WEBVTT - Nehemiah 11 and 12 - Jerusalem Becomes a Capital City Once Again 0:00:02.680 --> 0:00:12.399 Life Audio. Well, hello and good morning, faithful listeners, and 0:00:12.840 --> 0:00:15.600 welcome to the Bible Explain podcast on this lovely morning. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.200 A little bit rainy here for me, just a nice, 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.040 gentle rain. It's like one of those ones where it's 0:00:21.079 --> 0:00:23.360 like a sleepy day where you want to just curl 0:00:23.440 --> 0:00:25.400 up with a good book. That's what it reminds me of. 0:00:25.680 --> 0:00:27.400 So we have the good book right here that we're 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:29.479 going to read today. We're going to be talking about 0:00:29.560 --> 0:00:33.000 Nehemiah eleven and twelve. And the reason we're discussing two 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:36.320 chapters today is because this is talking about what happens 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:39.879 now that the walls are finished, what the people are 0:00:39.880 --> 0:00:44.199 going to do to rebuild Jerusalem and start making Israel 0:00:44.360 --> 0:00:47.720 its own entity once again. So we'll get into these 0:00:47.800 --> 0:00:52.960 chapters right after this first sponsored ad for today. Now, 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:55.040 faithal listeners, don't forget if you ever have a prayer 0:00:55.040 --> 0:00:57.040 request that you would like me to pray for, please 0:00:57.080 --> 0:00:59.960 don't hesitate to reach out. You'll find my email address 0:01:00.040 --> 0:01:02.240 listed in the description of this episode, and I do 0:01:02.320 --> 0:01:04.600 read all of my emails, so if you send me 0:01:04.640 --> 0:01:06.679 an email, be sure that I will read it and 0:01:06.880 --> 0:01:09.319 write you down in my prayer journal and pray for 0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.479 you for the week. So now let's get into Niamiyah 0:01:12.520 --> 0:01:15.600 eleven and twelve. Now I'm not going to read the 0:01:15.760 --> 0:01:18.240 entirety of these chapters. I'm just going to read little 0:01:18.280 --> 0:01:21.080 bits of them because the majority of it is talking 0:01:21.080 --> 0:01:24.360 about genealogies, and so instead of reading all of these 0:01:24.440 --> 0:01:27.720 names for you guys, I'm going to mainly talk about 0:01:28.040 --> 0:01:30.959 the main people and points in both of these chapters. 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:34.800 So let's start in verses one and two of Namiyah eleven. 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:37.840 I'll be reading from the web this morning. Here's what 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:41.160 this says. The princes of the people lived in Jerusalem. 0:01:41.360 --> 0:01:43.880 The rest of the people also cast lots to bring 0:01:43.959 --> 0:01:46.240 in one of the ten to dwell in Jerusalem, the 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:49.280 Holy City, and nine parts in the other cities. The 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:52.320 people blessed all the men who willingly offered themselves to 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.840 dwell in Jerusalem. So now that the walls are finished, 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:58.760 they need people to actually come and live in Jerusalem, 0:01:59.160 --> 0:02:02.640 because Jerusalem was in shambles before the walls were built. 0:02:02.680 --> 0:02:04.600 I'm sure there are some people living in that city, 0:02:05.080 --> 0:02:08.440 but for the most part it was pretty empty. As 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:11.239 you can tell from what Nihemiah and Ezra had said 0:02:11.240 --> 0:02:13.960 about the city. You know, it was a dangerous city 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.480 to live in in a lot of ways because it 0:02:16.600 --> 0:02:19.560 was blocked off in some areas and it was completely 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.240 open in other areas. So probably not a lot of 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.280 people had inhabited the city as of yet. I believe 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:27.880 Niamaiyah in a previous chapter even said that the city 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.000 was pretty sparse of people. So now it's time, since 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.240 the walls are rebuilt and the city is beginning to 0:02:35.360 --> 0:02:38.960 thrive once again, it's time to bring people in. So 0:02:39.000 --> 0:02:41.799 it says that the princes of the people lived in Jerusalem, 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:44.480 so essentially the heads of the tribes decided that they 0:02:44.480 --> 0:02:47.400 were going to live in Jerusalem, the capital city. And 0:02:47.440 --> 0:02:50.160 it says the rest of the people cast lots to 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.680 bring one of ten to dwell in Jerusalem. Okay, so 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.120 I'm guessing what that means is that one out of 0:02:58.120 --> 0:03:03.240 every ten families buy lots, essentially throwing the dice, would 0:03:03.240 --> 0:03:06.720 be kind of forced to leave their homes behind and 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:10.239 live in Jerusalem. I would guess that most people were 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:13.560 on the same page that they did not actually want 0:03:13.600 --> 0:03:15.440 to go to Jerusalem, because I'm sure their homes are 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.480 established they finally rebuilt them. They were probably living in 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:24.040 their ancestral land in their tribes, and so probably not 0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.000 very many people actually wanted to pack everything up now 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:29.320 that they had been established, to go and live in 0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.720 the city. You know, for me, I'm a country girl 0:03:31.720 --> 0:03:34.720 through and through, so I'd be devastated if I had 0:03:34.760 --> 0:03:37.880 to pack up my little house out in the middle 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:39.680 of the country and move everything to the city. I'd 0:03:39.720 --> 0:03:44.080 be devastated. But people understood the necessity of this. You know, 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.440 you can't really have a capital city if nobody lives 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:50.560 in it. You can't really have a flourishing country without 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.160 a capital city. People understood that it was necessary to 0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.920 actually move to Jerusalem and rebuild this city. But I'm 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.200 sure not very many people actually wanted to do this. 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:03.880 Hence why the casting of lots. So they would do 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.320 it by throwing the dice and whichever family came up, 0:04:07.360 --> 0:04:10.800 I guess at the end of it they would agree 0:04:11.200 --> 0:04:14.720 and move their families to Jerusalem and repopulate that city. 0:04:15.160 --> 0:04:17.599 But some people were willing to do this. It actually 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:20.279 says the people blessed all the men who willingly offered 0:04:20.320 --> 0:04:23.920 themselves to dwell in Jerusalem. So some people were like, 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.599 you know what, I am totally okay, with packing everything 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.320 up and moving to Jerusalem. I want to do this. 0:04:29.400 --> 0:04:32.800 I think it's necessary. We're not particularly established here or 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.240 whatever the situation might have been. Some people voluntarily offered 0:04:37.440 --> 0:04:40.000 to go, and it says that the people blessed all 0:04:40.040 --> 0:04:43.640 the men who volunteered to do this, probably because they 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.960 didn't want to do it themselves, so if anybody was 0:04:46.000 --> 0:04:48.760 willing to take their place, they were probably really excited 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:52.920 about that. So, now that the city is being repopulated, 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.560 it says, these are the chiefs of the province who 0:04:55.600 --> 0:04:58.600 lived in Jerusalem, and jumping down to verse four, says 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.000 of the children of Judah Athaiah, the son of Uzaiah, 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:06.000 the son of Zechariah, and also mentions in verse five Massya, 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:09.159 the son of Baruk, and then it mentions in verse 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.960 six the sons of Perez. And all of these men, 0:05:13.279 --> 0:05:15.279 who were only of the tribe of Judah, by the way, 0:05:15.640 --> 0:05:19.400 were four hundred and sixty eight Valian men. So four 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:22.200 hundred and sixty eight men of Judah decided that they 0:05:22.240 --> 0:05:25.200 were going to go to Jerusalem to repopulate that city. 0:05:25.720 --> 0:05:28.640 And now in verse seven it mentions the sons of Benjamin, 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:30.920 So the tribe of Benjamin that were willing to go 0:05:31.040 --> 0:05:35.080 into the city. Salu the son of Mishulam, it says 0:05:35.120 --> 0:05:38.960 after him in verse eight was Gabai, and Salai nine 0:05:39.080 --> 0:05:42.280 hundred and twenty eight. Joel the son of Zikary was 0:05:42.320 --> 0:05:45.520 their overseer, and Judah, the son of Hessenua, was second 0:05:45.680 --> 0:05:48.280 over the city. So that is now the tribe of 0:05:48.320 --> 0:05:52.000 Benjamin who was willing to repopulate the city. These came 0:05:52.040 --> 0:05:56.200 to nine hundred and twenty eight individual men. Now, if 0:05:56.200 --> 0:06:00.120 you turn to First Chronicles, chapter nine, what's really the 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:03.599 interesting about this chapter is it's very similar to Nehemiah 0:06:03.640 --> 0:06:07.960 eleven because First Chronicles was probably written by Ezra, and 0:06:08.000 --> 0:06:10.240 we know that Ezra also did his own research in 0:06:10.320 --> 0:06:14.560 his own account of everybody that repopulated the city. So 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.880 if you go to First Chronicles nine, verses one and two, 0:06:18.560 --> 0:06:22.720 here's what this says. So all Israel were listed by genealogies, 0:06:22.760 --> 0:06:24.479 and behold they are written in the Book of the 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.920 Kings of Israel. Judah was carried away captive to Babylon 0:06:28.000 --> 0:06:31.359 for their disobedience. Now, the first inhabitants who lived in 0:06:31.400 --> 0:06:34.960 their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, 0:06:35.000 --> 0:06:38.160 and the temple servants. In Jerusalem, there lived of the 0:06:38.240 --> 0:06:40.839 children of Judah, of the children of Benjamin, and of 0:06:40.880 --> 0:06:45.080 the children of Ephriam and Manassa. So don't forget the 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:49.000 checkered history of Israel. Israel had been split into two 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:53.480 separate nations, Northern Israel and Southern Israel, also known as 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:57.800 Israel and Judah, Judah being the southern nation that the 0:06:57.839 --> 0:07:02.160 Babylonians came in and pretty much destroyed and took everything from. 0:07:02.360 --> 0:07:05.600 So now the people are back in Judah. But notice 0:07:05.720 --> 0:07:08.000 that it's not being called a Judah anymore. It's being 0:07:08.080 --> 0:07:12.280 called Israel. So Israel, who had been previously splintered by 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:16.280 civil war, has now come together, and all of these 0:07:16.320 --> 0:07:20.920 tribes are living together, not as separate nations, not as 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.520 north and South, but together. That's what it says in 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:26.760 First Chronicles nine, verse three. In Jerusalem there lived the 0:07:26.800 --> 0:07:30.160 children of Judah, the children of Benjamin, and the children 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:33.760 of Ephrium and Manassa. So all these tribes that were 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:37.880 previously considered separate have now come together to rebuild the 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.360 city after the Babylonian exile. So that's what's happening in 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:45.720 the days of Neamiyah. Israel is now one whole nation. Again, 0:07:45.840 --> 0:07:48.560 it is not considered two separate nations. It is not 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:51.720 considered a north and a south. It is one special 0:07:51.800 --> 0:07:55.800 nation with one capital city. So going back to Neamiyah 0:07:55.840 --> 0:07:59.600 eleven in verses ten and eleven and also twelve, and 0:07:59.840 --> 0:08:02.040 the priests that lived in the city were eight hundred 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.840 and twenty two according to verse twelve, and as well, 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:10.320 there was an additional two hundred and forty two which 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:13.160 were the chiefs of the father's household. So I would 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:16.160 guess these were like the higher up priests, if I'm 0:08:16.200 --> 0:08:19.080 guessing correctly, that's talked about in verse thirteen right here. 0:08:19.560 --> 0:08:22.360 And then in verse fourteen it mentions that there were 0:08:22.400 --> 0:08:25.800 some priests that were mighty men of valor, which included 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:28.880 one hundred and twenty eight of them, and their overseer 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:35.400 was Zevdel, the son of Hagedelum Hagaedellum. I don't know, 0:08:35.640 --> 0:08:37.880 I don't know how to pronounce that one. But yes, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.800 there was over one thousand priests that lived in the 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:44.400 city of Jerusalem. But now in contrast to this, it 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:48.360 mentions in verse fifteen the Leevites, all the Levites in 0:08:48.400 --> 0:08:51.520 the Holy City were two hundred and eighty four, So 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:56.080 that is a incredibly low number. But we see this 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:59.160 consistently throughout the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They were 0:08:59.280 --> 0:09:04.120 always begging Leevites to come into Israel. For whatever reason, 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:08.920 after the Babylonian captivity, the Levites wanted to stay in Babylon. 0:09:09.080 --> 0:09:12.400 They wanted to stay in Persia and not travel back home. 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:14.880 And it could be that throughout the years the Levites 0:09:14.920 --> 0:09:18.240 didn't know what their role was because the priests did everything. 0:09:18.600 --> 0:09:21.400 They didn't know that they had a really important job 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.880 back home in Israel. So unfortunately, the Levites were never 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:29.160 very populous in Israel. And this is maintained again throughout 0:09:29.160 --> 0:09:32.800 the books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Now it mentions in 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.000 verse nineteen the gate keepers who are one hundred and 0:09:36.080 --> 0:09:40.240 seventy two men. Now, these gatekeepers would have been people 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:43.880 who oversaw the gates to the city as well as 0:09:43.920 --> 0:09:48.120 overseeing the gates to the Temple of God, making sure 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:51.720 that nobody who was ceremonially unclean was coming in, making 0:09:51.760 --> 0:09:54.719 sure nobody was causing any trouble. And so of all 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:59.000 of these gatekeepers, there were one hundred and seventy two. Now, 0:09:59.080 --> 0:10:02.319 jumping to verses twenty through twenty four says the overseer. 0:10:02.400 --> 0:10:05.079 Also of the Levites at Jerusalem was Uzi, the son 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:08.479 of Banni, the son of Hashebaiah the son of Matania, 0:10:08.760 --> 0:10:11.240 the son of Micah, the sons of Asaf, the singers 0:10:11.280 --> 0:10:14.199 responsible for the service of God's house, for there was 0:10:14.200 --> 0:10:16.960 a commandment from the king concerning them, and a settled 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.680 provision for the singers as every day required. Pathiah, the 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:22.960 son of ma Chezebel of the children of Zarah, the 0:10:23.000 --> 0:10:25.319 son of Judah, was at the King's hand in all 0:10:25.400 --> 0:10:28.920 matters concerning the people. So that's talking about the singers 0:10:29.000 --> 0:10:32.240 that King David put in place. These guys were really 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.000 important because they led the people into worship of God. 0:10:36.320 --> 0:10:39.560 They obviously had to be good singers. They obviously had 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:43.480 to be songwriters and no music very well, and be 0:10:43.600 --> 0:10:47.040 able to work as a cohesive team like in a choir. 0:10:47.480 --> 0:10:50.520 So these people were important for the worship of Israel. 0:10:50.600 --> 0:10:54.319 But we'll talk more about these guys in the next chapter. Now. 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.480 In verses twenty five through thirty six, it mentions all 0:10:57.520 --> 0:11:01.120 of the other people who were not Levite who lived 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:05.720 in the surrounding areas around Jerusalem, but not in the 0:11:05.760 --> 0:11:09.160 city itself. So now let's move to the next chapter, 0:11:09.559 --> 0:11:13.680 Niamiah twelve. Now this is talking far more about the 0:11:13.760 --> 0:11:17.880 Levites and the priests rather than the other tribes of Israel. 0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.959 It says in verse one of Niamiah twelve. Now these 0:11:21.000 --> 0:11:23.600 are the priests and the Levites who went up with Zerubabyl, 0:11:23.600 --> 0:11:27.520 the son of Sheltiel and Jeshua. So this is going 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:30.120 all the way back. You know, about one hundred years 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.800 prior to Neamiyah, when the people finally came back into 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.640 the land after the Babylonian captivity, all of the priests 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:41.319 that traveled with Zerubabyl. And you might be like, as 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:45.480 I was, why do we need this again? And the 0:11:45.520 --> 0:11:48.200 reason I thought that was because, you know, I was like, man, 0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:50.720 we already went over all of these guys. I feel 0:11:50.720 --> 0:11:55.200 like from the beginning, it seems like Neamiyah and Ezra 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.760 just repeating themselves over and over. But that's actually not true. 0:11:59.120 --> 0:12:01.839 When I did more re search into this chapter, this 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.280 is the first time we really see the names of 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.120 these priests that traveled to Israel from Persia. Every time 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:11.480 they're mentioned, it's more so their numbers are mentioned, but 0:12:11.520 --> 0:12:14.080 they're not mentioned by name. In fact, if you jump 0:12:14.120 --> 0:12:17.680 back to Niamiah seven, for example, in verse thirty nine, 0:12:17.960 --> 0:12:20.440 it says, the priests the children of Judea of the 0:12:20.480 --> 0:12:24.000 House of Jeshua nine hundred and seventy three, and that's 0:12:24.040 --> 0:12:27.920 all we see. So Niamiyah chapter twelve, going into the 0:12:28.040 --> 0:12:31.280 names of the priests, is actually a unique chapter that 0:12:31.360 --> 0:12:34.040 we haven't seen yet, even though for you and I, 0:12:34.120 --> 0:12:35.680 because we don't know any of these names and we 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.440 don't know these guys, it's it's harder for us to 0:12:38.520 --> 0:12:42.080 differentiate between some of these chapters. Though this chapter is 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:45.120 very unique all on its own. So it mentions the 0:12:45.160 --> 0:12:48.240 Levites who went up with Zerubabyl one hundred years prior 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.319 to this in verses one through seven, and jumping to 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:54.760 verse eight, it says, moreover, the Levites, not just the priest, 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:59.640 but the Levites. Now where Jeshua Binui, Kadmiel, Sherebayah, Judah 0:12:59.679 --> 0:13:02.760 and mat Tania, who were over the Thanksgiving songs he 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:06.520 and his brothers. Then in verse Tennis says Jeshua became 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.960 the father of Jehoya Kim, and Jehoya Kim became the 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.520 father of Eli a sheep and Elia she became the 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:16.199 father of Joyda. Now that verse is important because that 0:13:16.360 --> 0:13:21.080 is the lineage of the high priest that came with Zerubabyl. 0:13:21.360 --> 0:13:24.360 Remember Jeshua, the high priest that we talked about at 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.880 some length in the Book of Ezra, Well, that's the 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:30.840 names of all of his sons. Jeshua's first son was Joyakim. 0:13:31.200 --> 0:13:34.080 Then Joyakim's son was Eli a Sheb, and then Eli 0:13:34.160 --> 0:13:36.800 a Sheb was the father of Joida, and Joida was 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:40.120 the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan was the father of Jaduah. 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:42.920 So that is the line of the priests. We know 0:13:43.000 --> 0:13:46.800 that Eli a Sheb, Jeshua's grandson, actually became the high 0:13:46.840 --> 0:13:50.560 priest during the days of Nehemiah. We'll talk about that 0:13:50.559 --> 0:13:53.120 guy at a later date though, because he does something 0:13:53.880 --> 0:13:58.360 wrong that Nihamiyah does not like and Nihemiah has to 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:01.079 like throw all of the stuff out of the temple. 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.359 It's kind of crazy. Actually. The next chapter of Nehemiah 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:08.080 is somewhat hilarious but also sad at the exact same time. 0:14:08.760 --> 0:14:11.400 But going back to this chapter, verse twelve, it says 0:14:11.440 --> 0:14:14.960 in the days of Jehoiakim, where priests heads of father's 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.360 households and then it names all of these different names 0:14:18.400 --> 0:14:20.960 in verses twelve through twenty one, and I'm not gonna lie. 0:14:20.960 --> 0:14:22.320 When I read that, I was like, who the heck 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:27.320 is Joyakim? And again in verse ten it explains that 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:32.280 Joyakim was the son of Jeshua. Okay, Jeshua being the 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:36.960 high priest that traveled with Zerubabyl back to Israel from 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:41.840 the Babylonian captivity. So Jehoiakim or Joyakim, I guess, was 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.680 the high priest during the days of Ezra. And now 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.200 in the days of Eliai Sheb verse twenty two, here's 0:14:49.280 --> 0:14:52.320 all the levites that were in place, Eliyai Sheb being 0:14:52.400 --> 0:14:56.360 the son of Joyakim, who was again the son of Jeshua. 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.960 So that is pertinent information for under standing. You know 0:15:01.000 --> 0:15:03.760 who was standing next to Ezra at certain times. You 0:15:03.800 --> 0:15:06.600 know who all these levites and priests were. That's where 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.200 you're going to get to. This information is in Nehemiah 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:12.600 chapter twelve. So let's go ahead and jump to verse 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:15.480 twenty seven and read the rest of this chapter, because 0:15:15.720 --> 0:15:19.000 it takes a completely different tone. It stops talking about 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:21.960 the lineages, it stops talking about the priests and the 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:26.800 names of everybody. Instead it talks about the dedication of 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:31.040 the walls, because now the walls of Jerusalem have finally 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.080 been built, the last stone is in place, the gates 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:37.640 are on, and the people are ready to celebrate. And 0:15:38.240 --> 0:15:42.080 also it sounds like some time has passed because the Israelites, 0:15:42.120 --> 0:15:45.840 it sounds like, have repopulated the city. Jerusalem is starting 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.000 to run and function as if it is the capital city. 0:15:49.400 --> 0:15:54.080 So they hold this big celebration, the celebration that people 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:58.000 from far off can hear. That is how exciting everything was. 0:15:58.560 --> 0:16:00.920 So it says in verse twenty seven, at the dedication 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:03.680 of the Wall of Jerusalem, they sought the Levites out 0:16:03.680 --> 0:16:06.200 of all their places to bring them to Jerusalem to 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:09.640 keep the dedication with gladness, both with giving thanks and 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:14.600 with singing, with symbols, stringed instruments and with harps. The 0:16:14.640 --> 0:16:17.440 sons of the singers gathered themselves together both out of 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.040 the plane around Jerusalem and from the villages of the Nataphelites, 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.840 also from Beth Gilgal and out of the fields of 0:16:23.840 --> 0:16:27.040 Gaba and Asthma Bath. For the singers had built themselves 0:16:27.160 --> 0:16:31.440 villages around Jerusalem. The priests and the Levites purified themselves, 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:35.600 and they purified the people, the gates and the wall. 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:39.200 So the first part of this celebration starts with bringing 0:16:39.400 --> 0:16:42.760 all the singers into Jerusalem. And it turns out that 0:16:42.800 --> 0:16:45.880 all these singers didn't live in the city itself, but 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:49.200 they made little villages surrounding the city so that they 0:16:49.200 --> 0:16:52.920 could go into Jerusalem whenever it was necessary to do so. 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.640 So the singers are coming into the city, the musicians 0:16:55.680 --> 0:16:59.560 are coming in, and they are making a beautiful, joyful 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:02.760 noise to God with thanksgiving, it says. And you know 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:04.800 something that kind of hit me about this chapter when 0:17:04.800 --> 0:17:07.600 I was reading through it. I'm a worship leader myself, 0:17:07.680 --> 0:17:10.359 or I was at least. I'm always trying to see 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:13.119 what did the people in the Old Testament do to 0:17:13.200 --> 0:17:17.200 truly worship God? What are the psalms like, What does 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.159 David sing about God? What kinds of things can we 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:24.040 sing about God? And what is worship not? This chapter 0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:26.800 really hit me because every time worship is mentioned, it 0:17:26.840 --> 0:17:30.480 also mentions the giving of thanks And I never thought 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:34.600 about how worship and thanksgiving kind of have to be 0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.840 hand in hand. You can't really praise God without having 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:41.879 thanksgiving in your heart. Now I could argue that you 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:45.040 could worship God without thanksgiving because you can look at 0:17:45.040 --> 0:17:47.200 the psalms and you can see that the people who 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:49.199 wrote the psalms a lot of times didn't have a 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:52.120 lot of thanksgiving because they were going through some very 0:17:52.200 --> 0:17:55.359 very difficult times and they were praying to God, begging 0:17:55.440 --> 0:18:00.680 him for his provision, begging him for his interaction with them, 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.160 not necessarily praising his name, though a lot of times 0:18:04.200 --> 0:18:08.320 they did, because even the most depressing psalms, most of 0:18:08.359 --> 0:18:11.280 them went back to how great and how good God 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:13.639 actually was in their past, and they're going to remember 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:16.920 those things. So even some of the most depressing psalms 0:18:17.080 --> 0:18:21.760 came with a modicum of thanksgiving, minus a handful here 0:18:21.800 --> 0:18:25.560 and there. But you know, praise specifically, because praise and 0:18:25.560 --> 0:18:30.160 worship are two different things. Praise specifically, you can't really 0:18:30.200 --> 0:18:32.639 have that without thanksgiving. And I've talked about what the 0:18:32.640 --> 0:18:35.760 difference between praise and worship is before, But worship is 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:38.199 a little bit broader than praise, where it includes like 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.439 a heart condition where you just recognize that God is 0:18:41.480 --> 0:18:45.560 so much greater than yourself, you're essentially humbling yourself. And 0:18:45.560 --> 0:18:47.760 this can look like anything. It doesn't necessarily have to 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.080 be singing or making music, certainly not. Actually, you can 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:54.760 worship God in the day to day tasks that you do. 0:18:55.280 --> 0:18:57.560 For example, if somebody is snarky to you at your job, 0:18:57.760 --> 0:18:59.800 it could be an act of worship to just walk 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.000 away from that person instead of responding negatively to them. 0:19:03.320 --> 0:19:06.280 You know, it's things like that that you worship God 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.080 on a day to day basis, just recognizing that you're 0:19:09.119 --> 0:19:11.200 going to follow God and you're going to do your best, 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.000 knowing that God is worthy of worship and he's worthy 0:19:15.040 --> 0:19:17.800 of praise. So you're humbling yourself in front of God. 0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:21.080 That is what worship really comes down to, whereas praise, 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:25.000 on the other hand, is more of you expressing God's goodness, 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:27.520 and again that doesn't always come down to making music. 0:19:27.800 --> 0:19:30.240 You can just say to somebody God is so good, 0:19:30.280 --> 0:19:32.920 like I praise his name. You could pray to him 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:35.800 and praise you could I don't know pain in a picture, 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.960 I guess in praise of God, but it's you expressing 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:42.640 God's goodness outwardly for other people to see. But music 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:46.320 can fall into both praise and worship of God. You're 0:19:46.359 --> 0:19:49.240 humbling yourself by admitting that God is greater than you, 0:19:49.560 --> 0:19:54.119 and you're also expressing your adoration of God for the 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:56.520 world to see. Now, going back to this chapter, with 0:19:56.560 --> 0:20:00.959 all that praise, I think has to include an amount 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:04.280 of thanksgiving for who God is. And all of these 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:08.240 songs right here, we're in thanksgiving to God. That's what 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:12.919 it says. In verse what is it? Verse twenty seven, 0:20:13.280 --> 0:20:15.520 it says they brought the singers to Jerusalem to keep 0:20:15.520 --> 0:20:18.800 the dedication with gladness, both with giving thanks and with 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.760 singing symbols, stringed instruments and with harps. And then in 0:20:22.840 --> 0:20:26.280 verse thirty one it mentions that Nehemiah brought the princes 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.760 of Judah up on the wall and appointed two great 0:20:28.760 --> 0:20:33.879 companies who gave thanks and went in procession. These singers 0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:36.479 were to give thanks through the music that they were 0:20:36.520 --> 0:20:39.639 singing to God. And that's what praise really comes down to, 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:45.520 is to giving thanks and exclaiming the wonderful name of Jesus. 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.879 So if a praise song does not include the giving 0:20:48.920 --> 0:20:52.359 of thanks in it, can it really be called a 0:20:52.480 --> 0:20:56.360 praise song? And I would say probably not. So if 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:59.440 you're singing praise songs at your church, maybe think about 0:20:59.440 --> 0:21:01.840 some of the lyrics that are going on with them, 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:05.880 do they really have a true aspect of giving thanks 0:21:06.000 --> 0:21:09.080 to God? Or the songs we're singing more about ourselves 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:11.680 or more about our situations. I mean, you guys might 0:21:11.680 --> 0:21:13.800 think I'm being nitpicky, but it is important because if 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:16.720 we're coming together to worship God and to praise God, 0:21:16.760 --> 0:21:18.720 then we should definitely be doing it the right way, 0:21:19.119 --> 0:21:23.040 and I think that includes with thanksgiving. Now, jumping down 0:21:23.080 --> 0:21:25.480 in verse thirty eight, says, the other company of those 0:21:25.520 --> 0:21:28.680 who gave thanks went to meet them, and I after them, 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:31.240 with half the people on the wall, above the tower 0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:34.480 of the Furnaces, even to the wide wall, and above 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:36.719 the gate of Ephraem, and by the old gate, and 0:21:36.720 --> 0:21:39.640 by the fish gate, the tower of Hananel, the tower 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.479 of Hamea, even to the sheep gate, and they stood 0:21:42.560 --> 0:21:44.960 still in the gate of the guard. So essentially, these 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.680 people are all over the city giving thanks to God, 0:21:47.960 --> 0:21:50.000 it says in verse forty. So the two companies of 0:21:50.040 --> 0:21:53.199 those who gave thanks in God's house stood with I, 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.040 and the half of the rulers with me, and the priests, 0:21:56.400 --> 0:21:58.600 and mentions all the names of the priests, and the 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:02.800 singers sing loud with Jezreel the overseer, and they offered 0:22:02.800 --> 0:22:06.600 great sacrifice that day and rejoiced, for God had made 0:22:06.640 --> 0:22:09.280 them rejoice with great joy, And the women and the 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.439 children also rejoiced, so that the joy of Jerusalem was 0:22:12.480 --> 0:22:17.560 heard even far away. So everybody was rejoicing. Everyone was 0:22:17.560 --> 0:22:21.760 excited that the city was becoming repopulated, that people were 0:22:21.800 --> 0:22:25.280 moving in, that the walls were done, that Jerusalem was 0:22:25.359 --> 0:22:29.640 safe once again. And this joy that everybody was feeling, 0:22:29.800 --> 0:22:32.720