflects that worship at both corporate and individual levels. We might struggle with the stridency of Nehemiah’s reforms, but we can understand the urgency in the light of the ongoing systemic compromise. Twelve years have elapsed since the walls were rebuilt (compare Neh.2:1 & 13:6). And in a classic pattern of two steps forward, one step back, compromise and sin had resurfaced in the life of the Church. Nehemiah’s return seems a far cry from the joy and celebration of Ch.12, but seasons of rejoicing and seasons of reform are both part of the Church’s cycle. It is unlikely we can have one without the other!
Questions:
How important is it to you that worship services and events are well planned and executed?
How can we stop well planned worship becoming a performance? ...or does it matter whether it is a performance or not?
Is there any contemporary equivalent to the idea of purifying yourself before being involved in worship (12:30)? How do you prepare for being involved in the corporate worship of the Church?
Is 13:3 an over-reaction to what the people heard in the Book of the Moses? How do we make sense of the exclusion from Israel ‘all who were of foreign descent’? Was this right?
How do you think Eliashib justified providing Tobiah (see 4:3) with a large room in the Temple complex? Why does Nehemiah see it as a problem, and is it an over-reaction to call it ‘evil’ (13:7)? Does this mean we should rent out Church facilities to those who aren’t Christians?
Is Nehemiah’s response in 13:8 appropriate behaviour for a leader in the Church? And we could ask the same question about his behaviour in 13:25? Is Nehemiah’s anger and propensity to violence actually a disqualification for Church leadership (see Titus 1:7)?
Why is there such an emphasis on protecting the integrity of the Sabbath in 13:15-22? Does this have anything to say about our own attitude to the Lord’s Day?
What do you make of Nehemiah’s response to those who had married people who weren’t Christians, or who had given their children in marriage to those who weren’t Christians (13:23-25)? Does Nehemiah’s action here align with Paul’s teaching in I Cor.7:10-16?
Do you think God did remember Nehemiah with favour (13:14, 22, 30), or did Nehemiah’s intolerance, stridency and violence tarnish that memory?
