Nehemiah 5:1 KJV
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
Nehemiah originally went to Jerusalem because the walls of the city were broken down and he was burdened to repair them. But when he arrived, and over the course of his work there, he discovered that was only one of the problems in Jerusalem, and the other problems really led to the outward problem he had come to repair. It seems to me that there were at least three problems Nehemiah worked to repair in Jerusalem and all three can correspond to
The local church
The family unit or
The individual person
The walls were broken down
This was the outward condition. Nehemiah called it a reproach. The Jews had been permitted to return to Jerusalem years earlier but they still had not repaired the walls and cleaned up the city.
The people had invested their interests in other areas. Just like Christians can do in their church, people can do in their family or a person can do with their own life. Priorities get mixed up. Apathy sets in. Laziness, discouragement or sinfulness reigns and things just begin to fall apart.
The enemy threatened
Nehemiah discovered that, even though the Jews had been given permission to return to Jerusalem, there were enemies. Nehemiah did not allow them to stop the work he had come to do
When they threatened to attack, they carried a weapon
When they made false accusations Nehemiah refused to negotiate
When they offered him a refuge Nehemiah refused to flee
Nehemiah didn't even allow the enemy to distract him so that he fought them instead of repairing the walls. He armed the workers to protect against attack, but they kept on building the walls.
The brethren abused each other
The worst problem in Jerusalem was that the Jews were not treating each other much better than the enemy was treating them. Nehemiah boldly urged the Jews to return things they had taken from their brethren in so-called business deals and to treat each other in a brotherly way.
There is more to do than keep as building clean and repaired, but if it is not clean and repaired it is likely a sign of something else that is wrong and repairing it is at least part of the means by which we fix the other problems.
And there was a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brethren the Jews.
Nehemiah originally went to Jerusalem because the walls of the city were broken down and he was burdened to repair them. But when he arrived, and over the course of his work there, he discovered that was only one of the problems in Jerusalem, and the other problems really led to the outward problem he had come to repair. It seems to me that there were at least three problems Nehemiah worked to repair in Jerusalem and all three can correspond to
The local church
The family unit or
The individual person
The walls were broken down
This was the outward condition. Nehemiah called it a reproach. The Jews had been permitted to return to Jerusalem years earlier but they still had not repaired the walls and cleaned up the city.
The people had invested their interests in other areas. Just like Christians can do in their church, people can do in their family or a person can do with their own life. Priorities get mixed up. Apathy sets in. Laziness, discouragement or sinfulness reigns and things just begin to fall apart.
The enemy threatened
Nehemiah discovered that, even though the Jews had been given permission to return to Jerusalem, there were enemies. Nehemiah did not allow them to stop the work he had come to do
When they threatened to attack, they carried a weapon
When they made false accusations Nehemiah refused to negotiate
When they offered him a refuge Nehemiah refused to flee
Nehemiah didn't even allow the enemy to distract him so that he fought them instead of repairing the walls. He armed the workers to protect against attack, but they kept on building the walls.
The brethren abused each other
The worst problem in Jerusalem was that the Jews were not treating each other much better than the enemy was treating them. Nehemiah boldly urged the Jews to return things they had taken from their brethren in so-called business deals and to treat each other in a brotherly way.
There is more to do than keep as building clean and repaired, but if it is not clean and repaired it is likely a sign of something else that is wrong and repairing it is at least part of the means by which we fix the other problems.
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