Tag Archives: Nehemiah

God’s People, part 117: Artaxerxes

Read Nehemiah 2:1-8

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE
“The Temple was finally finished, as had been commanded by the God of Israel and decreed by Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, the kings of Persia.” (Ezra 6:14b)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, becrmause we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

ArtaxerxesPart 117: Artaxerxes. I am sure at least some of you who are reading this may be wondering, “Arta-who??” One of the challenging parts of reading the Bible is the fact that we end up reading transliterated names that are often confusing and hard to pronounce. With that said, people two-thousand years from now will have trouble pronouncing our names.

Artaxerxes (pronounced Art-a-zerk’zees) was the son of the Persian king Xerxes (pronounced Zerk’zees), who was the king that married the Jewish girl Esther and made her queen. Xerxes, if you remember, was also the same king who fought against the 300 Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae. In 465 BCE, Xerxes was assassinated by the commander of the royal bodyguard, along with his eldest son Darius. As a result, Artaxerxes killed the commander along with his family and ascended to the throne.

As king, he is known for several different things. One of those things, since his father’s military campaign in Greece was discussed, is Artaxerxes handling of the relations between Persia and Greece. Following his ultimate defeat against the Greeks, Xerxes was forced to retreat to Asia and eventually give up trying to conquer Greece. As king, his son Artaxerxes introduced a new strategy of weakening the Athenians by providing financial support to their enemies in other parts of Greece, as Greece was not unified nation but a collection of city-states. This eventually escalated to further skirmishes and led to a peace treaty between Athens, Argos and Persia.

Where Artaxerxes comes in for us is that he is another Persian king who was favorably looked upon by the Jews. He is mentioned by name in both Ezra and Nehemiah and credited with commissioning Ezra, by a letter of decree, to take charge of the religious and civil matters of the Jewish people in the reestablished Jewish nation. Ezra, with the authority of the Persian king, did just that. He ordered the religious life, read the Torah allowed to the Jewish people, and laid the foundation for the second Temple.

In his twentieth year as King, Artaxerxes gave his cup-bearer Nehemiah permission to go to Jerusalem with letters of safe-passage to the governors in the Trans-Euphrates region and to the keeper of the royal forests to build beams for the citadel by the Temple and to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem. Thus, as can be seen, Artaxerxes followed in the footsteps of Kings Cyrus in terms of supporting the Jewish campaign to rebuild Jerusalem.

All of this points to one fact that can be seen throughout the Bible and, if we look with open eyes and hearts, throughout our own lives. Here is that fact: God works through all people and all circumstances to build God’s Kingdom in our hearts and, eventually, as the ultimate reality of all creation. Nothing can, nor ever will, stand in the way of our awesome God! The challenge for us is to recognize God’s work in us as well as in others. Even when people seem to be working against God, it is important for us to realize that God’s love ALWAYS wins in the end. Let us, God’s people, embrace that truth and work toward its inevitable and eternal conclusion.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY
“Problems are not stop signs, but are guidelines.” – Rev. Dr. Robert H. Schuller

PRAYER
Lord, pour your love in my heart and your guide me with your Holy Spirit. Grow me into being a part of your “Love Wins” mission in the world. Amen.

God’s People, part 110: Nehemiah

Read Nehemiah 2:1-8

ALSO IN SCRIPTURE

“I was not in Jerusalem at that time, for I had returned to King Artaxerxes of Babylon in the thirty-second year of his reign, though I later asked his permission to return.” (Nehemiah 13:6 NLT)

When we think of God’s people, we tend to think one of two things. We might think of the Israelites who were God’s “chosen people”, or we might think of specific characters in the Bible. Either way, we tend to idealize the people we are thinking about. For instance, we may think that God’s people are super faithful, holy, perform miracles and live wholly devout and righteous lives. Unfortunately, this idealism enables us to distance ourselves from being God’s people, because we feel that we fall short of those ideals. As such, I have decided to write a devotion series on specific characters in the Bible in order to show you how much these Biblical people are truly like us, and how much we are truly called to be God’s people.

img_1170Part 110: Nehemiah. Sitting beside me I have a book by Joseph W. Daniels Jr. entitled, Walking with Nehemiah. In it, the author focuses on the different stages in Nehemiah’s work as governor. The author walks us through Nehemiah’s leadership style and the success that was a result of his ability to hold onto the vision. For those who are not familiar with the story of Nehemiah, he was a cup-bearer to the Persian King Artaxerxes. Upon hearing how the walls of Jerusalem were crumbling and the city was disarray, he petitioned the king to allow him to return to Jerusalem to rebuild its walls.

Indeed, the king not only gave him permission, but sent him back to Jerusalem as governor with the charge to see this project through. Thus, Nehemah arrived back in Jerusalem with the full blessing of the Persian King to rebuild the walls and refortify Jerusalem. Still, such a blessing did not go unopposed by those who did not want to see such a project happen. The same bad actors who opposed Zechariah and Zerubbabel in the rebuilding of the Temple. As has been discussed in past deovtions, the Samaritans (aka “the people of the land”) were among those who had wanted envovlement in the rebuilding of the temple and, when they weren’t given what they wanted, had undermined and stalled the rebuilding efforts.

These same opponents also tried to undermine Nehemiah in his quest to fortify and rebuild Jerusalem. Anticipating this, Nehemiah ignored them. Instead of wasting his efforts on those whe would never outmaneuver, Nehemiah focused his efforts on building up grassroots support for the rebuilding campaign. Once he did that, there was no stopping him from accomplishing it and the city was refortified.

Years following the success of the campaign, Nehemiah stepped down from his governorship and returned back to Persia. During that time away from Jerusalem, God’s people fell back into sin, and were turning away from the reforms that had led them back to being a people of God. Thus, Nehemiah returned once again to straighten things up and set God’s people back on the path to righteousness.

Nehemiah’s push for Jewish purity, which included the exclusion of intermingling with non-Jewish people (in marriage, in business, and certainly religiously), may seem odd to those of us in the 21st century who embrace diversity and multiculturalism; however, the reality is that the Jews were fighting to remain God’s people, distinct from the rest of the world. It was not about the “race” or “ethnicity” of non-Jewish people; rather, it was about the gods they worshiped and would, ultimately, invite the Jews to worship as well.

For us, there are two things we can pull from Nehemiah and the people he led. First, in terms of Nehemiah, the work of God’s people is NEVER, EVER, finished. Nehemiah went back to Susa thinking his job was done, only to have to return and continue the work on. Second, the push toward purity in order to avoid sin can lead us back into sin. Nehemiah’s push to keep the Jews within Jerusalem separate from non-Jews, eventually went on to counter God’s ultimate plan for the Jews to be a witness to the nations of the one true God. In Nehemiah’s circumstances, separation was needed as people were purchasing all sorts of items (idols included, no doubt) and they were doing so on the Sabbath, the day that Jews were supposed to rest and worship God.

Thus, the push for a return to purity was needed; however, out of this push for purity, a couple of centuries later, rose a group of Jews known as the Pharisees. This group’s very name means “separate” and they called on Jews to adhere strictly to the Torah in order to not further provoke God’s wrath. It is this group that would later go on to be challenged by Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, whose teachings reminded people of their call to be witnesses fo God to the nations. The confrontation between Jesus, the Pharisees, and other religious leaders would lead to Jesus’ death and resurrection, the ultimate catalyst in God’s redemption plan.

Let us be challenged by this. With the world becoming more divided, with our leaders and culture pushing toward more isolation and separation, we are called to be witnesses of God’s redemption plan. With countries flexing their political muscles to show superiority, we are called to witness to the radical equality we share with all humanity. Let us be challegned to never see our job as witnesses as being over. The job will never be over until that day when all humans join hand-in-hand as brothers and sisters in the divine family of our Lord Jesus Christ.

THOUGHT OF THE DAY

“The work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives and the dreams shall never die.” —Ted Kennedy

PRAYER

Lord, let me never lose sight of my role as a witness to your love and your kingdom. Amen.