Ne. 12: Celebrate the Wall

Nehemiah 12:43 "And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away."

After all the hardship, the difficulties and the opposition, the wall is complete. This is cause for a raucous celebration. Choirs, cymbals and songs could be heard from far away. That's some kind of party.

Can you imagine living in the surrounding nations? "Uh oh, Israel is celebrating again. This is bad news for those of us who worship Baal and stuff." Israel has their heart right with God. 

It is a victory here for Israel. The difference here is that it isn't necessarily a military victory. They faced armed threats and had to post armed sentries, but this victory was won with God watching over them, and defending them and keeping them safe. Israel celebrates like they just won a big war, or rededicated themselves to God. Either way, they knew to whom the credit was due, and that was only to God. Without God's hand in the reconstruction, Israel would have basically been sitting ducks. I think they realized this.

Maybe.

Ne. 6: Opposition, Completion

Nehemiah 6:12 "I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him."

Nehemiah is still facing opposition from those rascals Sanballat and Tobiah. They won't give it up. They have a major stake in Israel not completing their wall. They start rumors of a phony Israelite revolt, and even send a false prophet to lure Nehemiah to the temple under the guise that he'd be killed otherwise. But Nehemiah sniffs it out, because to this point, God has given him the green light on this wall, and that was what Nehemiah needed to do. 

Interesting that it didn't take a personal visit from one of God's prophets to warn him. Nehemiah appears to have figured it out on his own. Smart guy! He wouldn't step away from his work for some stupid meeting either.

I find verse 14 interesting. Nehemiah tells God to remember Tobias and Sanballat because of what they'd done. In a place where Nehemiah could have called down all the curses he could think of, or wish personal harm on them, he relies on the justice and holiness of God to deal with them. Could I do that? I wonder.

Anyway, victoriously, the wall is completed in a mere 52 days, which was devastating to the confidence of the surrounding nations. This large city was now walled in and protected, by a ragtag bunch of people whose specialty wasn't exactly wall building, or even devotion to God. But God's hand in this wall was evident.

Ne. 4: Opposition

Nehemiah 4:14 "After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.""

During the rebuilding, the jews are getting mocked by the local yokels. Anywhere from Israel's strength to their craftsmanship was fair game. Tobiah even claimed that a mere fox could come and knock over their wall. Nehemiah prays that this ridicule be returned to the mockers. By God. Instead of taking vengeance within his own power, Nehemiah chooses to leave it up to the LORD, who is a genius in the punishment department.

Israel is getting tired though. It is a big job. There is lots of rubble and a lots of work to be done (No word on whether or not they will rock down to Electric Avenue). They come to the realization that they can't do it on their own. 

Here is where Nehemiah steps up and takes some leadership, and starts reorganizing things. Where the walls are low or weak, he stations more people, and some people are taken off the project to take up arms to protect against remnants from the HACPHAJ who just want to make life hard for those participating in the reconstruction. Except those Tekoa nobles, who sat around, stroking their beards, wondering "What's to be done with this Nehemiah?" There were even plans for if an attack came. They would blow a horn and all meet at that area and fight off attackers. Pretty neat.

Ne. 3: Repairing Walls n' Gates

Nehemiah 3:20 "Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest."

This is really just a list of the sections of the wall and the gates, and who repaired them. That may be all I really need to say, but what do I think of this?

I think it's good to see Israel working as a team. Each section of the wall basically had a different group of people working on it. They worked together toward a common goal. Except the nobles of Tekoa, who refused to roll up their sleeves and get busy on the Fish Gate. Why not? Sheer laziness? Was manual labor beneath them? At any rate, here they are recorded for the rest of time as some blouse-wearing poodlewalkers who refused to contribute. Would they be punished? We'll see.

Contrast that with how Baruch repairs the wall next to the home of Eliashib, the high priest. With zeal! When I think of that, I think of someone working hard, working strong, and giving his absolute best. I'm sure the walls built by the others were acceptable, but Baruch is the only one notably recorded as working zealously. He was into this. He was a company man. He wasn't going to stand around thinking himself better than the work that needed to be done. I can't remember the last time I worked at something with zeal. I should inject more zeal into my work. Can you be described as zealous for anything?

This is the first I've read about all these gates. I assume they were named for their functions. The sheep gate probably opened to a pasture or a pen or something. The fish gate...probably along the river? The Jeshanah Gate...named for a guy named Jeshanah? The Valley Gate probably opened to a valley somewhere. The Dung Gate was probably at the dump. Fountain Gate? Maybe a well or drinking water or something? The Horse Gate I would guess led to stables or the military base or something. We'll find out.

Ne. 2: Nehemiah Checks It Out

Nehemiah 2:17 "Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.""

Nehemiah brings the wine to the king one day, and is visibly upset. The king, who could, at any moment call for Nehemiah's head if he so much as looked at him wrong, noticed this and questioned him. Afraid, but counting on God for deliverance and success, Nehemiah told Artaxerxes about how the wall of Jerusalem was in ruins, and how he would like to go back and rebuild it. It probably wasn't something the king would take lightly, giving up his cupbearer. That was a very trusted position, but Art let him slide. He probably recognized how important it was to Nehemiah, but God probably also dipped his hand into Artaxerxes's heart and swished it around, moving him to let Nehemiah go.

Nehemiah is also granted a couple requests. One being letters to the Trans-Euphrates kings (those along the way home) that he be granted safe passage, otherwise you mess with Artaxerxes. The second was some timber from the royal forest. That's interesting. The wall of protection for Jerusalem was going to be rebuilt using materials from a foreign king's supply.

After three days in Jerusalem, Nehemiah goes out to check out what needs to be done fixing that there wall and the burnt out gate. They probably could have gotten those gates that Samson put up on the hill, if they were still there. Not really. That's ridiculous. That was like 1000 years ago.

Anyway, Nehemiah inspects the wall under cover of night so that no one would see him or know what he was doing. But afterwards, he encourages them to build the walls and the gates.

I have a couple questions here. Why weren't the walls being rebuilt? I mean, outside of the fact that it was God's plan to have Nehemiah come back and spearhead the effort. What were the Israelites doing with themselves? Was the temple (presumably completed) that big of a drain on the resources? Did they just not think of it?

Also, why the secrecy? Why did Nehemiah not disclose to the jews why he was there until after he had inspected the walls and the gates? Was it so he could create a strategy in advance, so that when he did tell them about the rebuilding, he'd have a plan handy? I suppose that makes sense.

Ezra 5: Tattenai Txts Darius

Ezra 5:5 "But the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews, and they were not stopped until a report could go to Darius and his written reply be received."

So Tattenai is this governor of the Trans-Euphrates region, and he's demanding to know just why Zerubbabel and Jeshua think they can just rebuild their temple. A seemingly insignificant undertaking by a tiny rabble in a vast landscape.

I had to give verse 5 some extra thought. "The eye of God was watching them." Does that mean that they continued building the temple and Tattenai and his people were powerless to stop them? Couldn't see them? Saw them and didn't say anything, like they were under a Jedi mind trick? I don't know, but I'm curious about this. Maybe God influenced Tattenai to be willing to compromise to allow the Israelites to continue to build until Darius responded to a letter. That's less spectacular, but maybe that's all this was. I don't know, I wasn't there.

Its cool that the Israelites went ahead and told the truth to Tattenai when he wanted to know what they were doing. The information wasn't exactly boastworthy, talking about how they screwed up and were wicked and God delivered them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar and the kingdom went to pot. Notable here is that they realized what happened all those years ago...they were conscious of the fact that they failed to hold up their end of the deal, so captivity came as little surprise. Secondly, its important to mention that it was God who delivered Israel into that captivity, lest Nebuchadnezzar get any credit for conquering the nation on his own, and with his own power. Then Cyrus gets a mention again to allow the man-oriented mind of Tattenai attach some weight to what he was being told.

So he sent all this info to Darius to see what the deal was.

Ezra 4: Stop Building

Ezra 4:15 "In these records you will find that this city is a rebellious city, troublesome to kings and provinces, a place of rebellion from ancient times. That is why this city was destroyed."

The people in the area saw the rebuilding of the temple going on. They were described as enemies, so right away, that sort of sets the stage for how this interaction was going to go. They wanted to help with the reconstruction of the temple, claiming that they had been worshipping the LORD, and wanted to assist with the construction of His temple.

And they probably did worship the LORD. Among many other gods. Zerubabbel and Jeshua responded by saying it would be them alone who would rebuild the temple. One, because God was their God. Second, and probably to add a big of gravitas to an unbelieving group of foreigners, because Cyrus said so. Sometimes you need that extra bit of authority in there. As long as Cyrus was in charge, the foreigners, the enemies made it their business to inhibit the temple's construction, lodging complaints with Xerxes, the king of Persia, and then Artaxerxes. Some guys named Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel and others wrote a letter to Artaxerxes, having been frustrated by the jews who would not let them help.

It's all political. Not militaristic. The route that the foreigners go in the letter to King Art talks about how if Israel is allowed to do their thing, it's basically going to cost the king a lot of money. He'd lose out on the tribute. So they appeal to his greedy side. They don't want to see the king "dishonored." Snakes.

What I find most noteworthy about the letter is in verse 15. They talk about the city being a rebellious one...troublesome, claiming that is why the city was destroyed. Very interesting. Israel was rebellious. Israel was troublesome. And these were the reasons why Jerusalem was no more. But not because Israel was rebellious or troublesome to their neighbors. They rebelled against God. It was when Israel behaved and was obedient that they were problems to their neighbors.

Of course Artaxerxes takes the bait and brings force to Israel to make them stop with this crazy building. And it took until Darius took the throne in Persia to get started again. We'll have to find out why. Artaxerxes doesn't bother to find out why Cyrus made his proclamation, instead listening only to his selfishness and greed. 

Ezra 3: Rebuilding the Temple

Ezra 3:13 "No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise."

Almost as soon as the Israelites got back to their land, they set about rebuilding the temple. Its notable that God didn't instruct them to build their own homes, or to rebuild the wall of the city. In a way, I suppose God was forcing Israel's hand. They had to trust God, that he woould protect them. This also may have been intended to demonstrate that Israel's priorities needed to be re-established on God, and His precepts. Once the temple was built, then Israel could focus on more temporal needs.

The altar was built and straightaway was used for the various prescribed burnt offerings. Then, just as Solomon had done, the Israelites acquired cedar logs from Tyre and Sidon. The masons and carpenters could then set up shop on the foundation that remained constructing the temple.

The people in charge at this time were Zerubbabel, a governor and Jeshua, a priest. Zerubbabel didn't appear to have any kingly duties, and I don't imagine there was one, as they had been in captivity all this time, and the leaders of the world powers from Nebuchadnezzar to Cyrus had been in power over them.

David's prescription for music in the temple was carried on, and there were instruments and cymbals and lots of noise. Lots of cheering and praise by the younger Israelites, but loud wailing and weeping by the older Israelites who had seen the original temple in all it's glory. Which is kind of interesting. Like, when you type out a long, thoughtful blog post and then your internet dies, and you have to rebuild, it never seems like it was as good the second time around. I imagine the frustration was similar to that. The old temple was given these intricate ornamentations, but none of those things are described here. In a way, this is something new for the nation, possibly ushering in another change.