Nehemiah 2 - William Robertson Nicoll's Sermon Bible vs Calvin John vs Coke Thomas

Nehemiah 2

Nehemiah 2:1

Nehemiah 2:4

God gives us every day, and all day long, something to choose about, and the reason is because He wants to try us, to see whether we do right, to exercise our minds and see whether we act according to the Bible.

I. The first rule about choosing is not to choose at all if you can help it, but to let God choose for you, because nine times out of ten when boys and girls or men and women choose for themselves they choose badly.

II. If you must choose, if it is your duty to choose, always before you choose lift up a prayer to God to help you and guide you as to what you shall choose. Remember what Nehemiah did. When the king asked him what he wanted, he lifted up a prayer to God that He would not allow him to ask foolishly, but that He would enable him to make a wise choice.

III. When going to choose, always think of other people as well as of yourselves, and try to choose unselfishly.

IV. Whenever you are choosing, choose that which will give you trouble at first, or, to put it in Bible language, choose the Cross.

V. Whenever you choose, choose for your soul. Choose for eternity. Choose the Lord Jesus Christ. After alt, it is not we who choose Christ; it is Christ who chooses us. We do choose Him; but when we see all the secrets revealed in heaven, we shall see that it is as our blessed Lord saith (John 15:16): "Ye have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit."

J. Vaughan, Sermons to Children, 1875, p. 149.

References: Nehemiah 2:4.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxiii., No. 1390; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons, p. 220; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 254; Clergyman's Magazine, vol. i., p. 138, and vol. ix., p. 94. Nehemiah 2:12-16.—Ibid., p. 269.

Nehemiah 2:17Jerusalem for us is the Church. "The wall of Jerusalem is thrown down," the fugitives said to Nehemiah. Is not this the message which many voices bring us today from all quarters of Christendom? Let us see what the example of Nehemiah ought to teach us.

I. The sorrow of Nehemiah is the first thing which strikes us in his history. Jerusalem is desolate; that is sufficient cause for his heart having no rest. Do you understand such sorrow as Nehemiah's? Do you know what it is to groan as he did over the desolation of Jerusalem? The lightness of our sorrows may be measured by the feebleness of our works, for those only can act powerfully upon this world who carry everywhere its misery and its sorrows in their soul. Nehemiah suffers, but in self-humiliation. Jerusalem lies waste through the fault of the elders, who ought to have saved it; and he, a stranger to their unfaithfulness, accuses himself of it. "Lord," says he, "have mercy on us, for we have sinned."

II. But Nehemiah does more than lament. He acts, and to act he knows how to sacrifice all. To the peace which he enjoys he prefers the dangers of a struggle without a truce, to the brilliant future which awaits him the reproach of his people. The spirit of sacrifice—this is the second feature which he gives us as an example; moreover, it is that which always distinguishes those who wish to serve God below. These alone are able and worthy to raise the walls of Jerusalem, who, as Nehemiah, will know how to sacrifice all for God.

III. Notice the greatness of Nehemiah's faith. This greatness must be measured first by the paucity of his resources, and then by the vast obstacles which he encounters. In face of mockers, in face of shrewd men, in face of politicians, listen to his language: "The God of heaven, He will prosper us, but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial in Jerusalem." Like Nehemiah, we have beheld the ruins which our epoch has piled up, but their very magnitude fills us with hope. Come, and let us raise again the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach.

E. Bersier, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 1.

Nehemiah 2:17; Nehemiah 6:15; Nehemiah 12:43I. Consider the fact of declension, decadence, degeneration, from a Divine type. Of this we have two instances: in Israel and in the Church. (1) Under the old dispensation, Israel in the Divine intention signified those in whom a great idea was realised. Proofs that this ideal unity was never lost sight of may be seen (a) in the life of Elijah; (b) in the life of St. Paul. (2) A parallel instance of declension from a Divine type we have in the Church. Decadence—partial and temporary decadence, at all events—seems to be a condition of the Church's existence here below. Earth is strewn with the shattered wrecks of heaven's ideals. It is well. The disappointments of history teach us to look forward and upward.

II. In the restoration wrought by Nehemiah we have (1) a type of all God's true repairers; (2) lessons for all such repairs. Notice (a) the builders worked under arms; (b) they worked under the harmonious co-operation of priesthood and laity, we might almost say, in modern language, of Church and State.

III. Notice, lastly, the triumph. There had been discouragement from without and within. When the Church's builders are up and doing, Sanballat will not be silent. Tobiah's bitter epigram will not be wanting. But after all discouragement, the day of triumph dawns upon these waiting hearts. The strength of the Lord had been their joy; the joy of the Lord became their strength. Is it not even so with the Church? God's people have a mind to work. The Church shall be repaired. One day God's summer light shall strike upon the topmost row. Christ, the Divine Healer, will own the work of restoration by miracles of love at the sheep-gate and the pool of Siloam. The theology of the Incarnation will prove itself by enabling men to understand what is otherwise a tangled mass of contradictions—the character and life of Jesus.

Bishop Alexander, Christian World Pulpit, vol. iv., p. 241.

References: Nehemiah 2:17.—S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., Appendix, No. 11:2:18.—Preacher's Monthly, vol. iv., p. 173; A. Rowland, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxviii., p. 54; A. J. Griffith, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 137. 2—Parker, Fountain, June 28th, 1877. Nehemiah 3:8.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 235. Nehemiah 3:12.—Homiletic Magazine, vol. xv., p. 346. Nehemiah 3:15.—M. G. Pearse, Sermons to Children, p. 24; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 790; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 103.

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Nehemiah 2

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Nehemiah 2

Neh 2:1. In the month Nisan- Which answers to part of our March and April. So that it was almost four months between his hearing of the disconsolate condition wherein Jerusalem lay, and his requesting leave of the king to go thither. Now, besides that it might not come to his own turn of waiting sooner, there might be these further reasons assigned for his long silence and delay: that he could not take so long and dangerous a journey in the winter; that he could not sooner meet with a seasonable opportunity of speaking with the king upon so critical an affair: or, as others will have it, that he retired all this intermediate while, and spent it in fasting and prayer. See Patrick and Poole.

Neh 2:3. Why should not my countenance be sad, &c.- There is a piety due to one's own country, which cannot be extinguished by the pleasure or plenty of any other. It is no weakness to be deeply affected with the misfortunes or for the death of our nearest friends and relations, at what distance soever we are from them; nor can any prosperity in another country hinder or excuse a man from being grieved for a calamity which befals his own. Nehemiah was in no mean station when he was cup-bearer to Artaxerxes; and we may very reasonably believe, by the grace and bounty which the king shewed him, that he might have had great preferment in that flourishing empire, if he had asked it; yet, when that great king discerned that there was sorrow of heart in his countenance, and demanded the reason of it, he made no other excuse than this: the place of my fathers' sepulchres lieth waste: and when the king so graciously invited him to ask some favour worthy of his royal bounty, he would require nothing else but, Send me unto Judah, unto the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may build it. A generous spirit can think of nothing but relieving his country, while it is under a general misery, and calamity. Note; (1.) When we take in hand God's work, we cannot but be deeply concerned for the success. (2.) The afflictions of God's church and people draw forth the sympathetic tear from every friend of Zion. (3.) In our passage through this mortal vale, the best of men must expect to meet with trials. (4.) There is a king who minutes our sorrows, and will not suffer us to mourn long.

Neh 2:6. And I set him a time- How long this was is not certain. It is said, indeed, that he was governor of the land of Judah for twelve years, chap. Neh 5:14 Neh 13:6. But, considering what haste he made for dispatching the building of the walls, which he finished in fifty-two days, the leave that he asked might be but for a year, or perhaps half so long; after which time, it is likely, he returned to Shushan according to his promise; but some time after was sent back again by the king (who found his presence there serviceable, or perhaps necessary for the better regulation of that province), to be his governor for twelve years.

REFLECTIONS.-1. The king, perceiving the meaning of Nehemiah's sorrows, and his fear to ask, kindly bids him make his request. Note; Christ our king has given us an unlimited promise; and shall we be backward to make our requests known to him?

2. Encouraged by this condescension, he lifts up his heart to God for power to speak aright, and a blessing on his request; a warm ejaculation fled to the throne of grace, and God strengthened and prospered him. He begs permission to rebuild his native city, a convoy to guard him safe, and an order upon the governors to supply him with necessaries for the work. Note; (1.) Whatever we set about, let prayer prepare the way. (2.) Frequent ejaculations tend to preserve the spirituality of our temper. (3.) Nothing is too much to ask when we come to Jesus, who will do for us exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or think.

3. The king consented that he should go; but, unwilling to part with him long, engages him to return within a stipulated time. The queen, who providentially was now present, probably stood his friend; and he had peculiar reason that day to acknowledge the good hand of God in his success. Note; (1.) The prayer of faith never ascends in vain. (2.) Providential help is often given when little expected; and friends unknown to us before are raised up of God in our difficulties. (3.) Whatever mercy we receive, let God's good hand be acknowledged with thankfulness.

Neh 2:7. River- The river Euphrates.

Neh 2:8. Which appertained to the house- Which appertained to the house of the Lord. Houbigant.

Neh 2:10. Sanballat the Horonite- This person was probably a petty prince of Moab; for Horonaim was an eminent city in that country, Isa 15:5. This Sanballat was the person who afterwards instigated Alexander the Great to build the temple of Gerizim, in order to occasion a division among the Jews. See Grotius.

REFLECTIONS.-The king having permitted Nehemiah to go, and given him an order upon the governors, grants him withal an honourable escort to protect him. Note; Each child of God, whom the king of heaven delights to honour, is attended with mightier angelic guards. We have here,

1. The vexation of Tobiah and Sanballat, the enemies of the Jews, on hearing of Nehemiah's journey, and the design of it. Note; Every favour shown to the servants of God awakens the envy and provokes the rage of a wicked world.

2. The survey that Nehemiah took of the state of the walls. He rested on his arrival three days; and by night, with a few select persons for secresy, that the design he was forming might not be known or counteracted, went round the walls to observe the breaches, and what repairs would be needful. Note; (1.) Secresy and silence are very necessary when our enemies are so ready to take the alarm. The wisdom of the serpent is useful when joined to the innocence of the dove. (2.) A well-settled plan of procedure is the way to ensure success in every enterprize.

3. The discovery that he made to the rulers, of his commission. He assembled them, intimated the ruinous state of the city, and the reproach which their defenceless state brought on them from their wicked neighbours; then informed them of God's good providence in advancing him at court, and giving him favour with the king; and produced his commission for repairing their desolations; encouraging them thereupon to set about the work. Animated by such an exhortation, they eagerly seize the opportunity, and strengthen each other immediately to arise and build the wall. Note; (1.) A good minister, or magistrate, who is active and zealous, will find many ready to second his labours, who of themselves had not courage to lead. (2.) They who would work heartily for God must begin out of hand. Delays are dangerous.

4. The opposition which the work met with. Their old and sworn foes derided their attempts, and maligned their intentions; but Nehemiah, undismayed, and confident in God's blessing, despised their taunts, and persisted in the work; nor would he suffer these Samaritans to have any portion or lot among them. Note; (1.) Every arrow of envenomed malice, derision, slander, and threatening, will be shot against God's saints; but they are clad in armour that is weapon-proof. (2.) Instead of being discouraged, we should be quickened by opposition: if God prosper us, we need not fear.