ASSASSIN
05-09-2008, 08:02 PM
New Sunday School Lesson For May 11, 2008
FOLLOWING A VISIONARY LEADER -
Nehemiah 2:1-8, 11, 17, 18
BACKGROUND:
From the conclusion of last week’s lesson (the setting was in Jerusalem ), it had taken the people about five years to complete the work on rebuilding the temple. Now, another 50 or so years have gone by, and the walls of the Holy City remain in ruins, with the gates recently burned. As for the burned gates, it had been with the blessings of King Artaxerxes that the Samaritans committed the atrocity. The once-proud Jerusalem was not what it once had been, and the inhabitants had become dejected and disillusioned...
To make matters worse, there were no obvious leaders in Jerusalem rising up to lead the people to take heart and complete the monumental task of rebuilding the city. Additionally, they had no money or materials even if they had had the desire to do so. It is into this bleak picture that God sent a man named Nehemia...
SADNESS NOTICED (Nehemiah 2:1-3)
Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem , but somehow he recognized it as home. This meant that the only place that he had lived his entire lifetime was NOT home, but was a strange land. Give Nehemiah credit: he felt homesick for a home he had never seen! Read Nehemiah 1. The background of the story becomes clear. Word came to Nehemiah that “home” was in deplorable condition. Further, Nehemiah learned that no real progress toward positive change was taking place. This then becomes Nehemiah’s call to action: work to be done and no one is doing it...
But Nehemiah had a problem. First, he was “cupbearer” for the Persian King Artaxerxes. This meant that he held something of a royal position in a land in which he was technically a captive. This “position” has been compared to the “royal taster” of old; that is, one who “tastes” all food and drink presented to the king. This was done so that if the food or drink was poisoned, the royal taster would become sick or even die, sparing the king. Now Nehemiah’s problem was that what he wanted to do was basically to undo parts of what the king had just recently approved: he wanted to rebuild the gates that the king had approved torn down...
So what did Nehemiah do with the news that he got in chapter one? He did nothing for some four or five months. In fact, Nehemiah didn’t bring up the subject: Artaxerxes did. It just shows that when God wants something done, He will sometimes do it FOR us. Somehow, the king knew that something was wrong with his servant. Nehemiah must have had a demeanor that was unlike any the king had witnessed before. So when the king questioned Nehemiah, he replied that he was concerned with the place of his fathers’ sepulchers. It is interesting that the gates and the walls of the city were not mentioned. Perhaps Nehemiah was using tact in approaching the subject...
OPPORTUNITY SEIZED (Nehemiah 2:4-8)
The obvious question from the king was, “So what do you want?” Nehemiah set an example for us all. First, Nehemiah had been praying all along. Now, before responding to a king who could with the wave of his hand take Nehemiah’s life, Nehemiah whispered a quick last-minute prayer, then spoke...
Look at the list of requests. First, that Nehemiah be allowed to get off his job and travel to Jerusalem to oversee the proposed rebuilding project; second, that he be given what essentially would be a royal passport so that the provinces he would cross (including that of rival Samaria) would be compelled to treat him as a foreign diplomat; and third (and this is truly important), that the king arm him with a letter that would effectively cause the king to supply the materials to rebuild the very gates that he had approved destroyed...
What happened? Read the last part of verse eight: “..And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. Like we should today, Nehemiah readily admitted that HE was not responsible for this successful outcome – it was God working on his behalf...
TASK INITIATED (Nehemiah 2:11, 17, 18
From a hostile king to a dejected and discouraged people, Nehemiah found God equally effective. He made the 1000-mile-plus trip to Jerusalem . No one was obviously overjoyed to see him coming. It had been some 90 years since the first exiles returned, and not much had been done toward returning Jerusalem to its original splendor. Nehemiah was just one man. What could HE do? Could that be how we are tempted to see God’s messenger today? One man (or woman), limited by the handicap of being only human?
Nehemiah carefully surveyed the situation. He then told the people why he was convinced the job could be done: through “…the hand of my God which was good upon me…”. Yes, he was only one man, but he had help. God, who had been fighting their battles all along, would be with them...
The Apostle Paul would say many years later, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)....
A
FOLLOWING A VISIONARY LEADER -
Nehemiah 2:1-8, 11, 17, 18
BACKGROUND:
From the conclusion of last week’s lesson (the setting was in Jerusalem ), it had taken the people about five years to complete the work on rebuilding the temple. Now, another 50 or so years have gone by, and the walls of the Holy City remain in ruins, with the gates recently burned. As for the burned gates, it had been with the blessings of King Artaxerxes that the Samaritans committed the atrocity. The once-proud Jerusalem was not what it once had been, and the inhabitants had become dejected and disillusioned...
To make matters worse, there were no obvious leaders in Jerusalem rising up to lead the people to take heart and complete the monumental task of rebuilding the city. Additionally, they had no money or materials even if they had had the desire to do so. It is into this bleak picture that God sent a man named Nehemia...
SADNESS NOTICED (Nehemiah 2:1-3)
Nehemiah had never been to Jerusalem , but somehow he recognized it as home. This meant that the only place that he had lived his entire lifetime was NOT home, but was a strange land. Give Nehemiah credit: he felt homesick for a home he had never seen! Read Nehemiah 1. The background of the story becomes clear. Word came to Nehemiah that “home” was in deplorable condition. Further, Nehemiah learned that no real progress toward positive change was taking place. This then becomes Nehemiah’s call to action: work to be done and no one is doing it...
But Nehemiah had a problem. First, he was “cupbearer” for the Persian King Artaxerxes. This meant that he held something of a royal position in a land in which he was technically a captive. This “position” has been compared to the “royal taster” of old; that is, one who “tastes” all food and drink presented to the king. This was done so that if the food or drink was poisoned, the royal taster would become sick or even die, sparing the king. Now Nehemiah’s problem was that what he wanted to do was basically to undo parts of what the king had just recently approved: he wanted to rebuild the gates that the king had approved torn down...
So what did Nehemiah do with the news that he got in chapter one? He did nothing for some four or five months. In fact, Nehemiah didn’t bring up the subject: Artaxerxes did. It just shows that when God wants something done, He will sometimes do it FOR us. Somehow, the king knew that something was wrong with his servant. Nehemiah must have had a demeanor that was unlike any the king had witnessed before. So when the king questioned Nehemiah, he replied that he was concerned with the place of his fathers’ sepulchers. It is interesting that the gates and the walls of the city were not mentioned. Perhaps Nehemiah was using tact in approaching the subject...
OPPORTUNITY SEIZED (Nehemiah 2:4-8)
The obvious question from the king was, “So what do you want?” Nehemiah set an example for us all. First, Nehemiah had been praying all along. Now, before responding to a king who could with the wave of his hand take Nehemiah’s life, Nehemiah whispered a quick last-minute prayer, then spoke...
Look at the list of requests. First, that Nehemiah be allowed to get off his job and travel to Jerusalem to oversee the proposed rebuilding project; second, that he be given what essentially would be a royal passport so that the provinces he would cross (including that of rival Samaria) would be compelled to treat him as a foreign diplomat; and third (and this is truly important), that the king arm him with a letter that would effectively cause the king to supply the materials to rebuild the very gates that he had approved destroyed...
What happened? Read the last part of verse eight: “..And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. Like we should today, Nehemiah readily admitted that HE was not responsible for this successful outcome – it was God working on his behalf...
TASK INITIATED (Nehemiah 2:11, 17, 18
From a hostile king to a dejected and discouraged people, Nehemiah found God equally effective. He made the 1000-mile-plus trip to Jerusalem . No one was obviously overjoyed to see him coming. It had been some 90 years since the first exiles returned, and not much had been done toward returning Jerusalem to its original splendor. Nehemiah was just one man. What could HE do? Could that be how we are tempted to see God’s messenger today? One man (or woman), limited by the handicap of being only human?
Nehemiah carefully surveyed the situation. He then told the people why he was convinced the job could be done: through “…the hand of my God which was good upon me…”. Yes, he was only one man, but he had help. God, who had been fighting their battles all along, would be with them...
The Apostle Paul would say many years later, “I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:13)....
A