1. Arrived and weeping. His wishes have been fulfilled, and the temple rebuilt. Why is Nehemiah so filled with distress that he weeps in mourning for several days? What is the bad news? From the perspective of their neighbors, what has to happen to God’s people? Is their wish fulfilled?

 

2. Nehemiah receives bad news. Hanani, probably one of Nehemiah’s blood brothers, has a sour message for Nehemiah. What is that grim message? Wasn’t the temple rebuilt by now? What stopped all planning and rehearsal for a holy service in that house of God? How did Nehemiah respond to this disappointing turn of events? Put yourself in his sandals. What would you do or say at this time? Is there a lesson for us in this disappointing turn of events? 

 

3. Nehemiah’s prayer. What do you think was so beautiful and filled with gratitude in Nehemiah’s prayer? Why did Nehemiah feel obliged to rehearse the greatness and the mercy of God at this time? Nehemiah says to God, “Remember…” and follows with two key promises of God. Does God need to be reminded of His promises? Are they important enough to justify a special prayer of remembrance by us when we pray? 

 

4. Nehemiah speaks out. The king’s cupbearer, Nehemiah had an important role to play. How could carrying a cup for the king be important in the kingdom? Once fulfilled, his task of carrying the king’s cup ended Nehemiah’s role at that time. Where did he go and what did he do? Was it`God’s will for Nehemiah to take important leadership responsibility in the territory of Judah at this time? Why? 

 

5. Winning confidence. How did the king show his confidence in Nehemiah in letters he sent to key officials in the region beyond the River? How else did he show his longing to have the temple built in an honorable way? What is Nehemiah’s responsibility now? Not everything is positive for Nehemiah once he arrives. Paint a verbal picture of the hostility Nehemiah faces when he comes into the city of Jerusalem. Sanballat and other heathen leaders work with all their might to stop Nehemiah in his work of rebuilding. Do they succeed? Why or why not?   

 

6. Now what? Our lesson closes with three Leadership Lessons you and I can take home with us and make them part of our study of God’s will.  
Lesson 1: Nehemiah does not tell anyone, including the Jewish leaders ________________________________because he is on a scouting mission to figure out what needs to be done. Lesson 2: Before presenting anything, Nehemiah ________________________ _________________ ___________.  
Lesson 3: When he does speak of the task, Nehemiah first outlines what God has done so far to lead this expedition, and then he ______________________, encouraging before asking for commitment. What is the result in the response of Jewish leaders? 

 

Amen!(4)

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Key Thought : Nehemiah was a man of prayer. He ask4ed the Lord to grant him favor before the king that the plan might be carried out. Nehemiah waited four months for the right moment.

October 12, 2019

1. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 1:1-4.

1. Ask class members to share a thought on what the most important point in this text is.
2. Why was Nehemiah so distressed? What was his response to the bad news?
3. Personal Application: When we receive bad news, how do we respond? Do we weep, fast, and pray? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your relatives states: “What good does fasting do anyway? Is this a voluntary fast, or does he feel so bad, he doesn’t feel like eating?” How would you respond to your relative?

2. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 2:1-8.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the most important point is in this passage.
2. What was the result of Nehemiah’s fasting and prayers?
3. Personal Application: When you pray, does it involve surrender, confession, and claiming God’s promises? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your friends states, “Why do Christians always have problems and challenges when ever they try to follow God’s way?” How would you respond to your friend?

3. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 2:9-10

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What do these verses tell us about the opposition Nehemiah and the Jews were facing?
3. Personal Application: When doing something for God, have you ever faced opposition? Where did it come from? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: One of your neighbors states, “Should we cooperate with the governmental authorities in accomplishing God’s work in our communities and in the world? What challenges could we face by doing so?” How would you respond to your neighbor?

4. Have a volunteer read Nehemiah 2:11-20.

1. Ask class members to share a short thought on what the main idea of this text is.
2. What does Nehemiah do to prepare for rebuilding the wall?
3. Personal Application: In doing any work for God in your life or in the church, how much planning and preparation do you get involved in, or do you just do it? Share your thoughts.
4. Case Study: Think of one person who needs to hear a message from this week’s lesson. Tell the class what you plan to do this week to share with them.

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Amen!(1)

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Nehemiah 1:11 says that Nehemiah is the king’s cupbearer. To us this may seem like an unimportant job, but cupbearers could be men of powerful influence, since they had constant and close access to the king. Cupbearers tasted beverages for the king in order to prevent illness or death of the king. Herodotus points out that the Persians held cupbearers in high honor, as they were regarded as high officials. For instance, the cupbearer of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon was also the chief minister of the kingdom. Thus, Nehemiah holds a high position in the kingdom, and because of his access to the king, he pleads with God to use him in speaking to the king about the situation in Judah.

Read Nehemiah 2:1-8. What happened as a result of Nehemiah’s prayers and fasting?

Nehemiah’s Prayer Answered

The prayer is answered in the month of Nisan, which is roughly the month of April of 444 B.C. Four months have passed since Hanani and the Jews brought the disturbing news about Jerusalem to Nehemiah. For four months, Nehemiah prayed and fasted, and every day it might have seemed to him as if God was not answering. But God’s timing is always perfect. God prepared the king to hear Nehemiah and to respond favorably.

It was not an everyday occurrence to have the cupbearer relieved of his duties for a time to be a governor in a different land. God spoke through Nehemiah and impressed the Persian King Artaxerxes I to make Nehemiah a governor over the territory of Judah. The mention of the queen suggests that this was possibly a private occasion, as it was not customary for the queen always to be present for formal banquets. Nehemiah does not immediately mention Jerusalem, in order to keep the king from having preconceived ideas, but rather he makes an emotional appeal to the king about something personal to him. By the time the specific place is mentioned, the king has been won.

Amen!(0)

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Read Nehemiah’s prayer found in Nehemiah 1:5-11. What are the different components of the prayer? Why does he include himself in the prayer as those who are guilty?

   1. God you are great and have mercy (Neh. 1:5).
      2. Hear me (Neh. 1:6).
         3. Confession of sins (Neh. 1:6-7).
            4. Remember your promises (Neh. 1:8-9).
         3. You have redeemed us (Neh. 1:10).
      2. Hear me (Neh. 1:11).
   1. God grant prosperity and mercy (Neh. 1:11).

Nehemiah’s Prayer

Nehemiah’s prayer is a beautiful composition recounting God’s greatness, their own sinfulness, and concluding with a cry for help. The prayer resembles the prayer of Daniel in Daniel 9, and it is possible that Nehemiah was familiar with that prayer. It is noteworthy that Nehemiah doesn’t begin with a cry for help, but rather first states the truth about who God is, Great and Awesome. He also points out that God keeps His covenant and has mercy on those who love Him, as if to remind God that He has always been faithful and cannot now be any other way.

The prayer is in a special structure (depicted above) that centers on verse 8, where Nehemiah articulates God’s promises. Nehemiah says: “Remember!” In other words: Remember, God, that you promised that you will scatter us when we are unfaithful but that you also promised to bring us back and restore everything. Since the first one has happened, now it is time to fulfill the other because we are returning to You. Nehemiah is not afraid to claim God’s promises and to remind God of them. Of course, it is not that God doesn’t know or remember His promises. Instead, God takes pleasure in our willingness to claim His promises. He wants us to believe in them and thus speak them out loud to Him. By verbalizing what God has promised us, we can be strengthened in our own resolve to trust in those promises, especially at times when everything seems hopeless.

Amen!(0)

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The book of Nehemiah opens somewhat in the same way the book of Daniel did (read Dan. 1:1-2), and that was with bad news. Yes, many had returned to their ancestral homeland, but things weren’t going too well for them there.

Read Nehemiah 1:1-4. Why was Nehemiah so distressed? What was his response to the bad news he received?

Nehemiah’s Survey

Some Jews taken captive years earlier were brought to Shushan, one of the four administrative centers of the Persian Empire, where Nehemiah served in the royal palace as a cupbearer. The term used for “Hanani one of my brothers” most likely refers to a blood brother, because there is a similar but more familial-sounding reference to Hanani in Nehemiah 7:2, although it could be a reference to just a fellow Israelite. The conversation with Hanani most likely happened between mid-November and mid-December of 445 B.C., some 13 years after Ezra’s return to Jerusalem. Hanani reports that the situation in Jerusalem is dire. The people have not been able to rebuild Jerusalem, and the enemy had destroyed the walls of the city, leaving it defenseless and desolate.

It bears mention that King Artaxerxes crushed the hope of the returnees by stopping the progress of the construction after the people beyond the river complained (Ezra 4). This allowed the enemies to destroy the walls of the city (Ezra 4:23). Nehemiah would have heard rumors of such disaster, but he didn’t have definite answers until this time.

Even though the temple was rebuilt, it wasn’t fully functioning because the people needed for the temple service were unable to live in Jerusalem. The situation saddened Nehemiah as the implications of the news penetrated his soul: the Jews had not glorified God even though they had returned for that purpose. Instead they had neglected the house of God and the Holy City, due to their fear of the enemy and oppression.

Thus, Nehemiah automatically turns to God. He doesn’t complain that the people of Judah lack faith or put them down as cowards, nor does he just accept the situation as the status quo. Nehemiah just gets down on His knees and starts praying and fasting.

Amen!(0)

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