Nehemiah’s record is one of an attempt to reconstruct Jerusalem from a physical and defensive standpoint. In 444 B.C., Nehemiah, the cupbearer for Persian king Artaxerxes, was informed that, “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire” (Nehemiah 1:3). Upon hearing of this tragic news, Nehemiah enters a desperate state of lamentation for his brethren and requests of king Artaxerxes that, “If it please the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou wouldest send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers’ sepulchers, that I may build it” (Nehemiah 2:5). Upon receiving permission to likewise return to his homeland and aid his brethren in rebuilding their form of defense, Nehemiah gathered some of his men and made the long trek home.
Upon his inspection of the fallen wall, Nehemiah’s charge to the people was, “Ye see the disress that we are in, how Jerusalem lieth waste, and the gates thereof are burned with fire: come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach” (Nehemiah 2:17). Though he faced opposition, Nehemiah’s determination was rock solid because he trusted in God to prosper them and provide for them to accomplish this task. (Nehemiah 2:20). His determination was beneficial to the work because it obviously inspired the others to work as well, and the wall was in its entirety completed in but fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15). At this point Jerusalem gains the stability that it so desperately needed and the city begins to take form once again.
However, it is in Nehemiah 8 that one of the greatest events in all of scripture is recorded. It simply cannot be described to any better effect that it can simply be read.
“And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. And Ezra the scribe stood upon a pulpit of wood, which they had made for the purpose; and beside him stood Mattithiah, and Shema, and Anaiah, and Urijah, and Hilkiah, and Maaseiah, on his right hand; and on his left hand, Pedaiah, and Mishael, and Malchiah, and Hashum, and Hashbadana, Zechariah, and Meshullam. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the people stood up. And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground” (Nehemiah 8:1-6).
The reverence and zeal these people had toward the law of the Lord was of such a degree that they came together as one man all day and when the book was opened they stood out of respect. To a people that had been so evil this is a beautiful sign of their lives turning back in the right direction. Wilkinson and Boa summed up this book by saying. “In this book, everything is restored except the king. The temple is rebuilt, Jerusalem is reconstructed, the covenant is renewed, and the people are reformed. The Messianic line is intact, but the King is yet to come.” That is the picture of Christ in Nehemiah. He is seen as the King to come, through whom spiritual restoration would occur just as did Jerusalem’s physical restoration.
Wherein Nehemiah deals mainly with the physical standpoint of Jerusalem and Judah’s return to some state of normality it likewise has so many valuable spiritual lessons that are too numerable for this space. However, one that could not go unmentioned is God’s obvious desire for restoration to take place among His children, which He continues to desire today. If ever we find ourselves in spiritual exile similar to that of Judah’s physical, we can be comforted to know that God wants restoration. All that then remains would be what are we willing to do about it?