Nehemiah chapters 8, 9 and 10 described the transformation of the people of God by the word of God. They had returned from Babylon to resettle Jerusalem and its surrounding territory and Ezra the scribe and priest had opened up the word of God to them. Chapter 8 describes the reading and the teaching of the law throughout the days of the feasts that dominated the seventh month of the Jewish year. Chapter 9 described the repentance of the people as they realized that the law had not been obeyed by their fathers and had largely been ignored in their own generation. And then chapter 10 described their commitment by way of covenant with God to keep the law and to revive and support the worship of the temple. Now bracketing those three chapters, 8, 9 and 10, are chapters that contain lists of names. Chapters 7, chapter 11 which we read, and chapter 12. In chapter 7, we have the list of those who initially returned from Babylonia to rebuild the temple under the leadership of Zerubbabel and Yeshua the priest. Then in chapters 11 and 12 we have the lists of those who subsequently returned with Ezra and Nehemiah. These chapters are presenting to us the citizens of the restored kingdom in the resettled territory of Jerusalem and Judah. And it's to this that we give our attention this evening. But I want us to keep in mind the final statement of the section found in chapters 8 through 10. We will not neglect the house of our God. We will not neglect the house of our God. I think that that phrase is really essential to us gaining any benefit from these chapters that for the most part list the names of ancient Israelites. But as we consider then these chapters, I want to do so under three headings, the first of which is their places. Here are a people who have returned from captivity in Babylonia. They have returned to the territory that their ancestors had once inhabited but it is a shrunken territory. The territory of Judah in the days of the kings of Persia was much smaller than Judah had been in the days of David and Solomon, for example, or even in the days of the kings that followed them during the period of the divided kingdom. And so as they return, for the most part they are people from Judah and from Benjamin, which is a smaller tribe closely associated with Judah. But with others from the other 10 tribes mixed among them, they're coming back to a region where many of them don't have a place. they don't have the inheritance that was prescribed to their forefathers under the law of Moses and during the days of Joshua. And so as they come back, there's a question, where do they settle? Where do they live? And for the most part, it would seem that they sought to inhabit the towns and the villages throughout the region of Judah, with some going a little bit further into the territory of Benjamin to the north, which is partly taken over by Samaria. and some move a little bit further to the south, territory that once belonged to Judah but is now under the banner of Idumea, and some go further to the west. that is in other territories, all of which are under the Empire of Persia, so they can settle anywhere there, they can put down their roots anywhere there, and perhaps some of them are doing just that, they're putting down their roots in the places where their ancestors had lived before them. And so through all the countryside these returning Jewish captives are settling down. Jerusalem is still a city largely in ruins. Yes, the temple has been rebuilt a generation or two earlier. under the reign or the rule and guardianship of Zerubbabel and Yeshua the high priest. Yes the walls have been rebuilt in this current generation who have just returned with Nehemiah but largely the city is uninhabited and With a small population, we read in chapter 7 and verse 4, the city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt. all of their attention has gone into rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, ensuring that it was once again protected from their enemies. Of course with the permission of the King of Persia, with his support both with encouragement and with finances and resources in order to do so. But with their focus on the rebuilding of the walls, the only homes that are inhabitable are those that have survived the ransacking of the city in the days of Nebuchadnezzar and perhaps a few shacks that have been erected in the intervening period. none of the houses had been rebuilt upon Nehemiah's return and so there is a concern that the city not only be rebuilt in terms of its walls but be re-inhabited in terms of its homes and so as chapter 11 begins bearing in mind verse 4 of chapter 7 The leaders of the people lived in Jerusalem, this would be appropriate for them to be in this capital city and be together where they can take counsel with one another in the leadership of the people. But the rest of the people had to cast lots to determine who would live in Jerusalem. One out of ten. were to live in Jerusalem while 9 out of 10 remained in the other towns. And we're told that the people blessed all the men who willingly offered to live in Jerusalem. There's some debate among the commentators as to whether verse 2 is an expression of the willingness of those upon whom the lot was cast or whether these are people over and above those upon whom the lot was cast who volunteered to live in Jerusalem. Either way, Jerusalem was to be inhabited. And as they cast lots to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, there was a willingness to submit to that. For, after all, the people understood that God was sovereign over all of these things. as we read in Proverbs chapter 16 and in verse 33 the lot is cast in the lap but it's every decision is from the Lord and so as they're casting these lots they understand that it is the Lord who is determining which of these families are to relocate from the countryside of Judah and Benjamin to live in the city of Jerusalem. It would entail for them perhaps a move out of the comforts of homes in which they've settled to have to rebuild and establish their lives within the city. It may mean for them a change of labour from being farmers perhaps out in the countryside to now well perhaps being merchants in the marketplace of Jerusalem. Here was a change that would affect people's lives and yet they were willing to take on this change and to move according to the will of God. Paul tells us when he speaks to the people in Athens, that God determines our times and our places. He said to the people there, the God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place. There are no accidents with God. The casting of the lot for these Israelites was not luck, it was the will of God being determined and the willingness of the people to then live in Jerusalem was an expression of their submission to the will of God and we ought to learn from them that in our own lives our time and our places have been determined by God We are not born in the wrong century, though some of us might with rose-coloured spectacles think that a past time was a better place and time to live. No, God has determined our days, our places, our times. and we would do well to submit to God and to understand and learn his will for us where he has placed us and when he has placed us in the history of this world. In fact the places of the people is important in the unfolding story of the resettling of Jerusalem and Judah. We see their places, their various places, their diverse places and situations and settings. For some of them, it requires a move, a change. For some, a substantial change, but all of it has a purpose. And that leads us into the second thing that I want to draw out from these chapters. and that is to consider their roles. As we read through chapter 11 and that would have been echoed in chapter 7 and in chapter 12 had we read those chapters as well, we see that the people had various roles that they had to fulfil. Perhaps most clearly, we have those who are associated directly with the temple that was located in Jerusalem. And because of that, Jerusalem was such an important city, described as the holy city. For here was the central place of worship for all those who called themselves the people of God. And so associated with the temple were priests, those who were descendants of Aaron, the first high priest. There were the Levites, and they were the servants who assisted the priests in the work of the temple. Over time, other servants were added to them in the days of David and Solomon. some of these weren't even Israelites but by this time they have become such a part of the nation that they are considered as such, they did much of the manual labor that assisted the Levites in the fulfillment of their tasks. Interestingly we have the gatekeepers described here and we might immediately think, given all of the focus in the earlier chapters of this book, of these are the gatekeepers of the city of Jerusalem. There they all be at the sheep gate and at the temple gate and at the other gates around the city. But no, these gatekeepers aren't the gatekeepers of the city, they are the gatekeepers of the temple. You can look at First Chronicles and chapter 9 where we have a repetition of this list of names and their tasks with added description of what their tasks entailed. And so these gatekeepers had responsibility for guarding the temple, its various entrances and particularly the storehouses that were associated with the temple to which the people brought their offerings and their tithes and their shekel every year to support the ministry of the House of the Lord. And then there were the singers. The singers had been established by David prior to Solomon building the temple to lead the people in praises of God. And so these singers are also mentioned here in this list. Here are people, various people, various roles, all to do with the temple of God in Jerusalem. Some of these people lived in Jerusalem. Others of these people lived in the surrounding towns and villages. Some would be drafted into Jerusalem for perhaps a week at a time, this would have been true of the gatekeepers for example, where they would do their shift and then they would return to their homes elsewhere. Some of the priests would have specific responsibilities at specific times according to lots that were cast. Some of the Levites had responsibilities in the territories round about Jerusalem to lead and to teach the people the ways of God. And so there were responsibilities, diverse responsibilities associated with the temple, but not necessarily located within the temple. Then there are other leaders in the city, those who had responsibility for the government of the city. We're told that those leaders lived in Jerusalem. As I said before, that makes sense, but they weren't the only people who lived in Jerusalem. If you cast your mind back to chapter 3 and the description of the rebuilding of the walls and all of the names that were listed there, you'll remember that there were potters, and there were silversmiths, and there were goldsmiths, and there were merchants, and there were bakers, and these different groups of people had responsibility for rebuilding the wall next to or abutting their places of business or their homes. So we know that they lived within Jerusalem. But then some of these would have lived out in the country as well. There would have been craftsmen and there would have been merchants in the towns and the villages, not only in Jerusalem. And of course, the country would have been the place where the farmers lived and did their work, such an essential work to provide for this reinstated, restored, resettled Kingdom of God in Jerusalem and Judah. Jerusalem was central. The temple was the focal point for all of the people, for all of the citizens of this kingdom. Each played a part in the kingdom whose focus was the temple and the worship of God. In fact, everything revolves around the temple. the great dominant portion of these lists is given over to the priests and the Levites and the servants and the singers who did the work of the temple. And all of the life of the nation was focused upon the temple. While they had diverse roles, their roles all ministered to the worship of God in the temple. In one way or another they were each contributing to the lives of the citizens so that the citizens could honor and worship God through the sacrificial system of the law of Moses. This dominated their lives. Every week was governed according to a heartbeat, a pulse of worship. Their seasons were marked by worship. Their movements and their history were celebrated by worship. And so this whole nation has at its center point the Temple in Jerusalem. Wherever the people lived, they lived for Jerusalem and its Temple. Whatever the people's roles, their roles supplied the needs of the nation in worshipping God in the Temple. And that leads us then to their goal, for they had a goal. In all their life there was a goal. In Nehemiah, that goal is initially the fulfillment of a particular task, the rebuilding of the wall as he describes it in chapter 2 and in verse 17 as he speaks to the leaders of the people and he tells them, come let us build the wall of Jerusalem that we may no longer suffer derision. The nation had become a disgrace, it had become a nation to mock, this great nation that had been so glorious during the days of Solomon had suffered so much that it appears that their God has forsaken them and they have been reduced to being slaves. Nehemiah's concern was to remove the disgrace upon the nation because the disgrace upon the nation was a dishonor to God. He was brought into disrepute because of the nation and its condition. And so Nehemiah's desire is yes to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, but not just so that he has a fortified city over which to rule. His enemies had tried to undermine the work by saying that Nehemiah was trying to make himself king of Jerusalem. This was not Nehemiah's goal, this was not Nehemiah's desire. Nehemiah's goal was to remove the disgrace that had fallen upon the people who called Yahweh as their God. and he was bringing the people together with Jerusalem as the center and the temple as the focal point, he was bringing the people together to serve, to serve one another and to serve the work of worshipping God. And as we consider then these few glimpses that we have into the movements of these people and the work that Nehemiah is supervising among them, we get this sense that the individual doesn't matter so much as the whole. The whole is greater than the individual. They say in verse 34, We the priests, the Levites, and the people have cast lots for the wood offering to bring it into the house of our God according to our Father's houses at times appointed year by year to burn on the altar of the Lord our God as it is written in the law. We obligate ourselves to bring in the firstfruits of our ground and the firstfruits of all the fruit of every tree, year by year, to the house of the Lord. Also to bring to the house of our God, to the priests who minister in the house of our God, the firstborn of our sons and of our cattle, as it is written in the law, and the firstborn of our herds and our flocks, and to bring the first of our dough and our contributions, the fruit of every tree, the wine, the oil, to the priests, to the chambers of the house of our God. You see how everything is focused on that. They obligate themselves, they are administering themselves according to lot in order to ensure that the service of the temple is upheld. For ultimately, there isn't the temple that is the focal point, but it is the God upon, who has put his name upon this temple. So they say, we will not neglect the house of our God. Their lives are focused upon the house of God. Wherever they live, whatever their roles, it is all serving the purpose of honoring and glorifying God in the temple in Jerusalem. So we see that they had their different places, they had their various roles, but they had this united goal. to bring glory and honour to God as they served together, worshipping him. Now the Kingdom of God today isn't circumscribed by geographical boundaries. Its citizens are scattered throughout all the world. Nevertheless, groups of the Kingdom's citizens are drawn together into churches. And those churches are a microcosm of the whole. They serve to reflect the whole. And just as these people in Nehemiah's day lived in various places and had various roles but had a single goal, Here we have people settled in different places, fulfilling various roles, but with the single goal of serving together to the glory of God before a watching world. We are to say, in effect, we will not neglect the house of our God. This is to be the priority of our lives. Where we live ought to serve the cause of Christ in this world. Can I meaningfully and in reality be a part of the kingdom of God and its work where I live? that may determine some of the choices we make in where we are going to live. Our roles, our functions, the jobs that we choose to undertake, while there is great freedom for us to choose according to our desires and according to our gifts, we still ought to be asking the question, will this further the honour of God in this world? and his work of drawing people into his kingdom, or by choosing this vocation, by pursuing this career, will I neglect the house of God? You see in everything, the house of God, the worship of God, the service of God, the honour of God, in community with the citizens of the kingdom of God, ought to be our top priority. We ought always to say, whatever I do, wherever I go, I will not neglect the house of my God. And to do so, we must do so alongside others. Priests, Levite servants, gatekeepers, singers, leaders, potters, silversmiths, goldsmiths, merchants, bakers, farmers, craftsmen. Doesn't matter. who they are or what they're doing as those who are citizens of the kingdom of heaven there is a requirement to work together to serve one another in serving the glory of God in our community where God has placed us. So may God help us to place His glory and His church as the priority of our lives in all of the choices that we make, and to use our places and our roles to further the glory of God and the kingdom of our Savior. Let's pray. Oh our Father, we do ask that you would help us to learn from these Jews of Nehemiah's day and their willingness to submit to the lot that was cast and the requirements that were placed on them, knowing that in it all you are working out your purposes to rebuild them together as a kingdom and a people who would bring glory and honor to you and ultimately would result in their good and in their being blessed through the Messiah who was to come into the world. And so with the Messiah having come and his saving work on the cross having been accomplished, and we now having been called into his kingdom to further the work of his worship in this world, we pray that you would help us to submit to your sovereignty and to put our hands to the task that you have appointed, that we each together in our place according to our diverse roles, may honour and glorify our King and Saviour Jesus Christ, and his kingdom may be extended in this world. We ask in his name. Amen.