Nehemiah

I wrapped up my reading of Nehemiah last night. 

• Nehemiah learns of the trouble in Jerusalem and lack of walled protection and cries and prays for his repentance to be heard
• Nehemiah severs the king's wine
• Nehemiah is sad in front of the king, Artaxerxes, who notices his sad heart and asks - He tells him his sadness over his city, Jerusalem and asks to go and rebuild
• King grants permission and letters to pass through safely to Jerusalem
• Some officers were upset by Nehemiah's arrival
• Nehemiah inspected the walls at night and plans the rebuilding
• Many people repaired sections of the wall
• There were enemies of the wall building forcing builders to split their time between building and protecting, everyone carried weapons always and stay in the city to guard
• People complained of lack of food and heavy taxes and interest hurting them
• Nehemiah called important people and leaders to give the people back their extra charges and land
• He also didn't take the allocation (what people had to give) for governor's food and shared what he had with other daily
• Nehemiah's enemies tried to stop him and harm him; he refused to meet with them and asked for strength
• Wall rebuilt in 52 days - new Levites, gatekeepers, singers, etc. are appointed
• Ezra reads the book of teachings to the people and they understand and follow
• Israel confesses their sin and their ancestors sin
• They pray displaying their knowledge of the book of teachings and describe out God
• They make an agreement to keep the book of teachings
• People from the town of Judah threw lots for people to come live in Jerusalem
• Priests and Levites are named
• The wall is offered to God
• They sent the foreigners way as God instructed in the book of teachings
• Nehemiah had gone to see the king and was away; he returned and did not like what he found and purified again
• He set reminders to keep the Sabbath holy and remember not to marry foreigners