Nehemiah 7:5-69 - Homiletics

An honourable register.

Account of those who had returned to the Holy Land under Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and other leaders; found by Nehemiah when seeking guidance in making a general census of the people. In reading this record, the following observations suggest themselves:—

I. THE COMPARATIVE FEWNESS AND GENERAL POVERTY OF THE RETURNING PEOPLE . The majority of their brethren preferred their position among the heathen to the honour and peril of aiding to re-establish their nation in their own land. The temptation to this course was greatest in the case of men of substance, and most of them appear to have yielded to it. We are reminded that of professing Christians a large number, perhaps the majority, do not really accept the invitation pressed continually upon them to undertake the journey to heaven, and that still the rich find it hard to enter the kingdom of heaven.

II. Although few and poor, THE RETURNING PEOPLE INCLUDED ALL THE ELEMENTS NEEDFUL FOR THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A REGULARLY ORGANISED JEWISH STATE . They were not a mere rabble. There was the civil governor, Zerubbabel; the high priest, Jeshua; a considerable number of ordinary priests; there were Levites and other temple servants, even singers; besides the body of the people.

III. THEIR FAITH , ZEAL , AND COURAGE ARE TO BE NOTED AND ADMIRED . All left some sort of settled home to which they were accustomed; some, businesses more or less lucrative; a few, the positions which wealth or talent affords. They encountered certain, though untried, privations, struggles, and dangers, the end of which to each one was very uncertain. But they were men, whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem" ( Ezra 1:5 ). They believed the prophets, and anticipated a glorious future for their nation. They loved their God, their nation, and their country, though to the last most of them were strangers. The priests particularly distinguished themselves, as is shown by the number of them who returned, as compared with that of the people. They surpassed the Levites, who, both under Zerubbabel and Ezra, showed backwardness. Yet this class had formerly been more zealous than the priests ( 2 Chronicles 29:34 ). The leaders are especially worthy of commendation. Their sacrifice must have been greater, and the cares and responsibilities they undertook were much heavier. Numbers followed at subsequent periods, after the first difficulties had been overcome and a settlement effected; but they could not attain to the honour of those who led the way.

IV. The failure of some who accompanied the expedition to prove themselves by genealogy Israelites, of others to prove themselves priests, suggests THAT GOD 'S TRUE ISRAEL AND PRIESTHOOD REQUIRE NO GENEALOGY . They belong to a higher order of things, not regulated "after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life" ( Hebrews 7:16 ). God's spiritual Israel become such by faith; each one belonging to it is "born not of blood, but of God" ( John 1:13 ). And while it is a blessed thing to have a pious ancestry, those who have it not are admitted as freely and fully into all the privileges of citizenship, on their acceptance of Christ, as those who have it. One of these privileges is that of being "priests unto God." Nor is special ministry in the Church inherited; it is the privilege of those who are fitted for it, and called to it by the Holy Ghost, who distributes his gifts "to every man severally as he will" ( 1 Corinthians 12:11 ).

V. THE LACK IN THE NEWLY - ESTABLISHED COMMUNITY OF SOME PRIVILEGES ENJOYED BY THEIR FOREFATHERS is seen in the absence of "a priest with Urim and Thummim." The time was eagerly expected when this and other like advantages would be restored, but in vain. For a while the gift of prophecy lingered, and then passed away. The losses were deplored, but proved to be gains. The guidance withdrawn belonged to the period of childhood. God s people were more and more to be prepared for the time of moral manhood, when they would realise the guidance and help of God in the exercise of their own spirits in connection with the written word remaining as a permanent legacy from the past. One more outburst of the miraculous, the grandest and most fruitful of all, and then the Spirit of God would abide with the Church as never before, its permanent Teacher and Guide through the at length completed word; but the miraculous would cease. We long at times for the return of "signs from heaven," but "it is expedient" for us that we should be without them.

VI. The variations in the several copies of this document suggest that happily THERE ARE , AND CAN BE , NO MISTAKES IN GOD 'S REGISTER OF HIS SPIRITUAL ISRAEL . Finally, the perusal of this and similar lists may well lead us to exclaim with good Matthew Henry, "Blessed be God that our faith and hope are not built upon the niceties of names and numbers, genealogy and chronology, but on the great things of the law and gospel."