People of the Bible

Nehemiah

Leaders of Israel · Around 445 BC · Appears in The book of Nehemiah

Nehemiah is the cupbearer to the Persian king who left the palace to rebuild the broken walls of Jerusalem after the exile. A man of prayer and action, he organized the people, faced down enemies and discouragement, and finished the walls in fifty-two days, then led the nation in renewing its covenant with God.

And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?Nehemiah 6:3 (KJV)

A cupbearer's broken heart

Nehemiah held a place of trust and comfort as cupbearer to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, one of the great powers of the ancient world. He lived far from the land of his fathers, in the citadel of Susa, when his brother came from Judah with grim news: the survivors who had returned from exile were in great affliction, and the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and its gates burned with fire. The holy city lay defenseless and in disgrace.

The news broke Nehemiah's heart. He sat down and wept and mourned for days, and he fasted and prayed before the God of heaven, confessing the sins of his people and pleading God's ancient promises. Then, his prayer turning toward action, he asked the LORD for success as he prepared to make a bold request of the king. When the king noticed his sadness and asked what he wanted, Nehemiah prayed a silent, breathed prayer in that very moment, and then asked leave to go and rebuild the city of his fathers' graves. The king granted it, and Nehemiah saw the good hand of his God upon him.

Rise up and build

Nehemiah came to Jerusalem and, telling no one at first, rode out by night to survey the ruined walls and burned gates. Only when he had seen the full extent of the devastation did he gather the leaders and say, Ye see the distress that we are in; come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. He told them how the hand of God had been upon him, and they answered, Let us rise up and build, and set their hands to the good work.

The rebuilding was organized family by family and gate by gate, each group repairing the section nearest its own home, a picture of a whole community laboring together. From the first, the work drew mockery and threats from Sanballat, Tobiah, and others who did not want to see Jerusalem strong. But the people had a mind to work, and the wall rose steadily, until it stood at half its height around the whole city.

Building with a sword in hand

As the wall grew, the opposition turned dangerous. Israel's enemies conspired to attack the city and throw the work into confusion. Nehemiah's answer joined faith and vigilance: We made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night. He armed the workers, so that with one hand they wrought in the work and with the other held a weapon, and he kept a trumpeter beside him to rally the people if an attack came at any point along the wall.

When his enemies tried to lure him away to a meeting in the plain, meaning to harm him, Nehemiah refused with a line that captures his whole spirit: I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease. Neither flattery, false prophecy, nor intimidation could turn him aside. Against every obstacle the wall was finished in fifty-two days, and even Israel's enemies were disheartened, for they perceived that the work was wrought of God.

Renewing the covenant

A wall alone does not make a people. Once the city was secure, Nehemiah joined Ezra the scribe in a great gathering where the law of God was read aloud from morning until midday, and the people stood and listened and wept as they understood how far they had strayed. Nehemiah and the Levites told them not to grieve but to rejoice, for the joy of the LORD was their strength, and the day was holy to the LORD.

In the days that followed, the people confessed their sins, kept the feasts, and bound themselves by a solemn covenant to walk in God's law, to keep the Sabbath, and to support the worship of God's house. Nehemiah also acted forcefully against injustice, rebuking the nobles who had been charging their own poor brothers heavy interest and forcing them into debt slavery, and he himself refused the governor's allowance so as not to burden the people. He rebuilt not only the wall but the very life of the community.

The people also kept the Feast of Tabernacles, living in booths as their fathers had in the wilderness, and Scripture says there had not been such gladness in Jerusalem since the days of Joshua the son of Nun. Day by day the book of the law was read aloud, and the joy of a people rediscovering the word of God filled the restored city. The wall had given them safety, but the word gave them life.

Remember me, O my God, for good

Nehemiah's work did not end with the wall or even the covenant. He served as governor for years, refusing the food allowance owed to his office because the burden on the people was heavy, and providing at his own table for many. Later, after a time away at the Persian court, he returned to find the reforms slipping: a room in the temple given to his old enemy Tobiah, the Levites unpaid and scattered, the Sabbath profaned by trade, and the people marrying into the surrounding nations and forgetting their heritage.

Nehemiah acted decisively, throwing out Tobiah's belongings, restoring the tithes, shutting the city gates against Sabbath merchants, and calling the people back to their vows. Through it all runs a repeated prayer that reveals the heart of the man: Remember me, O my God, for good. He did not seek reward from men but longed only to be remembered by God, laboring not for his own name but for the honor of God and the good of his people.

His character and where he points to Christ

Nehemiah joins deep prayer to practical action as few figures in Scripture do. Before every decision he prays, often in a single breath, and then he acts with courage, skill, and organization. He is a builder, a reformer, and a leader of unshakable resolve, unafraid of powerful enemies and unwilling to profit at the people's expense. His book is one of the Bible's great studies in godly leadership under pressure, and his work secured the restored community through which the faith of Israel was carried on toward the coming of Christ.

Nehemiah left a place of honor at the king's side and came down to a ruined city to rebuild and restore it, moved by grief and love for a people in distress. In that self-giving descent the church has long seen a shadow of Jesus, who left the glory of heaven and came down into a broken world to rebuild what sin had ruined. The walls Nehemiah raised protected a city for a time, but Jesus builds a people, a living temple of every nation, and against that city no enemy, not even death, can finally prevail.

A note on the sources: everything above is drawn from the biblical text itself. Where a detail comes from later tradition rather than Scripture, it is named as tradition. Dates for the earliest figures are traditional and approximate, and Scripture does not always give them. The aim is to tell each life honestly, and to let it do what the whole Bible does, point to Jesus Christ the Lord.

Related: Esther · Daniel · All the people of the Bible