The Story Ch 21: Rebuilding the Walla

Cold Open

Hey!

This week we are studying the completion of Israel’s return to Jerusalem with the rebuilding of the city walls and the end of the Old Testament

Today is Sunday, September 6th, let’s get into it

Intro Videos

Intro

Israel is back in the promised land, and the temple is rebuilt!

Ezra the prophet comes to Jerusalem with his own group of returners, and authorization to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

You see, cities in this time absolutely needed strong walls in order to stand up to invaders, otherwise any sufficiently sized neighbor with a grudge could ransack Jerusalem and carry off the tempting treasures in the Temple of the Lord.

And so when Ezra returned he and Nehemiah organized the work to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem!

As we’ve discussed, the peoples of the other nations around Jerusalem were not at ALL happy to see any level of Jewish autonomy returning to Jerusalem, even pseudo autonomy under Persian rule. And so they plotted against the Jew and planned to destroy them before they could refortify their city.

Up to this point, it looked as if it might be easy to do, as the progress on the wall was not going very quickly.

Nehemiah 4:6 NIV

So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

But something changed when Nehemiah got wind of the plots growing against Jerusalem from their neighbors, and he encouraged the men working on the wall to dig deeper and work faster to protect their home and their families.

Nehemiah 4:16–23 NIV

From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me. Then I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “The work is extensive and spread out, and we are widely separated from each other along the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, join us there. Our God will fight for us!” So we continued the work with half the men holding spears, from the first light of dawn till the stars came out. At that time I also said to the people, “Have every man and his helper stay inside Jerusalem at night, so they can serve us as guards by night and as workers by day.” Neither I nor my brothers nor my men nor the guards with me took off our clothes; each had his weapon, even when he went for water.

And the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt in 52 days, and the enemies of Judah never had time to strike against them, and they gave up their plots because the work had reminded them that God was with the Jewish people.

The Law

With Jerusalem secured from exterior threats for a time, Ezra and Nehemiah turned their attention to the people, and tried to remind them of the God they served. Ezra read from the law aloud to the people of Jerusalem, and reforms were made to end practices that oppressed the poor, and Jews were discouraged from marrying outsiders in accordance with the law.

Finally, Malachi the prophet comes to Israel, and warns against hypocrisy and hollow worship, and he prophesies about one who will come to prepare the way for the “Day of the Lord”, when the faithful will be separated from the unfaithful and the covenant promise will be fulfilled!

Conclusion

And that is where we will pick up next week, with the birth of Jesus Christ.

You see, the Jews were home, and the temple and hte walls were rebuilt, but they still didn’t quite get it. Many of them sought to obey the law fully but got so wrapped up in the ordinance that they missed the devotion to God and reflection of His love that was supposed to come with that. Still others went through the motions but ignored some details and ended up offering inadequate sacrifices to God!

The time was coming when Jesus Christ would demonstrate what it really means to serve God, and Israel has no idea what’s coming to bless it.