Sermon Tone Analysis

For the next few weeks, I’ve decided to make a quick study of the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah is a book about building.

It therefore teaches us how to serve God.

However, before we begin Nehemiah, it would probably be a good idea to review Old Testament history so that we can understand exactly where the it fits in.

Nehemiah lived in the fifth century before Christ.

Abraham, Moses and David had died a long time before this.

When David lived (about five hundred years earlier), the kingdom was at its peak militarily, politically and religiously.

But all of this started to change with Solomon.

He not only lost some of the territory that his father had won, he disgraced his office by his flagrant sin and burdened his own people with excessive demands.

His foolishness ended up splitting the kingdom during the reign of his son.

The ten northern tribes never had a good king and were eventually removed by the Assyrians in 722 BC.

The southern tribes fared a little better.

Although most of their kings were also evil, some (e.g., Asa, Hezekiah and Josiah) were better than others.

God protected them as much as he did for the sake of David.

But even this did not mean that they were free from chastisement.

So, when Manasseh sacrificed his son to Molech, God announced that he would send the southern tribes into a seventy-year captivity.

The Babylonians raided Judah three times between 605 and 586 BC.

Their last raid resulted in the complete destruction of Jerusalem, including its protective wall.

When the seventy years of captivity came to an end, the Persians, who had conquered the Babylonians, allowed some of the Jews to return to their homeland.

Zerubbabel led the first group.

His mission was to rebuild the temple.

Ezra was in charge of the next group.

As a priest, his job was to teach the people true religion.

The third group returned under Nehemiah.

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The Needs of God’s Kingdom

We don’t know very much about Nehemiah other than what we find in his book.

His name (נְחֶמְיָה) means “Jehovah comforts,” and the Lord certainly used him to comfort his fellow Jews.

His father’s name, according to verse 1, was Hachaliah; and his brother, as we see in the next verse, was Hanani.

Since Nehemiah recorded their names, they were probably fairly well known in their day, although we know virtually nothing about them.

And we also know that Nehemiah was the cupbearer of the Persian king Artaxerxes.

In the ancient world, this was a position of tremendous importance.

The cupbearer tasted the king’s food and drink before the king did.

If the cupbearer survived, then the food or drink was considered safe.

Thus, the cupbearer had to be a man whose integrity and commitment to service were unquestioned.

Nehemiah was just such a man.

Now, let’s look at what Nehemiah wrote.

His books begins: /And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace, that Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah/ (ch.

1:1–2).

This information gives us a very accurate date for what follows.

Kislev is the ninth month of the Jewish calendar and corresponds and corresponds to late November or early December on our calendar.

This is also confirmed by the fact that Nehemiah was with the king at palace in Susa when his brother approached him.

Susa was where the Persian kings often spent their winters (cf.

Esth.

1:2 and Dan.

8:1–2).

Further, Nehemiah tells us that this took place /in the twentieth year/, that is, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes.

Artaxerxes became king in 465 BC, so this puts Hanani’s visit to Nehemiah in November or December of 445 BC.

When Hanani came to the palace, having just returned from a trip to Jerusalem, Nehemiah asked him two very specific questions, which revealed his inmost concerns.

Whether Hanani had taken the scenic route or enjoyed his travels was not very high on Nehemiah’s list of concerns.

But he did want to know the condition of the men who had escaped the captivity, and he wanted to know the physical condition of Jerusalem, which, since the days of David, had been inextricably tied to the kingdom itself.

Thus, Nehemiah stands as an example of one who sought first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.

The Lord instructs us to do the same and promises that, if we do, he add unto us many other blessings as well (Matt.

6:33).

Hanani and company wasted no time answering Nehemiah’s questions.

The situation in Judah was really bad.

They found their brethren in /in great affliction and reproach/.

Zerubbabel had been authorized to rebuild the temple and private homes, but the walls and gates of the city still lay in ruins.

The city was, therefore, unprotected.

Occasionally, the Jews had had tried to rebuild the walls, but were never very serious about it.

The last attempt had been stopped by Artaxerxes himself, who had been pressured by the Samaritans to put an end to the project.

The affliction that Hanani described was bad.

It had been a hundred and forty years since Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem.

The Jews’ attempts to rebuild were only half-hearted at best.

They had built themselves houses of cedar, complained the prophet Haggai, while they let the Lord’s house lie in waste.

That had been remedied, but they still had little interest in rebuilding the wall even after all this time.

Little wonder, then, that Nehemiah sunk into a deep discouragement when he heard the bad news.

Verse 4 says, /And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven/.

How could a godly man, who longed to see the good of Jerusalem, do anything but weep under these circumstances?

Less godly men might have tried to rationalize Jerusalem’s condition.

Sure, it was bad, they might have said, but other people have been in far worse shape.

And this, of course, would have been true.

Or they could have said that their chastening was well deserved.

The Jews, and especially their kings, had not obeyed God’s law.

The Lord had chastened them /with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men/, just as he had promised David he would do to a wayward son (II Sam.

7:14).

This also was true.

But it also misses the point.

Jerusalem’s condition, even though it was a relatively small town in the fifth and sixth centuries before Christ, was far more important than other cities.

It was more important, for example, than the rebuilding of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.

Why?

Because God had chosen to bind Jerusalem to the kingdom that it represented for David’s sake.

Immediately after promising to chasten wayward sons with the rod of men, God assured David, /But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.

And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever/ (II Sam.

7:15–16).

The good of Jerusalem anticipated the coming of the Messiah, whose reign would never end.

Therefore, Nehemiah wept.

He wept when he first heard the news from Judah, and then he wept thereafter for several days.

He also fasted.

Not too many people fast nowadays, but there are occasions when it is appropriate, particularly in times of crisis.

However, the mere fact that we abstain from satisfying our normal physical needs does not guarantee God’s blessing.

The purpose of fasting is to remove ourselves from all earthly supports and find our rest wholly in the Savior.

Fasting and prayer are, therefore, frequently tied together.

Nehemiah did both.

The last thing that verse 4 says is that he prayed before the God of heaven.

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Prayer for God’s Kingdom

Nehemiah recorded the details of his prayer for us in the remainder of our text.

Whether this was his entire prayer or just a summary of it, we do not know.

Either way it again reveals the heart of a man who loved God’s kingdom and righteousness.

Nehemiah addressed God at the very beginning of his prayer (v.

5).

He prayed to the Lord, Jehovah, I am that I am, i.e., the faithful God of the covenant.

His did this purposely since throughout his prayer he highlights the special relationship that God has with his people.

God is the one who, according to the end of this verse, /keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments/.

But, of course, this is only part of God’s covenant.

Nehemiah words reflect Deuteronomy 7:9–10, where Moses wrote, /Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face/.

Nehemiah recognized that God had already kept the latter part of this promise by driving the people into captivity after they sinned.