Neh1

Nehemiah gets news from Judah.

Neh1:3 “.. The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire.”.

Neh1:4 “... I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven...”

Neh1:6,7 “...hear the prayer of Your servant ...confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You ...We have acted very corruptly against You ...”

Reflects on the way forward.

Neh1:8,9 “..the word which You commanded ...If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them ...I will gather them ...”

Neh1:11 He asks God for success when he approached the King

Neh2

King Artaxerxes notices Nehemiah’s sadness.

Neh2:2 “...So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad ...This is nothing but sadness of heart...”

Neh2:3 “... I said to the king, ...Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies desolate and its gates have been consumed by fire?...”

The King responds favorably.

Neh2:4,5 “...Then the king said to me, "What would you request?" So I prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the king, "If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor before you, send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' tombs, that I may rebuild it..."

Neh2:7,8 “...If it please the king, let letters be given me ...that they may allow me to pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he may give me timber ...”

Nehemiah gets to Jerusalem.

Neh2:13 Inspects the walls by night.

Neh2:17 Recruits some help to rebuild the walls

Neh2:19 Gathers some opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah.

Neh3

What started as one man’s prayer of confession, becomes a huge team effort.

Neh.4

Sanballat and Tobiah campaign against the work.

Neh4:2-4 “... What are these feeble Jews doing? ...Can they revive the stones from the dusty rubble ...Even what they are building - if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!...”

Nehemiah turns to the Lord and continues the work.

Neh4:4 “... Hear, O our God, how we are despised! Return their reproach on their own heads and give them up for plunder in a land of captivity...”

Neh4:6 “...So we built the wall and the whole wall was joined together to half its height, for the people had a mind to work...”

Building a godly existence in the face of unified resistance.

Neh4:8 The opposition increases, now falling into conspiracy status.

Neh4:9 “...But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night...”

Neh4:14 “... When I saw their fear, I rose and spoke to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people: "Do not be afraid of them; remember the Lord who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives and your houses..."

Neh4:16 Half worked, half stood guard.

Rebuilding what has been damaged by the world takes both courage and dedication.

Neh5

There was great financial stress on the people.

Neh5:7 “... I consulted with myself...” (KJV,NASB, ESV)

Hebrew word is malak which is “to counsel”.

NIV translates as pondered.

He was evaluating the facts against the truth that was in him.

Neh5:10,11 “... brothers and ...servants are lending ...money and grain. ...usury. Please, give back ...their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves and their houses, also the ...the money ...grain, the new wine and the oil that you are exacting from them...”

The problem was a focus on “financial prosperity”, with people striving for wealth at other’s expense.

Nehemiah successfully changed the dynamics of the situation.

Neh6

The enemies continue to plot.

Neh6:2 “... then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me...”

Neh6:4,5 “.... They sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way ...a fifth time with an open letter...”

Nehemiah knows that Ono is a NoNo.

Neh6:8,9 “...Such things as you are saying have not been done, but you are inventing them in your own mind.” For all of them were trying to frighten us, thinking, “They will become discouraged with the work and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands...”

Neh6:15.16 “... the wall was completed ...in 52 days ..all our enemies heard of it, and ...saw it, they lost their confidence; for they recognized that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God...”

Obedience leads to the world seeing God.

Neh7

The genealogies are reworked - number is now 49,942

Neh7:5 “...Then my God put it into my heart to assemble the nobles, the officials and the people to be enrolled by genealogies. Then I found the book of the genealogy of those who came up first in which I found the following record:..”

Neh7:66,67 “... The whole assembly together was 42,360, besides their male and their female servants, of whom there were 7,337; and they had 245 male and female singers...”

Neh8

Expecting leaders to read the Word?

Neh8:1 “... And all the people gathered as one man at the square which was in front of the Water Gate, and they asked Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel....”

Neh8:3,5 “... He read from it ...from early morning until midday, in the presence of ...those who could understand; and all the people were attentive to the book of the law ...when he opened it all the people stood up...”

Posturing as the Word of God is read!

Tradition has people standing for the reading of the word.

Neh8:6 “... Then Ezra blessed the Lord the great God. And all the people answered, "Amen, Amen!" while lifting up their hands; then they bowed low and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground...”

Praise - up. Worship - down.

Neh8:8 “... They read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading...”

Neh8:10 “...Then he said to them, "Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength..."

The Feast of Booths is celebrated.

Neh8:17,18 “... The entire assembly of those who had returned from the captivity made booths and lived in them. The sons of Israel had indeed not done so from the days of Joshua the son of Nun to that day. And there was great rejoicing. He read from the book of the law of God daily, from the first day to the last day. And they celebrated the feast seven days, and on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly according to the ordinance...”

Neh9

Serious time given to reading and confession.

Neh9:3 “... While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and for another fourth they confessed and worshiped the Lord their God...”

History of God’s goodness.

Neh9:19 “You, in Your great compassion, Did not forsake them in the wilderness...”

Neh9:20 “...You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them ...manna ...water for their thirst...”

Neh9:22 “...You also gave them kingdoms and peoples, And allotted them to them as a boundary. They took possession of the land...”

Neh9:33 “...You are just in all that has come upon us; For You have dealt faithfully, but we have acted wickedly....”

History of Man’s rebellion

Neh9:26 “...But they became disobedient and rebelled against You, And cast Your law behind their backs And killed Your prophets who had admonished them So that they might return to You, And they committed great blasphemies...”

Neh10

A document is written and signed.

10:28,29 “...all those who had separated themselves from the people of the lands to the law of God. ..are joining with their kinsman ...to walk in God’’s law ...to keep and to observe all the commandments...”

Neh10:30 Won’t intermarry.

Neh10:31 Won’t do business on the Sabbath.

Neh10:31 Will honor the every seventh year land Sabbath.

Neh10:32-39 Will tithe and support the firstborn, firstfruits laws.

Neh11

Neh11:1 “... Now the leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, but the rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of ten to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while nine-tenths remained in the other cities....”

Neh12

Levites join the dedication of the wall.

Neh12:27-30 “... Now at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought out the Levites from all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem so that they might celebrate the dedication with gladness, with hymns of thanksgiving and with songs to the accompaniment of cymbals, harps and lyres ...The priests and the Levites purified themselves; they also purified the people, the gates and the wall...”

Neh12:31 “...two great choirs...” were appointed to perform on the wall.

Neh12:43 “...on that day they ...rejoiced because God had given them great joy ...the joy of Jerusalem was heard from afar...”

Neh13

Foreigners were excluded

Neh13:1-3 “...because they did not meet the sons of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them. However, our God turned the curse into a blessing…”

Necessary cleanup and restoration.

Neh13:4-9 Tobiah is thrown out of his illegal room in the House of God.

Neh13:10-14 Support for the Levites is restored.

Neh13:15-22 Work and trade were removed from the Sabbath.

Neh13:23-31 Mixed marriages strongly discouraged.

Neh13:25 “... So I contended with them and cursed them and struck some of them and pulled out their hair, and made them swear by God, "You shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor take of their daughters for your sons or for yourselves...”

ESTHER:

Placing Esther in the timeline:

BC

605 Prisoners taken captive to Babylon

586 Jerusalem destroyed.

538 1st exiles return to Jerusalem.

515 Temple completed.

486 Ahasuerus becomes king of Persia. (Xerxes 1)

479 Esther becomes queen.

465 Artaxerxes I King of Persia.

458 Ezra comes to Jerusalem.

445 Nehemiah comes to Jerusalem.

EST1

Ahasuerus reigned over 127 provinces.

EST1:3 “... he gave a banquet for all his princes and attendants, the army officers ...nobles and the princes ...And he displayed the riches of his royal glory and ...his great majesty for many days, 180 days...”

EST1:4 Proud of his riches.

EST1:5 Gives a banquet.

EST1:9 Queen Vashti also gives a banquet.

Merry with wine, he wants to parade his queen.

EST1:10,11 “...the king ...commanded ...the seven eunuchs who served ...to bring Queen Vashti before the king with her royal crown in order to display her beauty to the people and the princes...”

EST1:12 “... But Queen Vashti refused to come ...the king became very angry and his wrath burned within him...”

EST1:13-22 The all male gathering decides that this will set a bad precedent, leading all women to disrespect their husbands.

EST1:19 “... let it be written ...that Vashti may no longer come into the presence of King Ahasuerus, and let the king give her royal position to another who is more worthy than she...”

EST1:22 They make a decree that “...every man should be the master in his own house...” Vashti is OUT.

EST2

They start looking for a replacement for Vashti

EST2:3,4 “... Let the king ...gather every beautiful young virgin to the ...harem ...Then let the young lady who pleases the king be queen in place of Vashti...”

EST2:5,7 “...a Jew ...Mordecai ... was bringing up Hadassah, that is Esther ...the young lady was beautiful of form and face, ...”

EST2:8-16 Esther “...was taken to the king’s palace...” found favor with the keeper of the Harem, and undergoes 12 months of beautification.

EST2:17-20 Esther becomes Queen [no background check had been performed, and per Mordecai’s instructions, she kept her Jewish heritage a secret].

EST2:21-23 Mordecai overhears a plot against the king, essentially saving the king, and the event is recorded [good deed to have in the books].

EST3

Mordecai refuses to bow to Haman.

EST3:2 “... All the king’s servants ...bowed down and paid homage to Haman ...But Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage...”

EST3:5 “...When Haman saw that Mordecai neither bowed down nor paid homage to him, Haman was filled with rage...”

Plotting against all Jews. Too common in history.

EST3:6 “... Haman sought to destroy all the Jews, the people of Mordecai, who were throughout the whole kingdom...”

EST3:8-9 “... Then Haman said to King Ahasuerus, “There is a certain people scattered and dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom; their laws are different from those of all other people and they do not observe the king’s laws, so it is not in the king’s interest to let them remain. If it is pleasing to the king, let it be decreed that they be destroyed ...”

EST3:10-15 “...Letters were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces to destroy, to kill and to annihilate all the Jews, both young and old, women and children, in one day, the thirteenth day of the twelfth month ...”

EST4

Mordecai responds with humility.

EST4:1 “...Mordecai ...tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and ashes...”

EST4:3 “...there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping ...sackcloth and ashes...”

EST4:7,8 Mordecai informs Esther, to bring the matter before the king.

Esther in danger if she approaches the king unsummoned.

EST4:14 Mordecai’s famous words “... who knows whether you have not attained royalty for such a time as this?..."

EST4:16 Esther asks for everyone to be praying, but resigns herself to “...if I perish, I perish...”

Will we do what needs doing regardless of consequences?

EST5

Esther is safely received by the king.

EST5:1-8 Invites Haman to a banquet, then schedules another.

Haman starts a project he will not finish.

EST5:9-14 Haman gloats, but is furious with Mordecai. Wife and friends talk him into building a gallows on which to hang Mordecai.

EST6

Why was the king restless in the night.

God’s intervention?

EST6:1-3 “... the chronicles ...were read before the king. It was found written what Mordecai ...What honor or dignity has been bestowed on Mordecai for this?” Then the king’s servants who attended him said, “Nothing has been done for him...”

Self focused Haman is heading for trouble.

EST6:6-9 The king consults with Haman about how to honor someone. Haman is so conceited he recommends what he thinks will be his.

EST6:10 “... Then the king said to Haman, “Take quickly the robes and the horse as you have said, and do so for Mordecai the Jew, who is sitting at the king’s gate; do not fall short in anything of all that you have said...”

EST6:12,13 “... Haman hurried home, mourning, with his head covered. Haman recounted to Zeresh his wife and all his friends everything that had happened to him. Then his wise men and Zeresh his wife said to him, “If Mordecai, before whom you have begun to fall, is of Jewish origin, you will not overcome him, but will surely fall before him...”

EST6:14 And then it’s off to the bannquet.

EST7

The king will grant Esther her petition.

EST7:3,4 “...Then Queen Esther replied, “If I have found favor in your sight, O king, and if it pleases the king, let my life be given me as my petition, and my people as my request; for we have been sold, I and my people, to be destroyed, to be killed and to be annihilated...”

EST7:5,6 “... Then King Ahasuerus asked Queen Esther ...who would presume to do thus?” Esther said, “A foe and an enemy is this wicked Haman!...”

It’s over for Haman, as he reaps what he sowed.

EST7:8 Haman’s begging looks to the king like assault on Esther.

EST7:9,10 “...Behold indeed, the gallows standing at Haman’s house fifty cubits high, which Haman made for Mordecai who spoke good on behalf of the king!” And the king said, “Hang him on it.” So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king’s anger subsided...”

.

EST8

Finalizing salvation.

EST8:2 “... The king took off his signet ring which he had taken away from Haman, and gave it to Mordecai. And Esther set Mordecai over the house of Haman...”

EST8:3-5 Esther again risks coming into the kings’ presence “... The king extended the golden scepter to Esther ...If it pleases the king and if I have found favor before him ...let it be written to revoke the letters devised by Haman ...which he wrote to destroy the Jews who are in all the king’s provinces...”

EST8:9 “...So the king’s scribes were called ... and it was written according to all that Mordecai commanded to the Jews, the satraps, the governors and the princes ...to every province according to its script, and to every people ...as well as to the Jews ...”

EST8:11 “...the king granted the Jews who were in each and every city the right to assemble and to defend their lives, ...to destroy ...kill ...annihilate ...any people or province which might attack them ...”

EST8:16 “...For the Jews there was light ...gladness ...joy and honor...”

EST9

Mordecai becomes great in the king’s house.

EST9:1 “... on the day when the enemies of the Jews hoped to gain the mastery over them, it was turned to the contrary so that the Jews themselves gained the mastery over those who hated them...”

EST9:3,4 “... the dread of Mordecai had fallen on them. ...Mordecai was great ...his fame spread ...Mordecai became greater and greater...”

The feast of Purim is instituted

EST9:21,22 “... to celebrate the fourteenth day of the month Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same month, annually, because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies ...from sorrow into gladness and from mourning into a holiday...”

Four main obligations (mitzvot)

k'riat megillah - Listening to the public reading of the Book of Esther in the evening and again in the following morning.

mishloach manot - Sending food gifts to friends.

matanot la'evyonim - Giving charity to the poor.

se`udah - Eating a festive meal.

EST10

EST10:3 “...For Mordecai the Jew was second only to King Ahasuerus, and great among the Jews and in favor with his many kinsmen, one who sought the good of his people and one who spoke for the welfare of his whole nation...”

Haman served self. Mordecai served God and people.

Mordecai embraced being set apart. Esther showed great courage.