Nehemiah: the wall and the covenant renewed

Nehemiah, cupbearer to the king of Persia, goes home to Jerusalem, rebuilds its broken walls, and with Ezra renews the people in God's law and covenant. It is the book of a leader who prays as he works, and of a people who understand God's word and rejoice.

Gustave Doré, Nehemiah Views the Ruins of Jerusalem's Walls, 1866 · Source

About the book

It opens, "These are the words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah" (Nehemiah 1:1). Much of chapters 1–7 and 12–13 is Nehemiah's own memoir, told in the first person; the church has long received it as his own record, and many scholars agree. In the Hebrew Bible Nehemiah and Ezra are one book. How they were joined, and which of the two men came first, are discussed in the lesson on Ezra.

Nehemiah served King Artaxerxes at Susa: "At that time I was the cupbearer to the king" (Nehemiah 1:11). In the king's twentieth year, 445 BC, he came to Jerusalem as governor and rebuilt the walls in 445–444. In the king's thirty-second year (about 433 BC) he went back to the court for a time, then returned to carry on his reforms (Nehemiah 13:6). All this lies in the era the map under the Jesus tab calls return and rebuilding (c. 539–430 BC). The temple stood, but a city without walls lay open to shame and danger.

How it unfolds

On a wall under construction, hung with scaffolding, ladders and a pulley, workmen carry and dress stones, while at the right two men point to the work and talk. — Jan Luyken, Nehemiah Rebuilding the Walls of Jerusalem (?), before 1712 (Nationalmuseum, Stockholm) · Source

Chapters	What happens
1–7	Nehemiah's prayer and return; the wall rebuilt in fifty-two days against opposition
8–10	The law read and explained; a prayer of confession; the covenant renewed
11–13	Jerusalem filled with people, the wall dedicated, Nehemiah's last reforms

Key passages

When Nehemiah heard that Jerusalem's wall lay broken, he began with prayer:

When I heard these words, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1:4

Months later, when the king asked what he wanted, he "prayed to the God of heaven" (Nehemiah 2:4) before he answered. Matthew Henry comments, "approaches to the throne of grace are never out of season" Matthew Henry. All through the book Nehemiah breaks off from his work to pray.

When Sanballat and Tobiah mocked, he answered, "The God of heaven is the One who will grant us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding" (Nehemiah 2:20). The builders "worked with one hand and held a weapon with the other" (Nehemiah 4:17), and "the wall was completed in fifty-two days" (Nehemiah 6:15). Even the enemies saw that God had done it. Along the way, when the poor cried out that debt was forcing them to sell their children, Nehemiah made the nobles give back fields and houses and stop charging interest (chapter 5): he rebuilt lives as well as walls.

With the wall standing, the people gathered in the square before the Water Gate, and Ezra read the law:

So they read from the Book of the Law of God, explaining it and giving insight, so that the people could understand what was being read.
Nehemiah 8:8

The people wept as they understood, but Nehemiah told them, "Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10). Matthew Henry writes, "The better we understand God's word, the more comfort we find in it" Matthew Henry. Then they retold their history in confession, owning that God is "a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate" (Nehemiah 9:17), and bound themselves by covenant to keep his law.

Yet the book does not end in triumph. While Nehemiah was away, the people broke their promises about the Sabbath, the tithes and marriage, and he had to begin again. The book's last words are a prayer: "Remember me, O my God, with favor" (Nehemiah 13:31).

The book and Christ

Nehemiah gave himself for his people. Unlike the governors before him he took no allowance from them: "But I did not do this, because of my fear of God" (Nehemiah 5:15). He gave up what was his; Christ came "to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45).

The rebuilt walls could not guard the people's hearts, and the New Testament looks to a better city that God builds. For those who trusted his promise, "He has prepared a city for them" (Hebrews 11:16), and John saw "the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:2). The joy in the square before the Water Gate is made full in Christ, who said, "I have told you these things so that My joy may be in you and your joy may be complete" (John 15:11).

Reading it

Standing on a platform, Ezra holds up the law and reads it while the people gathered below listen or cover their faces and weep. — Gustave Doré, Ezra Reads the Law to the People, 1866 · Source

Its thirteen chapters take a week at two a day; begin with Nehemiah 1. Read the lists of chapters 3, 7 and 10–12 quickly, but take chapter 8 and chapter 9 slowly: the prayer of chapter 9 retells the Old Testament story from creation to their own day.

Read Malachi, who prophesied about the same time, beside chapter 13, and you will see its troubles through a prophet's eyes. Next comes Esther.

Practice

Practice 1 of 6
How does the book of Nehemiah unfold?
Practice 2 of 6
What did Nehemiah do first when he heard that Jerusalem's wall lay broken?
Practice 3 of 6
When was the wall rebuilt, and how long did it take?
Practice 4 of 6
In Nehemiah 8:8, what was done with the Book of the Law?
Practice 5 of 6
When did Nehemiah say, "the joy of the LORD is your strength"?
Practice 6 of 6
Beyond rebuilt Jerusalem, what city does the New Testament look to?

Reading to the end marks it read; tap to switch it.