Today's Reading:

Nehemiah 11
Nehemiah 12
Nehemiah 13
Psalm 126

Nehemiah kept going back to God in prayer, especially when the people were lost and drifting. He was constantly fighting for the holy people. He was determined to keep God’s house clean. The moment he stepped away, they treated the temple like an empty building and compromised it. This reminds me of the old saying, “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.”

The wall was just beginning, and the people inside still had to learn to obey God and live within it. Nehemiah’s goal was simple: build the wall, fill the city, keep the Sabbath, and keep their homes holy. Grace is that God does not wait for a finished wall or a perfect people. The Lord meets a tired leader who prays first, and He keeps calling the people home even while they are still learning how to live there.

When the leader is gone, and the holy things start to slip, what is God asking you to guard first—the wall, the worship, or your own heart?

The city wall was rebuilt, and in chapter 10 the people promised to put their names on a written covenant. Most people were still living in their own towns, and not in the city. The house of God does not work if no one lives near it. The leaders were living in Jerusalem. While some did volunteer, lots were cast among the people so that a tenth of them would move into the city. Real families left their towns, starting with the two tribes of the southern kingdom, Judah and Benjamin. From Judah, two family lines showed up: Perez and the Shilonites. Perez was Judah’s leading clan, from which the line of David came. There were 468 “able men” (men of standing), meaning they could serve and fight. The tribe of Benjamin had stayed with Judah during the two-kingdom split, so both tribes belonged in the restored city. Benjamin had about twice as many able men as Judah, at 928 men.  

The temple staff was named; they handled the sacrifices, the holy things, and the daily service. The city was being built up by the priests, Levites, and the gatekeepers. The gatekeepers belonged with the priests and Levites because the holy city had to be secured. Verse 11:20 moved from those who lived within the city walls to those outside the wall. A key summary was the line that Judah lived from Beersheba to the Valley of Hinnom. These locations went from southern Judah up to the very southern edge of Jerusalem. The people were spreading across the land. Benjamin’s towns were in the north and northwest of Jerusalem, which guarded the areas approaching the city. Some Levite divisions of Judah settled in Benjamin, which showed the two tribes overlapped and the southern kingdom was united around the capital of Jerusalem.

The genealogy of priests and Levites who came back with Governor Zerubbabel ties the first generation of returners to those now in the city. The Jews dedicated the wall, with the Levites from all over Judah came to Jerusalem for the ceremony. They went up to the top of the wall, and Nehemiah directed one group of musicians and singers to go with Ezra marching in one direction and another group to go the opposite way with Nehemiah. The two groups met up at the house of God. That day they offered sacrifices and rejoiced at all God had given them. There was joy in giving back to the temple.

Time had passed, and Nehemiah returned to his work for King Artaxerxes. When he came back to Jerusalem again, he found that the people had faltered in many ways.

1. The Ammonites and Moabites were not allowed to enter the assembly (Deuteronomy 23). Tobiah, an Ammonite and an enemy, was given a room in the temple courts. This room was meant for storing offerings, incense, and tithes.
2. The people had stopped bringing tithes. Because of the lack of funds and support, the Levites went back to their towns and started to farm in order to eat and pay their bills. Nehemiah had to bring the Levites back to Jerusalem again and place trustworthy men in charge.
3. The Sabbath was being broken. Due to this, Nehemiah shut the gates at sundown on Friday and posted guards to keep the merchant traders out.
4. Mixed marriages returned. One priestly family went as far as marrying Sanballat’s daughter. Sanballat was the most intense official who fought the hardest and tried to stop the rebuilding of the wall.

Again Nehemiah went to prayer. He was still fighting for the holy people.

Psalm 127- This psalm celebrates God’s restoration of Israel from exile. The return felt unreal: they had been in Babylon for 70 years as exiles, and now they were back in Jerusalem/Zion, as if they were dreaming. They prayed for renewed life. Those who sow the seeds in tears and hardship will reap with shouts of joy. God turns sowing into harvest. Our God is faithful. Ask Him to finish what He started. God restores you, and that is pure mercy and joy.

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