Recap

So far in Ezra-Nehemiah, we've read as the people returned to Jerusalem, rebuilt the temple, and separated themselves from their foreign wives. King Cyrus of Persia defeats Babylon and is compelled by God to send some of the exiles back to Jerusalem. As the people left, they were given gifts of silver and gold by their Babylon neighbours.

This echoed how the Egyptians gave the Israelites silver and gold when they left Egypt. A second Exodus moment as God led his people out of foreign nations towards promised land. We read through a whole chapter focused on the names who returned to Jerusalem. These names highlighted how God had maintained their family lines and their sense of identity while in a foreign land. Zerubbabel rises up to lead the people. Along with Jeshua, he reestablished the offerings, feasts, and festivals of the people realigning the people with God.

They appointed the Levites to work on the temple and started building the foundations of the temple. There was a massive celebration, but some of the older folk who knew what the old temple looked like wept. This new temple wasn't as good as the one they remembered, or the one that Ezekiel prophesied about.

As the people were rebuilding the temple, the locals, Israelites who weren't exiled, and others who had come to live in the land, came to offer their help. We got a sense of God reuniting his kingdom. But rather than accept their help, the exiles rejected it. This led to conflict, pausing the temple being rebuilt. Eventually the temple rebuild started again under king Darius, and upon its completion they celebrated with the Passover.

We then read as Ezra returned to Jerusalem with a second wave of Jews containing some priests. Ezra's goal was to teach the people the Torah and recommit them back to God. Our hope was raised again. This is it. The people are going to be committed to God in their land once again. Upon returning to Jerusalem, leaders complained to Ezra that many of the people had married foreign women and had children with them. In the past, this had caused the Israelites to turn away from God so the people are scared the same will happen. Unfortunately, rather than encourage the people to lead their wives and children into true worship of God, Ezra agreed to demanding these men divorce these women and send them off with their children. 

Nehemiah 1-3

While Ezra was now in Jerusalem, attempting to teach the people to follow God's law, a Jewish man named Nehemiah was in the capital city of Persia, serving the king. He hears about what is happening in Jerusalem and finds out that the walls of the city are still burnt down and broken.

Nehemiah is grieved by this and immediately turns to prayer. He cries out to God to remember his people in his love. Yes, the people have sinned, but God promised that if after their sin the people turned back to him, he would restore them. He asks God to hear his prayer and grant him success and favour.

Nehemiah happened to be the king's cupbearer, and so when he was next with king Artaxerxes, he made sure the king saw that he was sad. Noticing this, the king asks him what is wrong, and after sending up a quick prayer, Nehemiah seizes his opportunity.

Nehemiah points out that his ancestral home is still destroyed and broken. How can he be happy when this is the case? After prying some more, Artaxerxes lets Nehemiah return to Jerusalem to rebuild the city, and gives him papers to show the governors there so they won't stop him. These governors weren't happy to find this out, as they didn't want Jerusalem to prosper.

Arriving in Jerusalem, Nehemiah begins to scope out the walls to see the damage and what needs to be done. After assessing the walls, he gathered the Jews in Jerusalem and encourages them to start rebuilding the walls.

Some foreigners come to mock and jab at Nehemiah for trying to rebuild the walls. They accuse him of rebelling against the king. In return, Nehemiah tells them they are not welcome in Jerusalem.

Already we begin to get a glimpse of the impact these walls might have. One of the prophets that was around at this time, Zechariah, spoke about Jerusalem. They prophesied that Jerusalem would be a city without walls because there were too many people living there for walls to contain. Instead, God would be the one to protect his people (Zechariah 2).

But here is Nehemiah, rebuilding walls to the city to keep people out. Jerusalem is not being the welcoming hope to all the world that we've read spoken about many times in the prophets. It is once again isolating itself, and setting itself apart as superior.

But putting this aside for one now, hope is beginning to rise in Jerusalem. As the people begin to rebuild the walls, there's a growing sense that God is once again with them. We get a whole chapter going through in detail about how each section of the wall was rebuilt and by which family. This may seem boring to us, but imagine what it would be like for an ancient Israelite to read this.

They had a deep connection to family and heritage, and so reading through these verses, they could then go to a section of the wall around their city and say, 'my family built this bit of the wall'. This chapter would give them a huge amount of pride in their identity and in the city where they live.

Psalm 50

This psalm is one of twelve attributed to Asaph. Asaph was a Levite musician who was key in leading worship under David (1 Chronicles 16:4-5). The psalm falls into the category of wisdom psalm.

It was likely read during a regular ceremony where Israel renewed the covenant of God. It describes God inviting the people into his presence, teaching them the true meaning of sacrifice, and then warning those who do not live according to the covenant they were committing themselves.

Psalm 50:1-6 - God comes and invites his people to come before him

Psalm 50:7-15 - The true meaning of sacrifices

Psalm 50:16-23 - The true meaning of the covenant

The psalm opens with God entering the scene. He is the mighty one over all the earth. He shines with perfection and beauty. He comes with mighty wind and fire, ready to judge his people. And so God invites his people forward. The Israelites, the ones who made this covenant with him.

There are actually three summons in this section. God first summons the entire earth to observe what is about to happen, and then he invites the heavens and the earth to come and watch. 

While this is poetic language, God wasn’t actually inviting the whole world to come to this ceremony. The point is that God’s will includes non-Israelites. The Israelites may have been the one to make the covenant with God, but God wants the other nations to learn from Israel’s example, be it good or bad. 

Having gathered the people together, God begins to explain to them the true meaning of their sacrifices. God does not need their sacrifices. It’s not like he needs more bulls or goats, he owns the whole world. And it’s also not like he’s hungry and needs the Israelites to prepare him food.

No, what God wants from their Israelites is their thanksgiving. As they commit themselves to this covenant relationship, God doesn’t want them to take it for granted. They are to be grateful and recognise their constant need for God. The sacrifices are a regular demonstration and reminder of this.

Then God turns to the wicked, those that know the law, God’s word, but don’t live by it. These are the people who would stand in this ceremony and commit themselves to God’s covenant and then go out and ignore it.

They live however they want and presume they’ve got away with it because God hasn’t said anything yet. But God is coming now to bring judgement. He has seen their wickedness, and he is giving them an opportunity to change their ways. If not, then they are choosing their own destruction.

From this psalm, we learn what it means to commit ourselves to God. We are not to do out of habit or because we’re meant to. An example you might find in the church is those that take communion because that’s what you’re meant to do, without any real reflection on what it means. 

We are also not called to commit ourselves to God and then go on living however we want. This kind of hypocrisy will be our downfall. Instead, our commitment to God should be genuine and from the heart each time.