Walking Through the Bible: Nehemiah 10-13

The covenant was sealed by Nehemiah, the priests, Levites, and the leaders over the people (Nehemiah 10). They agreed to observe and do all the commandments, ordinances and statutes of God (V29) and not to intermarry with the people around them. They also agreed to support the service of the house of God (V32-39). They set about repopulating Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11). One-tenth of the people were to live in the city while the other nine-tenths lived in other cities. 

During the reign of Darius, records had been kept of the Levites and priests (Nehemiah 12) and Nehemiah brought them all together to celebrate the dedication of the rebuilding (V27). Two large choirs were appointed and these walked in opposite direction on the wall in celebration and praise joining together in the house of the Lord (V37). They offered great sacrifices and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy (V43). Appointments were made to keep the storerooms, for singers and gatekeepers, as all Israel gave portions to support the singers, gatekeepers, and others involved in the work of the temple (V44-47).

They read from the Book of Moses and learned that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever come into the Assembly of God because they had hired Balaam to curse them when they came out of Egypt (Nehemiah 13). But Eliashib the priest had aligned himself with Tobiah who was an Ammonite. He had been one of the men who had opposed the rebuilding of the temple and had been given one of the storerooms in the temple complex (V5).

When Nehemiah found this out he had the room cleared out and returned to its intended use (V8-8). He also learned that the Levites had not received their portions so they had returned to working their fields and the work of the temple was affected. Nehemiah contended with the rulers and set them in their place (V11). 

The people had ignored the covenant they had made and were doing work and carrying on trade in the Sabbath (V15-16). Nehemiah reminded the nobles of Judah the disaster which came on them was a result of them not keeping the Sabbath (V17-18).

There were others who had married women from Ashdod, Ammon, and Moab, including the son of the high priest Eliashib who was son-in-law to Sanballat, another who had opposed the rebuilding. So Nehemiah drove him away (V23, 28). Nehemiah cleansed them of everything pagan and restored order (V30). 

Walking Through the Bible: Nehemiah 5-9

Not only will trouble come from without, but also from within (Nehemiah 5). The wealthy took advantage of the poor forcing them into servitude (V5). Nehemiah dealt with this inequality because what was being done was not good (V8). The people listened and restored what was held as collateral (V12).

Nehemiah, as true leaders do, modelled generosity at his own expense. At his table were leaders and rulers as well the common people; even those from the nations around him (V17).

Then Sanballat and his cohorts tried to do Nehemiah harm because he lead the work of reconstruction (Nehemiah 6). But Nehemiah wouldn’t give into their schemes and the wall was completed.

After the wall was rebuilt Nehemiah gathered the people to be registered by genealogy (Nehemiah 7). The whole assembly was 42,360 plus their servants (V66-67). Houses were built and they dwelt in the city (V73). Ezra then gathered the people (Nehemiah 8) and read the Book of the Law to them from morning to midday (V3) reading distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and gave the sense, and helped them understand the reading (V8).

On the second day as they gathered to hear and understand the words of the Law they learned about the Feast of Tabernacles (V14) and so they kept the feast. For the duration of the feast the Book of the Law was read (V18). 

On the twenty-fourth of the month the people confessed their sins (Nehemiah 9). For a quarter of the day they read from the Book of the Law; and for another quarter they confessed and worshipped the Lord as they were reminded of the faithfulness of the Lord from leaving Egypt through their desert years and into the land (V6).

He had given them rest (V14) and instructed them through commandments, statutes and laws. They remembered how they had been disobedient (V17) and made false idols yet God had not abandoned them (V19), but sustained them and made them as numerous as the stars (V23) and came to the land of promise. Yet in their disobedience they we’re delivered into the hands of their enemies until they cried out (V27).

This was a pattern until God exiled them (V30) because they had not kept the law, nor heeded His commandments (V34) and even then were oppressed by the nations over them (V37). So they confessed and made a covenant and sealed it (V38). 

Walking Through the Bible: Nehemiah 1-4

Nehemiah served king Artaxerxes as a cupbearer (Nehemiah 1) when his brother Hanani came and told him about the deplorable state of Jerusalem; the walls were broken down and the gate burned. Nehemiah broke down at the news and wept as he poured his heart out to God in repentance (V4-11).

Later, as Nehemiah served the king, his face betrayed his thoughts and the king asked why and Nehemiah told him (Nehemiah 2). Miraculously, the king asked what could be done (V4) and Nehemiah asked to go to Judah to rebuild. The king granted his request even providing letters of transit and provision of timber for rebuilding. 

When Nehemiah arrived he kept his intentions to himself until he’d surveyed Jerusalem to see what was needed (V11-16). Only then did he speak to the officials. Of course, whenever you desire to do the work of God there will be opposition. But Nehemiah stayed the course.

Rebuilding the wall began with groups taken on portions of the wall to rebuild (Nehemiah 3). But Sanballat the Moabite, who had some authority in the region, caused trouble as the work progressed (Nehemiah 4). conspiring with others to attack Jerusalem (V8).

In response Nehemiah and the people prayed to God and set up security (V9). As they worked half of them stood guard while the other half worked (V21). And the work progressed. 

Walking Through the Bible: Ezra 7-10

Ezra, a priest and scribe comes up from Babylon carrying a letter of instruction from king Artaxerxes (Ezra 7). Ezra prepared His heart to seek the Law of the Lord, to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel (V10). He, according to the letter from the king, was to install magistrates and judges and Ezra was encouraged and gathered leading men of Israel to go with him (V28).

With the women and children about 7000 people went with Ezra (Ezra 8). These were added to the first group which had returned some eighty years earlier. But there wasn’t found any Levites, the servants who did the work of ministry in and around the temple among them (V15). So Ezra sends for Levites to join this second group of returnees (16-20). And they came.

It was a long four month trip and they would go without protection so they fasted and prayed before they continued the journey. Ezra delivered the letter from the king to the governors (V36). 

When Ezra arrived in Israel, he discovered many of the priests and the people of the first group had intermarried with the pagan people around them (Ezra 9). This is why God had exiled them from Israel in the first place.

Ezra fell on his knees to pray and poured out his heart to God (6-15). A large assembly of men, women, and children gathered and joined him and confessed their sin (Ezra 10) and decided to make a covenant with the Lord and put away their pagan wives and children. Those that refused this covenant would be separated from the assembly (V7). There were so many who had participated in this sin that it took several months to determine who had taken pagan wives (V16-17). 

Walking Through the Bible: Ezra 1-6

After the seventy year exile God moved the heart of Cyrus to make a decree allowing the Jews to return (Ezra 1). Whoever wanted could return and rebuild the temple (V3). Any who remained could support the work of rebuilding (V4). King Cyrus even returned the articles of the house of the Lord (V7, 11).

The returned were comprised of priests, Levites, musicians,  and common people led by Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah (V8), also known as Zerubbabel (Ezra 2). All together, they numbered forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty (V64) plus male and female servants.

In the seventh month they began to rebuild but first they offered sacrifices on the altar because they feared the people around them (Ezra 3) The restoration of the temple began with the foundation. When it was laid they stopped and praised the Lord. But some were saddened because they remembered the glory of the former temple. This temple was smaller by comparison (V12). 

Where there is light, there are bugs and opposition arose from their adversaries (Ezra 4) who tried to discourage them from building, but the work continued (V4). So a letter was written to the new king, but nothing happened.

When another king took the throne they tried again. This time the work was stopped (V24) for about fifteen years until the second year of a new king, Darius.

Haggai and Zechariah the prophets encouraged Zerubbabel to begin building again (Ezra 5). But once again attempts were made by their adversaries to stop the work but it was found that king Cyrus had initiated the return and had instructed them to rebuild. So Darius permitted the work to continue (Ezra 6) even making provisions of materials instructing the governors of the area to contribute, at the kings expense, the cost required from the taxes levied on the region. Additionally, they were to provide the animals needed for the sacrifice (V8-10). The temple was finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius (V15) and the descendants of the captivity celebrated the Passover (V19-22). 

Walking Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 33-36

Manasseh reigned fifty-five years and started off evil (2 Chronicles 33). He rebuilt all the centres of false worship, even building altars in the house of the Lord. He passed his sons through the fire and set up an idol in the temple. The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they would not listen. Then Assyria attacked and carried him of your Babylon.

There, in great affliction, Manasseh implored the Lord and humbled himself, and the Lord brought him back to Jerusalem (V12-13). Then he took away the foreign gods and the idols from the temple commanding Judah to serve the Lord God. After his death, his son became king, reigning two years and doing evil in God’s sight. His servants conspired and killed him making his son Josiah king (V24-25). 

Josiah was eight when he became king and reigned thirty-one years (2 Chronicles 34). Seeking the Lord he purged Judah of the high places and images and cleansed of the temple where the Book of the Law was found and read to Josiah.

God planned calamity on Judah, but Josiah would not see it because he humbled his heart and wept before the Lord and restored worship the Passover (2 Corinthians 35). Unwisely, he involved himself in a fight between Egypt and Carchemish dying in the battle (V24).

His son Jehoahaz reigned for three months before being deposed by the king of Egypt (2 Chronicles 36) making his brother Jehoiakim king and imposed tribute on Judah (V3) and carrying off some of the things of the temple. After him his son Jehoiachin reigned for three months and ten days, and was carried off to Babylon as more items were taken from the temple. Zedekiah his uncle was then placed on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar and reigned eleven years. 

The Lord sent warnings by His messengers, but they mocked them, despised God’s words, and scoffed at His prophets (V16). So God sent the Chaldeans against them who took what remained of the treasures of the temple, burned it down along with the walls of Jerusalem and carried off the remaining population. As Jeremiah prophesied, they remained in Babylon until the land had its Sabbath rest for seventy years (V21). Then Cyrus the king of Persia made a proclamation to restore and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple (V22-23).  

Walking Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 28-32

Ahaz becomes king and did not do what was right, as David had done ( Chronicles 28). He was an idol worshipper. Therefore the Lord delivered him into the hands of the kings of Syria and the king of Israel (V5). Judah was overcome because they had forsaken the Lord God (V6). And Israel carried away many captives. But Obed, a prophet of the Lord, told them to return the captives for God’s fierce wrath was on them . Others stood up against those who came back from the war (V11-12). So they brought them back. King Ahaz sent for help from the kings of Assyria when Edom and the Philistines attacked Judah because the Lord brought Judah low because Ahaz had encouraged moral decline and had continually been unfaithful to the Lord (V19). Ahaz became increasingly unfaithful to the Lord and sacrificed to the gods of Assyria, destroyed the articles of the house of God and shut up the doors of the house of the Lord before he died.

Hezekiah his son came to the throne and did right in the sight of God (2 Chronicles 29). He cleansed the temple and made repairs and reinstated the priests and Levites and called on them to sanctify themselves. He understood their troubles stemmed from their trespasses and the evil they had done forsaking God and turning their backs on him (V6, 8). With the temple cleansed Hezekiah restored temple worship. There were too many sacrifices and not enough priests so the Levites helped. Revival broke out and the people rejoiced (V36). He wrote letters and invited other tribes to join in keeping the Feast of Passover (2 Chronicles 30). He sent runners throughout Israel urging they return to the Lord (V6), but they laughed at them and mocked them (V10). But some came. So they gathered in worship and called on God and He heard them and healed them (V20). The priests and Levites blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven (V27). 

Hezekiah made many reforms (2 Chronicles 31) commanding the people to support the priests and the Levites so they could devote themselves to the Law of the Lord (V4). They faithfully brought in the offerings, the tithes, and the dedicated things in abundance (V12). Hezekiah did all this and more with all his heart (V21). When Sennacherib the king of Assyria came against Jerusalem, Hezekiah consulted with his leaders and commanders and they made a plan to stop the springs outside the city (V3). And Hezekiah encouraged his people to trust in the Lord (V7-8). Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah cried out to God and the Lord sent an Angel to cut down the army of Assyria and saved Hezekiah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. But Hezekiah got sick and prayed to the Lord who healed him. Yet, he did not repay according to God’s kindness, but let pride lift him up and the wrath of God loomed over him (V25), yet God stayed His wrath so that it did not come them in the days of Hezekiah (V26). And Hezekiah rested with his fathers (V33).

Walking Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 22-27

The priest Jehoiada set Joash on the throne and destroyed Baal worship (2 Chronicles 23). He had Athaliah the Queen mother and Mattan the priest of Baal killed and organized worship in the house of the Lord as David had instructed. The people rejoiced and the city was quiet. Joash was only seven years old but under the mentorship of Jehoiada he did what was right in the sight of the Lord (2 Chronicles 24). He repaired the temple and the people willingly gave money to help. But Jehoiada grew old and died and Joash listened to the leaders of Judah and fell away from God serving wooden images and idols; and wrath came on Judah (V18). The Spirit of God came upon Zechariah the son of Jehoiada warning that God had forsaken Joash because he had forsaken God. Zechariah was stoned to death. Syria fights against Judah, wounding Joash who is murdered by his own servants (V25).

Amaziah his son assumes the throne doing what was right, but not with a loyal heart (2 Chronicles 25). He executed the servants who had murdered his father and fights a war against Edom by hiring mercenaries from Israel. But God warns him not to rely on them so he sends them away and they raided the cities of Judah in their anger. Returning from battle Amaziah brought back the gods of the people of Seir (V14) and set them up as his gods. Angry, God sent him a prophet but Amaziah wouldn’t listen. Picked a fight with Israel he is captured by them and they plunder the temple. A conspiracy followed Amaziah to Lachish and he was killed there. 

Uzziah (Azariah), became king at sixteen and did what was right seeking God who made him prosper as he fought various skirmishes with the Philistines and others (2 Chronicles 26). But success lead to pride and Uzziah transgressed against the Lord by burning incense in the temple which only priests were allowed to do (V18). So God struck him with leprosy; he remained a leper for the rest of his life (V21). Jotham followed him on the throne and does what was right, but the people acted corruptly (2 Chronicles 27). Defeating the Ammonites he exacted tribute from them and became mighty because he prepared his ways before the Lord (V6). He reigned sixteen years and then he died.

Walking Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 17-21

Jehoshaphat reigns and the Lord was with him because he walked in the ways of David, sought God, and walked in His commandments (2 Chronicles 17). God established His Kingdom. Jehoshaphat took delight in the ways of the Lord and sent teachers throughout the kingdom to teach people the ways of God and Jehoshaphat became increasingly powerful. But he was allied with Ahab by marriage (2 Chronicles 18) and this got him into trouble when Ahab asked him to help him in his fight against Ramoth Gilead. Micaiah prophesied the venture would not end well for Ahab who died during the battle (V34) and Jehoshaphat almost loses his life.

When Jehoshaphat returned home, Hanani the seer brings a word of chastisement and warning  from the Lord (2 Chronicles 19:2). Because he helped the wicked and loved those who hate the Lord, the wrath of God was on him. Taking this to heart Jehoshaphat brings many reforms to Judah turning his people back to the Lord (V4) and ensuring judges, priests, and Levites acted in the fear of the Lord faithfully and with loyal hearts (V5-9) operating according to the laws, commandments, statutes and ordinances of God, warning the people lest they trespass and God’s wrath would come upon them (V10). 

Jehoshaphat was successful in his fight against Moab and others because he feared and sought the Lord (2 Chronicles 19). And Judah gathered with him to ask help from the Lord (V4). The Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel who prophesied that God would fight for them (V15-17) and would be with them. They didn’t even need to fight for God caused the enemy to fight themselves 22-24). Then the realm of Jehoshaphat was quiet, for God gave him rest all around (V30). Jehoshaphat did what was right in the sight of God (V32). But once again made an unwise alliance with Israel and suffered loss (V37). 

After Jehoshaphat died, Jehoram his son reigned (2 Chronicles 21). One of his first acts as king was having all his brothers killed. During his eight year reign he did evil in the sight of the Lord. But God wouldn’t destroy the house of David because of the covenant He had made with David. But God did bring trouble to Jehoram in the form of revolt from Edom and Libnah because he had forsaken the Lord God of his fathers (V10). Elijah the prophet sends a letter warning of further strife for him and his people because of his acts against God (V13) and that Jehoram would suffer from a disease of the bowels. Trouble also came from the Philistines and the Arabians who invaded and took away his sons and wives. Only his youngest, Jehoahaz remained. And Jehoram died of his disease (V19) and to no one’s sorrow, departed.

Walking Through the Bible: 2 Chronicles 12-16

Rehoboam established the kingdom and strengthened himself (2 Chronicles 10). When we think we are standing we should be careful not to fall (1 Corinthians 12:14). We need God as much in the good times as in the bad. But Rehoboam forsook the law of the Lord and Israel with him and because they transgressed against the Lord Egypt attacked. The prophet Shemaiah said God had put them in the hand of Egypt (V5). Scripture reveals if we walk according to God’s word or not. When we see our failure are we willing to make changes? Rehoboam and the leaders of Israel did and they humbled themselves and God granted them some deliverance, but the King of Egypt took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the gold shields Solomon had made.

Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields. When we fail to obey the Lord we miss out on his blessing and whatever we replace the blessing with us is never as valuable as what God gives us. When Rehoboam humbled himself the wrath of God turned from him and things went well in Judah (V12). Rehoboam reigned seventeen years and did some good things. But mostly he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord (V14). His devotion to God was hit and miss. 

When Rehoboam died Ahijah reigned in his place (2 Chronicles 13) and there was war between him and Jeroboam king of Israel. Ahijah only reigned three years. 1 Kings 15 tells us he was a sinful man who did not walk in loyalty to God. His success against Jeroboam was because God upheld His promise to David, not because Abijah gave a glowing history of the faithfulness of God (V4-12). What is God doing now instead of what did God do then? During the battle Judah was trapped in an ambush. It was only because of God, not Abijah’s abilities, that the battle turned in their favour. It was God who struck Jeroboam (V15), a strike from which he never recovered till the day he died (V20). 

Then Abijah reigned over Judah and he did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God (2 Chronicles 14), removed the foreign gods and high places and commanded Judah to seek the Lord God and observe the law and commandments. In a battle against Ethiopia God struck the Ethiopians. After the war with Ethiopia, Azariah, in the Spirit, told Asa the Lord would be with him as long as he sought Him, but not if He forsook Him (2 Chronicles 15:2). Asa heard these words and was strengthened, removed the idols from the land, and restored the altar of the Lord. Gathering all Judah and Benjamin they made offerings to the Lord and entered into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their heart and soul (V12). Anyone who did not seek the Lord was put to death. And the Lord gave them rest (V15) and there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa (V19). 

In the thirty-sixth year Baasha attacked Asa (2 Chronicles 16). Instead of seeking God, Asa makes a treaty with Syria using the silver and gold from the treasuries of the house of the Lord. God sends the prophet Hanani to chastise him for trusting in Syria rather than God. Asa imprisoned the prophet and took it out on his own people (V10). Three years later, Asa became diseased in his feet but did not seek the Lord (V12). Two years later he died.