Nehemiah 11: Citizens and Worshippers in the Holy City
It is so easy to read through this chapter and just focus on the pronunciation of the names but miss the big theme, the message our Lord wants to convey through this inspired Scripture! Indeed, in this chapter we find two lists. One list of returned exiles who moved into Jerusalem’s city bounds in Nehemiah’s day (v3-24). Another list of those returned exiles who moved into the wider district (v25-36). But the big theme is the city, Jerusalem, ‘the holy city’ v1. What does it mean to occupy the holy city? It means two things: to be a worshipper in the special presence of God; and a citizen submitting to God’s reign. Jerusalem was meant to be the place on earth where God’s presence dwelt in a special way, in the Temple. Jerusalem was meant to be the place from which God brought his reign of justice, truth, and peace through the Messiah. This is what made it ‘holy’, set apart, or unique. Now we have come into the presence of God, and found his mighty reign, in Jesus. We have become citizens and worshippers. Let us live out these special identities in our time and place while we await taking our place in the city to come, ‘the Holy City… the new Jerusalem’ that will come ‘down out of heaven from God’ (Rev. 21.2).
Reflection Questions
1. Read Nehemiah 11. Ancestral land parcels contained enough land for families to cultivate and develop a livelihood. What sacrifices were involved, then, for the returned exiles, in living apart from these lands in order to build up the economy of Jerusalem (Nehemiah 11.1-2)?
2. Why is it significant that some returned exiles volunteered to live in Jerusalem, over and above the 10% chosen by lot to reside in the city (Nehemiah 11.2)? What does this offer say about them?
3. List all the kinds of roles and responsibilities residents of Jerusalem had in Nehemiah 11.
4. Civic leaders, religious leaders, and some of the people reside in the city. This points to the Jerusalem residents’ identities: worshippers of the divine presence in the temple, and citizens of God’s kingdom.
(i) Read John 4.1-26. How do followers of Jesus express worship differently today?
(ii) Read Hebrews 13.1-14. How do followers of Jesus express their heavenly citizenship? What kind of practices show we submit to the ethics of the kingdom rather than the trends of the culture around us?
5. We have a profound desire to ‘fit in’, be accepted by the society around us. How does the sacrifice of Jesus offer a different model (Hebrews 13.11-14)?
6. What are some examples of biblical ethics, practice, that are unpopular today? What might it mean to go to Jesus ‘outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore’ Hebrews 13.3, in these areas of life?