Latest / The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal / Nehemiah 2:1-10 - Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem after His Bold Request

Transcript

Nehemiah 2:1-10 - Nehemiah Sent to Jerusalem after His Bold Request · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Life Audio. Well, how do you end? Good morning to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: all of you wonderful, faithful listeners. I hope you have
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: been having a fantastic start to your day so far.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Today we're going to be in Namiyah chapter two, talking
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: about Namiyah going before the Persian King and asking to
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: go home to Jerusalem, and we're going to discuss why
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Neamiyah is so afraid to do this, So stay tuned
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: for a great episode. I haven't heard from you guys recently,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: so I'd love to hear from you. If you have
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: a prayer request, Please don't hesitate to reach out and
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: contact me. I do read all of my emails, so
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: feel confident that if you send me a prayer request
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: that I have it written down in my prayer journal
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: and I will be praying for you for the week.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: But also tell me how life is. I do like
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to hear about everything going on with all of you guys,
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: and how you found the podcast, where you live, what
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: the weather is like, and whether you're a coffee or
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: a tea drinker. These are all very important and when
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: you contact me, here's a question I'd like for all
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: of you guys to answer. What is your favorite genre
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of book other than the Bible. For me, it is biographies.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: I really like hearing about people's stories. I like reading
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: interesting testimonies. And then my third favorite genre is probably manga.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: I bet that surprised some of you guys, but no,
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: I'm a huge nerd and I do enjoy a good
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: manga here and there. So you can contact me and
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: tell me all of these wonderful things about yourself. All right,
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: let's go ahead and delve into Niamiah chapter two. And
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: while this advertisement plays, make sure to grab your delicious
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: cup of seven weeks coffee, the coffee ran that supports
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: life in the womb, and also your Bible out of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: the version that you prefer. All right, hopefully while you
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: are listening to that sponsored ad, you're able to sit
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: down and get comfortable and grab your Bible and also
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: your delicious hot beverage to share with me. This morning.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Let's read it Niamaiyah two one through ten together as usual,
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: I'll be reading from the web in the month Nissan.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: In the twentieth year of art, Exerxes the king, when
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: wine was before him, I picked up the wine and
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: gave it to the king. Now, I had not been
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: sad before in his presence. The King said to me,
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: why is your face sad? Since you are not sick.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: was very much afraid. I said to the King, Let
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: the king live forever. Why shouldn't my face be sad?
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: When the city, the place of my father's tombs, lies waste,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: and its gates have been consumed with fire. Then the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: King said to me, what is your request? So I
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: prayed to the God of heaven. I said to the King,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: if it pleases the King, and if your servant has
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: found favor in your sight, I asked that you would
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: send me to Judah, to the city of my father's tombs,
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: that I may build it. The King said to me.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: The queen was also sitting by him, how long will
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: your journey be? When will you return? So it pleased
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: the King to send me, and I set a time
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: for him. Moreover, I said to the King, if it
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: pleases the King, let letters be given to me to
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: the governors beyond the river, that they may let me
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: passed through until I come to Judah, And a letter
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: to Asaph, the keeper of the King's forest, that he
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: may give me timber to make beams, for the gates
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: of the citadel, by the temple, for the wall of
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: the city, and for the house that I will occupy.
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: The King granted my requests because of the good hand
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of my God on me. Then I came to the
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: governors beyond the river and gave them the king's letters.
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: Now the King had sent captains of the army and
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: horsemen with me. When san Ballet the Hornite and Tobiah
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: the Ammonite servant heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: because a man had come to seek the welfare of
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: the children of Israel. The nice thing about the Book
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: of Nehemiah is it really gets right to the point.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Within the first five verses of the first chapter, we
• 3:43
  Speaker 1: know exactly why Nehemiah was writing this book. He was
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: distraught over the fact that the Israelite nation was still
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: not being rebuilt, specifically, Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel,
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: was not being rebuilt. It was still in shambles. Because
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: apparently Niamiah had a brother named Hanani that went and
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: visited Jerusalem for whatever reason, we're not sure why. Obviously,
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: Niamiyah asks him about the state of Jerusalem, and a
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: Nani tells him the truth. He's like, look, the city
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: walls are still destroyed, nothing is being rebuilt. Everything lies
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: in shambles since the days of the Babylonians, and Niamiyah
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: was distraught, and all of that happened in the month
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: keys Live, which was in the twentieth year of King
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: art Exerxes. So the month keys Live, I believe was December,
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: if I'm remembering correctly. And now in Niamiah chapter two,
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: verse one, it is the month Nissan, which that would
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: be around March. So about four months have passed actually
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: since Niamiah first learns the news that Jerusalem has not
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: been rebuilt. Even though the Israelites had been there for
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: about eighty five years since Cyrus, king of Persia, allowed
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: them to go back home. The Israelites, in their complacency
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: and fear, just did not rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: And the walls were very important because they showed several things.
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: They showed firstly that Jerusalem was becoming its own entity
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: once again, and also it was security for the city
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: and for the Temple of God and the people that
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: lived in that city. If a city didn't have walls
• 5:22
  Speaker 1: built around it, then any warring tribe or person could
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: just go in and take whatever they wanted. So the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: walls were very important for the security of Jerusalem and
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: for showing that Jerusalem was becoming a city once again.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: And Namiyah, obviously, as a deeply Jewish man himself, is
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: saddened to hear about the state of Jerusalem. And I
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: was reading some different thoughts about this, and apparently some
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: people think that Nehemiah could have been so upset about this,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: not just because he was an Israelite himself, but because
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: he could have been actually part of the king line.
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: And the reason some people think that, though it's not
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: stated in scripture, is because of what he says to
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: King art Exerxes right here in verse three. He says,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: why shouldn't my face be sad when the city, the
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: place of my father's tombs lies in waste and the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: gates have been consumed with fire. We know that the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: kings were rich enough to afford tombs like that. Niemiah
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: mentions these tombs of his fathers, so very well could
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: be that Niemiah was either a descendant of the kings,
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: or a descendant of maybe one of the princes of Israel,
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: or a leader of Israel, or something like that, just
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: because of the fact that his fathers were able to
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: afford tombs in Israel, which is kind of interesting. But
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: going back to verse one of Niemiah, two four months
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: have passed since Niemiah first hears about the state of Jerusalem,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: and it says, in the twentieth year of art Exerxes,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: the king, when wine was before him, I picked up
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: the wine and gave it to the king. Naia had
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: not been sad before in his presence, and that's because
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Persian court etiquette said that you could not be sad
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: in the presence of the king. You had to always
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: have a pleasant look on your face, always had to
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: have a smile on your face. You could not to
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: bring your problems from home in front of the king.
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: And it says, this was the first time ever that
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: my face had been sad before the king. And yet
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: it's been four months since Niamiah first heard about the
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: news of Jerusalem. So I imagine that for four months
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: this was just eating him up until the point where
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: he just couldn't be happy in front of the king.
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: He was probably praying about it all the time, distraught
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: about this until it actually comes to work with him.
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: Have you ever seen somebody that's just deeply depressed. You know,
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: their eyes are kind of sunken in, their cheek bones
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: are kind of sunken in. Maybe they haven't eaten in
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: a while. This could be what Niamiah was going through.
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: He could have just physically looked different to the king,
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: kind of had like a pallid look to him. Not
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: to mention this sad face. And the king when he
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: sees Neamiyah, he says, why is your face so sad
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: since you are not sick? This is nothing else but
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: sorrow of heart. And Neamiah when he hears these words,
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: becomes very much afraid, is what it says. So you
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: might wonder why would Niemiah be so afraid of King
• 8:20
  Speaker 1: art Exerxes, especially when we've seen some of the things
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: that art Exerxes has done in the past. For example,
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: he let Ezra go to Jerusalem with all sorts of
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: exiled Israelite people. He let them all go to Jerusalem.
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: He gave Ezra a ton of power, a ton of money,
• 8:36
  Speaker 1: a bunch of offerings so that Ezra could offer them
• 8:39
  Speaker 1: to Yahweh. You would think that art Exerxes is a
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: good king, So why is Neamiah so afraid in front
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: of him. Well, because art Exerxes was actually not a
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: good king. Like, yes, there were moments about him that
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: were good. He might have had a respect for Jewish people,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: just based upon his love for Neamiah the cup bearer,
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: maybe his love for Ezra, maybe his love for Queen
• 9:02
  Speaker 1: Esther even who was a Jewish woman, and Mordecai, who
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: worked for his father. You know, he was surrounded by
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: kind and wonderful Jewish people and maybe just had a
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: heart for them. But that doesn't mean that art Exerxes
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: was always a kind king. In fact, art Exerxes actually
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: killed his two older brothers in order to become the
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: next king. He was third in line for the throne.
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: He was not the firstborn son. He killed his oldest
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: brother Darius, and then killed his second oldest I forget
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: the name of that guy, but yeah, he came to
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: power on the throne through murder. So he was not
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: a nice guy. And not to mention, he had this rule,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: do not be sad in my presence. And I mean
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: that's a very authoritarian kind of command to like force
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: somebody to be happy all the time. I mean, even
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: Jesus is called the man of sorrows. Jesus had emotions
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: and showed that it's okay to have emotions, So it's
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: wrong to suppress somebody from him having emotions in front
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: of you. But that's the kind of king that Art
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Exertsies was. So that is one of the reasons why
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: Niamiah was so afraid when he hears that the king
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: has just noticed him not to mention. Think about the
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: position that Niamiah had. He was the cup bearer. That
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: meant that he checked the food for poison. He was
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: making sure that the king was safe every single time
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: he brought the drinks to the king. So if the
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: cup bearer was upset in front of the king looking guilty,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: possibly the king would think, oh, maybe my food is poisoned,
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: and possibly punish the cup bearer, throw him into prison,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: or even execute him, or maybe just being upset with Neamiah,
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: he could just fire him. You didn't listen to me,
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna take everything you have now because you were
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: sad in my presence. Niamiah was clearly afraid of this king.
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: Not to mention the prayer that we read in Niamiah one,
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: here's what it says in verse eleven, please prosper your
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: servant today and grant him mercy in the sight of
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: this man. So yeah, I mean the king was mean.
• 11:08
  Speaker 1: Art Exerxes was not a nice guy. But in spite
• 11:11
  Speaker 1: of Neemiah's fear, here's what he says to the king.
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: He steps out in boldness verse three. Let the king
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: live forever. Why shouldn't my face be sad when the city,
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: the place of my father's tombs lies waste and its
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: gates have been consumed with fire. Notice the first thing
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: that he mentions to the king. He says, firstly, long
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: live the king, so he brings back some of that
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: court etiquette that he is so familiar with. And then
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: he mentions not before the gates were destroyed with fire,
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: but that the place where his father's tombs lay is
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: in ruins. And this was a very tactful way for
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: Namiah to handle this issue, because I am sure that
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: the Persian kings probably did not want Jerusalem to thrive
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: very much, because if it did, if its walls were
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: built back up, that could signify that Jerusalem was now
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: powerful enough to revolt from Persian authority. And no Persian
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: king obviously wants to lose land or provinces. So this
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: was a sticky situation that Nehemiah was bringing up in
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: front of this king. So he handles it very differently.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: He says, King, the place where my father's tombs lay
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: are lying in ruin, in waste, and this is making
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: me so upset and so sad. That's what he tells
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: the king. Now, this would have really perked up the
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: king's interests because the Persians had a very unique way
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: of honoring the dead. In fact, many ancient cultures in
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: the Near East had significant rituals for honoring the dead.
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: A lot of cultures have worshiped the dead. I don't
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: know if the Persians did, but the idea of the
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: father's tombs lying in waste and ruined would have been
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: something that potentially touched this Persian king. But after saying that,
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: that's when Niemiah really gets to the point. He says,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and the gates have been consumed with fire. So the
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: king actually accepts when Niamiah says, and he asks, what
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: is your request of me? So Niamiyah in verse four
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: it says, I prayed to the God of Heaven. So
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: he offers up this very quick prayer to God. And
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: this is something that Neemiah understood that I think a
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: lot of people didn't understand. In Neemiah's day, I think
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: a lot of people thought that God was not approachable,
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: that you had to go to the temple and offer
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: a sacrifice in order to say a prayer to God.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: I mean, think about back in the book of First Samuel,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: when Hannah went to the temple to pray to God.
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: She was praying so fervently in her heart that her
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: lips were moving, but no words were coming out. And Eli,
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: the high priest, couldn't recognize a woman in prayer, and
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: so he comes up to her very angry, and he's like,
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: how dare you come to this temple drunk? Put away
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: your wine? Woman, And Hannah is like, no, High Priest,
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: I'm sorry, no, I'm praying to God. You see, I'm
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: very distraught in my heart. So the ancient Israelites, I
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: don't think, really understood this personal prayer life that they
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: could have with Yahweh. But Niamiyah really did. In his heart,
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: he was praying to Yahweh, understanding and knowing that God
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: could hear his thoughts and his prayers. When he wasn't
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: audibly speaking them, because he clearly did not audibly speak
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: a prayer in front of this king. So it says
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: he prayed to the God of Heaven and said to
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: the king, if it pleases the King, and if your
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: servant has found favor in your sight, I ask that
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: you would send me to Judah, to the city of
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: my father's tombs. He brings that up again, that I
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: may build it. So Niamiah handles this so tactfully, and
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: you can imagine that's another reason why this took him
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: four to get to the point, because he was probably
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: terrified of the king, not sure what to say to him,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: not sure if the king would grant his request, and
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: probably replaying this in his mind every single day, dozens
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: of times throughout the day. You can see why it
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: took a toll on him. Eventually, and he came to
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: work sad. So the king in verse six said to me,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: and here's an interesting thought. It says the queen was
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: also sitting by him, how long will your journey be
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: and when will you return? So basically, the king gives
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: his approval to Niemiah to go to Jerusalem, build the walls,
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: and then come back home. So he asks Neamaiyah, how
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: much time do you need and when will you be back?
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: So that gives us the idea that the king really
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: liked Niamiyah personally. He probably thought that he was a
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: great cup bearer, probably trusted him very deeply. Neamiah likely
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: was a confidante of the king because, like I said
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: in the last episode, Niamiah was kind of like the
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: king's personal bartender. And bartenders have a reputation of being
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: kind of like the counselor that you don't pay for. Well,
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: you have to pay for the drink, obviously, but you
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: know they're like the counselor. So our hairdressers. By the way,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: when I was a hairdresser for seven years, you know
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: some of the stories people would tell me. I'm like,
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: oh my goodness, you really do need counseling. I don't
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: know how to help you here, like I'm just here
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: to do your hair. That was probably what Neamiyah was
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: for this king, and I'm sure that he liked Neamiyah
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: and wanted him back as quickly as Niamiah could come back.
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: But notice here in verse six that it mentions that
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the queen was also sitting by the king, and that's
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: a really interesting statement, because the queen wasn't even mentioned
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: up until this point, and Niamiyah did have a reason
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: for mentioning her. He wasn't mentioning her because she was
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: part of the room. She played some sort of role.
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: She would have had to in order for her to
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: be mentioned in this story. So a lot of people
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: wonder what was the point of Niamiah mentioning her. Well.
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: The first idea is that this queen was the wife
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: of King art Exerxes, and she maybe liked Niamiah. She
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: might have had a platonic relationship with him herself. It
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: could have been that Niemiah was close to both the
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: king and the queen, and if the queen liked Niemiah,
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: it could be that she convinced art Exerxes right then
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: and there that he should let Namiah go. That this
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: was something serious to Niemiyah and that she wanted to
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: see this accomplished. So maybe the king listened to what
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: the queen had to say. Another idea I've heard is
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: that this queen was not actually the wife of art Exerxes,
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: but that she was Queen Esther. Now, Queen Esther was
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: probably not the mother of art Exerxes, but it could
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: be that she was the only mother art Exerxes really knew,
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: because most likely art exerxes mother was Queen Vashti, who
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: got exiled because art Exerxes dad Aha Sarahs got very
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: angry at her and basically exiled her to some foreign
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: land and she never came back again. It's very possible esther,
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: who stepped in as the next queen, who was a
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: Jewish woman herself, maybe really influenced art Exerxes as a
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: mother figure and as a Jewish woman. Another reason the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: queen is mentioned here is it could be that this
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: was an informal party, that Niamiah did not do this
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: publicly but waited until it was just the king and
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the queen together, and that's the reason that she is
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: mentioned here, implying that Niamiah waited for the perfect timing,
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: not with a big dinner party, but with a personal,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: intimate setting with just the king and the queen and
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: a few servants, so that Niamiyah could really tell the
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: king everything that was on his heart. So that is
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: a couple ideas as to why the queen is mentioned here,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: but honestly, we don't really know, but it says in
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: verse six that it pleased the king to send me,
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: and I set a time for him. Moreover, in verse seven,
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: I said to the King, if it pleases the King,
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: let letters be given to me to the governors beyond
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the river, that they may let me pass through until
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: I come to Judah, And a letter to Asaff, the
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: keeper of the King's forest, that he may give me
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: by the temple, and for the wall of the city,
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: and for the house that I will occupy. So this
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: obviously would have taken quite a long time to rebuild
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: an entire wall with archaic instruments and tools. You know, nowadays,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I'm sure that a wall could get built relatively soon.
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: Actually maybe not. Maybe it went faster back in those
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: days than it would today. I swear one of the
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: roads that is nearby me they're taking like twenty years.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: I really am not joking when I say this. This
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: road has been in construction since I can remember. There
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: is always construction on this road. It is never done.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: So honestly, it probably took less time back in these
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: days than it does today to get anything done. But
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: still it would have taken a long time, and Niemiah
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: would have had to have a place to live. So
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: he asks for the King for grace, and essentially it's like,
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: will you be willing to donate the materials to build
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: these walls? Not everything, but specifically the timber, would you
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: be willing to donate that so that I can build
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: a house where I would live. And also for the
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: beams of the walls, and also the beams of the gates. Now,
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: the walls would mostly be made of stone or brick
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: or something like that, but the gates couldn't be made
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: of stone or brick. They'd have to be moveable, which
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that means they would have been made of wood most likely,
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: which is why Nehemiah is in need of these materials.
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: And this was a big ask of Neamiyah. But because
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: the good hand of my God was on me, it says,
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: the King granted my requests. So Niamiyah had faith in God.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Though he was asking the King of a big, big thing.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Niamiyah had faith that God God would provide, and God
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: did in fact provide by turning the heart of the
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: King in favor of Neamiah. And this project that Namiah
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: is doing, you can imagine how south this could have
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: gone had God not been with Nehemiah. You can imagine
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: that the king could have thrown Neamiah in prison for
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: even asking for having a sad face in front of him.
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: He could have even killed Neamiah. Or he could have said, Neamiah,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: you can go to Jerusalem, but I won't grant you
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: any of the materials to build the wall. You got
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: to figure it out yourself. That would have also been
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: a huge hurdle for Neamiah to get passed, especially because
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: there was a set amount of time that Neamiah had,
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: But because God was on Neemiah's side, the king granted
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: his requests. And you know, this is another thing we
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: read through these stories in the Old Testament. We kind
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: of think that everything happens very quickly, when usually even
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: sometimes from one chapter to the next, like years have
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: passed by. That's the case of of this whole thing
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: with Niamiah. You know, you kind of think at the
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: beginning of Ezra, when the people finally go back into
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: the land after there's seventy years of captivity, that everything
• 22:08
  Speaker 1: is going hunky dory, that the temple is being built
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: so quickly, and that the walls of Jerusalem are being
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: built so quickly, but no, this took such a long time.
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: And that's the thing. Even when we are walking in
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: God's will, that doesn't always mean that things are going
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: to go smoothly, because our own sin always comes in.
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: Not to mention, just problems and politics and issues with
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: other people. These things all come into play even when
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: we're walking in God's will and God is with us,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: you know. My personal study, I've been reading through the
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: book of Exodus, and there's an interesting story in Exodus.
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: I think it's chapter seven, eight nine, I'm not sure,
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: but I just read it today about how after Moses
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: and Aaron for the first time went to the Pharaoh
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: and said, let my people go, the Pharaoh got very
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: angry at Moses and Aaron and actually increased the work
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: life of the people. And he was like, you people
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: are lazy because you want to leave your duties for
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: three days and go do this sacrifice in the wilderness.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Because you're so lazy, I'm going to, you know, put
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: even more work on you, and you're going to learn
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: how to not be lazy. And it turns out that
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: the Israelites are distraught over this work and they stop
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: believing Moses and Aaron. They stop listening to Moses and
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: Aaron because they were too distressed that things were not
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: going smoothly for them when they initially thought that when
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: Moses and Aaron went and talked to the king that
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: the Pharaoh would automatically let them go. But that is
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: not what happened, and God worked it all out for good.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: So we have to be aware in our own lives
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: that if things aren't moving smoothly, even though we thought
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: that they should be, that that doesn't necessarily mean that
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: we are not walking in God's will, or that God
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: isn't with us, or something along those lines. Sometimes things
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: just have to happen in order for God to really
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: show his power, and we're going to see how God
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: displays his power in the next couple chapters. Okay, faithful listeners,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for listening through the first part
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: of the second chapter of Niamiyah with me, and I'm
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: going to conclude with a couple points on verses nine
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: and ten. But before I do that, please listen to
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: this last sponsored ad for today. Okay, So, right after
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: Niamiyah gets the ok from the king, he basically leaves immediately.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: In verse nine, it says, then I came to the
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: governor's beyond the river and gave them the king's letters.
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: So there's a really good example of how time passes
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: in scripture. You know, one minute Neamiyah is in front
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of the king, and the next minute he's in Jerusalem. So, yes, things,
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: even though it seems like they move very quickly in scripture,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: often do not. Months would have passed actually from Niemiah
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: first talking to the king and then him arriving in Jerusalem,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: because it was it was like a four month trip,
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: I believe it was. Now, maybe Neiamiah went faster than
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: Ezra did because Ezra was taking a whole bunch of
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: of like exiles with him as well, so that would
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: have probably taken a lot longer. Actually, So maybe Neamiah
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: made it in a couple months because he had, it says,
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: captains of armies and horsemen sent with him in order
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: to protect him from people that might try to kill
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: him or steal from him, or bandits or something like that.
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: So he probably did go a little bit faster than
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: Ezra and the exiles did back in the Book of Ezra,
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: But still long time has passed but verse ten, that's
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: where I'd like to finish talking today. It says when
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: san Ballot the Hornite and Tobiah the Ammonite Servant heard
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: of it, it grieved them exceedingly because a man had
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel.
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Two men they were going to read a lot more
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: about as we move into Neamiyah, who were absolutely appalled
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: that Neamiyah had come to build the walls. And here's
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: what's interesting about these two guys. San Ballot the Hornite
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: was probably the governor of some are so he would
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: have been a Samaritan man, possibly with Jewish ancestry, but
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: at least knowing enough about Yahweh. And then Tobiah the
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: Ammonite Servant was likely a believing Jew, well not really believing,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: but he was a practicing Jew most likely who was
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the chosen governor of the Ammonite people. So two men
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: closely tied to the Jewish religion did not like the fact.
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: It says they were grieving exceedingly that somebody had come
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: from Persia to help build the walls of Jerusalem. Once again,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: why would they be grieving about this, Well, they were
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: grieving about it because they didn't truly care for Yahweh
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: or for the people of Israel. All they cared about
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: was politics and being in control. And so we're going
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: to talk about these two men a lot more. They're
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: mentioned a lot more as being the opposition of Nehemiah
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: and of the people that were rebuilding this wall. So
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: that is a proof to us that even if somebody
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: claims to be a follower of Jesus or a follower
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: of Yahweh, that doesn't actually mean that they are a
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: follower of Jesus or of Yahweh. If they are directly
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: going against God's will for somebody else, then that person
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: is actually an anti christ. Anti just means against Christ
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: because they're fighting against God's will. So people can say
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: whatever they want to say. Christians can say whatever they
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: want to say. And sometimes these Christians really can fool
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: people and say, oh, yes, I believe in Jesus, but
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: then do some of the most anti christ things and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: deceive a lot of people or hurt a lot of
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: people in Jesus's name. So we have to be really
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: aware of that. It's important to have discernment if somebody
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: says they're a Christian but they're doing something that is
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: anti christ. You can probably surmise that this person, if
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: they are a Christian, they are either deeply deceived or
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: they are truly not a Christian and are coming in
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: just to oppose the name of Jesus. In the name
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: of Jesus, I think as some pastors and some politicians
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: that claim, oh, yes, you know, I am a Christian,
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: I love all people, But Jesus never said that. Actually
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the Bible says it this way, and they spin things
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: and make it look like they truly are loving, they
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: truly understand the scriptures, but they don't. And it doesn't
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: matter what title they have. It doesn't matter if they
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: went to seminary and got their PhD in philosophy or
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: theology or anthropology. It doesn't matter what their PhD is in.
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: If they are claiming Christianity and they are going against God,
• 28:46
  Speaker 1: then that person is an anti christ And that is
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: who this san Balot person was, and also this Tobiah
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: person was. And we will talk about these two men
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: later on as we move through the Book of Nehemiah.
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: But faithful listeners, I hope you loved the Book of Nehemiah.
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: If you did, make sure to share it on your
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: social media platforms and tell people that the Bible Explain
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Podcast exists. Hope to see you all tomorrow for an
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: episode from Hebrews. Until then, happy listening and God bless.
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: I just want to take a second to thank the
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: team at Life Audio for their partnership with me on
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the Bible Explain Podcast. In fact, if you go to
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: lifeaudio dot com you will find dozens of other faith
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: centered podcasts in their network. They've got shows about prayer,
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Bible study, parenting, and more.