Nehemiah · chapter 2 of 13
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Nehemiah 2 tells how Nehemiah, sad before King Artaxerxes, prays silently and asks permission to go rebuild Jerusalem. The king gives him letters, timber and an escort. In Jerusalem, Nehemiah inspects the broken walls by night, urges the leaders to build, and answers the mockery of Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem with the certainty that the God of heaven will give them success.
After four months of prayer, Nehemiah moves from prayer to action. This chapter shows how God opens doors through a king, and how Nehemiah combines prayer with planning, prudence and leadership. The adversaries who will oppose the work throughout the book also appear for the first time.
In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, Nehemiah is serving the king's wine and his face is sad, something that had not happened before. The king asks why, and Nehemiah, very afraid, explains that he is sad because the city where his fathers are buried lies in ruins and its gates are burned. The king asks what he wants. Nehemiah prays to the God of heaven and asks to be sent to Judah to rebuild it. The king, with the queen sitting beside him, asks how long the journey will take and when he will return, and grants the request. Nehemiah also asks for letters to the governors of the province Beyond the River and to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, so that he will give him timber for the gates, the wall and his own house. The king grants it because the good hand of God was on him, and sends along army officers and horsemen.
When he reaches the governors, Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant are greatly displeased that someone has come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel. After three days in Jerusalem, Nehemiah goes out at night with a few men, telling no one what God had put in his heart, and surveys the walls: the Valley Gate, the Dragon's Well, the Dung Gate, the Fountain Gate and the King's Pool. There his animal cannot get through the rubble. He returns by the Valley Gate. The officials knew nothing.
Then Nehemiah speaks to the Jews, priests, nobles and officials: they see the misery of the city, and he tells them to rise and build so that they may no longer be in disgrace. He tells them how God's hand had been with him, and they answer: let us rise up and build. When Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab mock them, Nehemiah answers that the God of heaven will give them success, and that they, his servants, will rise and build, but that the adversaries have no portion, right or claim in Jerusalem.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
When the king asks what he wants, Nehemiah prays to the God of heaven before answering. It is a brief prayer in the middle of a tense conversation, showing a life of prayer that can turn to God in an instant.
The king grants the letters and the timber because the good hand of God was on Nehemiah. After much prayer he recognizes that the answer comes from God and not from his own cleverness.
Nehemiah tells no one what God had put in his heart. He first observes and only then speaks. It shows that a wise leader studies the situation before asking the people to act.
Nehemiah tells how the hand of God was good to him, and the people answer: let us rise up and build. God starts the work, the leader spreads the vision, and the people go to work.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because the city where his fathers were buried lay in ruins and its gates were burned. — Nehemiah 2:3
Answer: He prayed to the God of heaven. — Nehemiah 2:4
Answer: Letters to the governors Beyond the River and to Asaph, keeper of the king's forest, to obtain timber. — Nehemiah 2:7-8
Answer: At night, with a few men, telling no one what God had put in his heart. — Nehemiah 2:12-15
Answer: Let us rise up and build. — Nehemiah 2:18
Answer: Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite and Geshem the Arab. — Nehemiah 2:19
Nehemiah 2 joins prayer and planning. Before speaking to the king, Nehemiah prayed, but he had also thought about what to ask: time, letters, timber. In a class you can ask what task is ahead that needs both prayer and a plan, and whether you are using both.
It also teaches us to observe before proposing. Nehemiah walked the walls by night and then motivated the people with facts. And when the mockery came, he did not argue: he answered with confidence that God would give success. In serving today, prepare calmly, speak clearly, and do not let criticism stop what God has set in motion.
Nehemiah 2 ends with the decision to build and with the warning of opposition. Chapter 3 shows how the work is organized: a list of people and families who rebuild each section of the wall and each gate of Jerusalem.
Because being sad in the king's presence could be seen as disrespect, and even a danger to the servant. The text says he was very much afraid. Even so, he answered respectfully and the king listened. The scene shows Nehemiah's courage and God's preparation in the king's heart.
They were Nehemiah's main adversaries. Sanballat was the Horonite, probably an official of the region of Samaria. Tobiah, the Ammonite servant, also held local authority. Geshem was an Arab. The three appear several times in the book opposing the rebuilding of Jerusalem.