Consider the life of Al. Born in the Kentucky hinterlands, he had a modest upbringing of illiterate parents, lost his mother to fever at age nine. Al lost his first business venture. So he ran for state office, he lost. OK, so Al starts another business which failed.

Two years later his wife dies, Al is devastated. In fact, of his 4 sons, only one lives to manhood. Indefatigable, Al gets up, brushes himself and makes another stab at public office. He loses again.  Al develops a b lack depression which he sometimes referred to as “the hypo” or hypochondria, which would haunt him throughout his life, especially after the death of his first wife, Ann.

A third political defeat, a fourth, a fifth political defeat. But then..

Oh did I say Al? I meant to say AL, as in Abraham Lincoln, sixteenth President of the United States, presiding, conducting, and winning the Civil War, Emancipator of slaves, and heals of a nation, “with malice toward none” toward his captives.

In his early life, Lincoln had few books for education, chief among these were Pilgrim’s Progress by Paul Bunyan, and, of course, the Bible. Said Lincoln:

“I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good from The Savior of the world is communicated to us through this Book.”

A piece by the Lincoln Institute quotes Joshua F. Speed in an encounter:
 “As I entered the room, near night, he was sitting near a window intently reading his Bible. Approaching him I said: “I am glad to see you so profitably engaged.’ ‘Yes,’ said he, “I am profitably engaged.’ ‘Well,’ said I, ‘if you have recovered from your skepticism, I am sorry to say that I have not.’ Looking me earnestly in the face and placing his hand on my shoulder, he said: ‘You are wrong, Speed. Take all of this book upon reason that you can and the balance on faith, and you will live and die a happier and better man.’”. 

Source: The Lincoln Institute

Can their there be little doubt that Abraham Lincoln had learned the lessons of another great leader, Nehemiah,  whose book Lincoln studied?

Summary / Thoughts
The Wallbuilders

Nehemiah 3:1	Although Chapter 3 is mostly an enumeration of the workers, several points bear closer scrutiny. The High Priest and his family arose to build the Sheep Gate, at the north end of the Old City, close to the Temple.  This pattern of people rebuilding near their homes is repeated throughout the workforce.
Nehemiah 3:5, 27, 31-32	Although the people of Tekoa, a town about 8 miles southwest of Jerusalem engaged in the building, the town leaders did not, possibly due to Tobiah’s influence. It is possible to do the right thing even when the leaders do not. In fact the Tekoites, to their credit,  completed two different sections of the wall.
Nehemiah 3:8-9	The well heeled joined in the work, a testament to Nehemiah’s leadership, and probably their own self-interest.

Hope is an interesting thing. Sir Francis Bacon remarked that “Hope is a good breakfast, but it is a bad supper.”

Hope in the salvation and return of Christ is a great thing. The hope of Hebrews 6:19 is the anchor of the soul.

But hope demands action. Psalm 9:10 God moves in response to those who put their trust in God.

Nehemiah understood this, and did not wait passively when confronted. As always, his hope, trust, and faith were in God Almighty, but based on that faith, he took action. Some would say outside of hope in its Heb 6:19 context, the opposite of (human, passive) hope is action.

The enemies of the Jews are, in essence,  the same today as then:

Nehemiah’s Enemies were:

Sanballat

Tobiah the Ammonite

The Arabs

 

Discouragement & Defense

Nehemiah 4:1-3	Did you think that when you are engaged in God’s call for your life, it was going to proceed without hindrances? Jesus’ enemies and even the ignorant attempted to hamstring Him at every turn. Note that the audience here includes Sanballat’s power base, an doubling of the supposed power of his discouragement.
Nehemiah 4:4-5	Discouragement is perhaps the best weapon the Enemy has in his playbook. And to have 2 different people come at you from different sides, Nehemiah did the first best thing, he prayed.
Nehemiah 4:6-9	The people had a mind to work! Wow, would that we. What distracts you, how do you lose focus? Usually, you don’t really care, or are otherwise unmotivated. It isn’t important. Increase the importance, increase the will to work.
Nehemiah 4:10-14	Exo 14 ias an excellent parallel to this, Moses’ leadership fighting both Pharaoh and his own people, and the “mixed multitude” that departed with the Jews. Nehemiah took definite action and spoke bravely to the leaders and people
Nehemiah 4:15-23	God discourages our enemies. As hard as that is to keep that in mind during trials, it is, nonetheless true. See 2 Sam 17:14, Job 5:12The parallel for us is that we never proceed without our weapons, the full armor of God, to our life. As the Jews did in the work and life, so must we.I wonder how the civilians obtained weapons of war were probably brought in by the army, for the only other reliable manufacturer of weapons was the Philistines, (Ashdod was a Philistine city). They remained vigilant day and night. This too is a parallel for us. 1 Pet 5:8

Memory Verse – At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.. Nehemiah 4:20 

Application – Take courage, God will fight the battle. Simply show up with the full armor of God. 

Anyone who loves the blues knows of guitar blues icon Joe Bonamassa. At age 11, he burst on the music scene playing backup to another blues legend, BB King, who seeing the spindly youth play his heart out on a Fender Strat, was so impressed he toured with BB in 1989. Quoted King:

“This kid’s potential is unbelievable. He hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface. He’s one of a kind.”

When asked his secret to success, Joe answered, “It was about 10% talent, and 90% hard work. You can’t succeed in this business without it. There’s no substitute for hard work.” Without a doubt Joe’s hard work has revived what was once considered a musical genre that had seen its apex.

But what the world didn’t see, was years and years of disciplined training, coaching, and encouraging by his father, a dealer of musical instruments. So immersed in blues was Joe, that success became the obvious result of preparation meeting opportunity. Certainly his work ethic is not in isolation.

Even a cursory reading of chapter one and two gives us insight into the previous life of the son of Hacaliah. What can we discern of the man? First off, we see deep patriotism. (Neh 1:2-4) Patriotism is not a natural sentiment, it is a deeply penetrating liniment applied to the soul;  dressed, and repeated from the locker of family values.

Also from this heritage is his natural, deep, and rich prayer life. (Neh 1:5-10). So much so even to the present day, Nehemiah’s prayers are held up both both Christians and Jews for their passion, structure, and effectiveness. Again, this was not learned in isolation, but from parents who treasured God and His Word. Even the pattern imitates the “Lord’s Prayer” of Matthew 6 in its simple, logical fashion, honoring the person of the Father, acceptance of His will in our lives, and so on.

More? That Nehemiah had risen to the high position of cupbearer to the king was surely no accident of circumstance.  The core purpose was to help ensure no poison touched the king’s lips by ambitious provocateurs. A deep level of trust was implicit between cupbearer and regent; most often that trust widened to one of trusted advisor. Only a man shown to be trustworthy under prolonged scrutiny could ever hope to be chosen for this important position.

Then what shall we say of the hand of God in Nehemiah’s life? The Holy Spirit has sovereignly elected him the distinction of authoring a book of the Bible, not a privilege available to most, but God’s decision alone. And there were doubtless many who possessed Nehemiah’s Godly heritage, self discipline, and drive. But only one was chosen by the king, or should we say, chosen by the King:

“The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.” – Proverbs 21:1

We might not be tasting in the king’s service, but we are sons and heirs in the King’s court. Let’s sup with Him.

Summary / Thoughts
Nehemiah’s Prayer is Answered

Nehemiah 2:1-2	Four months have passed since Nehemiah’s prayer. Do our prayers seem unanswered? Why so sad? After all, four months have passed, life moves on, right? No. The angst he felt for his country and countrymen persisted. The cupbearer would approach the king with the cup, a long fringed and embroidered napkin for the king to wipe himself. The cupbearer poured the wine fem the cup in his right hand into his left palm, and drank it in the king’s presence. Pharaoh and Solomon also used cupbearers. Being a prominent courtier, the order of the courtiers was to be merriment at all times. Compare the encounter with Hadassah’s (Esther) Esther 4:4-5:4. Esther braces and tried to hide her concern over Haman with her beauty and adornment, but despite this, Artexerxes  (via God, of course) showed favor anyway.
Nehemiah 2:3-5	Having this angst bottled up for so long, is now confronted by the king to bring his problem to the forefront. Sometimes God protects us from our natural tendency to deny real emotion and passion when He desires the healthy best choice of confronting issues, as Christ did. Most importantly, he prayed for an answer. First was the drawn out formal prayer of chapter one, now a simple “God, what do I say?!Can you think of times when Christ could have avoided confrontation but instead met it straight on?
Nehemiah  2:6-8	Once emboldened by the positive response, he now asks boldly for what he needs. Do you think he prepared this list in advance? Do you ask boldly of God?
Nehemiah 2:9-10	Sanballat, a man of compromise. He was a Samaritan. Good information on him is here: http://www.antiquities.org.il/article_Item_eng.asp?sec_id=36&subj_id=286His life was a compromise. He was connected to the building of the Samaritan Temple at Mt. Gerazim, and had great political interest in seeing the Jerusalem Temple be not built. He is mentioned in an ancient text, the Elephantine papyrus. The Elephanitnes were a Jewish colony in Upper Egypt who wrote, among other things, for material support.   The crux of the controversy includes which Temple should the Jews worship at? Even as late as the time of Christ, the woman at the well of John 4:19-20 asks the question, or rather attempts to deflect Jesus’ point of her need for salvation. However at this time, the Temple God manifested Himself in was at Jerusalem, dedicated and paid for by David, and built and consecrated by Solomon (2 Chr 6 & 7)

Arrival in Jerusalem and Inspection of the Walls

Nehemiah 2:11-16	Guided by the Holy Spirit, he proceeds with his mission. There is a time for consensus, planning and vision casting (Pro 11:14, 12:15, 15:22 and elsewhere), and there times when it is best to act in discretion (Pro 12:23), so as not to allow enemies an advantage, and allies misunderstanding. Nehemiah is merely gathering intelligence that he will act on later.
Nehemiah 2:17-20	Nehemiah’s discretion pays dividends in the appeal to the people and the rebuke of his enemies. More on them next week!All in all, Nehemiah remains fully reliant on God.

Memory Verse – When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:4

Application – I will pray with passion and purpose and without compromise. 

What defines a leader? Are they made, or can anyone be a leader? What’s the difference between a leader and a manager, a coach, an officer, or political office holder?

Steven Covey called them by another name.. In his best selling self-help / business book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, he includes “Be proactive,” “Begin with the end in mind,” Think Win/Win” and so on.

Sports offers a different kind of model, “overcome adversity,”  “Leaders aren’t born, they’re made” (Lombardi), Bobby Knight’s “either you’re in or you’re out,” and a personal favorite from Yogi Berra: “90% of this game is half mental.”

What does God say about leadership? He holds out many good examples, such as Abraham, Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, and Nehemiah, whose book we will study.

A key point comes from the prophet Samuel:

When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is before Him.”
But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”  –1 Sam 16:6-8

God calls those ready, not ready (God had to wait 40 years before Moses was ready), those unwilling; again Moses,  Gideon, and Jonah in Exodus 4, Judges 6:37-40 & Jonah 1.

God calls on those who communicate, with people as well s God. Again Moses was assisted by God communicating with people through his brother, and often spent spent up to 40 days in communion with the Almighty.

Nehemiah makes no less then 11 recorded prayers in the book, a testament to his reliance and close communion.

Nehemiah relies on, and acts on faith in God’s goodness and promises, having committed himself to God, he takes decisive action, often at personal risk, ridicule, and threat of personal harm.

Nehemiah had a deep passion for the problems he observed. This lead him to “constructive dissatisfaction.” He allowed the passion, under God’s control, to impel him to action guided to achieve God’s desire that His Temple be completed, and that the people of Israel take the 70 year lesson of captivity to heart and return to Him and thus be reformed.

Timeline:

In 538 BC Cyrus decreed the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild  a direct fulfillment of Daniel’s famous Seventy Weeks’ Prophecy recorded in Daniel 9:24-27

Zerubbabel began the return from exile nearly 100 years before Nehemiah began his journey there. A group of exiles had begun rebuilding the Temple, but and become discouraged after the locals plot to compromise the work was rejected by Zerubbabel and Jeshua, the governor and high priest, respectively.

After an interim period (during which the book of Hadassh, or as we know it, Esther, took place under Artexerxes.

After these things, the timeline of Nehemiah commences at 444 BC. Nehemiah remained as governor for 11 years after which he returned to his role as cupbearer for a brief time, and then returned to Jerusalem, overseeing it’s spiritual and national revival. He is recorded ceased his leadership role sometime before 400BC.

 
Book Outline:

Chapters 1 – 7	Rebuilding the Walls
Chapter 8	Returning to Truth
Chapters 11 – 12	Reforming a Nation
Chapter 13	Reviving a People

Summary / Thoughts

Neh 1:1-3	Chislev – Nov/Dec, 20th year. Of King Artexerxes. The style of writing appears to be from an excerpt of a personal record or diary. Josephus records that he overheard men speaking in Hebrew, and was thus attracted to the conversation, and his natural concern for people drove the conversation (Antiquities, Book 11 Chap 5 para 6)
Neh 1:4	He reacts as a Godly man will, deep passion, fasting and prayer. Note the structure of his prayer:
Neh 1:5	Acknowledging God’s attributes
Neh 1:6	Calls for attention – Luke 11:1 and persistence in prayer

Neh 1:7-8	A confession of his personal and national sin and its consequences
Neh 1:9-11	An appeal to His promise to Moses and to the Jews (and us!)

Memory Verse – When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Nehemiah 1:4

Application – I will pray with passion and purpose.