Nehemiah Chapter 1: Doing Something

Nehemiah Chapter 1

The Verses

1)The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. And it came to pass in the month Chisleu, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan the palace,

2)That Hanani, one of my brethren, came, he and certain men of Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews that had escaped, which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.

3)And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.

4)And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven,

5)And said, I beseech thee, O Lord God of heaven, the great and terrible God, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him and observe his commandments:

6)Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father's house have sinned.

7)We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8)Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9)But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.

10)Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hand.

11)O Lord, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy name: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Some Context

This is the first Chapter of the Book of Nehemiah. Now Nehemiah is leading the Third and LAST return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian Exile. He is so burdened with concern over both Jerusalem and its inhabitants that He makes a bold move: rebuilding the wall. But more on that later. Nehemiah is a contemporary of Ezra, meaning that he was a prophet and was around the same time as Ezra, and he was also the cup-bearer to the king in the Persian Palace. 

A Summary

In this first chapter, Nehemiah realizes that the wall of Jerusalem has been destroyed (verses 1-3) and then the rest of the chapter is spent in prayer. (In the first verse, the month of Chisleu was their ninth month, and it contained part of November and December. When Nehemiah says brethren in verse 2, he means another Jew, like him. Province in verse 3 means in Judea. In verse 11, when it says fear thy name, it's meant in the sense of worshiping thy name.) Nehemiah is in the Shushan Palace, when Hanani and some other men come by. Nehemiah asks about the state of the Jews and Jerusalem itself, when he's told just how bad things really are: The people are in bad shape, and the walls and gates are dwindled down to rubble and cinders. This greatly upsets Nehemiah (he sat down and wept when he heard the news). He actually mourned for Days, and was fasting and constantly praying to God. He begins praying and asking forgiveness on behalf of his people. But before Nehemiah begins praying and asking for help, he FIRST gives God glory and praise (verse 5). THEN He tells God that they (his people) have brought corruption to God's name, not living by the rules that God had set forth for them to live by. He even brings up scripture from the book of Leviticus when God said to Moses that if God's people become unfaithful, there will be consequences, but if they return to me, then I will forgive you and bring you out of your turmoil (Leviticus 26:33). He finishes by asking God to hear him, Nehemiah, His Servant, who worships His Name, and to help give him Victory. Then in verse 11 it leads into Nehemiah interceding between his people and the King or Persia.

Apply It

Nehemiah heard about the needs of his people, and was tore up inside about it. It bothered him. So he began to pray about it, and he eventually did something about it! Isn't that crazy?! He actually DID something. He didn't just brush the need off, or stand around saying, "Man, somebody should REALLY do something about that!" and then continue on with his day. No! He DID something. All through out our lives, we hear about horrible things happening all the time. Turn on the news, look at your phone, get on Yahoo! to check your e-mail, etc., and you'll hear about some natural disaster or a school shooting or this or that. It's become a routine part of our lives. Think back: when was the last time that you as a Christian were affected by something like this. When was the last time you turned on the news, heard about a mass shooting, and wept because of it. When was the last time you cared for more than the few minutes you kept the TV on? I'm not trying to make anyone upset by reading this, I'm trying to make a point. Nehemiah heard about a city and a people in a horrible conditions, and he WEPT. It truly upset him. So he began to pray like nobody's business. He FIRST gave God the glory that God so rightly deserves, and then he prayed about the people and the city. He asked God for forgiveness, and he asked God for victory so that something could be done to change it. Live by Nehemiah's Example! Be concerned about the well-being (and more importantly the Spiritual-being) of those that are in need! Don't let this world harden your heart. Then Pray about the need (but first Give God the Glory He Deserves [The Bad that this world causes does NOT outweigh the Good the God blesses us with]). Finally, ask God to help you DO SOMETHING about the Need! That's why God gave us the Book of Nehemiah, to show us how we should be living.

This is what the posts will be like. Please pray that God will use this to change our lives and draw us closer to Him! Please share this with someone that needs it, and comment below your thoughts. Next week: Nehemiah 2. Until then, God Bless!