1

1-11: Nehemiah was a prophet who served as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes of Persia. Cupbearers ensured that the king’s food wasn’t poisoned due to assassination attempts. They not only served the food, but ate it themselves in front of him to make sure. Being a cupbearer required a deep level of trust with the King. 100 years after the Jews were given permission to return to their homeland during the exile, some Jewish men came to Nehemiah and reported that the city’s walls were still in rubble. This meant that God’s people and the temple were vulnerable to attack from their many enemies. Nehemiah prayed a prayer of repentance and asked for God’s grace. He reminded God of His promise to the Jewish people—if they returned to God, they would be gathered together again. 

2

1-8: Nehemiah stepped out in faith by asking the King for permission to rebuild the wall. He even asked if the King would support him by lifting travel restrictions and fund the project. Because God’s hand was sovereignly guiding the situation, the king said ‘yes’ and Nehemiah’s prayer was answered (Nehemiah 2:8). 

9-10: Enemies of Israel were angry when they found out that King Artaxerxes granted Nehemiah’s request. 

11-16: Before telling anyone his mission, Nehemiah secretly assessed the destruction of the wall. It was so bad that the animal he rode couldn’t get through the rubble. 

17-20: Nehemiah rallied his people and they agreed to build the wall despite opposition from Sanballat and Tobiah.

3

1-32: Nehemiah carefully documented everyone that worked on rebuilding the wall and included which parts they worked on. In verse 5 he even mentioned the nobles who refused to help. 

4

1-14: Sanballat and Tobiah mocked the Jews because they were mad about the progress on the wall. They plotted to end it all by attacking Israel. There were rumors that the builders’ strength was failing. Nehemiah prayed that God would judge the men who opposed them and asked for protection. He then took action by setting up armed men to defend the wall as it was built. Whenever we pray, we should take action with the resources God has given us since he works through us (Philippians 2:13).

15-23: Nehemiah continued encouraging and leading the people. They had to constantly be ready for battle as they worked from dawn to dusk. 

5

1-13: Not only was there external opposition from Israel’s enemies, there was internal conflict in Jerusalem. A famine  was caused by corruption among the leaders of Israel. They exacted high interest, which made many people have to sell their land and children into slavery just to eat. This angered Nehemiah. He commanded them not to prey on their Jewish brothers and to give back their land. The leaders repented and promised to follow through. Nehemiah held them accountable.

14-19: Nehemiah was appointed governor and served the people well because he feared God.

6

1-14: Sanballat, Tobiah, and false prophets continued conspiring against Nehemiah to thwart God’s plan. The wall was nearly finished, and they tried getting Nehemiah to meet with them— probably to kill him. They spread rumors that Nehemiah wanted to control the surrounding nations as king, and hired false prophets to scare Nehemiah into hiding. Nehemiah stood strong and did what was right. 

15-19: Enemy nations were afraid when the wall was finished because they knew God worked through them. However, Tobiah continued his attempts to scare Nehemiah through letters. 

7

1-4: Nehemiah appointed a godly man as governor to replace himself. Although the walls were secure, there were few inhabitants or buildings on the interior. The Jews has to keep the doors secure so they could rebuild the inside of the city. 

5-65: Nehemiah found the book of genealogies among the rubble and used it to appoint leaders. He listed the Jews who returned from exile.

66-73: Nehemiah listed the contributions of those who helped on the wall.

8

1-8: Ezra was a prophet and scribe who was skilled in his understanding of the Mosaic Law (Ezra 7:6). He read the Law to all the people of Israel and other men helped explain it to them. Not only did they hear the Law, they also had a firm understanding of it. 

9-18: Though the people were receptive to the Law, they began to weep because they realized how far they had fallen short of God’s perfect standard. However, Nehemiah told them to celebrate because they now the guidance of God’s word, and it was the feast of booths. Yes, they had fallen short, but God provided a way of salvation through His sacrificial system, which pointed to the ultimate solution to sin: Jesus.  The feast of booths was a reminder of when their ancestors lived in booths in the wilderness and God graciously delivered them. 

9

1-5:  The Israelites had a period of corporate repentance. The reason they separated themselves from the foreigners among them is because it was a period of repentance for the sins of their fathers. While no one is guilty of their father’s sins, this was a way to declare their disapproval of their sins and renew the covenant that their fathers broke (Nehemiah 9:38). 

6-38: The Israelites spent half a day reading God’s law and repenting. Their confession in this section is a great summary of God’s relationship with His chosen people. It points out how consistently merciful God has been despite the rebellion of His people. He’s quick to forgive and always keeps his end of the covenant. God provided them with food, shelter, and His Holy Spirit while they were in the wilderness. He gave them land and victory over their enemies, and even helped them while they were being judged in exile for their sins. In short, Israel consistently did evil and God consistently treated them with love and grace. 

10

1-27: These are the leaders and representatives of the people that sealed the renewed covenant, starting with Nehemiah. 

28-29: The renewed covenant vows included all people of Israel, included foreigners who separated themselves from their pagan lands/religions and devoted themselves to God’s law. They were excluded from the corporate repentance because their fathers weren’t involved the historic sins of Israel. However, they were just as much a part of Israel and renewed the covenant with them. 

30: Israel was commanded not to intermarry with pagan nations for evangelistic purposes. God wanted a separate people that worshipped Him alone. This was the only way to make it clear to the world that Israel worshipped a different God then all the corrupt pagan nations around them. 

31-39: The Israelites made vows to obey specific requirements of the law as a way to renew their covenant with God. Many of the laws centered around not neglecting the temple system. 

11 

1-36: The population was extremely scarce in Jerusalem, so they arranged to cast lots among Jews living in surrounding towns. One out of every 10 Jews would live in Jerusalem. Casting lots was necessary because many people were scared that they would have to defend the city from Sanballat and hostile nations. Nehemiah listed those who moved into a Jerusalem and documented many of their roles. 

12

1-26: These were the priests who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel. 

27-43: The Jews had a dedication for the wall, where they stood at the gates and towers to sing praises to God. 

44-47: They performed a memorial service in the temple and set up a system for tithing. 

13

1-9: When Nehemiah returned to Persia after serving for 12 years, the people became corrupt and broke their covenant with God. They intermarried with pagans and allowed them in the holy place of the temple. There was nothing wrong with marrying a pagan who converted to Judaism and became part of Israel. The issue was with Israelites marrying pagans and adopting their false religions. This seems harsh to us today, but these were cults of child sacrifice, and it was a necessary step to preserve the only way of salvation. Nehemiah took drastic measures to cleanse the temple.

10-22: The people kept their tithe from the Levites, who then had to work in fields rather than serve in the temple. They also profaned the Sabbath by working and trying to make a profit on that day. Nehemiah dealt with both of these problems firmly. 

23-29: This passage makes it clear that the restriction on marrying people of other nations wasn’t xenophobia; their association with false religion was the issue because people often convert to their spouse’s religion. These religions promoted child sacrifice and sexual worship through temple prostitution (Exodus 22:29). 

30-31: Nehemiah did everything he could to bring Israel back to serving God and obeying the covenant they agreed to.