Many people whose stories are told to us in the Bible were leaders. We usually think of the Bible as a book concerned only with the common man, or with the lowly or disadvantaged, and it is true that it is. But that is only part of the story. For one thing, many of these “lowly” or “disadvantaged” people became leaders nevertheless. The New Testament apostles are examples. Besides, there are the recognized giants like Abraham, Moses, Joshua and David, who were leaders all the way. Much of the biblical story is about these outstanding people.
Nehemiah was one. He was a Jew, born in exile after the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. He lived in a bad age so far as the destiny of his people was concerned. Yet like other Jews before him, Nehemiah rose to a position of influence in the court of the foreign king. Nehemiah was cupbearer to King Artaxerxes, as he tells us in Nehemiah 1:11 and 2:1.
The office of cupbearer does not sound like much to us today. It sounds rather menial. But this was not the situation. The office of cupbearer arose in ancient societies because of the danger that an emperor or king might be poisoned by some rival. The cupbearer was a trusted person appointed to care for and taste the wine to make sure it was safe before it was served to the king. Such a person was obviously highly esteemed and trusted to begin with. But because of his constant and regular access to the ruler he naturally acquired influence far beyond all but a handful of other military leaders and nobles.
In such a position many people might have been content to rest on their achievement or even retire to the good life. But Nehemiah showed his greatness as a leader at precisely this point. He left this enviable position to lead an effort to rebuild the walls of the city of Jerusalem, the city of his fathers, which now lay in ruins—and restore its influence. He was successful against great odds.
Others had been trying to rebuild Jerusalem’s walls and thus restore the city’s influence for nearly 100 years. Nehemiah accomplished this Herculean task in only 52 days. Then he led a series of religious and moral reforms which were to have the greatest possible influence on the Jewish nation, then and up to the time of Jesus Christ.
The book of Nehemiah is the record of this accomplishment.
The problem presented to Nehemiah, in which his leadership emerges, is told at the very beginning of the book (vv. 1-4). His brother Hanani (probably his actual brother, though the term could mean only another Jewish man) and some other men came to Nehemiah and reported that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down and its gates burned with fire.
This had happened more than 140 years before, when Nebuchadnezzar had conquered Jerusalem. But since that would be well-known to Nehemiah and would hardly occasion a new outbreak of grief and fasting on his part, it is likely that the report referred to a second lesser destruction that seems to be alluded to in Ezra.
Understanding this requires knowing something of the history of this period. So we will look at some of the key events in tomorrow’s study.
