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.

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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.

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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.

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Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study: Nehemiah 1:1-2:20,  Deut. 7:9, Ps. 23:1-6, Num. 23:19.

Memory Text: “So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: ‘I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments’ ” (Nehemiah 1:4-5, NKJV).

To date, two groups of captives have returned to Judah in at least partial fulfillment of God’s promises to the Hebrew nation.

But there is one more company of exiles that God is preparing. The last group of captives is commissioned to fix a problem. Although the first two groups returned to rebuild Jerusalem and to complete part of that project by finishing the temple, the rest of the construction was abandoned as opposition from the surrounding nations arose. The people from the surrounding area didn’t want the Israelites to build the city and its walls because they were afraid that the Israelites might become a mighty nation as they had once been (Ezra 4:6-24). Thus, the return of the Israelites appeared to be a threat, one that they were determined to stop. But God didn’t call His people in order to abandon them in the process of doing what He had called them to do.

Thus, He was preparing another man to carry out His will and to accomplish His purposes. His name was Nehemiah, and to him and his work for the Lord we turn.

Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, October 12.

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Attacked With Acid

By Andrew McChesney, Adventist Mission

Banza Mwela, the pastor of a Sunday church in the Democratic Republic of Congo, nearly died when his wife and son doused him with skin-burning acid on the day of his baptism into the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

Image © Pacific Press

But Banza, his face permanently disfigured, clung to life and today is an Adventist lay pastor preaching a powerful testimony that draws crowds to Jesus.

“I praise the Lord that I belong to the Seventh-day Adventist family and that the devil has been defeated”, Banza said.

The story began in October 2013 when Banza attended an evangelistic campaign in the southeastern city of Likasi. Keen to know more about Adventist doctrines, he enrolled in the pastoral training school at the local Philip Lemon University.

On the day of his baptism, Banza returned home, happily singing a hymn about the power of Jesus. As he entered the house, his adult son lunged toward him and threw a pail of sulfuric acid on his face and body. Blinded and burning with pain, Banza cried out in agony and crumpled onto the floor.

Banza’s wife and son, enraged that he had left their church, had plotted the attack and hoped that he would die on the spot, said Robert S. Muhune, president of the East Congo Union Mission.

“But fortunately a miracle happened”, he said. “The man didn’t die”.

Neighbors heard Banza’s cry and rushed him to the hospital.

Doctors weren’t sure that he would make it. He lost an eye and most of the skin on his body. He spent weeks in intensive care, and skin grafts and other reconstructive plastic surgery are continuing even now. The Adventist world church has helped cover the expensive operations.

Banza’s wife and son disappeared after the attack and are on the run.

While Banza remains in pain, he spends little time in the hospital bed. He actively shares his testimony in churches and at camp meetings. His favorite Bible passage is Isaiah 43:1-3, which he reads as he shares his story: “But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; You are Mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I gave Egypt for your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in your place”.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission. Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

All Rights Reserved. No part of the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide may be edited, altered, modified, adapted, translated, reproduced, or published by any person or entity without prior written authorization from the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.

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