Nehemiah Chp. 6
The army of Babylon came into the land of Israel to fight against them.
They were stronger than the army of Israel.
Most of the people of Israel were taken captive and carried to the land of Babylon.
Why did God let this happen? Because Israel had turned away from worshipping God. They had made idols of gold and silver—-like the nations around them.
God sent preachers/ prophets telling the people that they needed to stop worshipping idols. It was a sin. God would turn away from them if they kept on worshipping idols.
The people of Israel did not listen. They kept on worshipping the idols.
So God turned away from them. He stopped helping them.
When the Babylon army came, God did not help Israel as he had before. Israel was on their own. Babylon was too strong for them.
The army took most of the people from the land and took them far away back to Babylon.
God had warned them that this would happen. God had told them he would let them be taken away for 70 years. Then he would bring them back to the land of Israel again.
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In the book of Ezra, we read how God worked in the King of Babylon to make him want to let the people of Israel go back to their own land.
Ezra was chosen to be the leader. He took hundreds of people with him back to the land of Israel.
It took them almost 5 months to travel back to their home land.
There were only a few of their people living there—-who had been left there and had not be taken away.
Jerusalem was the main city. It was in bad shape. The walls around the city were broken down. The temple had been broken down and burned.
Many of the people from the nations around Israel were not happy to see all these “new” people come back home to Israel.
These people from the nations around Israel began to make trouble for the “new” people coming back.
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Nehemiah was another leader who was allowed to leave Babylon and come back to Israel.
He brought hundreds of people with him
The walls had to be built.
Nehemiah got the people together and planned for small groups to begin building the wall. Each group built one small part of the wall.
They had a lot of trouble doing it because the people from the nations around them kept doing things to make trouble.
The people of Israel had to keep swords, and bows an arrows with them all the time they were building the wall. They had to have guards day and night watching.
The people finally finished building the walls. It took them 52 days to do it.
All of them were very happy it was done. They felt very good about what they had been able to do.
All that was left was to put the heavy wooden gates in the wall.
There were several openings in the wall and they all needed gates.
The men who had been making trouble were angry that the men of Israel had been able to finish the wall. They had done many things to try and stop them. They had done many things to make trouble.
Now the gates were to be made. The men who had been making trouble tried again to make trouble for the men of Israel .
The leader of the men making trouble sent a message to Nehemiah to come meet him in a nearby town.
Nehemiah was a man who prayed a lot. When he got the message,
He felt in his spirit that something was wrong. He felt a warning that he should not go to meet the man.
Nehemiah sent a message saying; I am doing an important work here. I can not come meet with you.
Four times that man sent the same message. Four times Nehemiah told him that he could not come.
The fifth time, the man wrote a letter. I was a lot of lies.
It said that Nehemiah was planning to be the “king” of the people of Israel. And that he planned to rebel and go against Babylon and what the king of Babylon said.
Nehemiah did not let this man’s lies make him afraid.
He wrote back; All these things are lies.
Nehemiah said to the people of Israel—do not be afraid. Do not let that man’s words make you fear and stop working. That is what they are trying to do—make us stop working on the wall and finish the gates.
Nehemiah prayed for strength for himself and the people that they would be able to not worry about those words and to keep on working on the gates.
Then one of the men from Israel came to him. He said, Nehemiah, you need to come with me and we need to hide in the temple.
Your enemies, the men against you making trouble, are coming after you. You need to hide to be safe.
Nehemiah felt a warning in his spirit that something was wrong.
He said, No, I will not go. How will it look, if I, the leader, go hide myself?
If Nehemiah did that— his enemies would laugh at him and say he was a coward and did not have the strength to be a leader. He would look like a foolish man. The people of Israel would lose faith in him.
Nehemiah found out later that the man who told him he should hide in the temple—-had been paid to say that—- by the men making trouble.
Nehemiah was so glad he had not listened to him.
Nehemiah learned that there were others who were telling the men making trouble—everything that Nehemiah was doing—and so the were able to keep on making more trouble.
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We can see how Nehemiah was wise. He knew in his spirit what he should do. He knew in his spirit what he should not do.
Because he was always was praying in his spirit—-to God—to lead him and guide him and show him what to do.
Often we get so busy working and doing everyday things that we do not pray in our spirits to God. We do our every day things in our own strength and understanding.
Then we are so busy doing what we think is right—that we miss that “quiet voice” in our spirit—that warns us about things.
We just move ahead and keep doing and making choices and then we find that we have make mistakes and made bad choices or said things we should not have said.
Nehemiah was a wise man. He knew how much a human man needed God’s help. He knew that as humans we are weak and can make bad choices.
So Nehemiah kept his spirit in prayer as he worked and went through the day.
When those times came—the Holy Spirit warned him in a quiet voice—and Nehemiah learned to listen to his spirit. He made wise choices.
May we learn to do the same.