Nehemiah | The One Who Comforts
“When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. I said, ‘I beseech You, O LORD God of Heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant, Moses. Remember the word which 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 those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.” ‘They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.’ Now I was the cupbearer to the king.” Nehemiah 1:4-11
NEHEMIAH’S JOURNEY
The name Nehemiah means “Jehovah comforts,” which means that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are Comforters. Nehemiah was a famous cupbearer who never appeared in scripture outside this book. As with the books of Ezra and Esther—named as his contemporaries, this book recounts selective events of his leadership. Nehemiah was one of the Hebrew people's greatest leaders throughout the Old Testament. The Greek and the Latin Vulgate had originally named this book 2nd Ezra. Even though the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are separate in most English Bibles, they may have once been joined together as they currently are in the Hebrew text, which is an extremely significant piece we need to keep in mind. Jewish history has proven that Nehemiah is the very last book written before the arrival of Jesus Christ, which is why we are starting with the book of Nehemiah.
THE JOURNEY OF NEHEMIAH
Leadership should always start with serving. Nehemiah serves as a cupbearer.
God only uses men and women of character—a life without lies, deception, and immorality.
God has a habit of using layman—people without importance. In the Old and New Testaments, we see people of importance are distracted with self-glory, so it became God’s norm to use average, day-to-day individuals who had a clean heart before Him.
Leaders typically use people closest to them and people of the same beliefs.
God loves working with people who see opposition as a challenge, which creates endurance. Jesus said to us personally in the Holy Word of God that “the one who endures to the end, he will be saved” Matthew 24.13), which makes this statement essential.
Passionate people with the heart to rebuild become His most active workers.
Special Note: In the Bible, after the book of Nehemiah, you will discover there are 23 more books because of how it was canonized. In reality, the book of Nehemiah was the last book written before the first coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember this as we go through our series.
Our short passage from Nehemiah applies to the church culture today without question. Nehemiah was in one of the most significant positions, if not the most—that of being a cupbearer to the greatest king who lived on earth during his time. I’m going to talk a lot about the impact a cupbearer had on a king, but know this; all quality leadership starts with one being a slave to a great authority. In our case, because of Jesus Christ, we were granted a bondslave position, which means a volunteer.
RECORDING THE JOURNEY
Jewish tradition identifies Nehemiah himself as the primary author of this historical book. Much of the book is written from his first-person perspective. Jewish history and the Bible unfolded Nehemiah’s story as a servant serving the Persian royal court as the personal cupbearer to King Artaxerxes (Nehemiah 1:11-2:1). His position was not a lowly one. Cupbearers have the highest and most trusted positions within a king’s service. This prestigious position reveals something of Nehemiah’s righteous character. Though he remained in Persia after the exiles had been allowed to go home, he was highly interested in the state of Judah, and so was his brother, Hanani.
The book of Nehemiah can be read as a sequel to the book of Ezra. But as I mentioned in the introduction, initially, these two books were probably one book. Some scholars believe the books were initially penned to lay out the journey that God took not only with Nehemiah but many other biblical leaders. With each, God displayed great respect and purpose. It is possible Ezra compiled Nehemiah’s original accounts with other materials to create the book of Nehemiah. However, most scholars believe Nehemiah wrote the book, and I am one of them.
The Christ parallel: God the Father and Jesus the Son have always recorded the progressive steps to freedom. The book of Revelation reveals the concept of exacting that freedom. God is into details; however, there is no record of Jesus using the pen to scribe one single word; He left that to the men and women who served Him.
Watch the video for the full message.
Stephen Phinney
#2 NEHEMIAH: The Journey Begins