Nehemiah Called and Set Forth
Nehemiah as Cup Bearer before Artaxerxes
| Nehemaih morns, fasts and prays for Jews in Jerusalem. | |
| Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah to Jerusalem to build wall. | |
| Names of those to build the walls and gates set forth. | |
| Enemies seek to prevent rebuilding of Jerusalem's walls. | |
| Hebrews still in bondage to other Jews. Nehemiah acts. | |
| The prophet Nehemiah handles God's enemies' intrigues. | |
| Nehemiah directs city's protection and priesthood right. | |
| Ezra reads Law of Moses and Feast of Tabernacles kept. | |
| Jewish faithful fast and repent and paise their God. | |
| Laws of Marriage, commandments, Sabbath, and tithes. | |
| People chosen to live in Jerusalem's cities by lot. | |
| Wall dedicated, priest and Levite positions assigned. | |
| With all properly set, Nehemiah sweeps out the riff-raff. |
There is very little concerning Nehemiah's calling as a prophet of God, though certainly he was one of God's prophets in the matter, discernable by Nehamiah's actions and dealings with the people of both the Jews and the others round about. In both the organizing of the Jews to return to build the wall and his handling under the obvious direction of God of the condition of the Jews still hold of Hebrew 'slave-servants' establishes Nehemiah as God's prophet. The prophet Nehemiah handles the threats of God's enemies, both from without Jerusalem and also from those within Jerusalem as God would have directed him to do. Nehemiah deals with his personal fears of God's enemies as aided and protected by the hand of God, he being God's servant and prophet.
When God has more than one prophet in oppertaion, they work in harmony. As Nehemiah oversees the buiding of the wall, Ezra, prophet of the temple reads and interprets the Law of Moses and holds the Feast of the Tabernacles. That possibly was the same anual feast held as the people gathered before King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon. As with the people of King Benjamin, the faithful Jews fast, pray, confess their sins, repent, praise God and covenant to keep God's commandments. Nehemiah's recorded list is fairly standard, Church [Temple] Marriage, keep ommandments and Sabbath day, and pay tithes and offerings.
Now with the walls built, the gates in place and the people committed to God, there was an election held by lot to assign the people as to which cities of Jerusalem each would be called upon to live in. Yes, Jerusalem was the defensed capital city, walled and protected but not everyone would live daily within the city's wall as they would dwell in the villages round about Jerusalem and but come to the walled city at time when such protective measures were required. Perhaps unfortunate, but the way of the matter was that the 'rulers', that is the nobles, princes [Sarim], governing priests and such automatically dwelt in the city and others only as such by lot would have a 'townhouse' by the drawing of lot.
The final matters are set in order. The finished walls are dedicated. The correct inventory or census of the 'rightful' priests and Levites are completed. And the Offices of the priests and positions of the Levites of the temple are appointed and set out. Now with all properly set in place and restored, the prophet governor, Nehemiah, takes the final steps of removing the riff-raff. This included many identifiable enemies within. Non committed Jewish faithfuls (Ammonites/Moabites and Tobiah) removed from the congregation of God, Tobiah ejected from the temple, proper sabbath day observances all reinstated, those with improver 'strange' marriages properly rebuked and if necessary removed from priesthood office and the congregation. The Lord's House was set in order.
Index of all Scriptural Books and Chapters, etc.