Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
This automated analysis scores the text on the likely presence of emotional, language, and social tones. There are no right or wrong scores; this is just an indication of tones readers or listeners may pick up from the text.
A score of 0.5 or higher indicates the tone is likely present.
Emotion Tone
Anger
0.16UNLIKELY
Disgust
0.15UNLIKELY
Fear
0.11UNLIKELY
Joy
0.55LIKELY
Sadness
0.47UNLIKELY
Language Tone
Analytical
0.6LIKELY
Confident
0UNLIKELY
Tentative
0UNLIKELY
Social Tone
Openness
0.94LIKELY
Conscientiousness
0.85LIKELY
Extraversion
0.26UNLIKELY
Agreeableness
0.45UNLIKELY
Emotional Range
0.85LIKELY
Tone of specific sentences
Tones
Emotion
Language
Social Tendencies
Anger
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9
Nehemiah completed rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem in a record fifty-two days.
All the breaches were closed in, and the gates were hung.
The fact that Nehemiah and the Jews did this work in the face of ongoing opposition makes it all the more remarkable.
But it was, after all, the work of God.
This meant two things.
First, that the workers had to give it their best.
They labored from early morning until the stars came out with a trowel in one hand and a sword in the other, often depriving themselves of the comfort of their own homes and rarely changing their clothes.
We should also serve God with our best.
And since we serve God in everything we do, this means that we must do our best at work, at home and at play.
Second, the fact that this was God’s work meant that Nehemiah could count on God’s blessing to get the job done.
Nehemiah was not presumptuous, as though he took God’s blessing for granted; rather, he trusted God’s promises.
The Lord promises us his blessing as well.
When our first priority is seeking the kingdom of God and the righteousness of Jesus Christ, our God will make sure that we have everything we need.
The seventh chapter of Nehemiah seems like it gives a bunch of unimportant historical information.
In fact, a few commentaries skip it altogether.
Apparently, they follow a maxim of Dwight L. Moody, who once said that he reads his Bible like he takes his chicken: he eats the meat and leaves the bones.
Aside from the fact that this violates what Paul wrote in II Timothy 3:16, viz., that all Scripture, being itself the very breath of God, is profitable for instruction and righteousness, Nehemiah 7 is hardly dry bones.
To the contrary, it contains a wealth of theology.
Without it there are certain things about the book of Nehemiah that are incomplete, including all the history thus far.
Why was Nehemiah so concerned about rebuilding the wall?
Why was the wall so important?
This chapter answers these questions.
!
The Purpose of the Wall
The first three verses of this chapter describe three things that Nehemiah did as soon as the wall was done.
To begin with, according to verse 1, he assigned /the porters and the singers and the Levites/ to guard the gates.
But who were these people?
The word translated /porters/ is translated elsewhere as doorkeepers or gatekeepers.
These were the people whose job it was to guard the entrance of the temple.
The singers and the Levites were directly involved in the temple worship.
Thus, all three groups were affiliated with the temple in one way or another.
But Nehemiah took them away from their normal duties and stationed them at the gates.
Why did he do this?
Did they have some special expertise in guarding the gates?
Most of the commentators assume that he did this because of the threats of Sanballat and Tobiah against the city.
The risk was high, and is called for special care in guarding the gates.
But this does not explain why Nehemiah conscripted God’s ministers for this particular work.
Surely, there were others who could do it.
What about all those who had helped to rebuild the wall?
The reason why Nehemiah appointed the porters, the singers and the Levites was to demonstrate that the significance of the temple was bigger then the temple itself.
The service of God was not limited to what took place at the temple, although the sacrifices that were offered there were central to everything else.
Rather, the entire Jerusalem community was to worship the Lord and it was to worship him continually.
The temple-servants let in those who worshiped and served God.
This whole scenario, in other words, was a preview of the worship that God’s people will give him in glory.
Revelation 22:3 speaks of this.
It says, /And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him/.
In the New Testament, it is no longer the walls of a city that circumscribe the worshiping community but the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord.
He is our temple, having offered himself body and soul to satisfy for our sin.
Thus, the writers of the New Testament often use the language of the temple to describe the church.
The church, both as a corporate body and as individual believers, is called the temple of God (I Cor.
3:16–17; 6:19; II Cor.
6:16).
Our service of God is also temple-service.
We see this, for example, in numerous passages.
In Romans 12:1 Paul wrote, /I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service/.
Hebrews 13:15 instructs us to the temple-singers.
It says, /By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name/.
And in Philippians 2:17, the apostle compared his death to drink offering when he wrote, /Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all/.
Now what does all of this say about your service to Jesus Christ?
It tells you that you must serve your God wholeheartedly, sacrificially and joyfully in everything you do.
The next thing that Nehemiah did after completing the wall is mentioned in verse 2.
He appointed his brother Hanani and another man named Hananiah to take charge of Jerusalem.
It’s possible that Nehemiah did this because he had to return to Persia to report to the King.
However, the reason is not given and it’s not important.
What is important is the character of those he appointed.
Hanani his brother was the one who originally brought the condition of Jerusalem to his attention, which shows that he was also interested in it.
Hananiah had already demonstrated his faithfulness as the /ruler of the palace/ and also had a reputation as one who /feared God above many/.
Considering that Nehemiah viewed the whole Jerusalem community as temple-like in its service, it was necessary for Nehemiah to choose men who were primarily known for their faithfulness and piety.
Likewise, the officers of Christ’s church must be blameless in character, having a reputation that is suitable to the gospel itself.
And finally, Nehemiah gave instructions to those who were in charge of the gates about opening and closing them.
He told them not to open the gates until the sun was hot, i.e., about midday, and of course they were to be shut by nightfall.
The gates were also to be opened only when the guards were present.
This is quite different from what was practiced in most cities in the ancient world.
City gates were usually opened at sunrise and closed at sunset.
Nehemiah limited the hours that the gates were open to about half of this.
The question, then, is, Why?
Here this practice was adopted for the physical safety of the citizens of Jerusalem.
Note that it is mentioned along with the fact that everyone in the city was responsible for maintaining a watch over part of the wall.
Here the important thing is that Jerusalem’s physical safety is mentioned last.
This shows that the wall was not meant to protect the city.
The people in Jerusalem worshiped and served God, and God himself would protect them.
The Lord provided a righteous government for his people to watch over them.
These things were of far greater importance than the wall itself.
Remember that the wall did not protect Jerusalem when the armies of Nebuchadnezzar raided Judah and 586 BC.
Nor would the wall protect Jerusalem when the Roman armies laid siege against it in AD 66.
In both cases, righteousness failed in the city was conquered.
But how could it be any other way, since righteousness exalts a nation but sin is a reproach to any people?
A city wall, an alarm system for your home, medical and life insurance and a 20 gauge shotgun all have an appropriate use.
But if we trust these things for our protection and not the Lord, we might soon discover how little protection they offer when it pleases the Lord to bring calamity into our lives.
True safety comes from God alone.
Psalm 4:8 says, /I will both lay me down in peace, and sleep: for thou, LORD, only makest me dwell in safety/.
!
Exiles Who Returned to Jerusalem
Once the wall was finished Nehemiah wanted to repopulate the city, but there were two problems with this.
The first problem is mentioned in verse 4. Jerusalem, though only about half its size under Solomon, was still a large city by the standards of the day.
But very few people actually lived there since there was a shortage of housing.
Either the old houses had not been rebuilt or there was no new construction to satisfy the needs of a growing population.
The second problem is that Nehemiah had to determine who should live in the city.
It wasn’t large enough for everyone.
So, Nehemiah proposed to reckon people by genealogy, i.e., according to ancestral inheritance.
Although the census that David made in II Samuel 24 the sinful because he did it out of pride, here God put it in Nehemiah’s heart to do this simply to decide where each family should settle.
And that, according to verse 73 of our text, is exactly what happened: /the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities/.
More of the details of this resettlement are provided in chapter 11.
< .5
.5 - .6
.6 - .7
.7 - .8
.8 - .9
> .9