Nehemiah 1

INTRODUCTION:
Ezra and Nehemiah were one book in the Hebrew Bible and most consider
them to have been written by the same author, probably Ezra.
Nehemiah, Ezra, and Malachi lived in the same time period.

Nehemiah lead the third return to Israel some 13 years after Ezra’s
return.  The book will cover the time period 444 to 425 BC.
Thomas Nelson Publishers. (1996). Nelson’s complete book of Bible
maps & charts: Old and New Testaments (Rev. and updated ed.).
Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.

Review some dates:
536 BC - Zerubbabel returned
535 BC - Foundation laid and the work hindered
516 BC - Temple complete
457 BC - Ezra goes to Babylon with 1,754 men
445 BC - Artaxerxes gave Nehemiah authority
444 BC - Nehemiah went to Jerusalem
432 BC - Malachi prophesied
http://www.muncherian.com/ChronologyofEzraNehemiahEsther.pdf

Nehemiah’s goal was to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, but like Ezra,
he will find the people in a state of spiritual decline

OUTLINE:
I. \\#1:1-7:13\\ Restoring the Wall
    A. \\#1:1-2:20\\ Catching A Burden
        1. \\#1:1-4\\ Hearing the News
        2. \\#1:5-11\\ Nehemiah’s Prayer

Chapter 1:
I. \\#1:1-2:20\\ Catching A Burden
    A. \\#1:1-4\\ Hearing the News
        1. \\#1\\ "in the twentieth year" - This was most likely the
            20th year of King Artaxerxes, the step son of Esther who
            had allowed Ezra to return, even sending gifts and aid
            with him.
        2. "I was in Shushan the palace"
            a. Note the last line of \\#1:11\\.

Neh 1:11  …For I was the king’s cupbearer."

            b. It is interesting that Nehemiah was a servant directly
                to the king and that Ezra also had some type of
                connection to the king so that he could make his
                petition directly to him \\#Ez 7:12\\.
            c. Perhaps it was so with other nations taken captive as
                well, but Israel’s captives seemed to have a good
                number in circles of the royal family.
            d. Perhaps some of the families that stayed in Babylon
                stayed because their value to the king was too great
                to allow them to leave.
        3. \\#2\\ "I asked …concerning the Jews that had escaped"
            a. "Hanani" - It appears this man was free to come and go
                as he pleased.  It seems that the people were in no
                way considered slaves any longer but subjects to the
                king.
            b. Nehemiah asked Hanani of those that had escaped the
                captivity to return to Jerusalem.
        4. \\#3\\ "The remnant …are in great affliction and
            reproach: the wall of Jerusalem… is broken down"
            a. While the people had been rebuilding and perhaps even
                flourishing in the land, their spiritual or emotional
                condition were nowhere near as good, for the people
                were continuously harassed by others living in the
                land.
            b. Nehemiah will not seem to be as concerned with
                Hanani’s evaluation of the people as he will be that
                the wall was not rebuilt.
            c. Nehemiah will not seem to be as concerned with
                Hanani’s evaluation of the people as he will be that
                the wall was not rebuilt.
        5. \\#4\\ Nehemiah’s Response - This news greatly troubled
            Nehemiah.
            a. "I sat down and wept"
            b. "and mourned certain days"
            c. "and fasted"
            d. "and prayed"
    B. \\#5-11\\ Nehemiah’s Prayer
        1. \\#5\\ Nehemiah acknowledged God - God is great and
            terrible but He keeps His promises and shows mercy.
        2. \\#6-7\\ Nehemiah acknowledged the people’s sin.
        3. \\#8-9\\ Nehemiah requested God do what He promised He
            would in the days of Moses:

De 28:64  And the LORD shall scatter thee among
all people, from the one end of the earth even
unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other
gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have
known, even wood and stone.

Deut 30:3  That then the LORD thy God will turn
thy captivity, and have compassion upon thee, and
will return and gather thee from all the nations,
whither the LORD thy God hath scattered thee.
4  If any of thine be driven out unto the outmost
parts of heaven, from thence will the LORD thy
God gather thee, and from thence will he fetch
thee:
5  And the LORD thy God will bring thee into the
land which thy fathers possessed, and thou shalt
possess it; and he will do thee good, and
multiply thee above thy fathers.

        4. \\#10-11\\ Nehemiah requested that God hear him and those
            like him who feared God and desired mercy.

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