Transcript
There were three people sitting in a Bible study: Pete, Tim, and John. They had been talking about Zaccheus. All were discussing how short he must have been because he had to crawl up in a tree to see the Lord.
Pete exclaimed, “He must be the shortest man in the bible.” However, Tim said, “Oh no there is nowhere in Scripture that says this.” After some debate over the matter, the Bible teacher for the study got up and said, “Why don’t we solve this debate.
“Each of you are to search your Bibles and come back next week to tell us who is the shortest man in the Bible.” All three agreed this was the best way to solve the debate.
The following Bible study all three came back to class with smiles on their faces. So the teacher got up and asked, “Did you do your assignment.” All three exclaimed, “Yes!” So the teacher said, “Please get up and tell us what you found.”
So Tim gets up first and clears his throat and says, “I thought Zaccheus was mighty short but Nehemiah was shorter—he was knee-high-miah, he only stood knee high! Therefore, Nehemiah has to be the shortest man in the Bible!”
Then John got up and said, “Oh no, there is one that was even shorter. In the book of Job, the name of one of his friends was Bildad the Shuhite—he was shoe-height, only as tall as my shoes! He has to be the shortest man in the Bible, no one can be any shorter than that!”
Everyone in the room nodded and agreed….until Pete got up. Pete said, “Oh, no you are both wrong….I don’t know this guy’s name but he was mighty short!
“Do you remember Paul and Silas when they were in prison? The guard was so small he fell asleep on his watch!” I don’t think Nehemiah was only knee-high in height. But it makes for a good joke, I think.
Nehemiah was a man of faith, prayer, courage and action. He wore many hats. He was a cupbearer to the king of Persia. He later was governor over Judah.
But the hat he is best known for donning was a construction hard hat, as God called him to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 2:1-8: “And it came to pass in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, that wine was before him: and I took up the wine, and gave it unto the king. Now I had not been beforetime sad in his presence.
“Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid,
“And said unto the king, Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ sepulchres, lieth waste, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire?
“Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said unto the king, If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it.
“And the king said unto me, (the queen also sitting by him,) For how long shall thy journey be? and when wilt thou return? So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time. Moreover I said unto the king, If it please the king, let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river, that they may convey me over till I come into Judah;
“And a letter unto Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace which appertained to the house, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter into. And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me.”
In chapter 1, around November or December of the year, Nehemiah had received word from his brother, Hanani, that “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3).
The wall around Jerusalem had been initially broken down in 586 B.C. when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and took the Jews captive.
2 Kings 25:10 states, “And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.”
After the Jews’ partial return from exile in Babylon in 535 B.C, the temple was rebuilt around 516 B.C. An attempt had been made to rebuild the walls, but it was stopped.
It is now around 445 B.C., the Jews had been back in Jerusalem for 90 years, but the wall around the city was still in disrepair. The wall was necessary for Jerusalem’s and its people’s protection. Without walls, Jerusalem could hardly be considered a city at all at that time. And this troubled Nehemiah greatly and broke his heart.
Nehemiah 1:4 says that after hearing about the condition of the wall: “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.”
Nehemiah has been called the soft-hearted hard hat. We see both of these things in him as his heart broke over the condition of God’s city of Jerusalem. And then he later got to work constructing and rebuilding the wall.
Nehemiah is a good example for us. It’s good for our hearts to be broken by the things that break God’s heart. Lost souls without Christ, sin, and unbelief, all break God’s heart.
Like Nehemiah we should pray, and then we should get to work, and reach out with the saving gospel of God’s grace.
Nehemiah, with many other Jews, had remained in Babylon. He served in the courts of the now Persian royalty in Shushan, the winter capital of Persia.
Nehemiah was a cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, who reigned from 465 to 424 B.C.
The cupbearer, of course, had the responsibility of tasting the king’s wine to make sure it was not poisoned. The king’s life rested in his hands. As such he was not just a waiter, but a highly trusted servant.
As the cupbearer, it’s been said that he was like the king’s personal press secretary and valet, and that the position was more of being a personal advisor than a butler.
This was really an exalted position that Nehemiah held in the king’s court. Only someone who was trusted was chosen for this post. So this shows us something of Nehemiah’s character.
Nehemiah heard the sad news from his brother about Jerusalem in November or December. Here in chapter 2, it is four months later “in the month Nisan,” which is the first month of the Jewish calendar in March or April.
His sadness over the news so burdened him that even four months later he was still distressed over it. And it showed on his face. Nehemiah stated in verse 1 here that he had never before been sad in the king’s presence.
In Persian culture, the king required everyone to display a happy disposition in his presence. It was assumed that to be in the presence of the king was such an honor and pleasure, that to exhibit any kind of negative expression was to dishonor the king.
So you couldn’t wake up on the wrong side of the bed and be around the king.
I’ve always liked the morning prayer that says, “Lord, So far I’ve done all right. I haven’t gossiped, haven’t lost my temper, haven’t been greedy, grumpy, nasty, or selfish. I’m really glad about that. But in a few minutes, Lord, I’m going to get out of bed. And from then on, I’m going to need a lot more help.”
As Nehemiah was serving wine to the king, the king noticed his sad countenance. He knew he wasn’t sick, and he told Nehemiah that “this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.”
Artaxerxes could have interpreted sadness in his presence as dissatisfaction with the king. Any appearance of agitation or distress in the cupbearer could have been regarded as suspicious. This made Nehemiah “sore afraid.”
He was fearful of punishment and even death. But Nehemiah meant no harm to the king, and made sure he knew that by saying “Let the king live forever!”
Then he explained that his sad face was due to the poor condition of his native land and the desolation of the city of Jerusalem, his ancestral home, “the place of my fathers’ sepulchers.” He told him that Jerusalem lies waste and its gates are burned with fire.
So the king asked him, “What is it that you want?” And I love Nehemiah’s reaction to the king’s question: “So I prayed to the God of heaven.” In that moment, he prayed on the spot, spontaneously and quickly.
Nehemiah’s quick prayer is evidence of a life lived in constant communion with God.
He was an example of Paul’s instruction to the Church in Romans 12:12: “continuing instant in prayer.” He prayed instantly and he had only an instant for that prayer.
Not long ago, I was speaking at a church for a Bible conference. The pastor, with his wife, came and picked me up at the hotel after I arrived. We sat in the hotel lobby for a while visiting since it was the first time we had met.
He was sharing about various needs in the church and someone who was not well. Suddenly, he stopped our conversation and said, “Let’s stop and pray for her.” He prayed a short prayer and then continued our conversation.
This happened throughout the weekend. Prior to one of the services we were talking about the various details of the session, and he stopped the conversation and said, “Let’s pray for the service.” He prayed a short prayer and then he went on talking to me.
It really impressed upon me the need to be “instant in prayer” and to bring our needs to the Lord right away. This is what Nehemiah did before King Artaxerxes. He prayed a short prayer asking God for His help, before he made his request to the king.
Nehemiah was a man of prayer. Throughout the book of Nehemiah you find him praying.
You see one of his instant prayers in Nehemiah 6:9: “For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. NOW THEREFORE, O GOD, STRENGTHEN MY HANDS.”
His quick prayer was “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands.” Quick, on the spot, instant prayers like this are very powerful as we turn to and rely on the Lord.
After the king’s question and Nehemiah’s prayer, Nehemiah made his request to the king: “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favour in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchres, that I may build it” (2:5).
Nehemiah could have simply lamented the condition of things in Jerusalem, like many today bemoan the condition of things in the church.
But Nehemiah wanted to “build it,” he purposed to do something to correct the bad situation, at great personal sacrifice to his own comfort and security.
Part of the reason for Nehemiah’s fear in making this request is because it was King Artaxerxes who had stopped the building of the wall in Jerusalem years previous.
The king had been sent word that the Jews were building the city, setting up the walls, and joining the foundations.
He was warned that the Jews had been rebellious in the past and that if the city was built and the walls set up they would not pay tribute and taxes to the king.
Thus, in Ezra 4:21, Artaxerxes sent word to Jerusalem: “Give ye now commandment to cause these men to cease, and that this city be not builded, until another commandment shall be given from me.”
Against the king’s previous commandment, Nehemiah now was requesting to build the city and its walls and therefore he was understandably apprehensive. So he prayed, and then respectfully and confidently he made his request.
Nehemiah’s prayerful dependence on the Lord was not in vain. The reaction by King Artaxerxes was not a call for punishment, but of interest in what Nehemiah had to say.
He asked how long the journey would be and when he would return. Nehemiah told him how long he expected to be away. As it turned out, Nehemiah was away from Persia for at least twelve years.
Nehemiah’s response to the king can be summarized by 2 requests. In verses 4-6, you find him asking the king to “send me.” In verses 7-8, you find him asking the king to “give me.”
He asked the king that he be given royal letters of safe passage through the neighboring provinces between Shushan and Jerusalem. He further asked for a letter to be able to procure building materials and timber from “Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest.”
Nehemiah stated that the king granted each request, but he gave the glory to God for it, that it was “according to the good hand of my God upon me.”
One commentary gave this good thought: “Nehemiah’s years spent becoming and serving as a cupbearer were not wasted. He was being prepared for a distinct ministry, much like Esther being readied ‘for such a time as this’ (Est. 4:14).
“It is less important what title one bears, or how one intends to serve God, than what one does when the opportunity for service is presented. Nehemiah’s years at court not only gave him access to the king at a time of need, but also equipped him for the political and administrative challenges he was about to encounter.”
Many times, the Lord is preparing us wherever we are in life and whatever we are doing for an important service to Him. And we need to be patient and ready.
Nehemiah 2:9-16: “Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me.
“When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days.
“And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon.
“And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.
“Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king’s pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.
“And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.”
Not only did Artaxerxes give Nehemiah official letters, the king also sent a military escort, captains of the army and horsemen, for protection on their journey.
Judah was taken into captivity in Babylon in 3 phases in 605 B.C., 597 B.C., and 586 B.C. And there were 3 partial returns to the land led by 3 different men.
Zerubbabel led the first return of around 50,000 people in 535 B.C. Ezra led the second return of 1800 people in 455 B.C. And Nehemiah led the third return of an unknown number of people in 444 B.C.
You see Christ in the returns and in the men who led them. Zerubbabel was of the kingly line of David returning to Jerusalem to set up a temple.
That’s what Christ will do at His Second Coming: the Son of David, Israel’s King, will return to Jerusalem and set up His temple.
Ezra was a priest returning to Jerusalem to spiritually restore the people of Judah.
Likewise, Christ, Israel’s High Priest, will come to Jerusalem at His Second Coming to spiritually restore Israel “and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob” (Rom. 11:26).
Nehemiah was a governor, a ruler returning to Jerusalem to establish the city and its government. Likewise, Christ, Israel’s Governor, at His Second Coming, will establish His government from Jerusalem when He establishes His kingdom.
And as Matthew 2:6 says of Him, “And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Juda…for out of thee shall come a GOVERNOR, that shall rule my people Israel.”
When the caravan arrived in Jerusalem, it was bound to attract attention. They arrived in style, and it made very plain the change of royal policy toward the building of Jerusalem.
Two men in particular were not pleased hearing of the arrival of Nehemiah, and “that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.” Their names were Sanballat and Tobiah. Again, Nehemiah is a picture of Christ.
His return to Jerusalem pictures Christ’s Second Coming. Like Nehemiah entering Jerusalem with military might, Christ will enter Jerusalem with might and strength.
He will come also as a man seeking “the welfare of the children of Israel.” And Sanballat and Tobiah pictures the spiritual opposition against Christ at that future day.
Arriving in Jerusalem, after three days, Nehemiah, with a few other men, went for a secret midnight ride around the city to view the broken down walls and gates.
I like to picture this ride with Nehemiah going out of the city under the cover of darkness on a donkey with a torch, working his way around the city, moving in closer to illumine the broken down walls and gates, observing, investigating, and seeing what needed to be done.
At one place the rubble was so deep that his mount could not pass. Then he worked his way to the brook Kedron on the east side of the city and “viewed the wall” from there. Then he worked his way back to where he had first exited the city to reenter it.
Nehemiah wished to observe the walls and make his plans in secret without word getting out to Israel’s enemies or to any of the Jews, their rulers, priests, or nobles and before they could put arguments forward for why they could not rebuild the walls.
By making his plans in secret he could then let the execution be so swift that the work would be finished before Israel’s enemies could successfully try to stop the rebuilding like they had done before.
Nehemiah 2:17-20: “Then said I unto them, Ye see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.
“Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me; as also the king’s words that he had spoken unto me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work.
“But when Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian, heard it, they laughed us to scorn, and despised us, and said, What is this thing that ye do? will ye rebel against the king?
“Then answered I them, and said unto them, The God of heaven, he will prosper us; therefore we his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.”
After Nehemiah’s midnight ride, he met with the Jews in Jerusalem and rallied them. He made his appeal based on Israel’s distress and being a reproach to the other nations.
Someone has defined leadership as “The art of getting people to do what they ought to do because they want to do it.” Rebuilding the walls was something that Israel ought to have done. And Nehemiah, as a good leader, got them to where they wanted to do it.
He told the people, “let US build up the wall of Jerusalem.” He didn’t say “YOU go build it.” He was leading the way, bringing them together, and encouraging them to join him.
He told them “of the hand of my God which was good upon me,” hearkening back to his request to the king, and of how the king responded positively to his request to rebuild the wall and gave him the letters he needed for safe passage and building materials.
The people then respond positively to Nehemiah with enthusiasm, and said, “Let us rise up and build.” Nehemiah had brought them together and they now saw that this was a good and needed work to accomplish.
Hearing of their plans, their enemies, Sanballat and Tobiah, joined now by Geshem the Arabian, rise up to oppose the work. They all begin publicly mocking, laughing, and trying to stop the project by raising the false cry of rebellion against the king.
But Nehemiah stood up to their opposition and dealt with it effectively. He did not debate them or try to convince them that what they were saying was false. Instead in his reply, he made 3 things clear to them:
- They were carrying out God’s will in rebuilding the wall and thus He would prosper it.
- They were God’s servants and were doing His work.
- Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem had no part in the matter, and it was none of their business.
Basically he was telling them to get out of the way, we have work to do for God.
Like we see in Nehemiah, God has called His Church to be builders. God works through our faith, obedience, and labor for Him. We are His servants. God inspires and moves His Church through faithful, godly leaders. We are called to work together as a team.
And when the church comes together in unity and works, no matter the opposition, no matter how difficult the task, we can get the job done for the glory of God.