Nehemiah 11-12: Jerusalem is Restored

The reconstruction of Jerusalem is finally complete. The temple has been rebuilt and the walls raised from their rubble. The work is done right? They can finally take a break and have everyone return to their old live. Wrong. Because Jerusalem has been indefensible, what with its walls being torn down and all, most of the Israelites have chosen to live in the safety and obscurity of the surrounding countryside.

Honestly, now that I think about it, this is probably what broke Nehemiah's heart more than anything else when he heard that Jerusalem's walls were left destroyed. When he arrived in Jerusalem, he wasn't arriving to a booming city just in need of a few repairs. He arrived to a fallen city that had been abandoned. The people had scattered to the countryside knowing that it was safer to live away from the city. The city that had been the heart of Israel, with its temple rebuilt and restocked with golden goodies, is now an even greater target for enemies and raiders. Why live where you knew you were likely to be attacked, have your possessions stolen, and your family slaughtered when you could live in the obscurity of the countryside never being bothered?

Rebuilding the wall wasn't enough. Nehemiah needed to restore the city. The temple was rebuilt, but it wasn't being used. No one was giving their tithes to keep it operating. The temple had become nothing more than a museum to a bygone era, a reminder of grander times. This is what brought Nehemiah to his knees. This is what brought Ezra to read the books of the law on the streets of Jerusalem. And in these two chapters, Nehemiah finally gets the chance to restore the city of God to its proper place as the center of Israel. This is important enough to Nehemiah that he wants every following generation of Israelites to know which families were a part of restoring Jerusalem from a relic of the past to a present reality.