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CARED TO ASK (v.1-3)
CARED TO ASK (v.1-3)
NASB951 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa the capitol,
NLT2 Hanani, one of my brothers, came to visit me with some other men who had just arrived from Judah. I asked them about the Jews who had returned there from captivity and about how things were going in Jerusalem.
NET3 They said to me, “The remnant that remains from the exile there in the province are experiencing considerable adversity and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem lies breached, and its gates have been burned down!”
There are 8 things we need to note from this section:
(v.1) ChislevA Babylonian month … the Jews probably followed the Babylonian calendar after their Babylonian Captivity in 586BC and continued using it (although they were in control of Persia). In our Calendar Chislev is from mid November to mid December.
2. (v.1) The 20th year probably of Artexerxes I would be 445BC
3. (v.1) Susa was where the winter fortress of Artexerxes I and was the capital of the whole world.Susa means pipes of song or the lilyThe palace has been excavated and can be visited todayshow pictures.The palace was built by Darius I (probably) and was used by several of his successors.the palace was a square building (350 feet each side) that had 72 stone columns estimated to be 65-80 feet tall. the palace had an audience hall, harem (for woman and children), entrance door, about 110 rooms, 6 courtyards covered with red bricks. (in 461 BC - 16 years before events of Nehemiah)) suffered a fire and was rebuilt by Artexerxes the 2ndBONUS VIDEOS - showing a bull column in the palace https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjxCTApdX3Q; Archeological site of the Palace and the area https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scGhHzkd6Ng
4. (v.1) Nehemiah lived in the Palace of Susa because God put Nehemiah in Susa just like He put Esther is the same place a generation before to influence the king, or like God put Daniel in Babylon, or Joseph in Egypt.
NKJV1 The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, Like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes.
Often times God guides the kings heart by placing a godly person close to the office of the King.All to say God is in control
5. (v.2) These men came from Judea to Susa! I had a theory that Nehemiah must have had such a passion for Jerusalem that he sent out his brother and some men to check out the status of Jerusalem, but historian Josephus says that while Nehemiah was in Susa he heard some men speaking in Hebrew and Nehemiah asked where they came from and they said Judea and Nehemiah then asked the status of Jersualem..No matter what we know that Nehemiah must have had a huge heart for JerusalemIt has been said that the real Jew never gets Jerusalem out of his heart … this was Nehemiah … He lived in Susa which was 764.5 miles from Jersualem and his heart was set on Jerusalem. (fun fact only Jerusalem and Susa are mentioned in and Susa is the furthest place from Jerusalem in the whole book (except maybe Immer in )Now not only did he have a huge heart for Jerusalem but also for the people living there. He wanted to hear of their success but he heard that they are suffering.. which broke his heart. Showing us that he had compassion for God’s people.
He had the heart of
NKJV5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem, Let my right hand forget its skill! 6 If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth— If I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy.
5. (v.2) Nehemiah ovbiously cared so much about Jerusalem that even though he lived in Susa his heart was in JerusalemAs soon as he heard of people coming from there he asked how Jerusalem was doing.That is astonishing Nehemiah even cared because he was in a position with so much responsibility that was vitally important that you wouldn’t think he would cared about the tiny wrecked ruin of an ancient city. But Nehemiah has a heart like God - not focused on himself but on others.A century and a half before the time of Nehemiah the prophet Jeremiah said in
NKJV5 “For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing?
Nehemiah is that guy!Nehemiah asked because he had a caring heart.
Warren Wiersbe: “When we truly care about people, we want the facts, no matter how painful they may be.”
Are we the kind of people that care enough to ask “what is really going?”?
7. (v.3) In verse 3 we read about the state of Jerusalem (adversity, reproach, breached walls, burnt down gates). Josephus actually details more about what these men told Nehemiah:
Josephus says they told him that: (paraphrase): “neighboring nations were causing mischief, in the day time they would overrun the city, and rob them with violence, in the night time they would cause a lot of trouble and would take a lot of people away captive and send them away from Jerusalem, and then in the daytime they would find the roads full of dead men.”
This caused the Jews as described in verse 3 to be going through adversity and reproach.... When you are constantly attacked and constantly brought to shame and disappoint if you have no encouragement, or help you can fall into a permament place of doom, depression and fear.Which is what happened to the Jews and so they lost any passion they may have about the city.... Before all this and even to this day the Jews loved to brag about Jerusalem (see ,,,)… but they have no reason to brag now… hope is lost
All in all Nehemiah learned 3 things from the report of the state of Jerusalem: remnant, ruin, and reproach
Soon God will use Nehemiah to reunify, rebuild, and rejoice.
9. (v.3) Note: Nehemiah’s life changed in a moment....The day was probably an average day until suddenly he heard people speaking about Hebrew and gave him an update about Jerusalem. We will see how from this update Nehemiah will become one of the greatest leaders of the Bible, and a major histrorical figure in Jewish history… and have babies named after himIt just took one day and one conversation for his life to totally change. A huge thing we can learn is that how quickly our life can change…Just like it was a regular day for Moses taking care of sheep in the dessert then suddenly called to be a prophet (). Or David who was shepherding then suddenly anointed king (). Or Peter,Andrew, James and John that were mending their nets then suddenly called to become fishers of men().You never know when God may call you…