Live Like A Cupbearer, Leadership Lessons From Nehemiah (eBook)

Chapter 1

Planted – Cupbearers Grow Where God Plants Them

Most Sunday school graduates will know the name Nehemiah. He was the guy who helped rebuild the fallen walls around Jerusalem. Some readers may even remember the analogy used in the Christian movie Facing the Giants, when the football coach tells his defense, “I want you to build me a stone wall.” When a Christian thinks about building a wall, they often think about Nehemiah, but being a wall builder is just part of his story.

The name Nehemiah actually means “the Lord has comforted,” and as we go through his story, it’s very apparent that God had Nehemiah in the right place at the right time. Nehemiah was living in the city of Susa; most theologians believe he was born outside of Jerusalem. Susa was a city that the Jewish people were sent to when their homeland was taken away. Perhaps you have heard a pastor say, “The Children of Israel, The Jewish Nation were part of the Exile.” Nehemiah’s family must have been sent to Susa when they were kicked out of their home country, and Susa was most likely the birthplace of Nehemiah.

Perhaps you’ve never heard of the “Exile,” so let’s take a brief detour here to set the table of how Nehemiah found himself in Susa. Around 933 BC, the nation of Israel had split into two main kingdoms: the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom. If you have read any of the Old Testament, you know that from the moment the children of Israel were led out of Egypt, they began complaining. The Israelites were human just like us, and just like us, they didn’t always get along, so the nation of Israel split into two separate kingdoms (Northern and Southern).

God had sent word through Moses to the children of Israel not to fall back into their old ways, especially idol worship (putting other gods before God). God was very upfront long before ever allowing the children of Israel into the Promised Land that if they fell back into their old ways, He (being God) would take the land away from them (Deuteronomy 4:25–28 and 28:63–65). Not only did God use Moses but warning after warning came from Old Testament prophets, but the children of Israel were human, and they failed to honor God’s command.

In 722 BC, the Northern Kingdom (Israel) was defeated by Assyria, and by 606 BC, Jewish captives from the Southern Kingdom (Israel as well) were sent to Babylon (the nation housing the city of Susa). By 586 BC, the entire nation of Israel was in captivity, and so began what was known as the “70 years of captivity.” As a matter of fact, it was during this time period that we hear the stories of Daniel (part of the 606 BC captives to Babylon) and Ezekiel (597 BC more Jews sent to Babylon).

But God, being the loving God He is, came once again to the rescue of Israel, and in 538 BC, a decree was given that Israelites could return to their homeland. But just like how a house left sitting for seventy years looked, their land looked nothing like the land they left seventy years before. All in all, there were three returns back to Israel: 536 BC, 457 BC, and the return led by Nehemiah in 444 BC, which brings us back on our journey with Nehemiah.

I do want to make one quick point: Just as God had warned Israel that if they disobeyed, they would lose their land, He also told them he would bring them back. Once again, numerous Old Testament prophets spoke on behalf of God, just as God told Moses to the children of Israel, if they turned their hearts back to Him and obey His commandants, God would bring them back into the Promised land (Deuteronomy 4:29–31 and 30:1–5). Nehemiah was part of God’s plan to restore the land and nation of Israel.

What a beautiful portrait of the Gospel message we know today! All God wants us to do is to repent, a Greek word meaning to do an about-face (180-degree turn in an opposite direction) and confess that Christ is Lord, and we will be saved. Just like we don’t make our kids love us, the same is true of our Heavenly Father: He can’t make His creation love Him. Just like the children of Israel messed up, we mess up. Today we have Christ that paves our way back to God, but as we will see with Nehemiah, God used a host of godly men in the Old Testament to point His people back to Him. Hence the reason we would want to examine the life of Nehemiah. I firmly believe we too can learn from Nehemiah, and those lessons can help us do a better job of pointing people back to Christ, so we can be the cupbearers for Christ.

I’ve already told you Nehemiah’s name means “the Lord has comforted,” but let’s add an additional key fact: Nehemiah was a Hebrew name; from his name to his response, it’s clear that Nehemiah’s parents taught him the ways of his Jewish heritage even in captivity. This fact alone should give parents hope as we try to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. I know, with our children, there were times we wondered whether they really got it, whether they understood. So many prayers and hours of tears, but praise God, they did understand and are walking with the Lord, and we can certainly see in the story of Nehemiah that he too took his heritage and his parents’ teaching to heart.

As a matter of fact, the very words of Nehemiah’s prayer in Chapter 1, verses 4–11, Nehemiah recalls the warnings and promises of God.

“As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man” (Nehemiah 1:4–11).

Nehemiah’s parents clearly taught him the words and stories of the Old Testament. We don’t know much about Nehemiah’s parents; we see his father’s name, Hacaliah, in Chapter 1 verse 1, and we see his father’s name again in Chapter 10, verse 1, but outside of that, not much is known.

It’s often said and I would agree that the greatest legacy a parent can leave is his/her children, and that certainly is true of this story. What would have happened if Nehemiah’s parents hadn’t been as faithful and diligent in sharing God’s Word with Nehemiah? Yes, God would have clearly raised someone else up to build the wall, but there was some reason why one of Nehemiah’s brothers, Hanani, came back from Israel to reach out to Nehemiah (Nehemiah 1:2).

Why did Hanani come back and specifically seek out Nehemiah? Had Nehemiah sent specific questions to Hanani? We just don’t know.

Hanani is another member of Nehemiah’s family that we know very little about. Just like Nehemiah’s father, Hanani’s name is only mentioned at one other place in the Scripture, Nehemiah 7:2. Here, we learn that Hanani is a God-fearing and faithful man, and Nehemiah gives him control of the castle, but after that, we hear nothing else of Nehemiah’s family. Yet, we can clearly see the benefits of children being faithfully discipled in a godly home.

Maybe Hanani came back to Nehemiah because he knew that Nehemiah being the cupbearer to the king could help with rebuilding the wall and securing the city (Nehemiah 1:3). Even though Israel was back home in their land, this didn’t mean all was well. Israel’s return brought their longtime enemies out of the shadows, and from the moment they arrived back in their homeland, they were under attack. Even to this day, the land the nation of Israel occupies is seen as some of the most valuable land in the world, and this land is constantly under attack.

That is why we need more leaders like Nehemiah; we need more cupbearers. God had placed Nehemiah exactly where He wanted him, where He needed Nehemiah.

Why was Nehemiah still in Susa? Did he stay back in Babylon because of his job with the king? Why hadn’t Nehemiah, being Jewish, already returned back to Jerusalem?

We don’t know why Nehemiah, a Jew, remained behind in Susa, a city in the land of his captivity; but what we do know from verse 2 of Chapter 1, his family had made their way back to Israel. And we also know from 1:4, Nehemiah no doubt had great love for his homeland. “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven” (Nehemiah 1:4).

Nehemiah was in the...