06/04/2025 – Day 329 – Nehemiah – Ch 5 – 9 / 3 of ? / “Chapter 7 commentary -“Priorities” – Nehemiah, God’s messenger, “a leader who knows that all true success is the product of godliness … these are the things which have established Jerusalem and frustrated the malevolence of her antagonists.”
Let’s proceed with excerpts from this edifying commentary from J.G. McConville starting on pg. # 110:
“… The inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem stand at the end of the long process, covering almost a century, which has led from Cyrus’ decree, via the rebuilding of the Temple and false starts upon the city itself, to their present security. Nehemiah, for his part, appears to contemplate a return to the centre of Empire, whether to resume his cup-bearing duties or merely to report to the king…
The job is not quite done, however. The walls may be up, but the city has yet an inadequate population. In all of the information we have had about the resettlement to this point, little has been said about the relative population of Jerusalem and the other towns of Judah…
Nehemiah’s concern, therefore, says two things. The first is that the short-term commitment which was required of the people for a building project itself was meaningless unless it was actually a token of a commitment that was enduring.They could not simply rest on the laurels of their achievements and a once-for-all sacrifice. Rather they must be ready for self-sacrifice to become a hallmark of their whole lives… So it is with Christian faith. IN the depths of our consciousness we are tempted to regard duties done in the line of service as a pay-off for God’s mercies. Of course, we would never admit it, and it needs no demonstration that such a thought is scandalous. The Christian is in the position of the servant in Luke 17: 7-10 who, having served his master all the day, must yet serve. How fortunate that the Master, unlike the run of master, is compassion itself!
The second point to be observed from Nehemiah’s concern is that the walls are nothing in themselves. The call to obedience in the Old Testament takes many forms. In this book, it involves the fortification of a city. Yet no activity to which the people of God is called is Identical to obedience. Many times in the Old Testament writers call their people to repent because they have equated what obedience should produce (e.g. sacrifice) with obedience itself (cf. Micah 6: 6-8). Here as everywhere in the Bible, the Lord looks on the heart…
…Here are the qualities that are important to Nehemiah as a leader. Astuteness, forcefulness, yes, these himself has shown. But it is godliness that he picks out as being indispensable.
Similarly, verse 4 records the significant fact that, though the walls stood complete, ‘no houses had been built.’ This can hardly mean that Jerusalem was devoid of houses. Houses have been mentioned in verse 3, and it is clear that some people lived in Jerusalem. What is meant is that no houses had been built in the course of the building which Nehemiah had guided. In more leisurely circumstances the walls might have been built so as to incorporate houses, thus stretching resources and fully utilizing limited space (cf. Rahab’s house in Jericho, Joshua 2:15). But the urgency of the task meant that the walls had had to go up without either embellishment or thought for the people’s future lifestyle.
We have thus two cameo-glimpses of the kind of thinking which had led to the accomplishment of the goal of building the walls. A leader who knows that all true success is the product of godliness – a people that comes to terms, in a clear-headed way, with the demands of a call from God and subjects all other considerations to meeting them: these are the things which have established Jerusalem and frustrated the malevolence of her antagonists.
It hardly needs to be added that the reason for the inclusion of the census list at this point is to show how Nehemiah took stock of the whole population pattern in Judah before conceiving a plan for the peopling of Jerusalem. That , when it happened, would both ensure that the gains made so far were not forfeited, and require the people to continue to maintain right priorities, to the point of subordinating their own interests to the common good and to the will of God.” (ending at pg. #113)
Soli Deo Gloria!