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Hello, my ‘Walking with Jesus” friends,
When you hear the words “due diligence” I wonder what comes to your mind? Join me again in the city of Jerusalem in 445bc. Nehemiah had just arrived, having traveled several weeks, accompanied by the king’s soldiers and cavalry, coming all the way from Susa, the capital of the vast Persian kingdom. Already news of Nehemiah’s arrival has stirred up emotions especially among some leaders who, as Nehemiah wrote it: “Were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites.” (Nehemiah 2:10)
Well, that statement could come right off the front page of newspapers around the world today as describing the attitudes of Hamas or Hezbollah or Iran or many ‘anti-Israel protesters’ as they oppose anyone seeking to help Israel in our day, isn’t that true? Not willing to trust anyone yet, Nehemiah set about to investigate the situation for himself. Nehemiah records that he “set out during the night with a few others. I had not told anyone what my God had put in my heart to do for Jerusalem.” (Nehemiah 2:12) Nehemiah was doing ‘due diligence’. How? By taking a journey around the entire circumference of Jerusalem for his personal assessment of the broken-down walls and the gates which had been destroyed by fire. You’ll recall it was that report which had put Nehemiah into four months of praying and God giving Nehemiah a plan to resolve the problem in Jerusalem. (Nehemiah 1:2-4)
After Nehemiah’s late night ‘due diligence’ was completed, Nehemiah gathered Jerusalem leaders together and told them of his plan. (Nehemiah 2:13-16) Nehemiah said: “You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.’ I also told them about the gracious hand of my God upon me and what the king had said to me. They replied, ‘Let us start rebuilding.’ So, they began this good work.” (Nehemiah 2:17,18)
Exactly who these leaders were and what the extent of the ‘good work’ they began to do was, we don’t know for sure, but clearly Nehemiah was being used by God as a catalyst for change. The first major wave of 50,000 Jewish exiles had returned to demolished Jerusalem about 100 years earlier in 538bc. (Ezra 1) Ezra had returned with a second wave of about 1500 Jewish exiles about 13 years before Nehemiah, but despite all these people and so many years of work, still the city walls were nothing but piles of rubble. But with Nehemiah’s enthusiasm and his story of God’s mighty work in moving King Artaxerxes to send Nehemiah with orders to rebuild the wall… well an adrenaline rush swept through Jerusalem and people got ready to work. Have you ever been caught up in an adrenaline rush momentum?
Sadly, as often happens, when there is a fresh new wave of enthusiasm there is also a counter wave of discouraging opposition. Quickly Nehemiah was confronted by local officials Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite who were joined by a third man, Geshem the Arab. Nehemiah reports it like this: “they mocked and ridiculed us. ‘What is this you are doing?’ they asked. ‘Are you rebelling against the king?” We must assume these three local officials were well known by everyone in the region since they had been representatives of King Artaxerxes with authority to speak and act on behalf of the king, for some time.
Nehemiah’s words to these angry officials were strong and probably shocking to them: “The God of heaven will give us success. We, His servants, will start rebuilding, but as for you, you have no share in Jerusalem or any claim of historic right to it.“ (Nehemiah 2:20) Oh my, that sounds very much like what we hear in Gaza, the West Bank, and from anti-Israel voices around the world today! So, WHO, both then and today, has the right of historic claim to Jerusalem and the land of Israel? I wonder how you answer that question which has been debated by millions of people for millennia? The Bible gives us God’s answer very clearly. 4 years ago, in July 2021 we carefully worked our way through Genesis and the story of Abraham and looked closely at God’s answer. Those, and all past editions of “WWJ”, are available to you in our library, under the ‘daily archives’ tab.
May I give you this short, concise version of God’s answer regarding WHO has rightful claim to Jerusalem and all the land around it? In Genesis 15 God specifically outlined the region and identified that it was already occupied by 10 people groups, yet Almighty God, the Creator of our world, was on that day DEEDING that land to Abraham and his descendants! But when God spoke those words, Abraham was old and still childless. (Genesis 15:18-21)
More than 20 years later, God repeated His Covenant with Abraham in Genesis 17:4-8 explaining ‘the whole land of Canaan’ would be given by God to Abraham’s many descendants. At that moment Abraham had only one son, Ishmael, whose mother was Hagar the Egyptian. (Genesis 16) But also at that time God announced to Abraham that his barren, old wife Sarai would bear Abraham a son and they should name this miracle son Isaac. Then God said to Abraham: “I will establish My covenant with Isaac as an everlasting covenant for his descendants.” (Genesis 17:15-22) So here God is for a second time deeding the land to Abraham but now refining the lineage of who would inherit that land from Abraham. The land inheritance would go from Abraham to Isaac and his descendants, not Ishmael and his descendants! Oh yes, God promised HE would bless Ishmael with many tribes of descendants, and they would inherit vast areas of land outside of and around what we know as Israel, but the land of Israel was given by God to Isaac and his descendants.
After the death of Abraham, God again reconfirmed this land inheritance to Isaac in Genesis 26:2-5. God said “To you and your descendants I will give all these lands and will confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham…”
But Isaac and his wife Rebekah had twins and once again God made a clear distinction about the Covenant lineage He would bless with this land. I find it in Genesis 28 as Jacob is running from his family and where he stopped for the night Jacob had an encounter with God in which God said “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying…” (Gen. 28:13-15)
Twenty years later Jacob returned to that place he had named Bethel, along with his wives and large family and God again confirmed His Land Covenant by saying to Jacob: “Your name is Jacob, but your name will be Israel…The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you and I will give this land to your descendants after you.” (Gen. 35:10-15)
Finally, more than 100 years later, when Joseph, son of Jacob was near death while living in Egypt, Joseph made it very clear to his family: “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land of Egypt and bring you to the land HE promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob...” (Gen. 50:22-25)
So, there it is my friends, the very clear Land Covenant between God and Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Jacob’s sons. These people are known as the “children of Israel” because God changed Jacob’s name to Israel and the land is named Israel as their inheritance from God. Now let’s ponder this as we worship with this wonderful song from Jerusalem, and tomorrow we’ll return to see what Nehemiah did next.
Today’s Scripture: Nehemiah 2:10-20; Gen. 15; 17; 26; 28; 35; 50.
Choose below to read or listen.
Nehemiah 2:10-20
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Gen. 15
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Gen. 17
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Gen. 26
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Gen. 28
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Gen. 35
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Gen. 50
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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