(Various Authors).doc - ??????

?Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - Nehemiah?(Various Authors) Commentator
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary, by Joseph Exell, William
Jones, George Barlow, W. Frank Scott, and others, was published in 37
volumes as a sermon preparation and study resource. It is a commentary
"written by preachers for preachers" and offers thousands of pages of:
. Detailed illustrations suitable for devotional study and preaching
. Extensive helps in application of Scripture for the listener and
reader
. Suggestive and explanatory comments on verses
. Theological outlines of passages
. Expository notes
. Sketches and relevant quotes
. Brief critical notes on chapters
Although originally purposed as a minister's preparation tool, the
Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary is also a fine personal study
supplement. 00 Introduction The Preacher's Complete Homiletic
COMMENTARY
ON THE BOOK OF
Nehemiah
CHAPTERS 1 to 13
By the REV. W. H. BOOTH,
The REV. J. H. GOODMAN,
And the REV. S. GREGORY
NEW YORK
FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY
LONDON AND TORONTO
1892
PREFACE
THIS book is one of a series on the Old Testament, projected by Mr. R. D.
DICKINSON of Farringdon Street. The object of the series is to lend
occasional aid to busy men. If the following pages should help such in the
homiletic treatment of an unread Book of the Bible, they will have
accomplished their purpose.
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY
ON
NEHEMIAH
INTRODUCTION
I. Biographical Sketch. Nehemiah was the son of Hachaliah (Neh ), and
brother of Hanani (Neh 7:7). His father had not availed himself of the
permission to return to his fatherland, withheld probably by possessions
and honours acquired in the land of captivity. He was apparently of the
tribe of Judah, since his fathers were buried at Jerusalem, and Hanani his
kinsman seems to have been of that tribe (Neh 2:3; Neh 7:2). Some think he
was of priestly descent, because his name appears at the head of a list of
priests in Neh 10:1-8; but it is obvious from Neh 9:38, that he stands
there as a prince, and not as a priest. The expression in Neh 5:18, that
Nehemiah "offered sacrifice," implies no more than that he provided the
sacrifices. Whilst acting as cupbearer in the royal palace at Shushan, in
the 20th year of Artaxerxes Longimanus, or B. C. 446, he received tidings
of the mournful and desolate condition of the returned colony in Judea, and
obtained permission of the king to make a journey to Jerusalem, and there
to act as lieutenant or governor. Being furnished with this high
commission, which included letters to the satraps and subordinates, and
enjoying the protection of a military escort (Neh 2:9), Nehemiah reached
Jerusalem in the year B. C. 446, and remained there till B. C. 434, being
actively engaged for 12 years in promoting the public good (Neh 5:14).
During this time Nehemiah refused to receive his lawful allowance as
governor, in consideration of the poverty of the people, and moreover
maintained at his own expense a table for 150 Jews, at which any who
returned from captivity were welcome. He returned to Persia B. C. 434, but
hearing of new abuses having crept in during his absence revisited Judea,
where he effected various reforms. It is not unlikely that he remained at
his post until about B. C. 405, towards the close of the reign of Darius
Nothus. That he lived to be an old man is thus quite probable from the
sacred history, and this is expressly declared by Josephus, who states that
he died at an advanced age. Of the place and year of his death nothing is
known.
II. Authorship of Book. Generally attributed to Nehemiah. The central
part (Neh to Neh 12:31) is somewhat different in style. The writer does not
speak in the first person as elsewhere, and there seems to be a different
use of the Divine names, Jehovah, Adonai, Elohim. These differences are no
proof against Nehemiah's authorship. The same feature occurs in Daniel. All
Old Testament writers use documents of which they were not the authors.
Chap. Neh 7:6-73 is professedly a register which Nehemiah found and
inserted. Chap. 8-11:30, may have been composed by Ezra and incorporated by
Nehemiah into his work. Chap. Neh 9:5-38 is a prayer probably composed by
Ezra, and chaps. Neh 10:1-27; Neh 11:3-26 contain lists of names doubtless
extracted from public annals. Chaps. 8, Neh 9:3, and Neh 10:28, Neh 11:2,
may have been written either by Nehemiah or some contemporary Levite. They
relate to priestly matters in which the civil governor could not appear as
the most prominent person.
III. Date of Book. Probably compiled by Nehemiah after the 32nd year of
Artaxerxes. Supposing him to have written it about 10 years before his
death, and about thirty years after his first visit to Jerusalem, we arrive
at the year B. C. 415, at which time it would be possible for him to relate
and describe all that is contained in the canonical Book of Nehemiah.
IV. Object of Book. Briefly to describe what Nehemiah effected at one
time by direct personal effort, at another in conjunction with Ezra. As
Nehemiah's efforts for the civil welfare of the people were but a
continuation of those by which Zerubbabel the prince, Joshua the high-
priest, and Ezra the scribe had laid the foundation of the community of
returned exiles, so does his Book form the continuation and completion of
that of Ezra, and may be regarded as its second part and sequel. It is not
only similar in style, but has the same historical object, viz.-to show how
the people of Israel after their return from the Babylonish captivity,
were, by the instrumentality of Nehemiah, fully re-established in the Land
of Promise.
V. Canonicity of Book. Never seriously disputed. Nowhere quoted in the
New Testament. Generally included in the Book of Ezra.
VI. Language and Style. Similar to that of the Chronicles of Ezra. Some
few words and forms are not found elsewhere in Scripture, but the general
Hebrew is exactly that of books purporting to be of the same age. Several
words occur only in this Book as, Sahvar (to inspect), Mogal (a lifting
up), Tahalukah (a procession), Mikrah (reading), and a few more. The text
of Nehemiah is generally pure and free from corruption, except in the
proper names, in which there is considerable fluctuation in the
orthography, both as compared with other parts of the same Book, and with
the same names in other parts of Scripture.
VII. Contemporaneous History. Samaritan. The Samaritans were not
descendants of the ten tribes, but a purely heathen people who at first
included Jehovah in the number of their gods, and by degrees, under the
influence of their relations with the Jews, came to worship him as the only
true God. They were not however recognized by the Jews as having any part
in God's inheritance. Their attitude was bitterly hostile to the Hebrews,
and their power to hinder increased by the fact that as native heathen they
would be trusted by the Persian monarch. Sanballat was their chief at this
time. Hebrew. Judea was thinly populated by the returning exiles.
Jerusalem, an open village, exposed to all the attacks of its neighbours.
The temple rebuilt by Ezra was still unfinished. A few isolated dwellings
existed amidst the rubbish which lay in such great heaps about the city
that the way round it was impassable. The prophet Malachi closed the Old
Testament canon towards the end of Nehemiah's life. Persian. Artaxerxes I.
(surnamed Longimanus, on account of his long hands) was king. Persia was in
its zenith of splendour and power, although the elements of decay were
already beginning to work in the empire. Artaxerxes had come to the throne
through the assassination of his father Xerxes by Artabanus the chief of
the guard. At the instigation of Artabanus he put his brother Darius to
death as the murderer of his father, but on discovering the designs of
Artabanus against himself he slew the double traitor. He then subdued a
revolt headed by his brother Hystaspes, reduced rebellious Egypt, and made
peace with Greece. The empire then enjoyed a period of quiet which may be
regarded as the culminating point of its glory, during which the events of
Nehemiah's history occurred.-Lange. Roman. Herodotus flourished B. C. 450.
Rome governed by Censors, and Peloponnesian war B. C. 431. Roman empire was
rising into power. Grecian. Pericles flourished at Athens, B. C. 461-429.
Socrates, Xenophon, and Thucydides were contemporaneous with Nehemiah.
Plato was born B. C. 429, the year in which Pericles died, and about
fourteen years before Nehemiah's probable death.
VIII. Contents of Book.
1. ANALYSIS
(i.) Preparation for the wall building.
1. Nehemiah's grief and prayer (ch. 1).
2. Nehemiah's petition to the king (Neh ).
3. Nehemiah's journey (Neh ).
4. Nehemiah's inspection and appeal (Neh ).
(ii.) The wall building.
1. The stations (ch. 3).
2. The opposition from without (ch. 4).
3. The opposition from within (ch. 5).
4. The craft of the enemies (ch. 6).
5. The guarding of the gates (Neh ).
6. The genealogy (Neh ).
(iii.) Discipline of the new community.
1. The public reading of the law (Neh ).
2. The preparations for the feast of tabernacles (Neh ).
3. The feast of tabernacles (Neh ).
4. The special fast (ch. 9, 10).
5. The distribution of the inhabitants (ch. 11).
6. The Levitical genealogy (Neh ).
7. The dedication of the walls (Neh ).
(iv.) Later reforms.
1. Levitical apportionme