November 30, 2023

Rejoice like nobody but God is listening!  

Nehemiah 12

Chris Bryan
Thursday's Devo

November 30, 2023

Thursday's Devo

November 30, 2023

Thursday's Devo

November 30, 2023

Thursday's Devo

November 30, 2023

Big Idea

Start with prayer.

Key Verse | Nehemiah 12:43

And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Nehemiah 12

Priests and Levites

1 These are the priests and the Levites who came up with Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua: Seraiah, Jeremiah, Ezra, 2 Amariah, Malluch, Hattush, 3 Shecaniah, Rehum, Meremoth, 4 Iddo, Ginnethoi, Abijah, 5 Mijamin, Maadiah, Bilgah, 6 Shemaiah, Joiarib, Jedaiah, 7 Sallu, Amok, Hilkiah, Jedaiah. These were the chiefs of the priests and of their brothers in the days of Jeshua.

8 And the Levites: Jeshua, Binnui, Kadmiel, Sherebiah, Judah, and Mattaniah, who with his brothers was in charge of the songs of thanksgiving. 9 And Bakbukiah and Unni and their brothers stood opposite them in the service. 10 And Jeshua was the father of Joiakim, Joiakim the father of Eliashib, Eliashib the father of Joiada, 11 Joiada the father of Jonathan, and Jonathan the father of Jaddua.

12 And in the days of Joiakim were priests, heads of fathers' houses: of Seraiah, Meraiah; of Jeremiah, Hananiah; 13 of Ezra, Meshullam; of Amariah, Jehohanan; 14 of Malluchi, Jonathan; of Shebaniah, Joseph; 15 of Harim, Adna; of Meraioth, Helkai; 16 of Iddo, Zechariah; of Ginnethon, Meshullam; 17 of Abijah, Zichri; of Miniamin, of Moadiah, Piltai; 18 of Bilgah, Shammua; of Shemaiah, Jehonathan; 19 of Joiarib, Mattenai; of Jedaiah, Uzzi; 20 of Sallai, Kallai; of Amok, Eber; 21 of Hilkiah, Hashabiah; of Jedaiah, Nethanel.

22 In the days of Eliashib, Joiada, Johanan, and Jaddua, the Levites were recorded as heads of fathers' houses; so too were the priests in the reign of Darius the Persian. 23 As for the sons of Levi, their heads of fathers' houses were written in the Book of the Chronicles until the days of Johanan the son of Eliashib. 24 And the chiefs of the Levites: Hashabiah, Sherebiah, and Jeshua the son of Kadmiel, with their brothers who stood opposite them, to praise and to give thanks, according to the commandment of David the man of God, watch by watch. 25 Mattaniah, Bakbukiah, Obadiah, Meshullam, Talmon, and Akkub were gatekeepers standing guard at the storehouses of the gates. 26 These were in the days of Joiakim the son of Jeshua son of Jozadak, and in the days of Nehemiah the governor and of Ezra, the priest and scribe.

Dedication of the Wall

27 And at the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem they sought the Levites in all their places, to bring them to Jerusalem to celebrate the dedication with gladness, with thanksgivings and with singing, with cymbals, harps, and lyres. 28 And the sons of the singers gathered together from the district surrounding Jerusalem and from the villages of the Netophathites; 29 also from Beth-gilgal and from the region of Geba and Azmaveth, for the singers had built for themselves villages around Jerusalem. 30 And the priests and the Levites purified themselves, and they purified the people and the gates and the wall.

31 Then I brought the leaders of Judah up onto the wall and appointed two great choirs that gave thanks. One went to the south on the wall to the Dung Gate. 32 And after them went Hoshaiah and half of the leaders of Judah, 33 and Azariah, Ezra, Meshullam, 34 Judah, Benjamin, Shemaiah, and Jeremiah, 35 and certain of the priests' sons with trumpets: Zechariah the son of Jonathan, son of Shemaiah, son of Mattaniah, son of Micaiah, son of Zaccur, son of Asaph; 36 and his relatives, Shemaiah, Azarel, Milalai, Gilalai, Maai, Nethanel, Judah, and Hanani, with the musical instruments of David the man of God. And Ezra the scribe went before them. 37 At the Fountain Gate they went up straight before them by the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, to the Water Gate on the east.

38 The other choir of those who gave thanks went to the north, and I followed them with half of the people, on the wall, above the Tower of the Ovens, to the Broad Wall, 39 and above the Gate of Ephraim, and by the Gate of Yeshanah, 1 12:39 Or of the old city and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, to the Sheep Gate; and they came to a halt at the Gate of the Guard. 40 So both choirs of those who gave thanks stood in the house of God, and I and half of the officials with me; 41 and the priests Eliakim, Maaseiah, Miniamin, Micaiah, Elioenai, Zechariah, and Hananiah, with trumpets; 42 and Maaseiah, Shemaiah, Eleazar, Uzzi, Jehohanan, Malchijah, Elam, and Ezer. And the singers sang with Jezrahiah as their leader. 43 And they offered great sacrifices that day and rejoiced, for God had made them rejoice with great joy; the women and children also rejoiced. And the joy of Jerusalem was heard far away.

Service at the Temple

44 On that day men were appointed over the storerooms, the contributions, the firstfruits, and the tithes, to gather into them the portions required by the Law for the priests and for the Levites according to the fields of the towns, for Judah rejoiced over the priests and the Levites who ministered. 45 And they performed the service of their God and the service of purification, as did the singers and the gatekeepers, according to the command of David and his son Solomon. 46 For long ago in the days of David and Asaph there were directors of the singers, and there were songs 2 12:46 Or leaders of praise and thanksgiving to God. 47 And all Israel in the days of Zerubbabel and in the days of Nehemiah gave the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart that which was for the Levites; and the Levites set apart that which was for the sons of Aaron.

Footnotes

[1] 12:39 Or of the old city
[2] 12:46 Or leaders

S2:234 Nehemiah 12

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Nehemiah 12

True confession, I haven't always been big on celebration. For a long time, I just focused on the work; and when the job was done, I'd jump into the next thing because I really enjoyed solving the problem or checking things off the list (all of my fellow list-making box-checkers know where I am coming from). It was an interesting point of view . . . interesting, but not biblical.

As I've gained a better understanding of God's view on celebration, I've found that He is all about celebrating a job well done. God demonstrated this Himself as He formed all creation, taking time at the end of each day to declare that what He had created was good (see Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31). He could have simply powered through and moved onto the next task on His "create-the-universe" list, but that's not who God is; He takes the time to enjoy what He's done and wants the same for us.

In addition to today's key verse of Nehemiah 12:43, where the party resulted in "the joy of Jerusalem [being] heard far away," we see celebration and dedication going hand-in-hand time and again throughout the Bible. Here are just a few examples: 

  • King David dancing in the streets as the ark arrived in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:14). David joyfully danced like only God was watching.  
  • The dedication celebration held as the temple was rebuilt 70 years after its destruction, with 100 bulls, 200 rams, and 400 lambs offered (Ezra 6:17). Imagine that feast! 
  • The celebration and ring being given at the return of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:22-24). The father was overjoyed by the return of his son who, he had feared, was lost forever, and he wanted to celebrate!

As I learned more (and God did work on my heart), I began to celebrate a job well done at work, in my family, and in the accomplishments of others. In turn, I discovered the great joy God has in store for us as we celebrate success and bring Him glory.  

This month's memory verse

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

– 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Discussion Questions

Some questions to consider and discuss with your community group:

1. Where is your heart on this topic of celebration and giving God glory as you experience big accomplishments?

2. What are some things that have recently happened or are coming up that God would want you to celebrate?  

3. How can you celebrate these things in a way that brings Him glory in the process?

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

HS

Hugh Stephenson

Good morning, Chris and to all my JTJ siblings. Confessions of a fellow list-making box-checker. I’m with you on celebrations. (See below). Q1.& Q3. I am ambivalent on big celebrations. I want to give God all the glory but find it hard to do that in big, loud, celebrations. Many years ago a very famous World War Two flying ace was being celebrated, more or less against his will. After it was all said and done, he was asked if he had any thoughts to share. He said, “I seen my job and I done it”. That’s sort of how I feel about it. I realize there are great reasons for the opposite view. I just line up more with the ace fighter pilot. Q2. Things I will celebrate soon. -9 years of daily JTJ comments (1/2015), -11 years at Watermark 10/12 -11 years of sobriety (12/1/12), -40 years of marriage (7/21/84), -3 national championships in a row for my UGA Bulldogs, (Jan 2024). (Woof, Woof.)
HS

Hugh Stephenson

Repeating a mantra from earlier posts- As noted in a message a number of years ago…(paraphrasing) “Culture is downstream from the church.” Among the most distressing of the many distressing developments in recent years is the complete abdication of the church to have any positive and effective role in the culture. To me it mirrors all the crazy events and practices we just read about in Kings and which we read about earlier in Judges. What we know for CERTAIN is that there will be a reckoning for all of the wrong choices; those of commission and those of omission. If it’s sinful to advocate apostasy, idol worship, sexual sin- then it is also sinful to remain silent in the face of it. I am really glad Jesus died for all the things I have done and for all of the things God calls me to do but I don’t do. Those are way more numerous than the overt deeds and words. Again, I see Yahweh using stark contrasts to educate me. My mind goes back to the glory of David up to the point of 2 Samuel 11:1 “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” The last line is the most important. An error of omission. Or Solomon in 1 Kings 9:1-9 after the temple was built and the LORD appeared to him. Notice the use of “if you...”, “If you…” and “I will…”. An error of commission. What I see as the common element is that “too much success leads to too much excess”. Reprising this truth- “Hard times create Strongmen. Strongmen create good times. Good times create weak men. Weak men create bad times.” It doesn’t take much time reading the newspapers to see where we are today. Tragically, when it all comes crashing down there is not always a Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah to step in and lead the people back to the way of the LORD. That is the key I see here in Ezra-Nehemiah. A few days ago there was a great piece in the Wall Street Journal on this book- “Providence and Power: Ten Portraits in Jewish Statesmanship”. The author is a rabbi named Meir Y. Soloveichik. Here is the link to the article. https://www.wsj.com/articles/lessons-in-leadership-from-the-hebrew-bible-religion-faith-character-values-politics-leadership-31aad1e0 If you can’t access then text me at 404-824-0435. It’s definitely worth a read. My longest tenured friend is a Jewish scholar so I asked him about the author and the book. He was not familiar with the book but was VERY familiar with the author. He spoke glowingly about him. After I sent him the article he ordered and read the book. He loved it. The book is not just about OT kings and leaders. There are figures in the book that are more modern. The key is the leadership and stateman ship insights via a very different lens than the one I usually have. Here’s the amazon link https://www.amazon.com/dp/1641773286?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_91PV6833P295SSS3HFET On chapter 12 what continues to stand out to me is the depth of lostness of the people without a faith in Yahweh. Each section in this chapter and in chapter 13 has another element that shows how far they have fallen from the purity of a faithful practice and worship. So, a question… is every great leader a spiritual leader? Whether or not in church, business, politics, science, etc.? My answer is at the end of this comment. Would love to hear the answer of others in the comments.
HS

Hugh Stephenson

Adding to what is already too long of a comment I add some helpful thoughts from the notes- ESV SB summaries - Neh. 11:1–12:43 The Population of Jerusalem and the Villages; Priests and Levites. These chapters depict the people’s efforts to populate Jerusalem. Neh. 12:1–26 High Priests and Leading Levites since the Time of Zerubbabel. This section records the priests and Levites from the time of Zerubbabel (c. 538–535 B.C.) to Nehemiah. The aim is to show that the Levitical service was sustained during a very difficult era in Israel’s history. From Constable - "This joyful march around the walls was their way of saying, 'We claim from our God all that He has for us, just as our forebears claimed this land by faith!'" "This ceremony of consecrating the wall and gates of the city was an act of piety on the part of Nehemiah, not merely to thank God in a general way for having been enabled to bring the building to a happy completion, but especially because that city was the place which He had chosen." "The final consummation of Nehemiah's work had been reached. The city was protected by a wall and could resist any attempt of the neighboring nations to attack it. This was one of the main reasons for the joy. The other was that the people had demonstrated that they could perform a major task as a unit, and this proved to be a great stimulus to their morale." "The significance of dedication is that by making over the work of human hands to God's ownership, that work is put under divine protection." “Nehemiah also reestablished the temple service as David had organized it (vv. 44-47). He did for the second temple what David had done for the first temple.” “This was the greatest day in the history of the restoration community. Israel was now back in the land more securely and more faithful to God than it had been since the first exiles had returned. Nehemiah had succeeded in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, reestablishing the Mosaic Law as Israel's authority, and reorganizing the temple ministry in harmony with God's will.” "... as facilitator of political stability and as the resolute upholder of the law, Nehemiah's mission has messianic features about it as well. He is thus a religious reformer who can be cast into the very best traditions of a Josiah or a Hezekiah." "The dedication of the newly built wall of Jerusalem is a climax to the books of Ezra and Nehemiah." Nehemiah's single-mindedness of purpose, attention to detail, willingness to delegate authority, dedication to service, and dependence on God were combined in a man who can simply be labeled as a servant of God." Nehemiah's Reforms -He ended the Jews' practice of usury among themselves (5:6-12). -He forewent the governor's food allowance (5:13-19). -He led the people in recommitting to the Mosaic Law (9:38; 10:28-31). -He reinstituted support for the temple (10:32-39). -He distributed the returnees in cities (11:1—12:26). -He dedicated the wall (12:27-47). -He excluded the foreigners (13:1-3). -He expelled Tobiah from the temple (13:4-7). -He renewed financial support for the temple (13:10-14). -He re-established regular Sabbath observance (13:15-22). -He corrected the people by dissolving mixed marriages (13:23-27). -He purified the priests and Levites in several ways (13:28-31). "In many ways like the Torah and Deuteronomistic Narrative, Ezra-Nehemiah is a success story followed by repeated tragic rebellions ending with glimmers of hope. ... The Ezra-Nehemiah narrative shows readers the constant need to repent and turn to God's will, but not to trust in temporary reforms." ---------------------------------------------------------- My Answer - It is the purpose of the creator of the universe that we are gifted with a moral sense of duty and behavior. Imbedded in some of us is an ability to lead others in a Godly and worthy effort. Whether or not a leader knows it, any greatness they achieve is though belief and adherence to these principals.
MS

Michael Scaman

From the start of when David moved the ark to Mt Zion, he sent musicians there, Asaph the seer was one (Asaph was also from the clan of Korah aka sons of Korah only a more specific branch) Now with the temple descendants of Asaph are making music at the second temple. Singing seems to combine affections and truth in a way other things do not. Celebrate shows up in the psalms mostly related to deliverance A result of Jesus work on the cross for the nations Psalm 22:29 All the thriving people of the earth will join the celebration and worship; all those who are descending into the grave will bow before him, including those who cannot preserve their lives. Related to forgiveness (directly following a psalm about Jesus work on the cross in Psalm 31) Psalm 32:7 You are my hiding place; you protect me from distress. You surround me with shouts of joy from those celebrating deliverance. (Selah) Psalm 116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance, and call on the name of the Lord. Psalm 118:15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly. The Lord’s right hand conquers. A longing for restoration (following the Psalm of Jesus betrayal by Judas in Psalms 41) Psalm 42:4 I will remember and weep. For I was once walking along with the great throng to the temple of God, shouting and giving thanks along with the crowd as we celebrated the holy festival. Some day the nations will celebrate Psalm 47 For the music director, by the Korahites; a psalm. All you nations, clap your hands. Shout out to God in celebration. And there are false celebrations Psalm 67:4 Let foreigners rejoice and celebrate. For you execute justice among the nations, and govern the people living on earth. (Selah) And commanded ones Psalm 95:2 Let us enter his presence with thanksgiving. Let us shout out to him in celebration. Even personified by nature and there are many such celebrations in scripture. Trees clap. Rivers clap. Psalm 96:12 Let the fields and everything in them celebrate. Then let the trees of the forest shout with joy Mountains sing. Psalm 98:8 Let the rivers clap their hands! Let the mountains sing in unison And a warning not to let rocks sing for you about Jesus. Jesus even told one group if they didn't sing the rocks would praise in context about Himself. Quite a claim. Jesus speaking of praise surrounding himself “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!
MS

Michael Scaman

My favorite celebration is in Isaiah. Isaiah opens with 'listen oh heavens and hear oh earth for the LORD speaks' calling the court of solemn consideration of judgement to session Isaiah changes this to a song of redemption by heaven and earth after chapter 40 and several times it becomes "Sing oh heavens , and rejoice mountains and hills for the Lord redeemed Jacob"
SB

Sue Bohlin

Loved your devo, Chris, especially making me laugh out loud with God's "create-the-universe list"!! God's Party Girl here. I tooooooooootally get celebrating! As often as possible, for any reason at all! And I see that Jesus wants us to receive HIS joy. "These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full." (John 15:11) "“Now I am coming to you. I told them many things while I was with them in this world so they would be filled with My joy." (John 17:13) So all the joy, all the rejoicing, all the loud celebratory singing of praise and thanksgiving music that we see in Nehemiah 18--THAT is a reflection of God's heart for us. Not checking boxes, not trying to avoid his mean face (which would belong to a false god, not the true loving heavenly Father of the Bible), not an expectation of perfection we can never attain this side of eternity. HIs heart is, "Enter into My joy! I love you! Come ON!!!!"
AL

Amy Lowther

1. My heart is aligned with God that He deserves all of the glory when I have big accomplishments. God adds quality to all accomplishments. 2. Celebrating the holidays will be important because they offer opportunities to acknowledge what has gone on, what is going on, and what is ahead. 3. Helping others during the holidays will be a way to celebrate God.