Nehemiah: Building Walls & Gates. part 1

Introduction and Background

This is a detailed study of the first 6 chapters of the Book of Nehemiah, which tells the account of Nehemiah going to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls and gates of the city. This study also discusses the relationship between the name and function of the gates of Jerusalem to ministries in the church today. I originally wrote this Bible Study about 8 years ago, so this is a rewrite and revision of the original. Because it is lengthy and detailed, I am breaking it into multiple parts. I will write and publish a part every 2 or 3 weeks until it is completed.

If the books of the Bible were arranged in historical order, from longest ago to most recent, the Book of Nehemiah would be the last book in the Old Testament. It contains the last events recorded before the birth of Christ in the New Testament. The events in the Book of Nehemiah occurred from 444 B.C. to 432 B.C. This was over 400 years before the birth of Christ, and a thousand years after the time of Moses. To get a fuller and more complete understanding of Nehemiah, you need to know what events shaped the middle eastern world and particularly the Jewish people of that time. 

About 150 years before the time of Nehemiah, the Babylonian empire, led by King Nebuchadnezzar, invaded and conquered the land of Judah. When the Babylonians conquered a land, they plundered it's wealth, stealing everything of value, and destroyed public buildings.  They leave the conquered territory wasted and useless. This is what they did to the city of Jerusalem. They destroyed the city and tore down the once glorious Temple of Solomon. In addition, they carried away most of the population into captivity to Babylon, to be servants and slaves. 

In about 550 B.C., Cyrus, the king of Persia, overthrew Nebuchadnezzar's empire and became ruler over the middle eastern world. The Persians kings implemented a policy of rebuilding conquered lands and then collecting taxes from them. They encouraged the captive Jews to return to their homeland. 

The capital city of the Persian Empire was Susa. In the world today, Susa would be in western Iran, about 31 miles from the border with Iraq. The journey from Susa to Jerusalem was a thousand-mile trip going through areas now in Iraq, Syria, and then Israel. It took about 4 months to complete the journey.

The first large group of 50,000 exiles returned with political and religious leader Zerubabbel, in 536 B.C.  Many years later, in 457 B.C., a 2nd large group returned with Ezra the Scribe. By 444 B.C., only 2 or 3 % of the Jews in the land of Persia had migrated back to Judah. Conditions in the Jewish homeland were too dangerous and hostile for most of them to consider going back. It was at this point that God raised up Nehemiah, and the historical account in the Book of Nehemiah begins. 

THE OPENING

Nehemiah 1:1-3  These are the memoirs of Nehemiah son of Hacaliah. In late autumn, in the month of Kislev, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was at the fortress of Susa. 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. They said to me, “Things are not going well for those who returned to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down, and the gates have been destroyed by fire."

Nehemiah identifies himself as the writer, and that he lived in the palace of the Persian King Artaxerxes, in the capital city of Susa (we will find out why he lives there at the end of chapter 1). He meets with a brother and other men that just returned from Jerusalem, and asks about the conditions there. Nehemiah is told that the people of Jerusalem are in trouble and disgrace and that the walls and gates of the city are torn down and destroyed.

The Hebrew word translated in the 3rd verse as "great trouble" is ra'. It is a complex word with multiple definitions attached to it. First, it means adversity. The conditions in Jerusalem were hostile. The Jews were being subjected to all kinds of bad things. They were being raided and robbed. Women were being raped and molested. They had no protection. The second meaning is hurting. They were suffering because of the condition they lived in.  The third meaning is sorrow. They were filled with frustration and great sorrow.

The Hebrew word used for "disgrace" in verse 3, is Cherpah. The word can be defined as disgraceful. But the word has a connotation or picture image associated with it needed to understand its full meaning. That picture image is of a wagging finger of shame in your face. They were being taunted as if saying "Look how your god is taking care of you now."

Nehemiah was told that the walls of the city had been torn down. The city and its people had no protection from the outside. Enemies from the outside raided the city and plundered the people at will. The city's inhabitants lived in fear, insecurity, and frustration.  The news was very bad. The reaction from Nehemiah, and what he plans to do about it will be covered in part 2 of this study. 

END

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Much of the source material for this study comes from the following:

"Studies in Nehemiah"  book by Dr. Ronald E. Cottle. 1997
Syllabus and Study Guide for the course "Studies in Nehemiah," by Dr. Ronald E. Cottle