Today, I am reading and commenting on  Nehemiah 11-13.

I know what I want to write about from today’s passage, but I am not sure I am going to be able to make the point I felt as I read it.  The way the passage is phrased I am not quite sure what happened when here.  However, it looks like between the time Nehemiah returned to the king of Persia and when he once more was in Jerusalem the Returned Exiles became lax in their adherence to God’s Law.  Some of them began to intermarry with the people of the land and others began to follow the local example of doing business on the Sabbath.  Some went so far as to allow those who did worshiped other gods to do business out of the Temple.  The reaction when Nehemiah came back to Jerusalem and put his foot down about these practices shows us that the majority objected to these actions, but lacked the authority to do anything about it. We need to not be afraid to live faithfully, even if it appears that no one else around us is.  Also, we should not be afraid to step up and call people back to being faithful to God if we feel He is leading us to do so, perhaps there are more people who share our understanding of how the people of God should live than we realize.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Nehemiah 9-10.

When Ezra read the Law to the people during the Feast of Shelters discussed in yesterday’s passage, the people initially began to mourn how badly they had violated God’s Laws.  However, because that assembly had been called to celebrate God’s providence in allowing them to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, the leaders encouraged them to put aside their mourning and celebrate.  That occasion was a time for celebrating God’s goodness.  However, a short time later the people assembled once more to fast and mourn their sins and those of their ancestors.  They entered into an agreement with each other and with God to separate themselves from the people of the land and to keep God’s Laws.  One could easily interpret this passage to mean that the Israelites living in the land excluded those of other descent from joining in their worship of God and that this was how they were supposed to behave.  However, I believe that the passage I highlighted a few days ago from Ezra 6:21 applied here as well.  Certainly, I believe that God’s will was for that to apply. They were to accept into their numbers “all who had separated themselves from the unclean practices…”  And yet, we will see in tomorrow’s passage the difficulty in allowing outsiders to join us in worshiping God while maintaining separation from unclean practices.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Nehemiah 7-8.

So, perhaps I am reading this wrong, but it seems to me that the assembly which Nehemiah called in chapter seven was likely the same assembly as discussed in chapter 8.  In any case, when the people had assembled it was arranged for Ezra to read the Law to them.  I am always interested to see how they arranged things so that all of the people could hear the Law being read, and explained.  However, today I want to focus on the fact that the people wept when they heard the Law being read.  Standing in rebuilt Jerusalem, hearing the words of God’s Law, and realizing how badly they, and their ancestors, had failed to keep God’s covenant caused the people to weep in regret.  But their leaders told them not to weep, because this was a time for celebration and feasting.  The people followed their leaders’ instructions.  Those who had much shared with those who had little, so that no one was left out of the celebration.

There is one other point I want to touch on.  The idea that the people should go out and build temporary shelters came from the people when they heard the Law read.  It was not something imposed on them by their leaders. It reminds me of an event held each year by an organization of which I am part.  Actually, as I thought about it some more, it reminds me of events held by many organizations of which I am aware.  Gathering away from our homes in “temporary” shelters (even if those temporary shelters are hotels) can be a bounding experience, and if done correctly should bring us closer to God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Nehemiah 4-6.

I see a connection between what was going on with the attempts by outsiders to intimidate the Returned Exiles into giving up on rebuilding Jerusalem’s walls and the exploitation of the poorer Returned Exiles by those who were wealthier.  The outsiders were discouraging the work on the wall on purpose, but the wealthy Returned Exiles were doing so because they thought more about their self-interest than the interest of the people as a whole.  At least some of the wealthy had not realized the impact their actions were having on their countrymen.   Even Nehemiah had been doing so, but when he realized the effect his actions were having on those less fortunate than himself he acted to change things and to recompense those whom he had previously exploited.  The willingness of Nehemiah, and others like him, to expend their resources to make the project come to fruition gave heart to those who only had their physical efforts to contribute.

I hope those of you reading this can see the spiritual lesson which I got from this passage and tried to convey in the above words.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on  Nehemiah 1-3.

This passage contains a model we should follow when we plan a major undertaking, whether that undertaking is a mission or a business, or some other sort.  First, when Nehemiah learned of the need (but it might be us learning of an opportunity), his first reaction was to fast and pray.  Some time during his fasting and praying, Nehemiah conceived a course of action which he could take.  Then he planned for what he would need to accomplish this plan.  Finally, he approached someone (the king) who could provide him with the resources he would need to carry out his plan.  And throughout this whole process, Nehemiah prayed to God for guidance and support.  We also see that Nehemiah recognized that he would need to do more detailed planning once he had gotten his support lined up.

Now I want to look at the parts of what Nehemiah did which are specific to a mission.  He recognized that the problems he sought to address were the result of sin.  This recognition meant that the problems would only be fixed by repentance and doing God’s will.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.