When Nehemiah - cupbearer to King Artaxerxes - hears that the Jewish resettlers in Jerusalem “are in great evil/distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates burned with fire,” he prays for God to give him success and compassion before the king. The king grants Nehemiah to go and rebuild Jerusalem, for “the good hand of God was upon” Nehemiah (2:8). While in Jerusalem for 3 days, Nehemiah secretly examines the walls and gates by night. He then summons the officials, the priests, the nobles, and the Jews “to arise and build” (2:18).
Four things stand out:
(1) Nehemiah communicates the need for the campaign – what needs to be, not just what could be (2:17);
(2) he points the people to the presence and power of God in their midst (2:18, 20a);
(3) God-sized-and-ordained-visions can expect immediate enemy resistance (2:19; 6:1-14) – especially spiritual resistance; and
(4) nothing is impossible with God (6:15-16). The wall is finished in 52 days, so that even the enemies know the work was done from God!

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