Nehemiah the Comforter: Lessons For Us Today!

 Nehemiah has long been one of my favorite characters in the Bible. His zeal for God, his faith, his courage, and his unwavering devotion to God’s way of life take a back seat to no one, save Jesus Christ. As we read through the Book of Nehemiah, written in the man’s own words, his zeal and passion for Almighty God fairly leap from the pages!

Now according to the Hebrew lexicons, Nehemiah’s name means “YHWH comforts,” and his father’s name, Hachaliah, means “YHWH enlightens.” Both names define Nehemiah’s mission, as we’ll soon see. God enlightened Nehemiah and guided him, just as He does for each one of us if we put our faith and trust in Him. And God sent Nehemiah on a mission of comfort to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, to bring justice for the poor and oppressed, to restore Godly worship among the people of Judah, and to teach them to put their faith and trust in the God of their fathers.

Nehemiah wrote most of the book in the first person, much like Ezekiel and some of the other prophets. And so we get an intimate look at Nehemiah’s mission. We see his challenges, his triumphs, his fears, and his motives. In the midst of each trial and difficulty, as he cries out to God for help and strength, we see that, too.

Nehemiah’s Mission

Nehemiah’s story begins, as one might expect, in chapter 1. He was a cupbearer to Persia’s King Artaxerxes in Shushan the citadel (Neh. 1:1; 1:11-2:1). Now, some men came to him from Judah and told him about the plight of the people there: “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire” (Neh. 1:3).

Upon hearing the news, Nehemiah wept and mourned and devoted himself to prayer and fasting. He confessed his sins, the sins of his father’s house, and the sins of his people, and he beseeched our great and awesome God for mercy (Neh. 1:5-11).

About four or five months later, as he served wine to the king, the king noticed Nehemiah’s sadness and questioned him about it. Nehemiah candidly recalled, “So I became dreadfully afraid” (Neh. 2:2). But as he stood there before the king, he quickly prayed to the Almighty once more, and asked the king for permission to go to Jerusalem to rebuild it. Just as he had prayed, the king granted his request (Neh. 2:3-8).

Notice that Nehemiah put God first in all this. He had done nothing without first humbling himself before God, fasting, and praying for mercy and help. He didn’t try to rush matters or force God’s hand, but patiently waited for several months until the right opportunity to make his petition to the king. When questioned by the king, he was terrified, but prayed again to God and, putting his fear aside, made his request. And because Nehemiah’s heart was right before God, God heard and answered his prayer. As King David had once prayed, “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart — these, O God, You will not despise” (Psa. 51:17).

Rebuilding the Wall

When Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he found everything just as he’d been told: the city walls torn down, the gates burned with fire, and his people reproached by everyone around them (Neh. 2:13-17). After assessing the situation, he explained to the people how God had prospered his journey and told them he proposed to rebuild the wall. They agreed and said, “Let us rise up and build” (Neh. 2:13).

But though the people of Judah stood with him, Nehemiah faced new challenges. The neighboring peoples did everything they could imagine to stop him from rebuilding the wall. All this had been prophesied in the Book of Daniel: “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublesome times” (Dan. 9:25).

First, they laughed at him and mocked him and boasted he’d never succeed (Neh. 4:1-3). But Nehemiah prayed and pressed on (vv. 4-5). Then, they plotted to attack and kill him and his builders. Ten times, they plotted to attack (vv. 7-12). But he prayed to God, armed his people, and encouraged them, saying, “Our God will fight for us” (Neh. 4:20). Through it all, he kept building (vv. 9, 13-23).

Next, his enemies attempted four times to lure him out for a meeting, thinking to harm him (Neh. 6:1-4). He refused. Then they tried to frighten him with slander and unfounded rumors, but, again, Nehemiah prayed to God for more strength: “Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands” (vv. 5-9). Yet again, he pressed on.

After this, an enemy spy informed him of a plot on his life, advising him to hide in the temple for safety. But, demonstrating godly wisdom and discernment, Nehemiah refused:

11 And I said, “Should such a man as I flee? And who is there such as I who would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in!”

12 Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

14 My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid. (Neh. 6:11-14.)

As always, Nehemiah prayed to Almighty God and pressed on. He drew his strength from God, and no one could make him so afraid as to disobey our Creator.

Notice, too, that Nehemiah didn’t seek revenge on his enemies. Though they sought to harm him and tried to trick him into disobeying God’s law, he did not return evil for evil. Instead, he petitioned Almighty God for justice.

All the schemes of his enemies came to nothing. Working from dawn to dusk (Neh. 4:21), Nehemiah and his builders completed the wall around the whole city of Jerusalem in just fifty-two days (Neh. 6:15)! Even his enemies could no longer deny that God was with him: “And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God” (Neh. 6:16).

Throughout this episode, Nehemiah set a wonderful example of perseverance, patience, courage, and faith. In the midst of every difficulty, he kept his focus on God and on the divine mission before him, and he never wavered or compromised in his conviction.

Justice For the Poor

Now while all this was going on, another crisis arose. There was a famine in the land (Neh. 5:2-3), and many people struggled to pay the king’s taxes. To add to the problem, the wealthy Jewish nobles oppressed their poor brethren, lent them money with usury, and when they couldn’t repay it, confiscated their lands and forced their children into slavery (vv. 4-5).

When he heard how the rulers treated the people, Nehemiah was enraged, but he took some time to think things through before acting. “After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, ‘Each of you is exacting usury from his brother.’ So I called a great assembly against them” (Neh. 5:7).

At the assembly, Nehemiah again rebuked the rulers and nobles for taking advantage of their brethren, and demanded that they restore everything they’d taken (Neh. 5:8-11). They promised to do so. He even bound the priests by an oath to do likewise: “Then I shook out the fold of my garment and said, ‘So may God shake out each man from his house, and from his property, who does not perform this promise. Even thus may he be shaken out and emptied’” (v. 13).

Nehemiah showed no favoritism, nor did he tremble before any man. Not the rulers, not the wealthy, and not the priests. He followed God’s command through His servant Moses: “You shall not show partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small as well as the great; you shall not be afraid in any man's presence, for the judgment is God's” (Deut. 1:17).

But Nehemiah also led by example. He refused to exact anything from the people for his own support as governor: “Moreover, from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year until the thirty-second year of King Artaxerxes, twelve years, neither I nor my brothers ate the governor’s provisions” (Neh. 5:14). He added, “I did not demand the governor’s provisions, because the bondage was heavy on this people” (v. 18).

Restoring Godly Worship

After completing the wall, Nehemiah assembled the people to worship before God during the fall Holy Days, beginning with the Day of Trumpets. They also celebrated the Feast of Tabernacles in a manner not seen since the days of Joshua, “and there was very great gladness” (Neh. 8:17).

Throughout these days, the people expressed an eagerness to hear God’s Word, so Ezra the priest read aloud from the Book of the Law for all to hear. The Levites circulated among the people to help them understand, and God opened their ears to hear and understand (Neh. 8:8-18).

After the end of the Feast of Tabernacles, Nehemiah and the people made a covenant with God, vowing to forsake their sins, obey His laws, and walk in His ways. They vowed before God not to intermarry with the pagans around them, to keep the Sabbath and Holy Days holy, to restore the Sabbatical years for the land, and to pay their tithes and firstfruits offerings for the support of the temple and priesthood (Neh. 10).

Godly worship had been restored in Judah, and the priests and Levites had resumed teaching the people God’s ways. As God had spoken earlier through the prophet Malachi, “For the lips of a priest should keep knowledge, and people should seek the law from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts” (Mal. 2:7).

Cleansing Paganism

After governing Judah for twelve years (Neh. 5:14), Nehemiah returned to the court of King Artaxerxes. While he was gone, some of the priests and rulers of Judah quickly departed from God’s ways. Eliashib the high priest allied himself with Tobiah, one of the chief enemies of the Jews, and even gave him a room in the temple (Neh. 13:4). Breaking their covenant with God, many of the people, especially the rulers, began to intermarry with the pagans, to allow idolatry in their midst, and to break the Sabbath. The people stopped tithing and bringing offerings, so many of the priests and Levites deserted the temple and no longer taught the people.

But “after certain days, [Nehemiah] obtained leave from the king” (Neh. 13:7) and returned to Jerusalem. Discovering the state of affairs there, he immediately embarked on a cleansing campaign.

Filled with righteous anger foreshadowing Jesus Christ driving the money changers out of the temple, he “threw all the household goods of Tobiah out of the” temple (Neh. 13:8). Then he cleansed the rooms of the temple, commanded the priests and Levites to return to its service, and told the people to bring their tithes and offerings once more (vv. 9-13).

After this, Nehemiah noticed that many of the people no longer kept the Sabbath holy, but carried burdens and bought and sold on that day. He wrote, “Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, ‘What evil thing is this that you do, by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus, and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? Yet you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath’” (Neh. 13:17-18).

Now, as we’ve seen before, the Biblical definition of “work” explicitly includes buying and selling. Buying or selling on the Sabbath is breaking the fourth commandment and profaning the Sabbath. Likewise, God had indeed sent Israel and Judah into exile for, among other things, breaking the Sabbath. God had told them, “You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths” (Ezek. 22:8).

So Nehemiah commanded the gates of Jerusalem to be shut on the Sabbath, so that no merchants could enter on that day (Neh. 13:19). But merchants came to the city anyway and lodged outside it, waiting for the Sabbath to end. So Nehemiah took more drastic action: “Then I warned them, and said to them, ‘Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!’ From that time on they came no more on the Sabbath” (Neh. 13:21).

Finally, Nehemiah noticed that many Jews had intermarried with the pagans around them. This, too, filled him with righteous anger:

25 So I contended with them and cursed them, struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters as wives to their sons, nor take their daughters for your sons or yourselves.

26 “Did not Solomon king of Israel sin by these things? Yet among many nations there was no king like him, who was beloved of his God; and God made him king over all Israel. Nevertheless pagan women caused even him to sin.

27 “Should we then hear of your doing all this great evil, transgressing against our God by marrying pagan women?” (Neh. 13:25-28.)

Some folks today are taken aback by Nehemiah’s methods. At least one fellow foolishly described him as “overzealous.” Others have presumptuously tried to find fault with him, as if anyone alive today has better judgment than one of God’s servants who wrote an entire book of the Bible! Many others, it seems, would prefer to ignore him and forget the whole book.

Afterall, Nehemiah’s zeal and uncompromising approach to God’s way of life makes many people uncomfortable. He makes wishy-washy people who compromise and water down God’s way of life feel guilty. He makes people who are sloppy about keeping the Sabbath feel guilty. He makes people who date and marry unbelievers feel guilty.

Yet Nehemiah is in good company. When Phinehas the priest saw an idolatrous Israelite leader parading his pagan lover through the camp, he obeyed Moses’ instructions and ran them both through with a spear (Num. 25:5-8). Almighty God praised Phinehas’s zeal — “he was zealous with My zeal” (Num. 25:11) — and pronounced a blessing upon him (vv. 12-13). And when Jesus Christ saw the money-changers in the temple, He made a whip and chased them out, because “zeal for Your house has eaten Me up” (John 2:17; quoting Psa. 69:9).

It should be noted, too, that this wasn’t Nehemiah’s normal conduct, nor Phinehas’s, nor Jesus Christ’s. Phinehas wasn’t in the habit of thrusting spears through people, Jesus Christ wasn’t in the habit of chasing them with whips, and Nehemiah wasn’t in the habit of striking them and pulling out their hair. But the people had forsaken their covenant with God, and drastic circumstances called for drastic measures.

Like Jesus Christ and Phinehas, Nehemiah was consumed with zeal for God and His way of life. It grieved and angered him to see his people dishonoring our Creator. And so he stamped out paganism wherever he could. As he wrote near the end of the book, “Thus I cleansed them of everything pagan” (Neh. 13:30).

Throughout the book, Nehemiah’s focus remained on Almighty God and doing His will. In the midst of every challenge, he looked to the Creator, and he prayed constantly. So it’s only fitting that the book concludes with another prayer: “Remember me, O my God, for good!” (Neh. 13:31).

Nehemiah As a Type of Jesus Christ

In the story of Nehemiah, like that of many other Old Testament figures, we can see types and foreshadows of Jesus Christ.

Nehemiah’s story began by interceding with God on behalf of his people and seeking God’s mercy and forgiveness. Yeshua/Jesus is our Mediator with the Father (1 Tim. 2:5).

Nehemiah was sent from the king to govern Judah. Jesus Christ was sent to this earth by God the Father and has been appointed to rule over the whole earth, “that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him” (Dan. 7:14).

Nehemiah, true to his name, was sent to comfort his people and take away their reproach. Jesus Christ, when He returns to this earth, will return “to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isa. 61:2-3).

Nehemiah led the people to rebuild the old ruins of Jerusalem, the desolations of many generations. When Christ returns, His people “shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations” (Isa. 61:4).

Nehemiah built a wall around Jerusalem for protection from enemies, and closed up the breaches or gaps within it (Neh. 4:7). Spiritually speaking, building a wall, a hedge of protection, represents putting away and guarding against sin. As King Solomon wrote, “Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls” (Prov. 25:28).

If the wall is breached, then someone must stand in the breach to turn back the enemy. God rebukes false prophets and false teachers, saying, “O Israel, your prophets are like foxes in the deserts. You have not gone up into the gaps to build a wall for the house of Israel to stand in battle on the day of the LORD” (Ezek. 13:4-5). Again, God says, “So I sought for a man among them who would make a wall, and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found no one” (Ezek. 22:30).

When Moses put to death the idolaters among the Israelites and interceded with God on behalf of the people, we’re told that “Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, to turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them” (Psa. 106:23). Jesus Christ stood in the breach for us and gave His life to put away our sins.

In fact, Yeshua/Jesus IS our wall, our fortress, and our high tower. “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation [Heb. Yeshuah] for walls and bulwarks” (Isa. 26:1). “Blessed be the LORD my Rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle — my lovingkindness and my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer, my shield and the One in whom I take refuge” (Psa. 144:1-2).

As Nehemiah built the wall to keep out the wicked, he armed his builders with weapons to protect them from the enemy. Jesus Christ arms us with spiritual weapons, “the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand” (Eph. 6:13).

Nehemiah restored Godly worship in Judah and, with the help of Ezra and other faithful priests, taught the people God’s laws. All this took place during the Holy Days of the seventh month, from the Day of Trumpets through the Feast of Tabernacles. All these Holy Days picture the coming Kingdom of God, and during the Kingdom of God, all peoples will be taught God’s ways. “Many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” Isa. 2:3).

Nehemiah cleansed his people of everything pagan. When Jesus Christ returns, He will cleanse the earth of everything pagan: “‘It shall be in that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘that I will cut off the names of the idols from the land, and they shall no longer be remembered. I will also cause the [false] prophets and the unclean spirit to depart from the land’” (Zech. 13:2).

Conclusion

Like all the rest of the Bible, the Book of Nehemiah is an amazing book filled with lessons for us today! Through the physical life of Nehemiah, we see a wonderful example of faith, courage, perseverance, and patience. We see a man consumed with zeal for God, who served Him with every fiber of his being.

No matter what he faced or how high the odds were stacked against him, Nehemiah did not waver. He did not compromise. He held fast to God’s truth. When afraid, he put his faith in God. When wronged, he didn’t seek to avenge himself, but instead prayed to God for justice. In every situation, he put God first.

Nehemiah defended the poor and needy, and rebuked the oppressors. He encouraged the righteous and punished the wicked. He loved the praise of God more than the praise of men. He sought first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.

And through it all, we see yet more foreshadows and prophecies of our Messiah, Jesus Christ!