Over and over and over again during the past couple of years, God has kept me camped out (so to speak) in certain parts of the Bible. Nehemiah, Ruth, Isaiah 54 and 62, St John's Gospel and his 1st Epistle. More so the OT books than the NT books. I've lived in those books, especially Ruth. I love that story.
The one that really gets me, however, is Nehemiah. Nehemiah is about a lot of things. I've read it soo many times in the past, so I pretty much have a handle on the themes of faith, management/people skills, diplomacy, leadership and restoration that abound in that little book. And it is a little book. I've read it twice in the past two days both times in one sitting.
18 July 2010
Walls and Wallbuilders
We all know the story (if not, please go read it). The exiled Jews go back to Judah after the 70 years in Babylon. Ezra led them back and began work on the temple. Nehemiah felt called to lead the rebuilding of the walls of the City of God. While most scholars agree that Nehemiah and Ezra were probably contemporaries, there seems to be a gap of some years that passed between the two returns. I'm not sure if there is consensus on who came first, but whatever the case may be, Jerusalem was a hot mess when they got there.
The part that was most dangerous for the returning exiles was the fact that the city walls and gates of Jerusalem were smashed flat. At that time, if your city walls were non-existent, so was your city. The walls and gates defined who was "in" (as in part of the group) and who was "out". They were the first line of defense against an enemy. They were an indicator of strength and prestige. They had to get the walls up because if there were no walls there was no Jerusalem, simple as that. Without walls, the returnees were just a bunch of squatters on a pile of rocks, not denizens of a city in the eyes of the surrounding peoples.
But without the people there would have been nothing at all in the first place. And that is the realization I had during my reading.
Nehemiah is not only about faith and restoration and leadership, but it is about families. These people didn't come back as individuals, they came back as family groups. Nehemiah is chock full of names of families. He lists family names of all who worked to rebuild the walls. He lists the family names of all the first returnees, laymen, priests, Levites and singers. He lists the names of all the family leaders who signed the covenant. He lists all the people who agreed to live in the newly restored Jerusalem as well as in the outlying towns. When more priests, Levites and singers came fom babylon and he listed all of those.
After a while, especially in the last few chapters of the book, I started feeling like I was just reading roll call: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth...After a while my head was spinning! All these names. (And most of them ending in -iah, too.) So I had to stop and think. What was it with God and these long lists of names that sound very odd to my ears? Especially in a book about building a wall. So I re-read it and came across statements like these (Neh 3):
Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs opposite his house...Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters...Baruch the son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the Angle to the doorway of the house of Eliashib the high priest....After him Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another section, from the doorway of Eliashib's house even as far as the end of his house...after them Benjamin and Hasshub carried out repairs in front of their house. After them Azariah the son of Maaseiah, son of Ananiah, carried out repairs beside his house...
They were fixing the parts of the wall right next to where they lived. They didn't travel across town to build the wall. They worked on their own part of the wall. Plus, each section of wall was right next to their neighbors', people they knew, so if they didn't rebuild their section, there would be a gap that would undermine the whole process. They had a vested interest in working together to rebuild the wall. Who else was going to do it? The Federal Government? Puh-lease. Oh wait, that's a different rant. I digress...
My point (and I do have one) is that this book is not just about the restoration of a city. It's also about the restoration of families, of people who had gone through something horrific but still managed to hold fast, standing together so that when Nehemiah needed folk to rebuild a wall, there were people who already had an investment in the place ready and willing to say, "I live here, my blood is here, my family is here and I will rebuild this wall because it will keep my family inside, safe and secure."
Currently I am building walls in my own life. I don't have to build walls around my home or city, but inside me. I know I have boundary issues and I have had them for a long time. Since I don't think I have ever had strong boundaries in my life, I'm learning how to put them into place so that I feel safe and so that others know where their limits with me are. I'm learning to welcome what I wish to welcome and deny what is harmful and unacceptable.
The interesting thing is that these boundaries, these walls, not only define where others should stop, but they also define where I should stop. Nehemiah ordered the gates of Jerusalem closed on the Sabbath and did not re-open them until the Sabbath ended (Neh 13:15-22). In this way, he told those with a right to be inside the walls where their boundaries were as well. The very obvious boundary marked by the rebuilt wall helped the inhabitants of the city exercise self-control (a fruit of the Holy Spirit) in the face of temptation. My boundaries also prevent me from running off half-cocked (as I am wont to do) when I feel attacked. It's a way to help me exercise my own brand of self-control until it becomes automatic.
Amazingly, just like in Nehemiah, there are those who, when they attempt to breach the walls--either by stealth or in open attack--and find they cannot, immediately run to say how horrible I am and spread lies that I am in the midst of rebellion (Neh 2:19) against the very King who told me to rebuild my walls (Neh 2:6-8). There is nothing new under the sun.
Restoration of yourself is never easy. It takes hard work, exhaustion and painful mornings after. You get folks who know nothing about you talking about you behind your back and skimming the surface of what they see to make a faulty judgement call (Neh 4:1-15; 6:1-15). Nehemiah's detractors did it and they did it from day one. Why should anyone else be any different? Always expect opposition and attack when you make a change.
Lord have mercy on me a sinner. Or in the words of Nehemiah, "Remember me, O my God, for good."
The interesting thing is that these boundaries, these walls, not only define where others should stop, but they also define where I should stop. Nehemiah ordered the gates of Jerusalem closed on the Sabbath and did not re-open them until the Sabbath ended (Neh 13:15-22). In this way, he told those with a right to be inside the walls where their boundaries were as well. The very obvious boundary marked by the rebuilt wall helped the inhabitants of the city exercise self-control (a fruit of the Holy Spirit) in the face of temptation. My boundaries also prevent me from running off half-cocked (as I am wont to do) when I feel attacked. It's a way to help me exercise my own brand of self-control until it becomes automatic.
Amazingly, just like in Nehemiah, there are those who, when they attempt to breach the walls--either by stealth or in open attack--and find they cannot, immediately run to say how horrible I am and spread lies that I am in the midst of rebellion (Neh 2:19) against the very King who told me to rebuild my walls (Neh 2:6-8). There is nothing new under the sun.
Restoration of yourself is never easy. It takes hard work, exhaustion and painful mornings after. You get folks who know nothing about you talking about you behind your back and skimming the surface of what they see to make a faulty judgement call (Neh 4:1-15; 6:1-15). Nehemiah's detractors did it and they did it from day one. Why should anyone else be any different? Always expect opposition and attack when you make a change.
Lord have mercy on me a sinner. Or in the words of Nehemiah, "Remember me, O my God, for good."
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2 comments:
This is awesome, incredibly insightful...extremly personal yet universal. I do believe this personifies why the Bible was written. If we dare to let it take us there. Thru it God gives each us exactly what we need to become what we already are but don't know how to be...like Him. I'm so moved I could weep.
Thank you, Dana! I've been reading this book for 3 years now and this morning I finally caught a glimmer. God is so good!
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