A Teaching Outline for the Book of Nehemiah

Safety from enemies is crucial in order for God’s people to worship Him in uninterrupted fellowship. That axiom became abundantly clear to Nehemiah, a high-ranking Jewish servant of the Persian King Artaxerxes in 445 BC. Although the Jews had returned to Jerusalem under the direction of the Persian King Cyrus nearly one hundred years prior, the walls of the city remained in ruins. Thus, when word of this came to Nehemiah (who was residing back in Susa, the capital city of the Persian empire), he mourned for days. He understood well the significance of Jerusalem in God’s redemptive plans, especially as the city served as the place in which God met with His people.

Emotion soon became ambition, as Nehemiah determined that he would lead an effort to restore the walls. Yet, far from conjuring up these plans from his own intellectual genius, it was actually God who exercised His sovereignty over Nehemiah by putting the very plans into Nehemiah’s mind (cf. Neh. 2:12). And so it was that in response to the news, Nehemiah asked Artaxerxes for permission to return and lead the rebuilding efforts (cf. Neh. 2:5). The king responded by giving Nehemiah not only permission to go, but also provisions for the trip and protection en route. In order to advance His purposes, God governs the mind and will of all of His creatures—and Artaxerxes was no exception (cf. Prov. 21:1).

Upon arrival, Nehemiah privately inspected the condition of the walls and motivated the people to begin rebuilding—at which point opposition began. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem (leaders from neighboring nations) began mocking Nehemiah’s plans almost as soon as he began making them. Nevertheless, Nehemiah was a man on a mission, knowing that God’s hand was upon him for success (cf. Neh. 2:20). Beginning with the Sheep Gate and describing the repair of the wall in a counter-clockwise direction around the city, Nehemiah recounted how Israelites of all walks of life—priests, goldsmiths, officials, and even daughters—all contributed to the effort (cf. Neh. 3). Undoubtedly, they knew that they needed atonement through a right relationship with God, as typified in the temple sacrificial system, and were thus committed to protecting the temple not only for their good but also for God’s glory.

Yet, opposition to their efforts continued. Sanballat and Tobiah discussed the rebuilding efforts, and joked that “if a fox should jump on it, he would break their stone wall down!” (Neh. 4:3). When that type of mockery didn’t dissuade the work, these men and their cohorts conspired to physically attack the builders (cf. Neh. 4:11). Nehemiah responded by stationing his men with weapons in key locations around the wall, and reminding them that the Lord would be with them in any battles they would have to fight (cf. Neh. 4:13-14). Even more, the builders worked with a load in one hand and a weapon in the other—both building and defending their nation (a paradigm upon which Charles Spurgeon based his famous The Sword and the Trowel monthly magazine in the late 1800s, in which he both advanced the truth and denounced error). Once the enemies realized that their surprise attack had been discovered, they abandoned their plans. Instead, they turned to several other means of disrupting Nehemiah’s progress: false pretenses (trying to entice Nehemiah out to a rural area for a supposed “meeting” in order to harm him, cf. Neh. 6:2), false prophecies (hiring a false prophet to trick Nehemiah into breaking Mosaic Law by entering the temple, cf. Neh. 6:10), and false partnerships (leveraging relationships with some of the local Jews in order to spy on Nehemiah, cf. Neh. 7:19).

As if external obstacles weren’t enough, Nehemiah was also used by God in addressing internal problems found among his own people. It was discovered that some of the citizens were having to sell off their land (and their children), as well as take out loans, in order to meet the financial demands of everyday life and heavy Persian taxation (cf. Neh. 5:2-4). Rather than helping out these people in their time of need, some of the wealthier Jews took advantage of the situation by charging interest on the loans they offered to their fellow man. In response, Nehemiah demanded that they rectify the situation in accordance with Deuteronomy 23:19 and Deuteronomy 15:12, laws which prohibited charging interest to fellow Israelites and required a return of slaves after six years of service. In all of this, Nehemiah modeled what he required, waiving his own rights and privileges as governor in order to lessen the financial burden on the people (cf. Neh. 5:14-19).

But the Word of God did far more than correct these errors. Once the wall was restored in an astonishing fifty-two days (cf. Neh. 6:15), it was time for the people to be restored as well. Thus, less than a week after the wall was finished, Nehemiah reviewed the archives of family lineages from the first return, for two reasons: to ensure that the priestly and Levitical workers were legitimately qualified for their work, and to determine which family lines would be resettled back into the city (cf. Neh. 7:5). He then gathered all the people together into Jerusalem for one of the most significant examples of expository preaching found in the Bible: Ezra the scribe stood before the people on a platform and “read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading” (Neh. 8:8). For six hours straight, the people were taught the Law of God, line by line, with instruction and exhortation. The result? The people were first convicted of their sins (cf. Neh. 8:9), then comforted by God’s grace (cf. Neh. 8:11), and and finally committed to national obedience (cf. Neh. 10:29). In what was essentially a “fresh start” for the nation, the leaders reviewed the redemptive work of God over the centuries and then signed a document pledging renewed faithfulness to God by separating from pagans in the land, supplying the temple with supplies it needed to operate, and supporting the work of the priests and Levites (cf. Neh. 9-10).

In order to provide this support, as well as maintain safety of the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah cast lots to determine which families would leave their farms, friends, and families in order to move to the city (cf. Neh. 11:1). With everyone settled, Nehemiah took down the family names of those who were selected (or in some cases, who volunteered) for this repopulation effort, serving as a reminder even today that the Lord takes note of all that His people sacrifice in service to Him (cf. Matt. 25:23).

With the wall restored, the people restored, and the city restored, all seemed to be well. In fact, rather than leaving immediately after his work was accomplished, Nehemiah remained in Judah as governor for twelve years (cf. Neh. 13:6), at which point he was called back to Susa to reaffirm his allegiance to the king (as was the ancient custom). Sadly, in the years following Nehemiah’s departure, many in the nation succumbed to temptation. Eliashib, the high priest, found himself caught between loyalty to family and loyalty to God, and sinfully chose the former. In what could only be described as high-handed transgression, he removed the temple supplies from one of the courtyard buildings in order to use it as housing for Tobiah, the enemy of God who had formerly tried to stop the building of the wall (cf. Neh. 13:4-5). Subsequently, with the temple service greatly neglected, the Levites left the city in order to earn income back on their farms (cf. Neh. 13:10). Beyond that, the Sabbath was being continually violated, as the inhabitants of Jerusalem found themselves willing to trade and do business with foreign merchants on the weekly day that should have been devoted to God (cf. Neh. 13:15). Finally, a number of Jewish men had taken pagan wives for themselves from the surrounding nations–an act of sin not because the women were of a different ethnicity, but because they remained of a different religion. This quick lapse into apathy and apostasy is a sobering warning that even today we must be ever committed to the Latin phrase semper reformanda secundum verbum Dei (“always reforming according to the Word of God”), lest we inadvertently fall back into practices that dishonor God.

Years later, when Nehemiah learned of the spiritual disaster that the nation had become, he returned and leveraged his governmental authority to restore God’s Law with regards to the storehouses, sabbaths, and spouses. Undoubtedly, his efforts were assisted by the preaching of the prophet Malachi, who also addressed similar failures (cf. Mal. 2:11, 3:8). Thus, Nehemiah’s memoirs end on this note of ongoing reformation in the troubled nation, clearly indicating that an even greater reformation was needed if the kingdom of God would ever be established. When the people completed the wall, they celebrated God using the instruments of David (cf. Neh. 12:36), in the city of David (cf. Neh. 12:37a), near the house of David (cf. Neh. 12:37b), according to the command of David (cf. Neh. 12:24, 45), just as in the days of David (cf. Neh. 12:46)—but what they needed most was the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, through Nehemiah’s work at preserving the nation, Jesus came the first time to restore sinners back to God, and when He returns the second time, He will restore the wall, people, city, and law (cf. Acts 1:6, Psa. 144:14, Ezek. 40-48, Zech. 14). In the meantime, may this record of Nehemiah’s partial restoration be used to point your disciples to a far greater restoration–the restoration of “all things” which is yet to come for all who repent and believe the Gospel (cf. Acts 3:21). The following outline is offered to help.

Restoration of the Wall: The Leader (Nehemiah 1:1-11)

The Painful Report (Neh. 1:1-4)

The Prayerful Response (Neh. 1:5-11a)

The Providential Role (Neh. 1:11b)

Restoration of the Wall: The Resources (Nehemiah 2:1-10)

Petition (Neh. 2:1-5)

Permission (Neh. 2:6-7)

Provision (Neh. 2:8)

Protection (Neh. 2:9-10)

Restoration of the Wall: The Arrival (Nehemiah 2:11-20)

Investigation (Neh. 2:11-16)

Inspiration (Neh. 2:17-18)

Intimidation (Neh. 2:19-20)

Restoration of the Wall: The Work (Nehemiah 3:1-32)

Near the Sheep Gate (Neh. 3:1-2)

Near the Fish Gate (Neh. 3:3-5)

Near the Old Gate (Neh. 3:6-7)

Near the Ephraim Gate (Neh. 3:8-12)

Near the Valley Gate (Neh. 3:13)

Near the Refuse Gate (Neh. 3:14)

Near the Fountain Gate (Neh. 3:15-25)

Near the Water Gate (Neh. 3:26-27)

Near the Horse Gate (Neh. 3:28)

Near the East Gate (Neh. 3:29-30)

Near the Inspection Gate (Neh. 3:31-32)

Restoration of the Wall: Overcoming First Obstacles (Nehemiah 4:1-23)

Mockery Overheard by God (Neh. 4:1-6)

Conspiracy Overthrown by God (Neh. 4:7-15)

Vulnerability Overcome by God (Neh. 4:16-23)

Restoration of the Wall: Overcoming Further Obstacles (Nehemiah 5:1-9)

Tyranny Brought Upon the People of God (Neh. 5:1-5)

Policy Built Upon the Word of God (Neh. 5:6-13)

Generosity Based Upon the Fear of God (Neh. 5:14-19)

Restoration of the Wall: Overcoming Final Obstacles (Nehemiah 6:1-7:3)

False Pretenses against the Man of God (Neh. 6:1-9)

False Prophecies in the Name of God (Neh. 6:10-14)

False Partnerships with the Enemies of God (Neh. 6:15-7:3)

Restoration of the People: Examining the Ancestries (Nehemiah 7:4-73a)

The Leaders (Neh. 7:4-7a)

The Lineages (Neh. 7:7b-25)

The Locations (Neh. 7:26-38)

The Levitical Priests (Neh. 7:39-42)

The Levites (Neh. 7:43-45)

The Liturgical Servants (Neh. 7:46-60)

The Lost Lineages (Neh. 7:61-65)

The Ledger (Neh. 7:66-73a)

Restoration of the People: Expositing the Word (Nehemiah 7:73b-8:18)

Explanation of God’s Word (Neh. 7:73b-8:8)

Celebration of God’s Grace (Neh. 8:9-12)

Motivation of God’s People (Neh. 8:13-18)

Restoration of the People: Embracing God’s Grace (Nehemiah 9:1-38)

The Covenant Read (Neh. 9:1-5)

The Covenant Reviewed (Neh. 9:6-31)

The Covenant Reaffirmed (Neh. 9:32-38)

Restoration of the People: Endeavoring to Obey (Nehemiah 10:1-39)

The Covenant Signed (Neh. 10:1-27)

The Covenant Supported (Neh. 10:28-29)

The Covenant Specified (Neh. 10:30-39)

Restoration of the City: Repopulation (Nehemiah 11:1-12:26)

The Response of the People (Neh. 11:1-3)

The Residents in the City (Neh. 11:3-24)

The Residents in the Villages (Neh. 11:25-36)

The Record of Priest and Levite Ancestry (Neh. 12:1-26)

Restoration of the City: Celebration (Nehemiah 12:27-13:3)

The Preparations for Worship (Neh. 12:27-30)

The Presentation of Worship (Neh. 12:31-43)

The Provisions for Worship (Neh. 12:44-47)

The Purification of Worship (Neh. 13:1-3)

Restoration of the Law: The Second Term (Nehemiah 13:4-31)

Storehouse Reforms (Neh. 13:4-14)

Sabbath Reforms (Neh. 13:15-22)

Spouse Reforms (Neh. 13:23-29)

Summarized Reforms (Neh. 13:30-31)