Today in God’s Word

Today in God's Word—April 2023

East Tallassee Church of Christ

April 20, Nehemiah 7

leaders take their direction from God and give

the glory to God for the good they are able to

do.

We modern (and mostly Gentile) readers are not too interested in chapters like this one, with a long list of difficult to pronounce names of people and places. If this one seemed familiar, we read an almost identical list back in Ezra 2. Ezra included this list of returnees under Zerubbabel in his book as well. What's the significance of all the son of... the son of... the son of... information in such a list?

To us, such a list may be of little importance. We could perhaps say that it's important for people to remember that they are who they are because they are from a long line of ancestors that shaped a family's culture and values. But it was much more than that to generations of Jews.

Remember the whole idea of the Jewish nation went back to the promise God made to Abraham, that in his descendants and in a particular Descendant, all nations would be blessed through the Messiah who would come. These genealogical records established the pedigree of Israelites through the centuries between Abraham and the coming of Christ. They were supposed to be a closed society, with carefully documented genealogical ties back through their families, clans and tribes to Abraham himself. This chapter, like its twin in Ezra, mentioned some who were excluded because they could not show their connection to the people descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Perhaps such a list reminds us that our God is faithful and precise. He is a God of intention and sovereign power. His plan spanned many lifetimes, generations and centuries before Mary gave birth to Jesus in Bethlehem. His people were not always faithful to him. But God was and is always faithful to his promises and his people. We should never doubt what he tells us in his word, and always trust that he is in control

Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, I gave my brother Hanani and Hannaniah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. - Nehemiah 7:1-2

As Nehemiah prepared to return to Persia, he made arrangements to maintain order and discipline in Jerusalem while he was away. He appointed his brother Hanani and another man with a very similar name (Hannaniah) to govern the two districts of Jerusalem in his absence. Hanani was the original messenger who brought Nehemiah the sad news about the state of the returned exiles in Jerusalem. Hannaniah was the guard of the castle. Nehemiah chose them because they were reliable, faithful and spiritual men.

One group of Levites was responsible for guarding the temple itself. Nehemiah appointed them and perhaps other Levites and even some of the designated singers to guard the gates of the city. The wall was finished and the gates were in place. Nehemiah reduced the number of hours a day the gates would be open, and ordered the guards to stay on duty until the gates were secured at the end of the day. A group of residents acted as night watchmen along the wall and among the dwellings in the large, but sparsely populated area inside the city’s wall. The enhanced security was important to the welfare of the residents because of the enemies who had tried to stop the wall-building project.

Nehemiah lived and governed with a heightened degree of God-consciousness. We've read about his devotion to prayer. He relied on God and saw the hand of God at work in their success. When he ordered the enrollment to count and certify the citizenship of rebuilt Jerusalem, he stressed that God had put it into his heart to enroll the people. Godly

of this world. His purpose will be accomplished and completed when Jesus comes again, to welcome his people into their glorious inheritance, to live with him forever in heaven. As important as it was for these Jews to know they were included in Abraham's family, it is even more important for you and me to be included in that number who will be welcomed to our eternal home someday.

Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.