Title: The Awakened Man - Nehemiah
The Waking Man - Nehemiah
Text/ Neh 2:1-5
1. Introduction
What is an awake person? The Bible says, “Put your girdles around your waist, light a lamp, and stand; you are like men waiting for their master to open the door when he comes back from the wedding house and knocks” (Luke 12:35-36). I think Nehemiah is just such a person.
The background of the times of Ezra and Nehemiah (about 450 BC): In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia (Kyros 538), the Israelites who returned from the Babylonian captivity finally completed the construction of the temple in 515 BC thanks to the word of God given through the prophet Haggai-Zechariah. It was completed and a thrilling dedication ceremony was held (Ezra 6:15-18). The temple was built, so the situation was still very bad. The walls of the city destroyed by the Babylonian army collapsed the gates of the city were burned with fire the lives of the Israelites were at risk and the economic situation was very poor due to obstruction and attack by neighboring enemies such as Samaria, Ammon, and Arabia. It was.
Under these circumstances, Nehemiah, who was the cupbearer of Artaxerxes king Artaxerxes (464-427), returned to Jerusalem with the king's permission, and repaired the temple for 12 years from 445-433 BC - repaired the wall. -New gates -Repelled adversaries -Worked with Ezra the lawyer to reform the religious condition of the discouraged, indulgent and indolent people
2. Text Study
* In the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, in the month of Nisan, there was wine before the king, and I gave it to the king, and before the king I had no shame. The king said to me, “You are not ill. Then I was very afraid, and I said to the king, “Long live the king. How can I not be ashamed, for the city where the tombs of my fathers are located has until now been desolate and the gates burned with fire?” The king said to me.
Then I said, “What do you want?” I immediately prayed to the God of heaven, and said to the king, “If the king approves and your servant finds favor in your sight, then send me in the land of Judah to the city where the tombs of my ancestors are located The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king (Nehemiah 2:1-5).
The main thing to note in the text is “What do you want?” Before answering the king's question, Nehemiah first said, "To the God of heaven,