Stack Study: You Have Done Great Things Lesson 8
a Bible study via Substack...the final one where they still don't get it right.
It’s the end. The final lesson in our Stack Study covering Ezra Nehemiah.
This is my 3rd iteration of this study and in many ways I still feel these texts have more to teach me—like there’s still somehow more to unearth. I suppose that’s actually quite true because in the great mystery of studying the Bible, the journey never seems to come to an end.
Depending on our season in life—mine being largely about raising children right now—our relationship with being able to complete what we start may feel strained. Maybe that’s even you reading today thinking you didn’t give this the attention you intended to at the beginning. Even me, the writer behind it, had days when finishing seemed too lofty a goal. The good news is grace upon grace upon grace.
It seems rather apt to start the final lesson with a prayer from the great Eugene Peterson about finishing work.
God of all beginnings and all endings, I bring all my unfinished business to you—everything that I started and couldn’t finish, all that I began but lost interest in, all that I began in hope and quit in despair. Make finished work of all of it, by your grace. Amen.1
Read this quick summary of Nehemiah 11 & 12:1-25
Feel free to read the entirety of these verses on your own. I’ve often found hidden treasures in seemingly menial readings, but for the sake of keeping it real, this might be the portion of Ezra Nehemiah where we give ourselves permission to summarize.
What does it say?
“The leaders of the people were already living in Jerusalem, so the rest of the people drew lots to get one out of ten to move to Jerusalem, the holy city, while the other nine remained in their towns.” (Nehemiah 11:1)
“These were the priests and Levites who returned with Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and with Joshua…” (Nehemiah 12:1)
The gist is that the people organized themselves in order to populate the city of Jerusalem. Those who did not draw the lot or volunteer remained on their ancestral properties. This process is followed by a detailed list of the priests and Levites serving since the return the first exiles with Zerubbabel and throughout the leadership of Nehemiah.
Read Nehemiah 12:27-43
What does it say?
The completed wall around Jerusalem is dedicated. Levites and musicians are brought to town with their instruments.
The leaders and priests ascend the top of the wall and split into 2 groups each with their own large choir. The groups parade around the top of the wall celebrating and singing.
Ezra and Nehemiah are both there participating in the processionals.
All the people are filled with great joy. The sound of their rejoicing is heard from far away.
Why did it matter?
At the very beginning of Nehemiah, we learn of his deep grief over the unwalled status of Jerusalem. He asks God for favor and receives the blessing of the king to return with another group of exiles to rebuild the wall around the city. Chapter 12 is now the the culmination of his mission. We see it all completed with great celebration—large choirs, massive processionals, musicians and instruments—just like in the days of David.
Recall that in our very first lesson, Jeremiah the prophet warned the people prior to exile that God would “banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness.”2 This prophecy came to bear when Nebuchadnezzar conquered Israel and carried them away. No doubt the rejoicing Israelites at Nehemiah’s wall dedication are remembering the words of Jeremiah and reveling in this beautiful reversal. Sounds of joy have returned to Jerusalem carrying the echo of their ancestors and it is very loud.
Read Nehemiah 13:4-31
What does it say?
This final chapter includes 3 reforms and 4 short prayers from Nehemiah.
The house of God has been neglected. Nehemiah returns from Susa to find Eliashib the high priest has given Tobiah (enemy of Israel) a storeroom in the temple. Levites and musicians have not been provided for.
The people are working and trading on the Sabbath. Foreign merchants and sellers are clamoring at the city gates even when they are locked.
Intermarriage strikes again. The people have followed in the way of Solomon by marrying women outside of Israel—a repeated violation of God’s law and one set in place to protect against idol worship.
Nehemiah instructs the Levites and leaders to purify themselves and straighten up. Each reform is followed by a prayer asking God to remember Nehemiah.
Why did it matter?
The details of verse 28 offer up one of those hidden gems I mentioned earlier—the kind that are subtle, easily missed if you read to quickly, or totally overlooked without context. Sanballat the Horonite’s daughter has married the grandson of the high priest. This is significant because Sanballat has been unashamedly scheming to harm the Israelites and halt their rebuilding process since chapter 2. His marital affiliation with Eliashib proves the far-reaching nature of the Israelites’ failures because even the high priest’s family has overtly broken God’s law about intermarriage. It poses two potential scenarios—either Sanballat has experienced a great transformation or he has used his daughter to infiltrate the religious leadership of Israel at the highest level. The latter seems to be the case as Nehemiah wastes no time ousting Sanballat—”I drove him away from me.”
Nehemiah prays for God to remember his actions and extend mercy to him 3 times through this concluding chapter. He has returned to Jerusalem after visiting the Persian king to find that the people have done exactly what they said they wouldn’t do—they’ve neglected the temple and drifted back to their old ways. The whole memoir-style chapter ends on a somewhat dejected note. It’s clear that the exiles return and restoration, while a beautiful fulfillment of prophecy, isn’t going to do the trick of setting all things to right. The new temple is not enough. Sin is still seemingly inescapable.
Read Psalm 126
What does it say?
The LORD has remarkably restored the Israelites and other nations have taken notice. The people are filled with joy.
Using harvest language, the psalmist says that those who sow in tears will reap a harvest. Or that the people’s suffering will not be wasted.
Why did it matter?
This particular psalm is included in a collection of psalms referred to as Songs of Ascent. These were songs used by Israelites on pilgrimage processions to Jerusalem during times of celebration or feasting. Some scholars believe the songs were sung on each of the 15 steps leading up to the temple. Psalm 126 would be the 7th step.
While the author is not named specifically, many believe this to have been penned by Ezra or possibly another priest present in Jerusalem during the return of the exiles from Babylonian captivity.
Why does it still matter? (all of it)
When I started writing this study several years ago, a song came into my mind from my teenage years and I hummed it all around the house until I realized it was the words of Psalm 126. The chorus repeated the refrain “You have done great things! you have done great things! And we are filled with joy!” Proof that music does something to our brains, this song pulled from the recesses of my mind became the glue holding the Ezra Nehemiah narrative together.
In 6 short verses the psalmist captures the entire essence of the Israelites’ restoration—the fulfilled promises of God to “bring them back from captivity,”3 their resounding joy upon return, and their realization that work must still be done to redeem all that had been destroyed. When they ask God to restore their fortunes right after being filled with joy, it brings to mind the older Israelites at the foundation of the second temple. Remember them? They knew God was doing a great work, but they also saw how much was left to be done and in their building, they also wept.
In our own lives we can deeply resonate with the crescendo of this psalm. As a child we’re given a bike to ride, but then we must do the work of learning to ride it. We understand on a soul level that all joyful things seem to hold hands with something that skins our knees while we’re trying to figure out how to balance. We know the beauty in this life is merely a shadow of what is to come and that as Matthew Henry states in his commentary on this passage “the beginnings of mercy are encouragements to us to pray for the completing of it.”4 Or as Paul says famously “now we see in a mirror dimly,”5 but one day we’ll see it all fully.
We’re given the image of a sower crying as he spreads seeds along the ground and a promise that he will return carrying sheaves. The ground wet with tears will not produce merely what is put into it, but boatloads more—abundance. Most of us with a pulse can find parts of our story synced up with the weeping sower. We understand the task of being human means we carry on through our losses, our limitations, and our sufferings. We remember how things used to be and our imagination for what could be often feels blunted by the state of our world—yet we’re also promised sheaves.
“Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” (Matthew 5:4)
“I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” (John 10:10)
“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Romans 8:18)
“So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17)
The question for many of us becomes not whether there is a future hope at all, but if this future hope is available to us right now in our everyday, ordinary lives—will there be sheaves of joy here too? Is it worth sowing seeds right now?
In his deep and beautiful work Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, NT Wright addresses this very question by arguing that the great work of salvation by Christ on the cross means that God’s kingdom is breaking in right now. There will not be an ephemeral drifting off into the outer space of heaven, but a real return of our King when the earth will be restored and all work done right now will not be wasted.
What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.6
Christ’s life becomes the means by which we continue to throw seeds to soil with tears in our eyes and we collect sheaves of joy popping up in ways we’d never imagined—the laughter of our kids, the freedom from addiction, the restoration of a family, the support of community, the anchor for our souls.
In this study we’ve remembered and resonated with the Israelite captives returning to build their lives around the temple. Bearing witness to the complexities of their longings for wholeness and holiness, we found ourselves in their story but with a better ending. Through the cross we become much more than weapon-wielding exiles building something that won’t actually be enough to make us whole. Christ’s body transforms us into people whom Wright describes as “unstoppably motivated to work for that new world in the present.”
“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22)
As we close, may the story of Ezra Nehemiah remind us to continue building. May we sow seeds and carry sheaves—always holding both joy and sorrow through the lens of our future hope. And in the words of Nehemiah, may God remember us and show mercy to us according to his great love. Amen.
I know what it means to study something using a phone and what it means to study something with pen and paper. Even as someone who loves this platform, nothing will ever beat using a pencil to me.
So….later this month I’ll be releasing a free digital download of the entire study with room to make notes. New subscribers will receive it directly to their inboxes. Stay tuned for more on this! In the meantime, please consider sharing this study with someone who comes to mind. You can send them this post to get started:
The season of Lent is upon us! I’ll be taking a short break from writing to catch my breath and remember the season, but will be back with a new podcast interview featuring someone I have deemed whole-hearted and hilarious. I can’t wait for you to hear her story!
Jeremiah 25:10-11 (NIV)
Jeremiah 31:23 (NIV)
1 Corinthians 13:12 (ESV)