Nehemiah 1:1-4 "Cultivating a Caring Heart for Community

In 444 B.C., 14 years after Ezra’s return to Jerusalem, Nehemiah also returned and God used him to guide Judah in rebuilding the city’s walls and in reordering the people’s social and economic lives. What he accomplished in a brief period of time was an incredible feat. How he accomplished this goal is one of the major emphases in the book that bears his name.

The College Press NIV Commentary: Ezra and Nehemiah A. Report from Jerusalem (1:1–4)

The name Nehemiah means, “the Lord has comforted.” The same root occurs in the name of Nahum the prophet and in the famous phrase from Isaiah 40:1, “Comfort, comfort my people.”

Commentary on the Old Testament § 1. Contents, Division, and Object of the Book of Nehemiah

signifies not narratives, but deeds and experiences

Commentary on the Old Testament § 2. Integrity of the Book of Nehemiah, and Date of Its Composition

Think upon me, my God, etc., peculiar to Nehemiah, is repeated 5:19, 6:14, 13:14, 22, 29, 31.

Introduction

Key Point.... Sensitive to the Glory of God: Thomas Watson: “When we hear God reproached, it is as if we were reproached; when God’s glory suffers, it is as if we suffered.”

Sensitive to the Glory of God: Thomas Watson: “When we hear God reproached, it is as if we were reproached; when God’s glory suffers, it is as if we suffered.”

Commentary on the Old Testament § 2. Integrity of the Book of Nehemiah, and Date of Its Composition

Think upon me, my God, etc., peculiar to Nehemiah, is repeated 5:19, 6:14, 13:14, 22, 29, 31.

Commentary on the Old Testament § 1. Contents, Division, and Object of the Book of Nehemiah

signifies not narratives, but deeds and experiences

Exposition

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel awoke one morning to read his own obituary in the local newspaper: “Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, who died yesterday, devised a way for more people to be killed in a war than ever before, and he died a very rich man.”

But, actually, it was Alfred’s older brother who had died; a newspaper reporter had made a mistake. But the account had a profound effect on Nobel. So he decided he wanted to be known for something other than developing the means to kill people efficiently and for amassing a fortune in the process. So he initiated the Nobel Prize, the award for scientists and writers who foster peace.

Nobel said, “Every man ought to have the chance to correct his eulogy in midstream and write a new one.”

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