Or, Steadfast Love That Spurs Risk
Scripture: Nehemiah 1:1-11
Date: February 23, 2025
Speaker: Sean Higgins
Those who believe God is sovereign ask bigger requests. Those who believe God will work according to His covenants ask expectant requests. We believe the Lord of heaven is sovereign, we believe the Lord of earth is loyal to His promises. We ought to be the biggest askers and actors in the world, and even more, knowing that He can do beyond what we ask or imagine.
Nehemiah did big things. The main project in the first half of the book Nehemiah is the rebuilding of the entire wall around Jerusalem, a project that got finished in 52 days to the dread of the enemies. This is the sort of story we enjoy, because it has clear bad guys and a clear aim and the conclusion comes quickly. The second half of the book is a bigger project, reforming the society. But all of it begins with two huge asks.
The second ask comes in chapter 2. We get a little tease at the end of chapter 1, when Nehemiah identifies himself as the cupbearer to Artaxerxes. What he wants from the Persian king requires an explicit reversal of Artaxerxes own policy from about 10 years previous.
The first ask comes in chapter 1. We get the situation and the supplication. The point is that we should ask God to do the big things He’s promised.
The opening is a good division. The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Remember that in the LXX, what we have as Ezra and Nehemiah are one book. The reason for this is because Ezra is believed to be the one who compiled it all together, even though the Hebrew text does have the story in two parts.
Ezra himself didn’t come into the story until Ezra 7. Before that, Sheshbazzar and Zerubabbel led the first and largest return of exiles from Babylon to Judah in Ezra 1-6, then the entire book of Esther happened, then we meet Ezra in Ezra 7. Nehemiah and Ezra were contemporaries, though Nehemiah and his return take place some 13 years after Ezra’s return.
The opening lines make clear that we’re going to hear directly from Nehemiah. There were parts of Ezra in first person, much of Nehemiah is in first person, including halfway through verse 1, and make up what are sometimes called the Nehemiah Memoirs (NM).
Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel. We just heard about Chislev in Ezra 10, though Ezra refers to it as the “ninth month”; it overlaps with our November-December. The twentieth year of what is a good question, but there are no better arguments than that it’s the 20th year of Artaxerxes’ reign, so around 445 BC. Susa was the typical winter palace of the Persian kings. All of the book of Esther took place in Susa (Esther 1:2).
Then Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. Hanani might just be a Jewish kinsman, but he could be an actual sibling, since the “certain men” would also be kinsmen brothers. Why did they return? Were they tasked with bringing back a report? Was it to visit family? The text doesn’t say.
It sounds like Nehemiah initiates the questions, but the situation is bad. “The remnant there…is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” What and when is this all about?
The best arguments point to the trouble in Ezra 4:23. Ezra 4 describes a history of resistance against the Jews trying to rebuild. Ezra includes examples from Cyrus to Darius (Ezra 4:5), then in the reign of Ahasuerus (verse 6), and then into the days of Artaxerxes (verse 7). Some of the haters wrote a letter complaining about the “rebuilding (of) that rebellious and wicked city. They are finishing the walls and repairing the foundations” (verse 12). This was probably an exaggeration. But Artaxerxes already had enough rebellions happening in parts of his empire, so he ordered the work to cease, and Israel’s enemies ”went in haste to the Jews at Jerusalem and by force and power made them cease” (Ezra 4:23).
City walls are a big deal.
That’s different than the resistance from Sanballat to come in Nehemiah, though that will be a second challenge over wall-building. But still under Artaxerxes, so he’d already made a decision. We’re being set up for a big ask.
Before Nehemiah supplicates the king, he supplicates the God of heaven.
Verse 4 covers a few months (until Nisan, which was in our March/April, Nehemiah 2:1). As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Verses 5-11 are Nehemiah’s prayer. There are at least six prayers in Nehemiah, this is the second longest. One in chapter 2:4 is sometimes called an “arrow prayer” (Kidner) because he shoots it straight to the point. This prayer in chapter 1 is foundational to the entire project, and is a big ask.
verse 5
LORD, Yahweh, the proper name of the covenant making Lord, and God of heaven, not a local-only deity. He is the great and awesome God, the “terrible” God (Darby’s translation) in terms of provoking humbling fear. He is the God of faithfulness, He keeps covenant in steadfast love, hesed, a keyword about loyalty not just in this prayer but throughout the Scripture written in Hebrew.
Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, (Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV)
verses 6-7
While asking for God to turn His ears and open His eyes, asking for attention, Nehemiah keeps on praying and confessing the sins of the people. Like Ezra, Nehemiah owns the sin. Corruption, disobedience to all the parts of the law: the commandments, the statutes, and the rules.
These are specific references to the Mosaic Law. This is significant, because Nehemiah is about to appeal to the covenant, and it is the Mosaic Covenant, which is a conditional covenant.
verses 8-10
Of course the Lord knows what He said. Nehemiah doesn’t exactly quote, but he pulls from a number of phrases in Deuteronomy. The either/or, judgment/blessing could have come from Deuteronomy 30, but this is a key feature of the (conditional) Mosaic Covenant.
We don’t forget Exodus (see the idea of redeemed or “brought out” of slavery in Deuteronomy 9:29), the original exodus, or the 90+ years since the second exodus out of Babylon had started.
O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. (Nehemiah 1:11a)
Here is a second direct appeal for the Lord’s attention, and Nehemiah seeks a positive answer.
The this man isn’t named for a couple more verses. It’s probably not belittling, but it’s also recognizing that the king doesn’t really compare with the one who stirs the hearts of kings. To get mercy would require a policy reversal (Ezra 4:21), a big ask.
Now I was cupbearer to the king. (Nehemiah 1:11b)
The cupbearer may not have started out as important to a king, since his primary job was to drink poison first. There could be high turnover if the king was unpopular. But after a while, the cupbearer might have gotten fairly close, in the king’s confidence. And in some cases, the cupbearer may have even started as a high official, in charge of more than the king’s daily cup. Herodotus (iii.34) wrote about Cambyses appointing one of the sons of his friends cupbearer. It could be a great job.
With the report out of Jerusalem Nehemiah not only got that it was bad, but he got that he needed to do something about it.
Beginning this study of Nehemiah reminded me of William Carey, a well-known English missionary to India, who preached a sermon in 1792 in which he said, “Expect great things from God; attempt great things for God.” Our expectations are ambitions of faith, and our faith is in God’s steadfast love for His own glory above all. We pray for Him to do what He promised He will do.
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases. It is the steadfast love of the Lord that spurs our requests, our readiness, and our risk-taking.
You have acknowledged the great and awesome God. You have confessed your sins. You have heard again of His steadfast love toward those who love Him and keep His commandments. So don’t depart in word or talk alone, but in deed and truth. Believe big and attempt big for His name.
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:20–21 ESV)