Nehemiah 2-3
- Review: Looking back at Nehemiah 1, what were some important things that Nehemiah did that would be key elements in any major undertaking?
- Read Nehemiah 2 together as a group.
- How was Nehemiah's prayer from the last chapter answered in this one?
- Let's look more in depth at how Nehemiah approached King Artaxerxes. First of all, when did this conversation take place, as compared to the previous chapter?
- Who actually initiated the conversation, and why?
- Why was Nehemiah afraid? How did he deal with his fear?
- What three requests did Nehemiah make of the king, and how did the king respond?
- How is the way Nehemiah approached the king similar or different from the way he approached God in the last chapter?
- In verse 10 there is a bit of foreshadowing. Who was not happy about Nehemiah's plan?
- Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem in verse 11. After resting a few days, he inspected the walls. Why do you think he went about the inspection the way he did?
- How did he present his vision to the officials in Jerusalem? How did this encourage them to take up rebuilding again? (Attempts at rebuilding for the past 130 years had failed.)
- How did Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem initially oppose the rebuilding in verse 19?
- How did Nehemiah respond to their opposition? Do you think this was a good response?
- Individually, find the five references to God in chapter 2. What does each one show about how God was involved in this work?
- What can we learn from this section about how to interact with earthly authorities?
- With a partner, skim chapter 3 and answer the following questions. It may initially seem boring, but we can glean some insights from it! We will discuss the questions as a group after 5-10 minutes
- Chapter 3 lists various people who helped rebuild the wall. What different kinds of people were involved? What was the general pattern for each listing?
- What were the exceptions to this pattern? Why were these additional details added?
- Why do you think the time was taken to record all of these people?
- Concluding Discussion
- Continuing our list from the review of Nehemiah 1, what key elements of rebuilding or starting anew do you see in these chapters?
- If you are honest like yourself, who are you most like in terms of being involved in ministry: Nehemiah, one of the people listed in chapter 3, the nobles of Tekoa, or Sanballat and Tobiah?
- Is that where you are supposed to be, and if not, what do you need to do to change it?