The people of Israel had finally pushed God too far and he allowed them to be conquered as a nation. Another great nation took them into seventy years of captivity. At the end of it all, they were ready to go back to Israel.
The problem was that they were just so scattered as a people. It had been so long since they were a nation and worshiped as a nation that they had forgotten how to do it. They wanted to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and begin again as a people of God.
They needed some help. And God knew it. He set out two men whose job it would be to rebuild the nation of God. One was to rebuild the temple and the worship according to the law and one was to rebuild the city of David to its former splendor.
The first was Ezra, a priest and a scribe. He knew the law and what needed to be done to serve God. Not only this, but he also had the courage to say so, even when people didn’t want to hear.
The other was Nehemiah, the personal servant to the Persian King, who felt an strong affinity for his home city of Jerusalem. Even though he had never seen it, he knew of its former glory and loved it.
Both were commissioned by their kings and both came back to Jerusalem to do a job.
Ezra was a well-placed Levite and scribe who felt a strong call to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. He knew that worship of the Lord in Jerusalem was in shambles. The people, although seeking, were removed from God and needed to come back to him. He came to Jerusalem to not only rebuild the temple, but also to teach them the law.
The people of God had been given permission to come back to Jerusalem and to begin again, but the ability to keep on got lost in bureaucracy and mismanagement. So Ezra came with the Persian king’s blessing and began teaching. He faced almost insurmountable odds, yet persevered and brought the people once again to God.
Nehemiah had heard of the rebuilding and was glad. Then he heard that the city of Jerusalem, the mighty city of David, the capitol of the people of God, was a small unprotected city without even any city walls. It had become a poor hovel. His sorrow was so great that the Persian king gave him permission to come back and rebuild. Not only that, but he would become governor of Judea for the king.
He worked and encouraged the people to work. He refused to take advantage of the people of God like the former rulers had and worked alongside them to rebuild the wall. He too came under conflict with many who were there in the land who didn’t want Jerusalem to be rebuilt, and who didn’t want the people of God to be restored to their land.
But like Ezra, he persevered. Together he and Ezra rebuilt the city of God. Ezra rebuilt the temple and worship, Nehemiah the physical facilities.
They worked together, the holy and the common, to bring the nation of God back to its former glory. And together, they pleased God.
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