Very few of us will ever have the experience of rebuilding a city after it has been destroyed by warfare. For the Israelites it was a matter of reconstructing not only their temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but also their faith.

It began with the great pilgrimage. King Cyrus ordered them to go rebuild their temple and the people came back to Jerusalem after seventy years in captivity . They ran into opposition and instead of working on the temple, they built homes for themselves. The Lord confronted them, however, and they finally finished and dedicated the temple.

Fifty years passed before Nehemiah came over from Susa and put Israel to work rebuilding the city walls. His arrival coincided with the arrival of Ezra the priest who came from Babylon and brought the Book of the Law with him.

The nation of Israel stood and listened as Ezra read God’s Word to them and they were overcome with reverence for the Lord and awareness of their sins. They vowed to obey God’s Law from then on and they began by celebrating the High Holy Days he had commanded in his Word.

Dedicating Jerusalem’s Wall

When everything seemed to be in order at the temple, Nehemiah organized a day of dedication for the wall of Jerusalem. The city filled up with people and — in the company of priests, Levites, and temple musicians — Ezra and Nehemiah led two processions to the temple.

Ezra started at the south end of the city and climbed the eastern wall with a large choir following him, singing thanks to God. Half of the congregation of people joined them and walked north on the top of the wall to the temple.

The second choir climbed to the top of the western wall and with Nehemiah and the other half of the crowd following them, they too walked north. The two processions met at the temple and the choirs descended from the wall to take their places at the house of God.

“The choirs sang under the direction of Jezrahiah. And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.” Nehemiah 12:43

After over a century of silence, Jerusalem was once again alive with celebration.

Providing for Temple Worship

In obedience to the Law of God the Israelites began to bring their tithes and offerings to the temple again. Trustworthy men were appointed to oversee temple storerooms where fruit and grain, olive oil and wine were kept as provisions for the people who worked at the temple.

Ezra knew that King David and King Solomon had long ago assigned musicians and gatekeepers to serve at the temple. So he made sure musicians and gatekeepers were part of life at the temple now, and they were added to the daily distribution of provisions.

As the Israelites learned more about the Book of Moses they discovered that God had excluded Moabites and Ammonites from the assembly at God’s house. So they quickly barred anyone of foreign descent from joining their gatherings at the temple.

However, if an Ammonite or Moabite renounced their gods and chose to worship Israel’s God alone, they were welcome to join the assembly of the Lord’s people. There was a provision for that in the Law of Moses.

Nehemiah’s Absence from Jerusalem

Nehemiah served as governor of Judah for twelve years before he returned to his position as cupbearer to King Artaxerxes in Susa. He was a good governor, generous with people, while never taking anything for himself. His ambition was to serve, not lord it over the people he governed.

While he was away in Susa Eliashib the priest did a favor for his friend Tobiah and let him move into an empty storeroom at the temple. Tobiah was a foreigner who had been sent away from the assembly of God’s people earlier. He should not have been given a place to live at the temple.

Nehemiah Comes Back

After some years in Susa, Nehemiah asked the king for permission to go back and see how things were in Jerusalem. When he had left Jerusalem earlier, Israel was experiencing a great revival, but now Nehemiah saw several signs of backsliding among the people.

Nehemiah learned about Tobiah’s arrangement with Eliashib and threw Tobiah out of the storeroom he was living in. Nehemiah had the room purified and made into a storeroom for the tithes and offerings of the people again.

Next Nehemiah discovered that because the daily distribution of provisions for the temple workers had stopped, the Levites and musicians had left Jerusalem. They were back at their family farms trying to make a living. Nehemiah rebuked the temple officials and assigned new overseers for the storerooms so the workers could return to the temple.

The Sabbath had been turned into a market day in Jerusalem, with outsiders bringing in merchandise and setting up shop. The nobles of the city had allowed this desecration of the Lord’s Day so Nehemiah rebuked them. He ordered that Jerusalem’s gates be shut the evening before the Sabbath and not opened again until it was over. Then he threatened to arrest the merchants who hung around outside the walls during the Sabbath.

Finally, Nehemiah learned that the Israelites had returned to intermarrying with foreigners. He was so angry he beat some of the men and reminded them how this practice had brought down King Solomon and caused all kinds of suffering for Israel in the past.

“So I purified the priests and Levites of everything foreign, and assigned them duties, each to his own task . . . Remember me with favor, my God.” Nehemiah 13:30-31

As we say goodbye to Nehemiah, we also conclude the last story in the chronology of the Old Testament. All that’s left for us to read now are the prophets Malachi and Joel.

Malachi

Nehemiah wasn’t able to correct all of Israel’s problems, so Malachi the prophet picked up the work of instructing them. They had become indifferent to their great God and he wanted to get their attention, so Malachi wrote his prophecy as if it were a conversation between God and his people.

“‘I have loved you,’ says the Lord. ‘But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’” Malachi 1:2

God showed his love through his actions and the Israelites needed to look no further than Edom to see how God treated those he didn’t love. The Edomites were the Israelite’s cousins, but they had never aligned themselves with God so their land was a wasteland while Israel prospered.

Yet Israel didn’t treat God with the respect he deserved.

“‘A son honors his father, and a slave his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?’ says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 1:6

The priests showed contempt for God by offering blind, diseased and lame animals as sacrifices. They thought it didn’t matter that they gave God gifts they would never offer to their earthly governor. They also didn’t worry about leading the people astray with wrong teaching.

“‘For the lips of a priest ought to preserve knowledge, because he is the messenger of the Lord Almighty and people seek instruction from his mouth. But you have turned from the way and by your teaching have caused many to stumble; you have violated the covenant with Levi,’ says the Lord Almighty.” Malachi 2:7-8

Here we are in the last pages of the Old Testament and God is still appealing to his people to love and obey him so they can have his blessing.

How quickly people fall away from honoring and obeying God!

But, as we have seen, continually immersing ourselves in the Word of God is a great defense against slipping away from him and back into sin.