The Dedication of the Walls
Nehemiah was committed to connecting Israel to its past, especially a past where Yahweh’s promise to return exiles to the land and the city was fulfilled. Nehemiah recites a list of those who had originally returned to the land.
The Priest (1-7)
Twenty-two heads of priestly families are mentioned here—two short of all who returned, meaning two families did not completely resettle but possibly returned to Persia (1-7).
The Levites (8-9)
Eight heads of the Levitical families are recorded here, while only three are mentioned in Ezra (2:40). This could mean that after Ezra recorded the Levites, other families may have made their way to Judea during Zerubbabel’s reign (8-9).
The Priests (10-11)
Jeshua was the High Priest under Zerubbabel; a century later and by the time of Nehemiah, only Jeshua, Joiakim, and Eliashib had been priests. Eliashib was the main priest serving during Nehemiah’s governorship (10). Two other priests are named; the last is Jaddua, who Josephus claimed welcomed Alexander the Great into the city (11).
The Second Generation of Priests (12-21)
Joiakim was the priest after Jeshua, and the family leaders of priests are listed here by Nehemiah. Twenty-one families retained their family name, continuing the tradition of not changing the family name with each new generation but keeping the 21 families organized by name, led by the leader of each generation (12-21).
Levitical Families (22-26)
Nehemiah recorded the Levitical family leaders and their associates who sang and were accountable for the gates and storerooms. Nehemiah was seeking to establish not only that family lines were respected, but also that they weren’t just making up worship; the Jews under Nehemiah were seeking to reestablish the order of worship commanded by David (22-26).
The Dedication of the Walls (27-43)
All the Levites were asked to come to Jerusalem for the dedication of the walls so that they might all serve in the ceremony. They were mainly to make up choirs and orchestras who would offer celebratory music of thanksgiving (27-29).
The first order of business was purification, which meant all the priests and Levites offered burnt and sin offerings, surrendering their lives wholly to Yahweh and committing their hearts to Him as the ultimate center of their lives (30).
A great moment of celebration and dedication occurred when the organizers of the event split the musicians and singers into two groups, each group walking the walls. The southern group went in one direction playing and singing (31-37), while the northern group headed the other direction, singing and playing (38-39). The two groups made their way around the city and then joined each other as one worship-ensemble at the Temple (40-43).
The Collection of the Tithe (44-47)
On the day the Jews dedicated the wall, they also ordained men to collect and store the tithes, offerings, and first fruits. They collected the agrarian and cattle portions, as the Law directed, to be used by the priests and the Levites, which required storage areas.
The Jews took joy in giving, due to the work the Levites did (44). The Levites were:
first in performing sacrifices and services to keep Yahweh the ultimate and only center of their lives
second in providing worship music so the nation could worship Yahweh from their hearts as their ultimate center of devotion
The priests did not just make up any form of worship by borrowing from pagan worship practices, but they followed David’s direction for worship, as did Zerubbabel and the first exiles to return to the land (45-46).
Also, according to David’s practice, all Israel brought the tithes to the Temple to support the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers, while the Levites, singers, and gatekeepers gave their tithes for the support of the 21 priestly families—those descended from Aaron. All were collected, stored, and distributed just as David had set up so Israel could be a nation taught and trained to make Yahweh their ultimate center (47).
Psalms 120-134 are all “Pilgrimage Songs” and were written to be sung by the Jews on their way up to Jerusalem for the three feasts held there each year [the feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Booths]. Ten of the Psalms are anonymous, four are attributed to David (122, 124,131,133), and one to Solomon (127)].
I have written these chapter devotionals as Jesus would have sung them and heard them as He was going to Jerusalem to celebrate feasts as a Boy, as a Man, and then ultimately in His final ascent to Jerusalem as the Passover culminated at Calvary. I will especially let these Psalms flow from Jesus’ own lips as we imagine a bit of what might have been going through His mind as He walked His disciples to that city 3,800 feet above sea level—the city in these Psalms referred to as Jerusalem and Zion.
Some imagine these Psalms were written for Solomon's Temple, each Psalm written for the fifteen steps leading up to the inner court—one Psalm at a time sung by the Levitical choirs accompanied by musicians as the priest made his way up each step.
Others imagine the Psalms were written for the exiles returning from Babylon to Jerusalem. Still others place them at 445 B.C. during Nehemiah's time, after the walls were built, when the Jews ascended to the temple for the Feast of Tabernacles.
Whenever these Psalms were written, they became songs sung by Pilgrims moving toward Jerusalem for one of the three feasts of Israel.
Psalm 123
The Psalm of Mercy
The weight of racism is subconsciously weighing on the Psalmist as he feels the disgust from his captors while the Jews seek to carve out a new life among the Babylonians and then the Persians. This Psalm was written in captivity and turned into a Psalm of Ascent to be sung on the way to temple feasts and Yahweh-celebrations, but especially to be sung as the exiles in Babylon made their way back to Jerusalem.
A word deserving scourging from the human tongue due to its historical usage is the “n-word.” No person, for any reason, should be subject to the vile degradation of this obscenity—especially a people with a culture so rich in ability, noble in endurance, strong in adversity, and to be admired for patience beneath years of unholy abuse.
This psalm is from an author of a race who came near to that kind of scorn and contempt. His life was exhausted from the perpetual angst of being different and other than the majority race. The Jews in Babylon were trivialized and second-rated into the dust. From these events came the music of heaven, the 123rd psalm.
This is the fourth psalm into the pilgrims' journey as they sang about their place of denigration among the nations of the world. They dealt with the racist reality of their own life. They came to grips with being low-browed into submission.
The psalmist compares the singers of the psalms to exiled slaves who were treated like mere property and spurned as less than the rest.
Jesus, of course, sang this psalm as He moved toward Jerusalem when He became the Passover Lamb. He sang the psalm as He was Himself a bit of a freak to the Jewish aristocracy and was known as a son of a “b*!#h” to those who cursed Him. This would have been Jesus' own version of the “n-word.”
Lifting Up the Eyes (1-2)
The psalm begins amazingly. The psalmist, however, is unlike the tax-collector in Jesus' story (Luke 18:13) who could not look up at God. The psalmist here, whose heart has been beaten to pieces with contempt, lifts his eyes and looks into the eyes of the One sitting on the throne in heaven (1).
His boldness is shocking, as the psalmist looks at Yahweh as though He were a slave, even as one lower than a slave by that culture's estimation—a slave girl.
The slave should never look at the eye of the master but always away or with head down and eyes cast upon the master's or mistress' hands. Never would a slave chance the ire of looking into the master's eyes.
In this psalm, the singer is like a slave but not like a slave as humans practice slavery. The singer as slave does not keep his gaze on the hands to motion a directive. Nor does the singer-slave look to the hand for crumbs of provision. In God's economy, the singer slave looks into the face of the One enthroned. The singer slave is not concerned about hands who would beat him into submission, but looks to the face who will love him into transformation.
The Master of heaven is not looking for servants to serve Him; the Master of heaven transforms the institution of slavery and comes to serve the servants.
The whole slavery system of God is the exact opposite of the vile practice of human slavery.
The psalmist, with holy confidence, expects to see mercy in the eyes of the One enthroned, not oppression and tyranny. From God's throne flows justice, and God's justice is baptized in mercy.
Mercy is requested because the psalmist realizes that while the contemptible scourge of human slavery is vile, it is a deserved consequence.
As humans, we have all shown, in a way, a form of racism toward God. We have rejected Him, “slanging” His name into oblivion. We all have sinned and turned away from Him who is different, other than us—the Holy One. This is why when we return to Him, we cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We are, in those words, restoring honor to His being—His being other than our race. We have sought to make Him our slave, so we have all had a part in making our world a bit violent and angry.
The psalmist looks in the face of the Holy One and does not ask just for help, but also for mercy. He is certain mercy is available because when the psalmist is looking into the eyes of Yahweh, they are swimming in mercy (2).
Lift Up Your Grace (3-4)
Three times the psalmist looks into the eyes of God and asks for mercy because the contempt of those around him has pushed him to the point of exhaustion. The exiles are treated with perpetual disrespect. The exiles are always aware they are some minority race with second-rate status (3).
They have been made to feel like a slave class of people, so the psalmist expresses a sense of being satiated with worthlessness. Then the psalmist thinks again and updates his emotions in verse four, announcing that he and his people are actually feeling more than satiated in worthlessness—the ache of it all is pouring out of their hearts.
He then defines those holding Israel in contempt as those at ease. This would be the rich, the powerful, the famous.
Amos defines the proud and arrogant as those who live in ease:
They sleep on expensive sleep-number mattresses with ornate headboards.
They lounge on couches and fill themselves with Netflix.
They eat meat without regard for the animal whose life was extinguished to feed their cravings.
They sing idle songs void of God.
They drink too much alcohol.
They buy the finest cosmetics and perfumes.
They do all of the above without grieving Joseph whom they sold into slavery to enrich themselves (Amos 6:4-6, my paraphrase).
The psalmist is singing along: “We are living among those who don't care about us because we mean nothing to them. Have mercy upon us, Yahweh. Have mercy; look at our plight and have mercy.”
When there is no justice, there is a throne in heaven and a God whose being oozes mercy. The psalmist goes to God's throne for justice. He looks in God's eyes knowing Yahweh rules, God's justice will flow, and they will be sent mercy.