Nehemiah 7:1-73

Introduction

This chapter is mainly concerning the establishment of worship in the Jerusalem and the temple.  Before worship can really be established in a Godly way, the genealogy of all the people must be ascertained, mainly so the priests and Levites will be of the tribe of Levi.  Under the Jewish laws, only those that are true Jews are allowed to administer the ordinances of worship.  To us, this may seem harsh, but God does exactly the same thing today.  Only those who are called and ordained of God can administer the ordinances of true worship.  Those that are not called can stand in the place of authority and declare that they are doing God's will, but God will not accept their labor, nor reward them for it.  There is coming a day of judgment, when only those things that are done according to God's laws will be accepted.

Verse 1,2, Now it came to pass, when the wall was built, and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites were appointed, {2} That I gave my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Jerusalem: for he was a faithful man, and feared God above many.

I.    Nehemiah set up preliminary worship of God before he established secular control.

A.  It is more important to establish worship than secular government.

B.   If worship is established first, then the secular government will have a foundation for its existence and laws.

C.   There is more religious exercises to establish, but there musts be a beginning somewhere.

1.   A porter is a gatekeeper, whether of the city walls or the temple.  I really don't know if these porters were in charge of the gates of the city, or of the gates of the temple.  It does seem from the context that the service of the temple is the subject.

2.   A singer is one that sings praises to God.

3.   The Levites are the tribe of Israel that directs Israel in her worship.

II.   Nehemiah retained control over Jerusalem until his appointed mission was completed.

A.  Just as soon as the wall was built, and the beginning of worship was established, he turned his authority over to two men.

1.   This act should convince anybody that Nehemiah does not intend to rebel against the king, or establish himself as king.

2.   These men received "mayor" over Jerusalem not because of political power, but because of humility.

3.   I believe Nehemiah gave the authority to two men because "two heads are better than one".

4.   Deut. 32:30, "How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock, had sold them, and the LORD had shut them up?"

B.   The giving of authority to his brother Hanani was not nepotism.

1.   Nehemiah clearly states that these two men were faithful to God's commands, and feared God above many.

2.   The statement "feared God above many" shows there were others in Jerusalem that feared God, but they needed more than "fear" to be able to rule, they must have the administrative abilities such a position requires.

C.   The administrative abilities of Hananiah and Hanani.

1.   Hananiah has shown administrative abilities by already being the successful ruler over Jerusalem.

2.   Hanani shows his administrative abilities for he traveled to and fro, see Nehemiah 1:1,2.

3.   Traveling in itself is not necessarily a qualification, but having a need to travel on business does.

D.  There is a great need for secular leaders that fear God.

1.   Today, there is a great cry for separation of church and state.

a.   Separation of church and state originally meant that the government would not endorse or support with tax dollars any religion.

b.   Now it has come to mean that secular leaders should not mention the name of God, or pray to God, or trust God in anything.

2.   One of the reasons our nation is in the trouble it is in, is because our leaders have forgotten God, God's Word, and the principles of government established in the Bible.

3.   Nehemiah understands this principle, and established Godly men to rule Jerusalem, even though Jerusalem was ruled by heathens.

E.   This shows us that we ought to do what we can, even in a very imperfect world.

1.   We won't be able to control very many things, but we ought to be able to control some things about our home, our family, and our local situation.

2.   God sees and understands our plight in this world, and will reward us accordingly.

Verse 3,4  And I said unto them, Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot; and while they stand by, let them shut the doors, and bar them: and appoint watches of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch, and every one to be over against his house. {4} Now the city was large and great: but the people were few therein, and the houses were not builded.

I.    It might seem odd, at first, that this command was given.

A.  Up to this point, anybody could come and go in Jerusalem as they wanted, but just as soon as the wall is completed, and the gates put in the walls, then command is given to shut the gates!  Is that because they are now interested in protecting themselves, and haven't been before?

B.   Verse 3 - Opening and closing the gates.

1.   No need of a wall if the gates aren't controlled.

2.   No need of a Bible if we don't read it.

3.   Watches - against our house - the more careful.

4.   Except the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh in vain - This is so for our church.

C.   The point is: when we are without protection, and are not being foolish, but are trying to protect ourselves, God will "fill in the gap" and protect us.  But when God gives us physical things to help us, He expects us to use those things to protect ourselves.

1.   When we are without understanding, God "fills in the gap", protecting us from things that will get us in trouble.  But when we have knowledge, God expects us to use the knowledge He has given us to keep ourselves out of trouble.

2.   We might stumble into temptation, but God will keep us from falling completely because we don't understand, but when we understand certain dangers of a sin, and walk into it, God just might let us fall into that temptation and sin.

D.  Closing the gates is as it should be.

1.   The king of Persia, Artaxerxes, would certainly expect Nehemiah to close the gates.  That was the entire purpose of building the wall.

2.   It would be completely stupid and illogical to build the wall, then not close the gates.

3.   The wall is for protection from enemies.  The Jews can now live in the city of Jerusalem without worrying about their enemies coming upon them unawares.  

E.   The gates are to be closed and barred.

1.   This is evidently some type of board, or rod that fits across the gates, perhaps fitting into the adjoining wall.

2.   When this bar was in place, it would be almost impossible for any intruder to enter.

II.   Setting up the watches.

A.  It is likely the porters were in charge of closing and barring the gates.

B.   Nehemiah also gave each household the responsibility of taking care of their own house.

1.   This is very practical.

2.   The responsibility of keeping the city was not delegated to one or two people or families for there were too many things they could miss.

3.   When everybody in the city has charge of a certain section of the wall to protect, they will do a better job.

III. This same principle works today.

A.  The responsibility of keeping the church starts with each family keeping themselves.

1.   If church members expect their pastor to keep the church pure, and don't do anything themselves, the church will soon go into ruin.

2.   If church members expect their pastor, or somebody else, to witness, while they don't, there soon won't be any witnessing.

B.   The responsibility of keeping a nation starts with each family keeping themselves.

1.   A nation is only as strong as the individuals who make up that nation.

2.   If individual people aren't patriotic and believe in the values taught by that nation, that nation shall not stand.

C.   The responsibility of keeping a community starts with each family keeping themselves.

1.   Today, much of the responsibility of keeping a community safe from criminals has been taken from the common people and put in the hands of “experts”.

2.   Things sure have got in a bad condition, haven't they?

3.   The "experts" believe it is wrong for a private citizen to protect their own property, but expect the police to do it.

4.   But the criminal is gone before the police are able to get there.

5.   The end result of this kind of thinking is that private citizens are penalized and sometimes punished for protecting private possessions.

Verse 5-7, And my God put into mine heart to gather together the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that they might be reckoned by genealogy. And I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at the first, and found written therein, {6} These are the children of the province, that went up out of the captivity, of those that had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried away, and came again to Jerusalem and to Judah, every one unto his city; {7} Who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Azariah, Raamiah, Nahamani, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispereth, Bigvai, Nehum, Baanah. The number, I say, of the men of the people of Israel was this;

I.    A direct result of Nehemiah seeing the desolation of Jerusalem was that the city be filled with Jews.

A.  It is important to notice that God didn't put into Nehemiah's heart to fill Jerusalem until the building of the wall was complete.

1.   God always goes one step at a time.

2.   He expects us to do the same.

3.   If we begin to take on too much at a time, we'll get bogged down and won't accomplish as much.

B.   Building the wall was enough to keep Nehemiah, and the people busy.

1.   Isn't it marvelous how God keeps us from thinking about some things until the time is right?

2.   When Nehemiah's mind isn't filled with thoughts of building the wall, his mind, by the leadership of God, immediately goes to the next step in rebuilding Jerusalem as a world city.

3.   In order to reestablish the worship of God in Israel, the city must be a place of safety, population, then worship.

II.   Some points about this genealogy.

A.  God put it in Nehemiah's heart.

1.   Every good thing comes from God, not ourselves.

2.   We ought to attribute every good thing to God, every evil thing to ourselves.

B.   The purpose of the genealogy was to call the people into Jerusalem to rebuild their houses and live there.

III. Verse 8-38 gives the general population of the people.

A.  They are described by either the family, the town or the city they are from.

B.   I have made a comparison between this list and the one given in Ezra chapter 2.

1.   There are some differences in names, probably caused by different ways of pronouncing, and some differences in population, probably caused by copying errors.

a.   Perhaps some of the people changed their minds about leaving Babylon and returning to Jerusalem.

b.   It may be that some people died in route to Jerusalem.

2.   The city of Magbish (Ezra 2:30) is not included in Nehemiah's list.

a.   It may be that Ezra's list is made up of those families that decided to leave Babylon and Nehemiah's list is made up of those families that arrived at Jerusalem.

b.   If this is so, then we can assume that the family of Magbish decided to stay at Babylon after signing up for the trip.

Verse 39-60 gives the list of the priests, Levites, and nethinim (One given, or temple servants {as given up to that duty}).

Ezra 2:55-57, The children of Solomon's servants.

People who could not make out their genealogy

Ezra 2:59-63 is the list of people (whether common people or priests) who traveled to Jerusalem but who could not make out their genealogy.

A.  Verse 59,60 - People from Telmelah, Telharsa, Cherub, Addan, and Immer, but could not show their genealogy.

Nehemiah 7:61-65 gives the identical list of cities and people, with the exception that of numbering 642 instead of 652, a decrease of 10.

B.   It must be noted that this Tobiah is not the same Tobiah has been fighting the building of the wall.

1.   This Tobiah came from Babylon with Zerubbabel.

2.   The other Tobiah is a servant, an Ammonite, Nehemiah 2:10).

Some "Priests" who could make out their genealogy

Ezra 2:61,62 - Some priests were counted as polluted because they could not find their genealogy.  They should not eat of the most holy things until they received a special word from God, (verse 63).

Nehemiah 7:63-65 is identical to Ezra 2:61,62.

The Total Population

The total of the entire congregation was  42,360.

Nehemiah 7:66-69 is identical to Ezra 2:64-67.

Some Conclusions

The total of all the congregation by taking the sum of the figures listed is no more than 29,829.

1.   John Gill says it is because the Jews didn't count those who returned who are of other tribes.

2.   John Calvin states that the older texts were probably illegible, thus mistakes were made when they were copied.

a.   I reject this idea entirely.

b.   Those people would know the figures didn't add up and would certainly find out why, and make the needed corrections.

Verse 70-73, And some of the chief of the fathers gave unto the work. The Tirshatha gave to the treasure a thousand drams of gold, fifty basins, five hundred and thirty priests' garments. {71} And some of the chief of the fathers gave to the treasure of the work twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand and two hundred pound of silver. {72} And that which the rest of the people gave was twenty thousand drams of gold, and two thousand pound of silver, and threescore and seven priests' garments. {73} So the priests, and the Levites, and the porters, and the singers, and some of the people, and the Nethinims, and all Israel, dwelt in their cities; and when the seventh month came, the children of Israel were in their cities.

I.    It is difficult to understand whether these verses are talking about Ezra 2:68-3:1, or the present time.

A.  There are some similarities.

1.   There are gifts given for the work of God.

2.   These gifts are freely given at Jerusalem.

3.   The gifts include money and garments.

4.   The priests, Levites, some of the people, the singers, the porters, and Nethinims dwell in Jerusalem.

5.   When the seventh month comes, Israel is dwelling in their own cities.

6.   All Israel gathers themselves to Jerusalem as one man to worship God.

B.   There are some differences.

1.   The donations in Ezra and Nehemiah are not the same amount.

2.   They are not given at the same time.

3.   The gifts are not the same.

4.   The people that give the gifts are not the same.

C.   It may be that these are different occasions, yet they are similar because any time any of God's people get right with Him, they will automatically do the same thing.

D.  I have noticed that when saved people are serving God, they will always do the same thing.

1.   They will be very faithful in their daily Bible readings and prayers.

2.   They will be faithful employees and employers.

3.   They will be faithful witnesses to God's goodness toward them.

4.   They will be very faithful to attend and support their local church and pastor.

III. It is very difficult to ascertain the exact amount of dollars this sum represents.  The following information is taken from a chart of monies, weights, and measures found in the back of Debby All's Bible.

A.  A days wage is assumed to be about $32.00.

B.   There are differences of economies and standards of living today, and there were differences 2,000 years ago.

C.   The following chart represents the estimated present day value of the gifts given for the rebuilding of the wall.

D.  It must be understood that these values in no way represent the total given to the temple work.

III. The gifts for the work of God.

A.  The Tirshatha (ruler, which is Nehemiah) gives:

1.   1000 drams of gold.

2.   50 basons.

3.   530 priests' garments.

B.   Some of the chief of the fathers:

1.   20,000 drams of gold.

2.   2,200 pound of silver

C.   The rest of the people.

1.   20,000 drams of gold.

2.   2,000 pounds of silver.

3.   67 priests garments.