Exploring Nehemiah: Rebuilding and Resistance

SPEAKER 01 : 0:00

Greetings to the brightest audience in the country and welcome to Theology Thursday. I’m Nicole McBurney. Every weekday we bring you the news of the day, the culture, and science from a Christian worldview. But today join me and Pastor Bob Enyart as we explore the source of our Christian worldview, the Bible.

SPEAKER 02 : 0:15

Nehemiah chapter 3 verse 28. We’re going through the account of which families worked on which part of the wall. We gave a bit of an overview in the last class about some of the towers and some of the stretches of the wall. And now we’re headed back up the eastern side of the city wall, back up to the top of Mount Moriah. And once we hit the corner, then the description will turn to the west and we get to the sheep gate where we started from, where they bring the sheep in for the sacrifices eventually. Hopefully they’ll start doing that again. And then we’ll have gone full circle around the city wall of Jerusalem with the description of who’s working on what repairs. So Nehemiah 3, verse 28. Beyond the horse gate, the priest made repairs, each in front of his own house. And we talked about how this book started out with some men from Judah had traveled to Shushan and Nehemiah saw them and said, How are those Jews doing who escaped the captivity? When Nebuchadnezzar carried everyone off to Babylon, some of them remained behind. How are they doing? And the report that was given was mostly that the whole land is destitute. Jerusalem is lying in ruins. So it was a discouraging report. But we do know that many stayed behind. They were either hiding or traveling at the time. or they just weren’t worth carting off to Babylon. So among those who stayed behind, they put together their own authority structure, their own ministry, their own priests and Levites. And so some of those priests live in the vicinity of Jerusalem, and they would work near where their homes were, which was right near where the temple would eventually be rebuilt. After them, Zadok, the son of Emer, made repairs in front of his own house. After him, Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate, made repairs. After him, Hananiah, the son of Shelamiah. Now this is a quiz. You guys are going to be tested on these pronunciations afterward. And Hanan, the sixth son of Zaleph, repaired another section. After him, Meshulam, the son of Berechiah, made repairs in front of his dwelling. I remember at a church service once, I asked if someone would want to do the Bible reading. And somebody came up, and I assigned a passage that was pretty much unreadable. And it was just a practical joke. I don’t know if that’s okay in church, but it was pretty funny. These verses are a piece of cake compared to what you could find in Chronicles. After him, Melchizedek, one of the goldsmiths, made repairs as far as the house of the Nethanim and of the merchants in front of the Miphkod Gate, in front of the Miphkod Gate, and as far as the upper room at the corner. So where the wall running north and south and the northern wall running east and west, where they met in the northeast corner of The city, they had a building there, as was common, because why not? You’ve got two walls already, just two more walls and a ceiling, and you’ve got a building. So they had an upper room there at the corner, in which we talked about that area being a natural fortress, and it was used as a fortress even in the time of Jesus. And between the upper room at the corner, now heading south, as far as the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs. Okay, so that completed our tour that we began in the last session. And now chapter four, which becomes a little bit more of a narrative of a story, so it’s a bit more interesting. But it so happened when Sanbalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall. And remember, Sanbalat was one of, Three officials that are mentioned by name who are the enemies of the Jews and they did not want them rebuilding Jerusalem. That was for certain. So Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, that he was furious and very indignant and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his brethren and the army of Samaria and said, And Sanballat is described as the governor of Samaria in a document that I’ve described earlier. It was found in Egypt in the city of Elephantine in 1909. And it was addressed, it was written by two Jews addressed to the governor of Samaria, Sanballat’s sons. So there’s an extra biblical confirmation of the existence of this gentleman. And he spoke before his brethren in the army of Samaria and said, what are these feeble Jews doing? Will they fortify themselves? He’s talking about them trying to rebuild the wall to fortify the city. Will they offer sacrifices? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones from the heaps of rubbish, stones that are burned? So he’s mocking them and trying to whip up anger and resentment against them so he could hopefully motivate a force to go in and stop what they’re doing and kill them. Notice the question, will they offer sacrifices? Is that a key or a clue to anything? A little aspect of this Ezra and Nehemiah story that I like to point out. Will they offer sacrifices? As far as Sanballat was concerned, were the Jews currently offering sacrifices? Their normal routine of daily and weekly and annual sacrifices? No, they weren’t. Why weren’t they? Well, because the temple had been destroyed. Now, we’ve talked about the canonical order of the books, Ezra and Nehemiah, where in Ezra the temple is rebuilt, in Nehemiah the wall is rebuilt, but in actual history, those events were reversed. First, the story of Nehemiah occurs. The wall is rebuilt. Then, the temple is rebuilt. Now, we’ll get later in Nehemiah, in chapter 6, where we’ll see a verse that people will read and say, oh look, the temple was already built. That’s why Ezra came first. But no, since we could see by so many substantive reasons that the wall was built first, then all the houses in the city, and then the temple. We can tell that order of events. But in chapter 6, we’ll see a reference to the temple that they think they’re going to be attacked. Should we go and hide in the temple? And it’s either a temporary structure that Nehemiah had constructed so they can offer, or it was the ruins of the original temple. that had been destroyed. And they’re going to shut a door over themselves and hide. But just to show that once the temple was built, if we go back to Ezra, I’d just like to look at three verses real quick. Ezra, the previous book, chapter 6, verses 17 and 18. What I want to point out is that when they built the temple… Then they started to offer the sacrifices and it was not a secret. It was done with a lot of fanfare. So, Ezra chapter 6, this is after the decree of Darius. And then verse 17, this is when they had completed rebuilding the temple and they were dedicating it. And they offered sacrifices at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. They assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their divisions over the service of God in Jerusalem as it is written in the book of Moses. So not only did they start with this huge sacrifice, this dedication, but then They took the priests and the Levites. And who are those two groups again, the priests and the Levites? Well, remember the 12 tribes. The third tribe was Levi, all his descendants. And one of Levi’s many descendants of tens of thousands was Aaron. And Aaron’s sons were the priests. So Aaron’s brethren within his tribe, the Levites, they were not priests. They were the helpers. of the temple and the priesthood. They helped. And they had their assigned duties, but the priests were the ones that offered the sacrifices. And the priests were the Levites who were the descendants of Aaron. Well, they assigned the priests to their divisions and the Levites to their divisions. Over the service of God in Jerusalem, that meant from the dedication forward, at least as to when Ezra was written, that they returned to their normal daily routine of the daily sacrifice and then the special sacrifices. And they did this as it is written in the book of Moses. So when we see Nehemiah, that the governor of Samaria is saying, what do they think, they’re going to start sacrificing again? Forget that. They’re not going to do that. That’s de facto evidence that the temple had not been built and they were not sacrificing. The next chapter in Ezra 7, we’ll just look at one verse, verse 17. Now this is the letter of King Artaxerxes to Ezra the priest. And they had taken quite a collection to go with Ezra and gold and silver that he took with him. And then all the money he collected, a freewill offering of the Jews. And verse 17 says, Artaxerxes, the king of the Medes and the Persians, says, And we could tell by reading through Ezra that the sacrificial system was re-engaged. And they had begun once again And so when we go through Nehemiah, we’ve seen already the passage that said, well, they completed the wall. The wall was built, but they didn’t have their houses. In fact, I’ll re-quote that verse, Nehemiah chapter 7. Nehemiah chapter 7 verse 1 says, When the wall was built, and I had hung the doors, then I appointed the Levites, And then verse 4, Nehemiah 7.4, Now the city was large and spacious, but the people in it were few, and the houses were not rebuilt. The houses were not rebuilt. And we have already looked and seen that one of the prophets wrote, and God said that you have your houses, they’ve been built, you have nice ceilings, paneled houses, and my house is not built. How dare you? I brought you back from captivity to Jerusalem, and you’ve taken care of yourselves. You’ve built your homes. That’s obviously after the wall was built. Then the houses were not built. Then they built their houses, and then they got comfortable. And then some period of time passed, a number of years, and God said, how about my house? Don’t you care enough to build my house? And we looked at that verse I think on two occasions so far in the study, so we can see the order, the wall, then their houses, and then the temple. So we’ll continue now with verse 3 of Nehemiah, back to our study, chapter 4, verse 3. But when we get to chapter 6, and we see a reference to the temple, taking that one verse, people will think, oh yeah, the temple was already built in Ezra. And if you had to argue our position from that one verse, you wouldn’t be able to do it because it refers to the temple. But it’s obviously either just the ruins of the temple or a temporary building that was sufficing for a place of sacrifice. Okay, verse three. Now, Tobiah the Ammonite was beside him and he said, whatever they build, if even a fox goes up on it, he will break down their stone wall. So they’re mocking these people for trying to accomplish their vision. And it was a vision that God was behind. And so it was the natural tendency of men to mock it. It seems that human beings have a radar system built in. And if someone is doing miracles and they’re false miracles, like if it’s the Antichrist or the false prophet, the masses… will flock to follow and to take heed of the miracles. If it’s a prophet or an apostle of God or Christ himself and he’s doing miracles, the masses will reject him. Now, why is that? Why would they reject Jesus and reject the apostles and the prophets who did miracles and Moses, reject all them and God, but if the devil does miracles, they’re going to believe.

SPEAKER 1 : 15:35

Why?

SPEAKER 02 : 15:36

Why? It’s because of the built-in antenna that human beings have. If God does it, we’re against it. We might not even know for sure that God is doing it. But if we have an inkling that God does it, we’re against it. On the other hand, if the devil does it, or anyone that’s in league with the devil, then we’ll consider it. At least we’re not going to get all that angry about it. So, This Ammonite, now Sanballat, we talked about he was a Moabite. Moab and Ammon, they were the result of Lot’s incest, and they became two peoples, Moab and Ammon, and enemies of the Jews for many centuries. And verse 4, so they’re mocking, even if a fox goes up on the wall, he’ll knock the stones down. Verse 4, Nehemiah prays, Hear, O our God, for we are despised turn their reproach on their own heads and give them as plunder to a land of captivity. So Nehemiah is praying that they would be destroyed, that they would be taken away. And that’s not very nice. He really should repent of that, right? Doesn’t God condemn him for this? Doesn’t God put in here that Nehemiah is a bad guy, not a very good Christian? Well, Nehemiah is a great guy. And this is here in the Bible because God liked it. Verse 5. Look at this. Do not cover their iniquity and do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. I don’t think I’ve ever been that harsh in my entire 20… How long? Since 1973. How many years is that? 30 years? Oh, no. 30 years of a reputation for harsh and confrontational ministry, I don’t think I’ve ever asked God not to let anyone repent. I’ve never been that harsh. That’s why I’ll never make it into the Bible. I’m only kidding. But the Bible characters were extraordinarily harsh. Many of them, not all of them, but many of them, we could virtually call them brutal. And God liked them. Because when you’re dealing with the wicked It’s good to confront the wicked and to let everybody know exactly how bad these people are. Do not cover their iniquity. Do not let their sin be blotted out from before you. Don’t forgive them. Don’t save them. For they have provoked you to anger before the builders. So we built the wall and the entire wall was joined together up to half its height for the people had a mind to work. They had a really good attitude and they worked really hard. And so often, as human beings, it’s easier to say, I’m going to go to bed early tonight. But when you have an important job to do, you put your shoulder to the grindstone and you get to work. Now, it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, now Ashdod, is a city in Gaza, one of the five cities of the Philistines. And I think in the Gaza Strip today, there’s Ashdod still to this day, if I recall. And the Ashdodites heard that the walls of Jerusalem were being restored and the gaps were beginning to be closed, that they became very angry. And all of them conspired together to come and attack Jerusalem and create confusion. Nevertheless, we made our prayer to our God, and because of them, we set a watch against them day and night. And so we’re going to find out that Nehemiah was determined to defend the workers, the people who live there, the city, the project. And if it meant using swords or spears in self-defense, that that was his plan. And of course, how many Christians, percentage-wise, it’s not that huge, but there are many Christians numbers-wise, certainly in the hundreds of thousands, that are pacifists. That you can’t kill someone. You can’t use a gun. You can’t use force to defend yourself. And that’s completely against the Bible. They take some particular stories, like when Jesus is about to be arrested and Peter uses a sword and And Jesus said, no, Peter, that’s not it. I’m going with them. And they’ll take a story like that and say, see, God does not want us to defend ourselves. But that’s not the point of that story at all. Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem and he knew he was to be arrested, tried, and crucified. And it was inappropriate to take a sword and try to stop that. Verse 10, then Judas said, The strength of the laborers is failing. And there is so much rubbish that we are not able to build the wall. And that Judah, that’s the people of Judah. The people said, hey, this is not going to work. We’re not going to be able to get this done. We can’t even find a place to work. Have you ever tried to do a job and you’re standing in filth and a mess? And it’s so discouraging. Imagine the city had been destroyed, the wall was knocked down, you can’t even get a good footing to get started. And just to carry away the huge rocks, to get them out of the way so you could put them back on, it had to be extremely discouraging. Very difficult. And our adversaries said, verse 11, they will neither know nor see anything till we come into their midst and kill them and cause the work to cease. So that’s what their enemies were saying. We are going to put a stop to this and we will kill them. So it was when the Jews who dwelt near them came that they told us ten times, from whatever place you turn, they will be upon us. In other words, wherever you go, wherever you return from, if you go home to your city to do some work and you come back the next day, In the morning, they’re going to get you. Wherever you go, home, when you come back, they’re going to ambush you. So therefore, Nehemiah, what he did was he started a prayer meeting. He said, we’ll pray and then we’ll be safe. Well, I’m sure he prayed a lot. But he did more than just pray. Therefore, I positioned men behind the lower parts of the wall at the openings. And I set the people according to their family’s with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And so we see that Nehemiah made sure that his workers were armed. And throughout history, it is wicked governments that disarm the people. The Philistines had occupied Israel and they passed a law, they imposed a law that no Jew could own a sword or a spear without And no Jew could be a blacksmith. They couldn’t be a blacksmith even to make plows for their oxen because they might make swords. So if a Jew wanted to have his plow sharpened, he had to bring it to the Philistines and pay them so many shekels to have a plow sharpened. We’ve seen that through history, that when evil governments conquer or even come to power in their own land, then they will pass a law and confiscate weapons, take away weapons. The Taliban did that in Afghanistan. And it’s just a typical thing that governments that are evil will take away the guns. In this country, it’s the liberals who fight for gun control legislation, gun registration, and gun confiscation. In England, they virtually outlawed gun ownership. They started with handguns and then rifles and hunting guns and it’s become almost impossible to have a gun in England. In our country, the states that have the most severe gun control laws typically have the highest crime rates. And when you look at the cities with the most severe gun control laws, they almost always have the highest crime rates. So it’s It’s something that empowers the criminals. And a government should be able to trust its people. If the government is righteous, the people will rejoice. And the people are not going to use their guns in a criminal way. Criminals will do that, but criminals don’t obey gun control laws. So the gun control laws are counterproductive, and no matter how much evidence there is to show that, people who have their antenna up their radar against what’s right, they will not look at evidence and be persuaded. They’re determined for their cause because it’s godless. Now, I’ve always objected to conservative right-wingers when they advocate that we should be allowed to own and carry guns. I agree with that. But then the reason they give, I disagree with. So many of them say, because if the government is corrupt… then we need our guns to have a revolution. What are you going to do? You’re going to go shoot police officers and governors, judges, the president. Is that what you’re going to do with your guns when the government is corrupt? We’ve got two police officers here in this room. Guys, watch out. There’s some lunatic right-wingers who might be gunning for you. But no, the Bible teaches that you’re to submit to the governing authorities and when they’re corrupt… you don’t obey their evil command. You don’t obey a godless law. So when Saul was king and David had already been anointed as the next king and Saul was a murderer, David had a sword at Saul’s throat. He could have killed him, but he didn’t because he said Saul is the government. Saul is the official. And therefore, I’m not going to obey him, but I’m not going to kill him. Verse 14, And I looked and arose and said to the nobles, to the leaders, and to the rest of the people, Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your houses. And that’s an encouragement that we could use in our lives, even though we’re not typically up against an army of people who want to kill us, we’re up against the world that wants to mock us, ridicule us, make sure that we fail in our efforts to preach the gospel, to oppose evolution, abortion, homosexuality. And God is telling us here through the encouragement of Nehemiah, do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, great and awesome, and fight for your brethren, your sons, your daughters, your wives. and your houses. So that’s our motivation. Even if we’re out at an abortion mill fighting against the killing of unborn children, to me, and I cannot separate these two, in my thinking, I’m fighting for my family, for my children, for my grandchildren. That’s what I’m fighting for. Because as my kids grow up in a society that legalizes child killing, that means that society is intensely evil and my kids will be attacked from every side. And so when I fight that battle, I’m fighting to help my family, to minister for my neighbors, whether they have anything to do with abortion or not. It’s part of the battle between right and wrong. Verse 15 says,

SPEAKER 01 : 28:45

Hey, this is Nicole McBurney jumping into the broadcast. We are out of time for today, so be sure to come back next Thursday to hear the rest of this study. To find other resources and Bible studies, be sure to go to kgov.com slash store. That’s kgov.com slash store.