Nehemiah was cup-bearer to Artaxerxes Longimanus, king of Persia who reigned 461-425 BC. It was in the twentieth year (444 BC) of Artaxerxes Longimanus, that Hanani and "certain men of Judah," (Nehemiah 1:2) came to Susa, the winter palace of the kings of Persia, and Nehemiah inquired of them "concerning the Jews that had escaped which were left of the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem." (Nehemiah 1:2)
And they said, "The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire." (Nehemiah 1:3)
It was now fully ninety years since the laying of the foundation of the temple, as recorded in last week's lesson;--See Article 2 in this section, "The Second Temple," Signs of the Times, February 11, 1886. and although the temple had been finished some time, yet the walls still remained in ruins as they had been left by Nebuchadnezzar.
As was learned in the lesson of last week, about 50,000 people returned to Jerusalem under the decree of Cyrus in 536 BC. They had no sooner got the temple under way than serious opposition arose. The people who had been sent into Samaria by Sargon (2 Kings 17:24-33) and Esar-haddon, (Ezra 4:2,9,10) kings of Assyria, and who had thus inhabited the land of Israel since the captivity of the ten tribes, came and proposed to help the Jews in building the temple. But as these were really heathen, though pretending in a manner to fear Jehovah, "Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them. You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the Lord God of Israel." (Ezra 4:3)
It would be an immense benefit to both the church and the world, if this spirit were found in the work of the church at the present day, instead of so many fairs, festivals, grab-bags, fish-ponds, ring-cakes, raffles, and gambling enterprises generally, by which the world is inveighed into the support of the church. True, the opposition of the world would be greater, but so would the devotion of the church.
When these people found they could have no part in the building, they employed every possible means to hinder it. They hired accusers against them at the court of Cyrus, but to no purpose; and as soon as Cyrus was dead, and Cambyses reigned,--Cambyses, 529-522 BC, is the Ahasuerus of Ezra 4:6. they wrote to him "an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem." (Ezra 4:6)
But their accusation was of no avail with Cambyses, and so the work went on in spite of their opposition. But Cambyses was no sooner dead, than they renewed their efforts and wrote a letter to his successor, Smerdis; (The Artaxerxes of Ezra 4:7-23) and he, being an enemy to the religion of Cyrus and Cambyses, was glad of an opportunity to oppose a work which they had favored, and so he issued a decree that the work should stop. And the Samaritans hurried up to Jerusalem, and made the Jews "cease by force and power." (Ezra 4:23)
The reign of Smerdis only continued from the spring of 522 BC to the end of the year, January 1, 521 BC. Darius Hystaspes (Ezra 4:24) came to the throne of Persia, and in the beginning of his second year Haggai and Zechariah the prophets stirred up the people to carry forward the work, and the building began again.
The work had no sooner began again than the Samaritans renewed their opposition, and wrote a letter to Darius; but as they were different men from those who had written the other letters, they gave a very fair account of the matter, as they had received it from the Jews. They told him that the Jews claimed to be working under authority of a decree of Cyrus, and asked him to look among the records and see whether there was any such decree. (Ezra 5) Darius did so, and found the original decree; whereupon he made a decree commanding the Samaritans to not only let the Jews alone, but to give them expenses from the king's tribute to help in building, and animals for burnt offerings and wheat, salt, wine, and oil. (Ezra 6:8-10) And so, "The house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king." (Ezra 6:15)
After this, for sixty years we have nothing further in regard to affairs in Jerusalem.
In the seventh year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, 457 BC, he issued a decree under which Ezra led up from Babylon about 7,000 people. But though Ezra and his company went up there to help build the city and the wall, (Ezra 9:9) yet the people had so intermarried with the nations around them, in taking strange wives from among them, that all Ezra's time was occupied in reforming these things, and re-establishing and regulating the worship of God and the service of the house of God, and in bringing back the people to obedience to the word of God.
And on this account the building of the wall was neglected for thirteen years longer, till the time of Nehemiah, as given in the lesson of today. Nehemiah received letters from Artaxerxes Longimanus to the governors beyond the Euphrates, and so departed and came to Jerusalem. But, "When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel." (Nehemiah 2:10)
When Nehemiah had been there three days, he arose in the night and viewed the ruins of the wall round about the city; then he called upon all the people, and said, "Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more a reproach. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they strengthened their hands for this good work." (Nehemiah 2:17-18)
The work was apportioned among the people and the priests, and every one built over against his own house. "So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in the fifty and two days." (Nehemiah 6:15)
If each one would, over against his own house, build up the wall of Christian character, the troubles in the church would all cease, and the work of God would prosper.
Nehemiah remained there twelve years as governor, at his own charges; and at his table were supported "a hundred and fifty of the Jews and rulers, beside those that came to [him] from among the heathen ... yet for all this required not I the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy upon this people. ... But the former governors that had been before me were chargeable unto the people, and had taken of them bread and wine, beside forty shekels of silver; yea, even their servants bore rule over the people: but so did not I, because of the fear of God." (Nehemiah 5:17-18,15)
Nehemiah is one of the most entirely unselfish men mentioned in the Bible. He sought the good of the people always, in every thing acting always in the fear of God.--Signs of the Times, February 18, 1886--Notes on the International Lesson, February 28--Nehemiah 1:1-11
A.T. Jones