The Biblical record shows that Nehemiah emerged as the chief man in the restoration of Jerusalem and the kingdom of Judah. In the first chapter of Nehemiah we can see that he was a devout man, and deeply concerned about his brethren. They had, by this time, (about 90 years from the decree of Cyrus king of Persia, and the return of the Jews from Babylon) made little progress in the restoration of the city of Jerusalem. The reason for this state of affairs is told in Ezra 4:4, where the enemies of Israel had frustrated the people of Judah in their building all the days of Cyrus, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia, and hindered the work of restoration until the second year of his reign (Ezra 5:2).
Then rose up Zerubbabel and Jeshua and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem, and with them were the prophets of God, helping them. Nehemiah was very sad and he mourned and wept when he heard that those who were left in the land, who were the descendants of the remnant who had escaped the captivity (when the kingdom of Judah was destroyed never to emerge as a kingdom again) were in great affliction and reproach, with the walls of Jerusalem broken down, and the gates thereof were burned with fire (Neh. 1:2-4).
There are three Nehemiahs mentioned in Ezra and Nehemiah; but the one we are considering is Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah, who returned from Babylon about B.C. 446 in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes Longimanus the king. That was 13 years after that other great man Ezra the priest-scribe had returned from Babylon. This Nehemiah was the Tirshatha, meaning the Governor, for the kingship of Judah had gone forever and a leader was essential to rule and make progress in the restoration of Judah as a nation.
He was a man of courage, faith and determination, which were essential in the task he had to perform. He was evidently a trust worthy and loyal servant of King Artaxerxes, to be his cup-bearer. It was very strange that a captive should have this responsible honour, for kings were very suspicious of those who handled their food and drink, for it was easy when a person was under the influence of strong drink to put poison in their wine.
Nehemiah’s name means “Jah is comfort”, and he was well named, for he was a source of comfort and strength, and he exhorted the people to greater effort. He knew that the troubles that had befallen the nation were because of the sins of Judah and Israel. In Neh. chapter 1, we read of the wonderful prayer of Nehemiah drawing the peoples’ attention to the fact that they had not kept the Lord’s commandments, statutes, and judgements. The Lord had said through His servant Moses, “If ye transgress I will scatter you abroad among the nations; But if ye turn unto me, and keep my commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet I will gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there … 0 Lord I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servants who desire to fear thy name, and prosper I pray thee thy servant this day and grant him mercy in the sight of this man (Artaxerxes). For I was the king’s cupbearer.” (vv.8- 1 1)
We read that God hearkened to his request in prayer and allowed him to return to the land of his fathers. Of course, the hand of God was the motivating power behind the king agreeing to Nehemiah’s request. That the king was loath to give leave of absence, chapter 2:6 shows, for the king said, “How far away art thou going and when wilt thou return?” When the works of restoration had been accomplished the walls built and the gates erected, then Ezra the scribe-priest would advise Nehemiah of the prophecy of Ezekiel who had been a priest in Judah. He had been taken captive to Babylon at the time of king Jehoiachin’s captivity and knew what was required to re-establish the nation. That is what the last chapters of the book of Ezekiel are mostly concerned with.
Many of us have, because of their placing at the end of the book, believed that these chapters stand related to the Kingdom age. They do not, for these chapters were not written on one parchment, but on many, and were placed where they could be fitted in to form a book. They are not a continuous historical record. I want to make it quite clear that I believe that a temple will be erected in Jerusalem as a house of worship and prayer for all people subsequent to Armageddon; but these chapters have little to do with that time. From the 43rd chapter, which is partly visionary of the Kingdom age, from the 18th verse onwards, the prophecy becomes increasingly Mosaic. The further one reads of these last chapters of Ezekiel the more one becomes convinced that mostly it is a restatement of the Mosaic law and its ceremonial enactments, practically word for word, which the priest Ezekiel would know so well.
Chapter 44 refers to two types of priests. One type followed after the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat and his idolatrous cult, and most probably continued that idolatry in the cities of the Merles where the Assyrians placed them. When Assyria was destroyed, those Israelitish captives most likely would be removed by Nebuchadnezzar to Babylon to join his work force; for the kings were busy builders with plenty of slave labour. Some would return with the returned Jews to Jerusalem.
The second type of priests were the righteous ones called the sons of Zadok. Place no importance on the capital letter of the name Zadok, for there are no capitals in the Hebrew text, the word simply means righteousness or justice. Ezekiel relates both those types of priests to the time of Israel’s great sin instigated by Jereboam’s (the son of Nebat) worship of the golden calves.
Ezra 9:1 shows that the princes (heads of tribes) complained that the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, had not separated themselves from the Canaanitish people of the land, doing according to their abominations. Verse 4 of chapter 9 shows Ezra’s deep concern that the people of Israel were transgressing so that the holy seed had mingled with the Canaanites and taken wives for themselves and for their sons. Therefore, the status of these sinning priests had to be sorted out; and because they could not establish their genealogy they were separated from the priesthood.
The Tirshatha said unto them that they should not eat of the most holy things, till there stood up a priest with Urim and Thum-mim (Exodus 28:30). A priest with the breastplate of judgment could sort them out. Ezekiel chapter 44 shows the relationship to God of the two priest types, the unrighteous ones should do the menial tasks (vv. 11-14), but the righteous priests, the seed of Zadok, would come near the Lord to minister, and to offer the fat and the blood. Verse 15 to the end of the chapter is purely a re-statement of the Mosaic Law. Go through the chapter verse by verse and compare them with Leviticus and Deuteronomy and you will see all the evidence you could require to prove it is Mosaic.
The question that many of us ask is, Who is the prince in these chapters? The Hebrew word for prince used in Ezekiel is “Nasi” and means “lifted up or exalted”. It refers to all manner of nobles, to chiefs and heads of tribes, and is not related to kings sons as we know them. An example of princes is in Nehemiah 12:31, “Then I brought up the princes of Judah upon the walls and appointed two great companies of them upon the walls of the city that gave thanks”. The most commonly occurring word for prince in the Old Testament (approx. 200 times) is “Sar”, meaning “head, official, captain”. This is the word in Isaiah 9:6, “Sar shalom” Prince of peace. The prince, I believe, in these chapters of Ezekiel, is Nehemiah. True, Ezekiel does not mention him by name, only by Governor (Tir-shatha) probably because it was not revealed to him who would be the Governor of the restored Judah. It certainly was not Messiah.
Let me prove this in one passage of Scripture. This was on the passover day. Ezekiel 45:22, “And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering”. Need I say that this is not Messiah, or that this passover has no relationship to the future age.
In chapter 46:16-18, this prince (Nasi) is evidently a family man. The prince can give a gift to any of his sons and it shall be their possession by inheritance. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it should be his to the year of liberty; after, it shall return to the prince, but his inheritance shall be his sons’ for them.
To prove conclusively that these chapters are related to the restoration of Judah on their return from Babylon and not the Kingdom age, let me draw your attention to a verse quoted in a previous article “Dan the Serpent
in a previous article — “Dan The Serpent Tribe” (Believer, Jan.-Feb. 1974). In Ezekiel 48:1, Dan is allotted the portion of the land from which they had been taken into captivity by Assyria. But in Revelation 7, the tribe of Dan is excluded from any inheritance in a future age.
The reasons were discussed in “Dan The Serpent Tribe” — a most idolatrous tribe with a false priesthood all the days (about 300 years) that the house of God was in Shiloh. Therefore, Ezekiel 48 must refer to the reallocation of land to Dan during the Ezra-Nehemiah restoration and not in a future age.
Daniel The Prophet – (Part 3)