Repopulating The City And Dedicating The Wall

When we arrive at 12:1, we find the list of priests and Levites who returned to the land with Zerubbabel and Jeshua. In Ezra 2, we saw this 206first wave of returnees. They were involved in getting the temple rebuilt under the ministry of Haggai and Zechariah, whose prophecies we have in the Old Testament. The temple was rebuilt in 516 bc. Nehemiah 12:1-7 tells us about the priests who came back with that first wave of returnees. Then in verses 8-9 we have the Levites who came back at that time, followed in 12:10 by a list of the high priests.

The Jeshua in verse 10 is referred to as Joshua in other parts of the Old Testament, and here we have the line that descends from him. Jeshua fathered Joiakim, of whom we read in verses 12-21. Joiakim fathered Eliashib (v. 22). Then Eliashib fathered Joiada. In verse 11 we find that Joiada fathered Jonathan, and Jonathan Jaddua. This list seems to be those who served as high priest from the first return back in 538 BCdown to the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Then in verse 12 we read more about the days of Joiakim, followed by more information on the days of Eliashib (v. 22). All this took place “while Darius the Persian ruled.”

This is difficult to sort out because there are several different Dariuses, and I’m inclined to agree with those who think that this is the Darius who reigned in the 520s bc. Thus I think all this information deals with the time between the first returnees and the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.

In Nehemiah 12:24 we find a description of the Levites standing opposite one another, as though they are going to engage in antiphonal song back and forth. They are doing this “division by division, as David the man of God had prescribed.” The phrase “division by division” could indicate that one group will be responding to the other. So it appears from this verse that the forms of worship David instituted have been preserved (1 Chr 23; 2 Chr 8:14). There is a certain formality and orderliness, along with careful, artistic craftsmanship that the people have engaged in to enhance the worship of God.

Then 12:26 tells us that this took place “in the days of Joiakim,” the Joiakim referred to back in 12:10; Joiakim is the “son of Jeshua,” that’s the guy who returned with Zerubbabel; and then 12:26 says, “and in the days of Nehemiah ... and Ezra the priest and scribe.” Saying that this happened “in the days of Joiakim ... and in the days of Nehemiah” links these two periods of activity. The first wave of returnees is hereby linked to the rebuilders at the time of Nehemiah.

These two groups, the returnees and the rebuilders, are brought together in Nehemiah 12:26 as though they are one united effort to renew the worship of God in Jerusalem.

207Having seen the people and the priests who will repopulate the city of Jerusalem, we arrive at the dedication of the wall.

Nehemiah 12:27-43

The dedication of the wall that we see here in Nehemiah 12 is similar to what we saw back in Ezra 6 when Israel rebuilt the temple. Ezra 6:16 tells us that after they rebuilt the temple, they “celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.” They complete a building project, then they dedicate that project to the Lord. They dedicated the temple in Ezra 6, and now they dedicate the wall in Nehemiah 12.

This elaborate and beautiful celebration dedicates the wall of Jerusalem to the Lord, which is significant because this is God’s city. The celebration is a declaration that this city is where the name of Yahweh is made known. This city is where Yahweh’s law is followed. This city is for the worship of God.

Back in 1 Chronicles 24, David had organized the priests into 24 divisions. This meant that there were two divisions of priests for each month of the year, which in turn meant that each priest would be on duty for two weeks of each year. The rest of the time the priests could attend to the realities of everyday life—farming and caring for livestock.

So for two weeks the priests would serve God in the temple in Jerusalem, and the other 50 weeks of the year they, like the rest of the people, were to serve God in the temple of creation. Even priests in Old Testament Israel were to worship God by caring for their families, obeying Deuteronomy 6 by teaching their sons Torah, living lives of worship. Even in old covenant Israel, worship was not limited to the time when they were in Jerusalem at the temple. All of life was and is about knowing God.

This kind of reality informs what we see in Nehemiah 12:27: “they sent for the Levites wherever they lived.” Like the priests, the Levites were not full time in Jerusalem. They were scattered through their villages. They “brought them to Jerusalem to celebrate the joyous dedication with thanksgiving and singing accompanied by cymbals, harps, and lyres.” The intent was to have an elaborate worship celebration.

Nehemiah 12:28-29 tells us,

We don’t know exactly what these rites of purification looked like. They probably involved sacrifice for cleansing and some sort of ceremonial washing. Notice how they purified the people as well as the gates and wall: they purified themselves and their city. They set themselves apart to be pure for the worship of God.

Nehemiah states in 12:31, “Then I brought the leaders of Judah up on top of the wall,” and what Nehemiah has done is divide the people into two choirs, with one choir set to go one way, the other to go the other way, and the two choirs will encircle the city and meet at the temple. Because of the first locations that each choir is said to pass as they made their way on the top of the wall, it appears that the two choirs were to come together at the Valley Gate. This is interesting because back in verse 13 Nehemiah went out by night “through the Valley Gate.” On his first evening, when Nehemiah went on his night reconnaissance mission, he couldn’t make his way around the city, but he started at the Valley Gate. Perhaps that experience influenced his plans for the dedication of the wall.

We also see in verse 31 that the wall is large enough for the leaders to go up on it and stand on it. Back in 4:3 Tobiah had taunted the rebuilders that “if a fox climbed up what they are building, he would break down their stone wall!” The enemies of Israel taunted Israel that a little fox would break down their wall, but now Nehemiah has these two large choirs up on the wall with him.

Back in 3:5 there was a shameful statement that “their nobles did not bring the backs of their necks to the service of their Lord” (my trans.). Evidently when Nehemiah came back and called the people to work, there were nobles who thought the work was beneath them. They thought it was going nowhere, that it wasn’t the path to prosperity or significance. They didn’t know who this upstart was who had come back from Persia, but the little project on the wall, they thought, would lead to nothing. Now in 12:31 Nehemiah brings the leaders of Judah up onto the wall.

May I encourage you to reject the thought that any act of service for Christ and His kingdom is beneath you? There will be a day when what this dedication of the wall points to will be fulfilled. The people of God will be brought up onto the wall, so to speak, and they will see a 209new Jerusalem radiant with the glory of what has been accomplished by faith, by the power of the Spirit. We will worship God on that day.

Nehemiah continues in verses 31-32, “and I appointed two large processions that gave thanks. One went to the right on the wall, toward the Dung Gate. Hoshaiah and half the leaders of Judah followed.” From what Nehemiah tells us about the other members of the procession, it appears that Hoshaiah is not a priest because Nehemiah will designate priests. This fellow Hoshaiah appears to be one of the more significant lay leaders. He and half the leaders of Judah are accompanied, in verses 33-36, by

Some things to note: Zechariah traces his descent back to Asaph, that psalmist, and then we see that they carry “the musical instruments of David, the man of God.” This first choir, we see at the end of verse 36, was led by Ezra. They made their way around the city, and it isn’t exactly clear whether in verse 37 they had to leave the wall to continue or whether this “ascent” was part of the wall.

The other choir is described in verse 38. It would appear that Nehemiah occupies the place in the second choir that Hoshaiah did in the first, each choir having significant lay leadership, significant priestly leadership, and significant musical representation. So the procession is balanced, elegant, and worshipful. The route of the second procession is described, then we see in verse 40, “The two thanksgiving processions stood in the house of God. So did I and half of the officials accompanying me.” The choirs have encircled the city and met at the temple, and there at the temple, they worshiped.

Nehemiah 12:41 mentions the trumpets they employed in the music, along with the names of those involved. Then in verses 42-43,

210That last phrase may sound familiar because it is similar to the statement in Ezra 3:13 after the altar was rebuilt.

This is a glorious celebration, but I suspect it was nothing compared to the parades Nehemiah saw back in Persia. The music might have been good, but there was probably better music in Persia. What was happening in Jerusalem was what God was doing in the world, unimpressive as it may have seemed.

For what will you live? Will you live for what looks impressive on the outside but is empty on the inside? Or will you live for what may not look very impressive on the outside, but on the inside is real because God is being worshiped?

Nehemiah 12:44-47

We read here of the provisions that were made for the temple. The Torah stipulated the provision of everything mentioned here. So what is evident from this is that they have studied Scripture, seen what God requires, and they are committing themselves to make sure that what God requires is rendered. There are established amounts due from fields and towns “required by the Torah” (v. 44; my trans.), and they sought to obey. The end of verse 44 tells us that “Judah rejoiced over the priests and over the Levites who served” (my trans.). These are authorized and, at this point, faithful ministers of God. These men met the qualifications, descending from Levi and Aaron, and they were set apart for the worship of God. The people rejoiced over those who would lead them in worship.

Nehemiah 12:45 tells us that “the service of their God and the service of purification” was performed “as David and his son Solomon had prescribed.” This is a statement of faith because it declares that though the first temple was destroyed, they believed that God would keep the promises He made to David. They believed that God was still pursuing the program of causing His name to dwell in Jerusalem at the temple, and that from that temple in Jerusalem God’s glory would spread over the whole earth.

The “leaders of the singers” and the “songs of praise and thanksgiving to God” are described in verse 46, and then verse 47 provides another link between the generation of the returnees and the generation of the rebuilders when it says, “in the days of Zerubbabel and 211Nehemiah, all Israel contributed the daily portions.” Stop and consider this. Nehemiah’s day was not exactly prosperous. It was a time of economic and political crisis. The people of Israel were not thriving, yet they were sacrificially giving to support the worship of God.

They might have been tempted to think that the people listed there in verse 47 were unnecessary: singers, gatekeepers, Levites, sons of Aaron. But that was not their perspective. Notice that there are no demands in verse 47. The people set apart what was for the Levites, and the Levites set apart what was for the priests. The people funded the worship of God. Their perspective was, “Whatever it costs us, though we must sacrifice, we must support the worship of God in the temple. That’s what our lives are about.”

As we think about what this means for us today, let me encourage you with the simple fact that God has always been pleased to choose the weak things of the world. God chose Abraham, a man with no children, and He wanted to bless the world through that one man and his descendants. When Abraham’s descendants had multiplied, they were slaves in Egypt. That’s who God chose as His people: slaves, people who were in bondage. And they would be led by Moses, a man who had been a shepherd in the wilderness for 40 years. Then when God went to choose a king, He chose the youngest son of Jesse, and Jesse hadn’t even bothered calling David in from the sheepfold. Jesse evidently wasn’t expecting David to be chosen.

God chose Ezra and Nehemiah, who for all their standing in the Persian court, in the grand scheme of all things, were not that important in themselves. And God chooses people like us and churches like ours for the manifestation of His glory and the advancement of His kingdom on the earth.

Let’s be those who embrace what God has done, who embrace our opportunity to steward and proclaim the gospel, who join Paul in boasting in our weakness, and who live to worship.