Nehemiah 1:1-4
The
words of Nehemiah son of Hakaliah:
In
the month of Kislev in the twentieth year, while I was in the citadel of Susa,
Hanani, one of my brothers, came from Judah with some other men, and I
questioned them about the Jewish remnant that had survived the exile, and also
about Jerusalem.
They
said to me, “Those who survived the
exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall
of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.”
When
I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted
and prayed before the God of heaven.
In
1982 I had the opportunity to travel to China while playing with a Sports Ambassadors
basketball team. One of the things we were able to do was visit the Great Wall.
The
Great Wall of China is called one of the 7 wonders of the world; and for good
reason.
It took over 1000 years to
construct; as a long line of regional rulers and powerful emperors sought to
protect the northern borders of their kingdoms from enemies. Those individual
walls were eventually joined together form one mostly unified wall that
stretches well over 5,000 miles.
The wall is between 15 and 50
feet wide; wide enough to drive a car across in some spots. It’s 15 to 30 feet high and includes
some 25,000 watchtowers.
Some historians estimate that
as many as 2,000,000 people died while working to build the wall.
What is interesting is that
while the wall was built for protection, it ultimately failed to provide that
protection. Our tour guide told us that when enemies from the north wanted to
invade, instead of trying to fight their way over the wall, they just bribed
the guards and walked right through the gates.
But the Great Wall did become
the symbol of Chinese strength and determination to the rest of the world. The
Wall has enormous symbolic value and captures the identity of a people.
In fact, the Chinese student
who served as our interpreter whispered to me as we left the wall saying, “For me, as a Chinese man, to see the great wall is
like you as a Christian seeing Jesus Christ.”
So Nehemiah is in a position
of some importance in the court of King Artaxerxes; and in that position he
hears troubling word from Jerusalem.
Those
who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and
disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and it’s gates have been burned with
fire.
Notice
that Nehemiah hears that the people of Jerusalem are in great trouble and
disgrace. Why?
To
understand this we have to understand the significance of walls in the ancient
world.
Like
the Great Wall of China the walls of ancient middle eastern cities were both a
necessity and were highly symbolic.The larger and stronger the wall the safer
the city; and the greater the reputation of the King of that city.
A
wall was also a symbol of identity for the people. Ancient people would have
thought of their wall kind of like we would think of the Statue of Liberty or
the American Flag.
Beyond
all that the wall of Jerusalem symbolized presence and promise of God.
Psalm
51:18
In
your good pleasure make Zion prosper; build up the walls of Jerusalem.
Then
there will be righteous sacrifices, whole burnt offerings to delight you.
So
when Nehemiah hears that the walls are still broken down he knows that the
people are in “trouble” because they are vulnerable. They are vulnerable to
enemies outside the city who would face little resistance if they wanted to
attack; and they are vulnerable to those within the city who took advantage of
Jerusalem’s
weakness.
After
the fall of Jerusalem, and then over the next 100 years or so, some of those
who returned to the area had gained a certain amount of power and influence.
Men
like Sanballat and Tobiah, who we will hear about in a few weeks, had become
something like “warlords” or “gang leaders” in the
absence of any organized power structure.
So
they had a vested interest in keeping Jerusalem weak; because a weak Jerusalem
required their protection and in return for their protection came a great deal
of power.
Nehemiah
also says the people are in “disgrace.” Why disgrace?
The
people were in disgrace because a city with no walls was regarded as inferior
and weak. This is especially painful for a people who believe God has called
them his chosen people and that through them God intends to bless the world.
How can this be if they have no wall?
The
people are in disgrace because it appears that their God either does not exist;
is too weak to protect them; or has simply abandoned them.
They
are in disgrace because they have no identity; no protection; no strength and
no God to help them.
What
about us? Where is our strength; where is our protection?
Our
strength is God himself:
The
Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress. (Psalm 46:11)
Our
strength is also found in what God is building in his church:
As
you come to him, the living Stone - rejected by men, but chosen by God and
precious to him - you also, like living stones, are being built into a
spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Christ Jesus. (1
Peter 2:4-5)
In
Nehemiah’s day
the people needed a wall to symbolize God’s protection and presence; today we know God’s presence through the Holy Spirit
and we are being built into the great wall of the church by Christ himself.
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