The Folks At Home

“Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” Nehemiah 1:3

“How are things at home?”  When we’re away, we want to know, so we ask those who are there—or who’ve recently been there. (If you don’t believe me, check my phone bill!)  A good word is reassuring, but news of calamity or strife sends us rushing back down the boulevard or across the country to help the ones we love who live at a place we love.   This caring curiosity has made significant differences in the lives of many families and communities, but one day, the concern and courage of one man in a rather important position in a rather pleasant place changed the course of an entire nation….

“How are things at home?” Nehemiah asked his brother who had just returned from their native land of Judah. “Not good,” was the reply.  “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire”(Neh. 1:3).  A bit of background about this book which we will ponder upon for the next few weeks:  During the reign of King David’s grandson, Rehoboam, the northern ten states (tribes) of Israel seceded from the union because of high taxes and heavy labor.  For the next two hundred years, this Northern Kingdom (still called Israel) was ruled by nineteen ungodly kings who led the people further and further away from God’s will and God’s ways until eventually these ten tribes were killed or carried away (never to return) by the conquering and not-so-kind Assyrians.

The two southern states that were left when the nation split, Judah and Benjamin, were known as the Kingdom of Judah and for almost 35o years were ruled by a succession of 20 kings—8 faithful, 12 unfaithful.  Sadly, most people went for the worst and became wicked idol worshippers.  As God had stated centuries before when setting up the nation through Moses(Duet. 28), He allowed the consequences of their choices to come upon them, and Judah was invaded, defeated, and exiled to the foreign land of Babylon by the very ruthless but rather refined King Nebuchadnezzar (think the blazing fiery furnace and the beautiful Hanging Gardens.)

 When their national time-out of seventy years was up, God caused Cyrus, the Persian king who had since conquered the Babylonian Empire, to issue a decree that all the Jews living in his realm could return to their homeland and rebuild the temple of the Lord(Ezra 1:3).  Some packed up, headed west, and finally finished the Temple after a two decades long construction project, but one hundred years after receiving permission to head home, the Jewish people in Judah were still living with a burned out, broken down capital, and their spirits felt much the same.  “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.  The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire”(Neh. 1:3).

Such sad news from his native land was not what Nehemiah had expected or hoped for, and his heart was broken.  “When I heard these things, I sat down and wept”(Neh. 1:4).  He was sad for the people and he was sad for the place—a place Nehemiah had never lived but loved because the city was the special to the Lord.  His willingness to hurt with them and then to help them started a fascinating and faith-filled series of events that altered the course of Jewish history.  Adventures do abound when you focus on the folks at home!

Remember, you don’t have to be there to care, but you won’t be there unless you do care.

Find out today, “How are things at home?”