So I was just reading Nehemiah the other day because I haven't read Nehemiah for ages (and haven't read Ezra for even longer...going to have to get to that)
Rereading Nehemiah helped me to....really see Nehemiah in a lot more awe than before. I knew about his life and stuff, "Oh, some guy who was the cup-bearer for the king. Went back and rebuilt the walls and stuff," but reading some of his quotes...I felt like I didn't remember reading those quotes at all before!
So some background for Nehemiah--Nehemiah lived during a time when Israel was still exiled from their land. Ezra had gotten permission to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, but the wall was still broken down around the city, and Israel still had a lot of enemies around them. Nehemiah heard about the wall and got permission from the king to go back to rebuild the walls. When he was rebuilding the walls, the enemies of Israel sent messengers to frighten Nehemiah. They were enemies who were under the same kingdom as the king who gave Nehemiah permission to build the wall, but they hated Israel, and sent messengers telling Nehemiah that they were going to tell the king that Nehemiah was starting a rebellion or trying to set himself as king.
That's some mental warfare going on there.
So before I come to the super awesome verses, I'm just going to talk about some verses that come before it.
7Now when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites heard that the repair of the walls of Jerusalem went on, and that the breaches began to be closed, they were very angry.
Nehemiah 4
8All of them conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause a disturbance in it.
9But we prayed to our God, and because of them we set up a guard against them day and night. 10Thus in Judah it was said,
"The strength of the burden bearers is failing,
Yet there is much rubbish;
And we ourselves are unable
To rebuild the wall."
I just really liked that poem. I mean, it's kind of depressing right? But it makes the story so much more real, because there aren't a lot of things that we can accomplish without overcoming some discouragement. I think this poem hits it on the head in describing a common experience during difficult times. Our strength is failing. The burden we bear is so heavy. There is so much work to be done. We just can't do it.
11Our enemies said, "They will not know or see until we come among them, kill them and put a stop to the work."
12When the Jews who lived near them came and told us ten times, "They will come up against us from every place where you may turn,"
13then I stationed men in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, the exposed places, and I stationed the people in families with their swords, spears and bows.
14When 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."
