From Walls to Lines (3/27/23)

Nehemiah 7

NEHEMIAH

4/2/2023

Image by skalekar1992 from Pixabay

Subscribe here:
Read: Nehemiah 7 (AMP)
Biblical Lesson…

In this chapter, Nehemiah had accomplished the first step of God's assignment toward rebuilding Jerusalem.  He had rebuilt the walls, hung the gates, set up security authorization and processes. As a next assignment, the Lord placed it on Nehemiah's heart to assess and confirm the familial lines of those exiles who had returned to Jerusalem. The census was to insure Mosaic law was followed and familial lines regained what was rightfully allotted to them and to note who gave what gifts to the rebuilding of the wall.

In the Old and New Testaments, many censuses are noted. Some censuses were God commanded while others were done solely for governmental rule:

  1. In Numbers 1 and Numbers 26, the Lord commands Moses to take a census of Israel's men at the beginning and end of the Exodus according to the filial lines of Jacob; 

  2. When a census was taken in disobedience to the Lord by Israel, calamity was brought upon the Israelites (2 Samuel 24); and

  3. Around Jesus' birth, we see the return of Joseph and Mary to Bethlehem for the Roman census (Luke 2).

Today's Version…

Today, the census requests sent out to the population are just for government stats. So, when reading the Bible, we don't really consider the importance of a census. Yet, from the Bible, we know that God is the God of order and administration and heritage. In a way, censuses should remind us of where we come from and who we are, but many of us have become desensitized to our individual, familial, cultural history and in some ways lose a bit of our identity and uniqueness because we are considered to be just another number to governments requesting the information.

What to do…

Consider the following:

  1. Journal about: If you lived in Biblical times, would you be able to identify the "hometown" of your ancestors? Have you been to that "hometown"? Compare and contrast God commanded censuses and those issued by governments.

  2. Pray about what the most recent census revealed to the government. Does it reveal more than a number?