11.4 Nehemiah Cleans House

Some time later I asked his permission and came back to Jerusalem. Here I learned about the evil thing Eliashib had done in providing Tobiah a room in the courts of the house of God. I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room. I gave orders to purify [...]

8.6 Pure vs. Impure

These searched for their family records, but they could not find them and so were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. (Nehemiah 7:64)

Verses 4-63 of chapter seven list the exiles who returned. The list ends with Nehemiah’s note that those who could not prove their family lineage were excluded from the priesthood as unclean. Some [...]

8.1 Assigning Gatekeepers

My temptations are my masters of Divinity.
–Martin Luther

After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers and the singers and the Levites were appointed. I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man [...]

5.15 Warrior – Wallbuilder

From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, [...]

5.7 Post a Guard

So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the men of Ashdod heard that the repairs to Jerusalem’s walls had gone ahead and that the gaps were being closed, they were very angry. [...]

2:1 Nehemiah’s Prayer: A Short History of Israel’s Temple Problems

Nehemiah: Chapter 1
The words of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah:  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 survived the exile, and also about Jerusalem. 
They said [...]

1:2 Preface: A Different Approach

The book of Nehemiah is a great story that has much to teach us about courage, leadership, faithfulness to God’s call and more.  Without discounting any of these approaches to the book, I would like to approach it from a different perspective.  Consider the book of Nehemiah as a metaphor, as a vivid word picture [...]