In the first part of this two-part series, drawing from my new book, The Wall and the Word,1 I noted the essential themes of the biblical book of Nehemiah.
Unsettling ending
A further feature of the Old Testament book is its unsettling ending, with its disappointment and sense of failure.We may wish the final chapter had been left unwritten, but it’s there so we must come to terms with it. Its position as the final part of the Old Testament means this episode brings their recorded history to a close. What is it telling us?
Basically Nehemiah confirms a repeated pattern. Throughout Israel’s history no amount of Law reading, renewed vows or rededication ever guaranteed future obedience. For example, when Moses came down the mountain from God’s presence carrying the two tablets of the Law he found the Israelites dancing in idolatrous worship round a self-made calf of gold. And all led by his trusted second-in-command and elder brother, Aaron! Poor Moses.
Throughout Israel’s history no amount of Law reading, renewed vows or rededication ever guaranteed future obedience.
He soon realised how prevalent this would be. Just before he died, Moses arranged for the regular reading of the Law but at the same time predicted that rebellion would be commonplace in the future (see Deuteronomy chapter 31). Nehemiah would have known all this and perhaps took some consolation from it. If that was Moses’ experience, why should it be any different for him?
Anti-climax
So the book of Nehemiah ends by reaffirming the recurring motif of human failure. We might have hoped for better after all the hardship, prayer and toil, but there was an inevitability about all this. It should be no surprise we find the same in Nehemiah. Here we have another reminder that new structures and renewed vows can in themselves do nothing to transform the perverse inclinations of the human heart. This anti-climax cautions against placing too much confidence in church reform or mighty leaders as though these in themselves might ultimately change human nature. Only the grace of God can do this.
So here, at the end of Old Testament history, Nehemiah is in despair, pulling out hair – probably his own as well as others (Neh 13:25). But he could never have fixed the people in the way that he fixed the wall. People are not inanimate objects, to be placed in position never to move again. They have a will of their own. So we must not expect to find in Nehemiah a reform programme that would work for all time.
Pointing to the promised One
Ultimately, Nehemiah points to Christ, or rather, for Israel, the need for a Messianic intervention. As the book closes the Israelites were still waiting for this and would do so for another 400 years. We are now historically on the other side of this promise. Christ has come. But the message of Nehemiah remains. If we could be rescued from our own failings by simply making more promises of our own, then Christ’s death would have been noble but unnecessary.
The book of Nehemiah offers us principles for rebuilding, whether our own lives, our church or our community, but we too need that bigger perspective.
We aren’t saved by some vow we make or some leaf we turn over, but by trusting in the Promised One and what he has done for us. As part of this we have to learn to distrust ourselves and our own efforts, and at times maybe even our own institutions and systems, and those who lead them. The book of Nehemiah is part of that lesson.
Prepared vessels
One more question. Why they were rebuilding Jerusalem at all? Was it just for the Israelites to reconnect with their past and make a new start for themselves? Or was there a bigger reason?
Little did they realise it at the time but they were starting to prepare a city in readiness for the promised Messiah, a place where God’s Son would come to teach and to die, to deal with the issues of rebellion and disobedience which so beset them. This was God’s bigger purpose behind all their efforts.
The book of Nehemiah offers us principles for rebuilding, whether our own lives, our church or our community, but we too need that bigger perspective. Why are we doing these things? Is it so that Jesus can come into our midst to teach, to heal, to be worshipped? Do we also realise that we should be building in readiness for his return to planet Earth and in particular to reign from Jerusalem? Everything that the Israelites were doing in Nehemiah in that period of history, they were doing for Jesus’ sake. They just didn’t realise it. Do we?
1. The Wall and The Word (2023: 241pp) is published by Malcolm Down Publishing and is available from the publisher for £10.99 (+ p&p).
Paul Luckraft is a longstanding member of the PT Editorial Board, and longserving PT book reviewer