It starts off with Nehemiah prayer. Many Jews had returned from the Babylonian captivity. They were rebuilding Jerusalem. But Nehemiah was burdened by the fact that the city walls were still in shambles. Though still living away from Jerusalem, he communicated with those who were living there. He fasted, mourned and prayed for the rebuilding of the walls of his beloved city. In Nehemiah’s prayer to God he confessed that he knew Israel’s sins were the cause of his nation being scattered among the heathen. Nehemiah knew God’s promises to Moses that they would be blessed if they followed God, but punished if they strayed from him. Nehemiah did not deny that God’s punishment was necessary. However, he called upon the mercy of
Raising up his voice to God, Nehemiah, explained their displeasure with this ridicule to God. He asked the Lord to turn this back around on them, to lay plunder upon them, and to not allow their sins to be forgiven due to their mockery rousing God’s anger against them.
The people of Judah had gone through much suffering during their captivity with Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon. They had returned to the land, and the walls through by the governor Nehemiah, who was also known as one of the last prophets of the Old Testament Prophets, were rebuilt. The LORD used, Nehemiah, Ezra, and the Levites, to usher the people of Judah into a great time of repentance and revival. What I love about the LORD, is that He wasn't just concerned with rebuilding the land and walls, but His main focus was rebuilding the lives of His people. Nehemiah 8:9 says: "And Nehemiah, who was the governor, Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, "This day is holy to the LORD your
Subsequently, in 1 Chronicles 9, the people of Judah were told they lost Jerusalem and its Temple because of their unfaithfulness to God (1 Chronicles 9:1 & Murphy 113). God had sent king Nebuchadnezzar to take the Jews because God’s people were mocking His “messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets” (2 Chronicles 36:16). The Jews were in exile until Cyrus became the king of Persia, in which many Jews returned from Babylon and a new temple was built.
After their exile, around fifty-thousand Jews returned to Jerusalem which was now called Judaea. The leader of Judea, the Persian King Cyrus, allowed the Jews to return and to build another place of worship (Fisher 251). The second temple was built in 515 BCE and according to the text Living Religions, became “the central symbol to a scattered Jewish nation” (Fisher). The temple became a place where the Torah was formed and where the religion prospered. However, Jewish prosperity was not going to last. After four centuries of Roman rule, that was domineering and dreadful, a group of Jews decided to rebel against their oppressors. This led to Jews being slaughtered by the Romans and to the second Temple being destroyed. All that is left of the Temple are foundation stones which are referred to as the Western Wall. The temple has never been rebuilt and the Western Wall has become a place for prayer and remembrance for Jews all over the world. Jewish people look at the Western Wall as a representation of the hardships and oppression that their religion and people have endured. According to the article, Mystical Secret of the Western Wall:
After Solomon betrayed God and turned to worship other gods, God punished Israel as he had warned: “I will cut Israel off from the land that I have given them; and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight” (1 Kings 9:6). Jerusalem witnessed the division of the United Monarchy and the decline of Judah after God withdrew his blessings, and it finally fell to the Babylonians in 587 BC. Solomon’s Temple, the most sacred place in the nation where foreigners used to come and pray towards (1 Kings 8:41), became a heap of ruins. Jerusalem at this time is personified in the Book of Lamentations as a widow who “sinned grievously so she has become a mockery; all who honored her despise her, for they have seen her nakedness” (Lamentations 1:8). This destroyed city’s gates were desolate, its king was on exile, and its people were captured by the foe. Jerusalem lost its prosperity (Lamentations 1:3-5). Being a kinetic space, Jerusalem has experienced vicissitudes, and even once lost its holiness as it fell away from
When Solomon completed the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, the city solidified its position as the center of Israel’s religious, political and economic world. The Temple housed the ark of the covenant, which was associated with the physical presence of God, and it was placed in close proximity to the palace of Jerusalem’s richest king to date, King Solomon. Through the establishment of the temple, Jerusalem experienced a powerful sense of spirituality, protection by their God and national independence. When it was destroyed in 586 BCE, many Jerusalemites felt that, like the presence of God, their meaning in life had diminished. The Temple would be rebuilt, razed to the ground and built up again several more times after this.
“I will sow her for Myself in the land. I will also have compassion on her who had not obtained compassion, And I will say to those who were not My people, You are My people! And they will say, You are my God” (Hosea 2:23 NASB). this great prophetic message from The Lord takes an account of the Gentiles non-Jews as His children,
Nehemiah is the 16th Book of the Old Testament. The key to the Old Testament is the covenant,
The struggle and obstacles that Jewish people had to endure, made their sense of community and religion even stronger. One of the largest struggles the Jew’s faced was the enslavement. They were enslaved in Egypt. Moses rescued them after his forty-five-year punishment in the Sinai Desert. He was given by God himself, the 10 commandments he was to share with them and free them from slavery. If Moses, was never enslaved, the God of Abraham would have never been able to give him the Ten Commandments, which are the laws that are basic to Jewish life. Another obstacle that the Jew’s had to overcome, was the destruction of Judah by the Neo-Babylonian Empire. It was one of the worst things to happen to the Jewish community. The city of Jerusalem
The Israelites have been granted permission by King Cyrus of Persia to return home to Judah for the restoration of their homeland. This was a devastating time for the people of Judah because of the destruction by invading armies. Several people and leaders died because of these invading armies and now it was time to rebuild Jerusalem. The Israelites were coming out of captivity and they were exposed to pagan gods and rituals. Many of them did not have a relationship with God and now the temple needed to be rebuilt. The general prophetic message was to encourage the Israelites and empowered them to take the limits off God because nothing is impossible for him. Zechariah noticed the natural things were being done concerning building the
Although, the Lord had delivered the nation of Israel on several occasions, they had gotten careless and sinful again; therefore,
The main purpose of this book is to demonstrate God’s mercy and grace to mankind. The people of Nineveh were wicked and deserved God’s anger. However, God was patient and tolerant with them. Jonah, a reluctant prophet, had initially run away when he received God’s call to send a repentance message to the individuals living in Nineveh.
When Nehemiah heard that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates were burned by fire (Neh 1:3), he wept. Now it’s our turn. Stand in the midst of your city. See the rooftops and the church steeples; even in the larger cities see the skyscrapers. These are the walls of our cities. The church steeples are our town towers. Look closely. Ask for spiritual eyes. What do we see? There is death and destruction all around. There is sadness, loss and emptiness. The walls of our own cities have fallen just like Jerusalem. The city guards have deserted their posts. Our gates have also been burned – burned by the fire of hell. Satan has infiltrated our cities, causing pain, heartache and disaster. Too long we’ve turned a blind eye. Tell me
The city of Jerusalem is vitally important to many of the historical records found in both Old and New Testaments of the Bible. From Genesis (14:18) to Revelation (21:10), the Bible is filled with allusions and events related to this city. One simply cannot read the Bible without reading about Jerusalem! For this reason, it is of great benefit to further study this wonderfully significant place.
|awareness of all the nations around his homeland. Judah and Jerusalem were the focal points of his prophecies, but he saw God's will for |