NEH 5-8Mamma. In this chapter we read that there was an outcry, made by the poor Jews against the rich; because, when food was scarce, the poor families had given over their lands and their vineyards to the rich men, for money to buy food. And these rich men had made some of their children slaves. When Nehemiah heard these things he was much displeased. And he rebuked the nobles and rulers, and reminded them that these men whom they were illtreating were their brethren. Nehemiah himself acted very differently; for he took no pay as other governors did, but on the contrary, he helped and fed others who needed it. Then' the rich men were ashamed of what they had done, and they promised to restore to the poor men their lands and vineyards. And Nehemiah shook his lap and said, So may God shake out of His house every man who does not keep this promise. And all the congregation said Amen, and praised the Lord.
S. I think Nehemiah loved God's people as you said Moses did, because they belonged to God.
M. Every true servant of the Lord must have a heart for His people. Now their enemies began to tease him more than ever, for they tried first to coax him, and then to frighten him, and to get him to come down to them. But Nehemiah would not go. He said he had a great work to do, and could not leave it. Them others tried to make him fly and hide from them, but they were only false friends. Nehemiah walking with the Lord did not give heed to any of them, and so the wall was finished in fifty-two days, and all his enemies and the heathen knew that God had helped them in the work. But sad to say, some of the nobles of Judah kept up a friendship with Tobiah, one of the enemies of the people of God.
S. Why did they do so?
M. Because they liked the friendship of the world too well. Some were also connected by marriage with Tobiah.
Now when the wall was built, and the doors set up, Nehemiah appointed porters to keep the doors; and singers, and Levites to their office, and he made his own brother Hanani ruler over the palace, and over Jerusalem; because he was a faithful man. He ordered that the gates were not to be opened until the heat of the day, because no one would, think of going out to fight then. And while the doors were being shut they were to stand by and see that they were well barred, and every one was to watch that no enemy got in. For the city was large, but there were few people in it, and few houses. Then God put it into Nehemiah's heart to count the people to see that they were all of Israel.
Nehemiah found the register that had been made when they first came up out of Babylon.
S. You told me about that when we read the book of Ezra.
M. Yes; and here Nehemiah counts all the people again with the priests and singers and porters and Nethinims, and the children of Solomon's servants; besides those who could not show their true descent from Israel. Then they had men-servants and maidservants, singing men and singing women; and a great many horses and mules and camels and asses. And they all gave to the work of the Lord, and by the seventh month they were all at home in their own cities. It was the time of the blowing of trumpets. But their trumpets were silent. They hardly knew what God was doing for them. When they were all assembled, Ezra the scribe read out the law to them, and explained it so that every one could understand; and the people wept when they heard the word of God.
S. Why did they weep?
M. Their hearts were touched by the grace and goodness of God, and no doubt they felt how sadly they had behaved towards Him. However, Ezra told them not to weep; for this day was holy to the Lord and it became them to be glad and rejoice in His goodness, for the joy of the Lord was their strength.
On the second day they came together to hear Ezra read again, and they learned that God had told Moses that the children of Israel should dwell in booths in the feast of the seventh month.
S. Oh, yes; that was to remind them that they were strangers when God brought them out of Egypt and lived in tents.
M. Exactly. When the people heard this, they went to the mountains and got all sorts of branches, and they each made a booth on the roof of their nice, new houses, and in the courts of the house of God; and they all sat under their booths, and were glad for seven days.
S. I suppose it looked like a number of little arbors. It must have been very funny to have one on the roof of the house.
M. The roofs of the houses were flat so that you could walk upon them; and some were quite large arbors to hold all the family, little children and all! And on the eighth day there was a solemn assembly, they did no work, but offered sacrifices to the Lord. But here we do not get anything said about the temple or about the altar, as we do in Ezra. For here the Gentile is master of the land, and Nehemiah is still servant to the king of Persia. But God did not disappoint the faith of those who turned to Him.