Thursday, January 28, 2010

A Little More History....

This info is from a Beth Moore study on Nehemiah. It gives a little more history that I found very interesting. She, also, shares her thoughts on how Nehemiah is relevant to us today.

Enjoy...

History:

The people of Israel consisted of 12 tribes. During Solomon's reign, they divided into the 10 Northern Tribes and the 2 Southern Tribes.

The 10 Northern Tribes maintained the name Israel.

The 2 Southern Tribes took the name Judah.

God told them early on, long before they went into the promised land "if you stick with me, I will fight every battle for you. However, if you fall to the temptation of worshipping and living like the pagans around you, I will take my hand off of you in warfare. You will fall to the enemy and end up in captivity.


The Northern tribes fell into captivity first (722 BC). They (Israel) were taken in Syrian Captivity. The problem was that they assimiliated into the Syrian culture, and became like the Syrians. They fell apart. They did not unite in their captivity.

When the southern Tribes (Judah) went into Babylonian captivy (586 BC), they did not do what Israel did. They remained intact. They stuck together.


In 539 BC, the power of Babylon was broken by the Persians. The Persian king believed it was appropriate for Judah to go back to their homeland. The first exiles that returned rebuilt the temple. The second exiles were freed 20 years later. When they went back, they realized the first exiles had taken on pagan practices. One reason they did it was because they had a temple but they had no wall.

The wall represents the protection from the enemy.


Without a wall, there was no way of keeping the people of God in a protected worshipful environment, so they were subject to defeat.

Nehemiah was living in a pagan kingdom (Persia) during the first two exiles, because he had not been released yet.

Relevance in our lives:


(1) We are living in a pagan kingdom; We have compromised and gotten gray and blurry.

John 17:14 I have given them your word and the world has hated them for they are not of the world anymore than I am. My prayer is tnot that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. Santify them by the truth. If we are going to be successful in a pagan world, we must be santified by God's word and to be a spiritual filled people.

(2) Although we have been libereated in Christ, all of us have experienced captivity in this pagan kingdom.

In alot of ways Satan has us captive. ex. Division in the church... legalism....

(3) We are never more vulnerable than when we just returned from captivity.


How have you been in exile? ex....death, divorce... trying to rebuild life after a catastrophe. feeling of real vulnerability...the aftermath of a crisis...life will never be the same, but how is it gonna be, and will we make it?

(4) We must remain unified in this pagan kingdom. If we are humble and repentant, God will do mighty things.

(5) Though we are called to work here, we must resist being at home here. How do we do that? We stay connected to our real home. If we get outside God's word, we will be able to look at our lives and see how we had begun to blend in with the pagan kingdom.

(6) We, too, are cupbearers, Matt 20:22-23 Can we sit at your right hand and your left hand? He said - are you ready to drink the cup that is for me. Christ drinks THE cup, but he calls upon us, his disciples, to dirnk FROM the cup. We sip the same cup when we live the same cup when we live the same life that Christ lived on this earath. . If you have been betrayed by someone, and you let Christ teach you in this suffering, you drink from the cup. We are the cupbearers of this generations, living in a pagan world.


We are wise to do a couple of things:

Grow more aquainted with God and his people through the study of His word.

1. his personality
2. his promises
3. his practices

Nehemiah knew what to ask because he already knew God well enough to know what to ask. God is a righteous judge.

Learn to take our time with God and pour out our hearts before we take action. "for some days I mourned, and fasted, and prayed"

In a time of crisis we can't think straight....Nehemiah mourned before God for days....then he came and prayed the prayers...checking into the scriptures

We can't always know the mind of God, but we can always know the heart of God. God's heart is for people. Wait before we begin to act. Put the petition before God. Where, in your word, can I find a prescedent for what's going on.

Grow in our prayer lives. Mourn to Him.

Those who knew God best - Nehemiah, Ezra, David - had reverence and boldness in prayer.

James 4:3 When we have a request that reflects the heart of God, even if He isn't going to give it to us, then we can go before him Boldly...God will honor that kind of heart.

We are human beings filled with the Holy Spirit of God; We are the Nehemiah's of this generation, who teaches people how to live in a pagan world, and how to be secured/santified in the love of God while they are still the light of the world.

We have the same God as Nehemiah. Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.


I know this is a brief summary and may not make a lot of sense. As we get further into Nehemiah, I will spend more time in the Beth Moore study, and hopefully, go into more detail to make things more clear.

I am heading to Florida tomorrow and won't be back until Monday. We will start Nehemiah, Chapter 2, then.

Looking forward to it...

Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Nehemiah 1 - Confidence In God's Promises

I do have several commentaries I'm reading, however, I really like this sermon series from the Pontiac Church. Don't worry. I will use more sources - yes, even in chapter 1. There's some really cool, Beth Moore, stuff coming up in a few days.

But for now, back to the Pontiac Church....

While Nehemiah spends time in confession, he doesn’t wallow in a prolonged introspective examination of his failures and those of his brothers and sisters. He owns what he did wrong and then he quickly expresses confidence in God’s promises in verses 8-10: “Remember the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my name.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you redeemed by your great strength and mighty hand.”

In this part of his prayer, Nehemiah recalls the words of Moses about the danger of Israel’s apostasy (if you're like me you don't know what this word means - just in case, I looked it up. It means abandonment of one's religion ) and the promise of divine mercy.

What was the promise Nehemiah was getting at? It was twofold.

First, if Israel disobeyed, they would be sent to a foreign land. That had been fulfilled. The second part was that when the captivity was over God would send them back to Jerusalem. They were still waiting for that to be fulfilled.

Nehemiah prayed, “Lord, the first part is true. We’ve disobeyed and we’re in captivity. But Lord, you’ve made a promise to bring us back home and protect us there – and that has not happened yet. I’m claiming your promise that you’ll make it happen.”


Someone has calculated that there are over 7,000 promises in the Bible. The better we know the Word of God, the better we’ll be able to pray with confidence in God’s promises.

1 John 5:14 says, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.”

Are you as confident of God’s promises as Nehemiah was? If God said it in His Word, you can believe it and claim it. Nehemiah knew God would keep His covenant of love with his people.

My prayer for each of us that we believe it and claim it!

Monday, January 25, 2010

Nehemiah 1 - Confession of Sin

After becoming concerned about the problem, and expressing his conviction about God’s character, Nehemiah is now moved to admit his sin and the sins of his people in verses 6-7: “Let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. We have acted very wickedly toward you. We have not obeyed the commands, decrees, and laws you gave your servant Moses.”

It’s one thing to be concerned and to even have a firm conviction of who God is. It’s another thing to actually confess. Many of us never get this far. We might feel bad about our sins or be concerned about how things are going. Our theology may even be correct. We know things are bad and that God is good but we hesitate at this next step.

Nehemiah boldly asks God to hear his prayer, which literally means, “to hear intelligently with great attention.” There are, at least, three key ingredients in Nehemiah's confession of sin.

There was intensity... Overwhelmed by concern about sin and in awe of God’s character, Nehemiah gave himself to prolonged petition and intercession. He prayed day and night, spending every moment of time in God’s presence.

There was honesty...Nehemiah made no attempt to excuse the Israelites for their sin and actually owned his part in their culpability. He surveyed the grim record of Israel’s past and present failure, and he knew that he was not exempt from blame. Notice that he prays, “I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself…we have acted very wickedly…we have not obeyed…” It would have been easy for Nehemiah to look back and blame his ancestors but instead he looked within and blamed himself.

There was urgency... Nehemiah recognized that sin is not merely a stubborn refusal to obey certain rules, but is also a defiant act of aggressive personal rebellion against a holy God. He knows that they “have acted very wickedly.” He didn’t try to candy-coat his sin. He owned it and called it what it was.

Trying to hide our sins from God is impossible. He knows all about them. Numbers 32:23 reminds us that, “…you may be sure that your sin will find you out.” We need to recognize that all sin, those things we have blatantly done or carelessly committed, or those things that we have left undone, must be identified and then confessed.


It’s better to confess sin now than to wait until it exposes us.

Is there any sin that you are aware of that is being hidden today?

Nehemiah 1 - God's Character

After Nehemiah hears the news, he next expresses his understanding of God’s character in verse 5: “O Lord, God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps His covenant of love with those who love Him and obey His commands.”

Nehemiah called God “Lord.” He recognized the Lord as his master – in verse 6, he refers to himself as God’s servant. He then refers to His Lord as the “God of Heaven.” He acknowledged that his God was beyond the earthly realm and above all other gods. He next refers to Him as “great and awesome.” God deserves to be honored, revered and feared by all because of who He is. Finally, Nehemiah describes God as the one who “keeps His covenant of love.” God is truthful, faithful and can be trusted.

His boss, the king, was the greatest and mightiest on earth, but compared to God, Artaxerxes was nothing. Nehemiah was in Susa and his concern is in far off-Jerusalem, but both cities – one rich, the other poor, one strong the other weak, one proud, the other broken.

Because of his understanding of God’s character, Nehemiah knew that God was not only able, but also willing to respond to his prayer.

In biblical times, names were given to describe the person either by their occupation, personality, character and more. Names were like a label. God's name was first not spoken by the early biblical Hebrews in reverence to Him.

However, God has many names in the Bible that describe who He is and what His character is like, so that His people can know more about Him. Biblical characters, like Abraham, gave a name to God according to His character.

Studying these names of God gives us a better understanding of who God is. Discovering and understanding God's character helps us build a closer relationship with Him.

I have attached a link with the names of God. I hope this helps us all understand His character more deeply, as Nehemiah did. http://ldolphin.org/Names.html

Sources: e:how
Pontiac Bible Church

Sunday, January 24, 2010

Nehemiah 1 - Prayer

Prayer is one of the overriding themes of the book and the secret to Nehemiah’s success. The prayer in chapter one is the first of 12 different prayers recorded in the book. It begins with prayer in Persia and closes with prayer in Jerusalem. His prayers are prayers of anguish, joy, protection, dependence and commitment.

Its a story of compassionate, persistent, personal and corporate prayer. Prayer gives Nehemiah perspective; it widens his horizons, sharpens his vision and dwarfs his anxieties.

Nehemiah’s public life was the outflow of his personal life, which was steeped in, and shaped by, a lifestyle of prayer. His devotion to God, his dependence on Him for everything, and his desire for the glory of God found equal expression. He knew that only ventures that are begun in prayer and bathed in prayer throughout are likely to be blessed.

The first place Nehemiah started was with a concern about the problem in verses 1-4.

CONCERN About the Problem. We know from verse 11 that Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the king. His job was to taste the king’s wine before the king drank it to make sure it was not poisoned.

As cupbearer, Nehemiah had a great job. He had intimate access to royalty, political standing, and a place to live in the palace. It was a cushy job that provided everything he needed. And yet, when one of his brothers returned from a road trip to Jerusalem, verse 2 says that Nehemiah “questioned them about the Jewish remnant that survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem.”

Nehemiah was greatly concerned about what was happening in Jerusalem. He could have insulated himself if he chose to, but he didn’t. He sought them out and wanted to hear the first-hand report.

This is an important starting point. It’s so easy for us to stay uninvolved and unaware. Some of us don’t want to even think about stuff that’s going on in our own lives, much less take the time to investigate what is happening in the lives of others. Even though Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem, he had heard stories about it, and knew that his ancestors had been led away in chains when Babylon destroyed it. He was doing what Jeremiah 51:50 instructed the exiles to do: “…Remember the Lord in a distant land, and think on Jerusalem.”

As he thought on Jerusalem, he listened to the report in verse 3 that the survivors were in great trouble and disgrace, that the wall of Jerusalem was in shambles and that its gates had been burned with fire. As he tried to imagine the shame in the city of David, he could barely stand it.

Nehemiah was broken over the complacency of the people of Jerusalem. They were living in ruins and they accepted it. They were willing to walk around the devastation instead of being concerned enough to do something about their situation. Nothing is ever going to change in our lives, in the life of this church, or for that matter, our nation, until we become concerned about the problem.

Some of us have become complacent about the way our lives are going. We're living with rubble and it doesn’t even bother us any more. Are we ready to allow God to do some rebuilding? If so, we need to become concerned about the problem by listening to the facts – even if we don’t want to hear them.

When Nehemiah heard the report, he hit the ground and began to weep in verse 4. He also fasted. In the Old Testament, fasting was only required once a year, but here we see Nehemiah refraining from food for several days. In fact, we know from comparing the different dates in this book that he wept, fasted, and prayed for four months! These are all signs of humility and show his deep concern for the problem.

Do you need some rebuilding today? Are your defenses broken down such that you are allowing some practices and sins to control your life?

Before you can ask God to rebuild, you must first become concerned about the problem
.

Please feel free to comment on any of the questions that you are comfortable sharing about. Obviously, any other comments are welcome as well.

Source: Pontiac Bible Church

Saturday, January 23, 2010

History

In the history of Babylon, Exile was second in importance to the Exodus in Jewish history. The pens of the prophets were silenced in Babylon for 70 years as Israel repented and waited for deliverance.

As I was typing/reading Nehemiah 1, I, finally, just sat back and thought to myself...I'm starting to read in the "middle" of a story. It's like I opened up a book and began on page 65, not page 1, like most stories begin.

So, today, I want to share a little hitory of how we get to what we're reading in Nehemiah 1.

Deportations of Jews from Judah and Israel took place during several eras in ancient history. The Babylonian exile lasted from 586-538 BC. “Exile” means that they were forced to live outside of the Promised Land. Babylon had replaced Assyria as the reigning world power after defeating Egypt at the battle of Carchemish in 609 BC. They conquered Jerusalem in 586. (All dates are BC – Before Christ) This was the main exile of Israel when the Temple was flattened and Jerusalem was destroyed.

These deportations from the Promised Land actually began under the Assyrians as early as 733. These were deported to Ninevah. More deportations to Babylon occurred in 605, 597 and 582. Many of the Israelites had chosen to flee voluntarily and had settled in Syria, Egypt and Turkey. This was a very dark period in the history of Israel. There was no king and no temple.

Psalm 137

How Shall We Sing the LORD’s Song?
By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there we hung up our lyres.
For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying,
"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"
How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill!
Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy!
Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites
the day of Jerusalem, how they said,
"Lay it bare, lay it bare, down to its foundations!"
O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed,
blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us!
Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock!

The Books of I and II Kings were written about the period leading up to the Babylonian exile to show the people how their plight was the result of Israel’s sin.

The Book of Daniel is the only record of Israel’s time in Babylon. While the first half of Daniel is considered historical it speaks only about Daniel and his experiences there. It is a theological work, not a history book. He had been a relative of King Zedekiah and was stationed in the royal court of Nebuchadnezzar.

All that we have from the exile is what Daniel tells us about the King and what went on in the palace. Daniel rose quickly in rank while serving the King and eventually rose to a position where he oversaw the whole empire. Stories like Daniel in the Lion’s Den and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (The three men who survived the furnace), were meant to inspire the Jews to remain true to their faith. Daniel and the three young men did and God protected them.

Jeremiah’s prophesy ends with the capture of Jerusalem and Lamentations is a description of a desolate Jerusalem after the armies of Babylon have plundered and destroyed it. There wasn’t any writing or prophecy during the exile.

In 539 Persia replaced Babylon as the new dominant empire. They did not believe in exile, but in resettlement. King Cyrus of Persia decreed that any Jews who wanted to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple could do so. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah record the returns of exiles from Babylon to Israel.


The first return occurred in 538 under the leadership of Zerubbabel. Ezra gives the exact numbers of returnees as 42,360 Jews with 7,337 servants and 200 singers. They are listed by “clans” in Ezra 2. They also brought back horses, mules, camels, donkeys and gold and silver vessels. The temple is rebuilt under Zerubbabel. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah are writing during this period. Zerubbabel seems slow to rebuild and Haggai spurs him on.

Another return took place when Ezra went to Jerusalem with 1,754 males and some gold and silver. The other significant return spoken of in the Bible was Nehemiah. Nehemiah got an armed escort to bring him safely to Jerusalem. He was there to be the governor and to fortify the city.

While nothing was produced in the exile from the point of view of scripture, this was probably the SECOND most important event in Jewish history, after the Exodus.

The Israelite nation underwent some profound changes. Being separated from all signs and symbols of their God, they learned how much God meant to them. The dream and the promise of the continuing kingship of David’s descendents had been shattered.

The synagogue probably got its start during the exile.

The people of God realized that the exile was a punishment for past sins. Israel would become a kingdom of ecclesiastical rulers: Sadducees, Pharisees, High Priests and Scribes. There would NEVER be another Jewish king of Israel.

Sources:
Halley’s Bible Handbook, Zondervan, 2000
William Neil’s One Volume
Bible Commentary, Hodder & Stoughton, 1962

Disclaimer

First, let me say...I DO NOT KNOW much about the Bible. I haven't read it like I should (especially, the Old Testament), I have not studied it that much. The saving grace is that I KNOW that I DON'T KNOW MUCH!

That being said, I am committed to putting in the effort into sharing from different commentaries, websites, etc. to make this as educational/interesting as possible. With that being said, please feel free to correct me AT ANY TIME.

We're just all learning together.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Nehemiah 1

Nehemiah 1 (ESV)

The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah.

And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, "The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire."

As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

And I said, "O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses.

Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.'

They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

Now I was cupbearer to the king.

Nehemiah 1 (Message)

The memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah.

It was the month of Kislev in the twentieth year. At the time I was in the palace complex at Susa. Hanani, one of my brothers, had just arrived from Judah with some fellow Jews. I asked them about the conditions among the Jews there who had survived the exile, and about Jerusalem.

They told me, "The exile survivors who are left there in the province are in bad shape. Conditions are appalling. The wall of Jerusalem is still rubble; the city gates are still cinders."

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God-of-Heaven.

I said, "God, God-of-Heaven, the great and awesome God, loyal to his covenant and faithful to those who love him and obey his commands: Look at me, listen to me. Pay attention to this prayer of your servant that I'm praying day and night in intercession for your servants, the People of Israel, confessing the sins of the People of Israel. And I'm including myself, I and my ancestors, among those who have sinned against you.

"We've treated you like dirt: We haven't done what you told us, haven't followed your commands, and haven't respected the decisions you gave to Moses your servant.

All the same, remember the warning you posted to your servant Moses: 'If you betray me, I'll scatter you to the four winds, but if you come back to me and do what I tell you, I'll gather up all these scattered peoples from wherever they ended up and put them back in the place I chose to mark with my Name.'

"Well, there they are—your servants, your people whom you so powerfully and impressively redeemed. O Master, listen to me, listen to your servant's prayer—and yes, to all your servants who delight in honoring you—and make me successful today so that I get what I want from the king."

I was cupbearer to the king.

What and Why?

God laid on my heart last year that I was to do a study on the book of Nehemiah. As usual, I started it, got distracted, and moved on.

Well, the thoughts are back. Thanks to a stranger named Alison, who's blog, The Matthew Project, can be seen at http://lifeisajourney-alison.blogspot.com/, I got the idea to do this bible study in blog land, so others can share.

So, here's how it will work. On Monday's, (except for this week, because I'm so excited) I will copy the scripture for the week into the blog. During the week, I will add insights that I have studied from various sources.

Scripture is in bold.
Commentary is in italics.

Make sure to read the comments, that's where we'll all share our thoughts.

Your "job" is to add any comments, insights, thoughts, etc. you have throughout the week.

If no one participates, I'll still accomplish my goal of studying Nehemiah.

If you do participate, I'll just get added wisdom!