Today we get to walk though our 5 week sermon series through the book of Nehemiah. Nehemiah is the 16th book of the bible if you are looking for it today. 

Before we actually jump into the teaching of Nehemiah, I want to help us understand the context of the book, or in other words, take a look at what is going on in the book.

Background:

• [586 B.C.] Jerusalem is destroyed and the temple is burned.
• Babylonian Exile begins.
• [539 B.C.] Babylon falls to Medes and Persians.
• [536 B.C.] Zerubbabel leads the first wave of Jewish exiles back to Jerusalem. Ezra 1-6
• 57 years pass before the next wave of exile returns. (This is Esther’s time)
• [535 B.C.] Rebuilding the temple begins.
• [516 B.C.] Temple was completed and dedicated.
• [455 B.C.] Ezra leads the second wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. Ezra 7-10
• [445 B.C.] Nehemiah leads the third wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. Nehemiah 1-3
• 52 days after Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, the wall which roughly spanned 2 miles and included 10 gates and 8 towers was finished. 

I would like to take a look at Nehemiah 1 through these 3 lenses:

The Report (vv. 1-3)

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 citadel, 2 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. 3 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.” Nehemiah 1:1–3.

Although Nehemiah held a position of high importance in Persia, he was not one to forget his own people. We get the feeling that Nehemiah was excited in these couple of verses not just because he was getting to see his brother, but because he came with news of his home. The place of God’s promise. 

In the same way, when Nehemiah hears of his people and his homeland, he is heartbroken over the entire situation. He is a man of passion and a leader among leaders. But his response isn’t to abandon his post, grab some tools, and start swinging a hammer….

The Response (v. 4)

4 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. Nehemiah 1:4.

The Request pt. 1 (vv. 5-11)

5 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, 6 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. 7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. 8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, 9 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.’ 10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. 11 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 1:5–11.

The Request pt. 2 (2:1-8)

In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was before him, I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence. 2 And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. 3 I said to the king, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ graves, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?” 4 Then the king said to me, “What are you requesting?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. 5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’ graves, that I may rebuild it.” 6 And the king said to me (the queen sitting beside him), “How long will you be gone, and when will you return?” So it pleased the king to send me when I had given him a time. 7 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given me to the governors of the province Beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, 8 and a letter to Asaph, the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the fortress of the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall occupy.” And the king granted me what I asked, for the good hand of my God was upon me. Nehemiah 2:1–8.