 OK, we'll start the session. We have a raised hand over here. So brother, if you'd like to ask your question, yeah, you can go ahead. Or if it is just accidentally that you raised your hand, then it's all right. So if you have a question, go ahead. Others will begin with our class. OK, maybe there is no question. All right then. So before the break, we were looking at chronicles. And now we will very briefly look at Ezra and Nehemiah. All right, so we talked about how Nebuchadnezzar comes and he takes away the people of Judah in three batches. Three times he comes and attacks. Each time he takes away a different set of people as slaves. So because God's judgment has come upon the entire land of Judah, which has been in a backslidden state, a lot of idolatry was there. So much idolatry that the people were, in fact, ignoring the temple, not even aware that there is a scroll of Law of Moses available. They were in that state. And so God's judgment comes upon them. They are taken away to Babylon. And they are over there for 70 years. But God promises that at the end of 70 years, they will be able to come back to their own land. And so Ezra and Nehemiah are written. The events of Ezra and Nehemiah are take place when the exiles come back from Babylon. So to look briefly at the structure of the book of Ezra, we will see that the first three chapters, Ezra chapters 1 to 3, are written in the time of the King Cyrus. In your APC notes, you have a couple of tables which talk about which king was available during which events in the book of Ezra. So there are a couple of tables which talk about this. So Ezra chapters 1 to 3 actually take place during the rule of King Cyrus. King Cyrus is the one who makes a proclamation and says that those who wish to can return back to their homelands. And we, in fact, read in Second Chronicles where it says that the Lord moved the heart of the king to undertake this policy. Because up to that time, the Assyrians and all the other powerful empires, their basic policy was that once they conquer those areas, they'll have a firm control over them. And in fact, the Assyrian policy was that they'll remove the people from who are living in a particular region and they'll put them in a different place. And then the people who are there in that other place, they will bring them and put them over here. The idea is that people will forget their national identity and start identifying themselves as Assyrians or as Babylonians or whatever the empire which is running at that time. So that had always been the international policy. But God moves the heart of Cyrus to come up with an entirely new international policy. He decides it's very difficult to control all the nations which are now under my authority. If I try to control them through force. On the other hand, if I maintain friendly relations with them, these kingdoms may be willing to stay under my empire. And so Cyrus comes up with this new policy of being friendly towards the conquered peoples. And which is why he says all those who wish to go back to their homelands are welcome to do so. And God is the one who moves his heart to make this happen. So we all in our current age, many of us Christians, we live in societies and cultures where Christians are persecuted. Where Christians are not the ones in authority. Godly Christians are not the one in authority. We are being controlled and ruled over by others who are not friendly towards our faith. So even in situations like that, it is good to remember that it is the Lord who moves the hearts of people. He moves the hearts of those in authority to act in favor of God's people whenever there is a need. So the Lord is able to do that. Even though the international policy of all the previous emperors had been different, now God causes Cyrus to act differently so that the people have a chance to come back to their homeland. So God can do anything to fulfill his promises. Nothing is impossible for him. It doesn't matter how against the church, the people in power may be, when the time comes, the Lord will cause even those people to be moved in their hearts to show favor to the church. So for the Lord, nothing is impossible. And so here we see Cyrus not only saying that the Israelites can come back to their homeland. In fact, he even takes all the gold and silver which had been stolen from the temple and he says, take this back with you so that you can use it to rebuild your temple so that you can use it to rebuild your nation. So imagine an emperor who is being that friendly towards the people. It's a work of God, which the Lord does for his people. And so Ezra chapters one, two, and three are take place during the time of this King Cyrus. So 50,000 Jews choose to come back. This is approximately in 538 BC. So the leaders who come back along with these Jews who are returning, you basically have the governor, Zeruba Bell. Zeruba Bell is appointed as the new governor once they come back to Jerusalem. You know, he's going to be the new governor of Jerusalem. So along with him, you also have the high priest Joshua coming back. You have Prophet Haggai coming back and you also have Zechariah who is both a priest and a prophet. So all these people with the permission of Cyrus are able to come back in 538 BC back to the land of Jerusalem. And like we had mentioned in the earlier session, Jerusalem was not in a good condition. Many of the people were, many of the Jewish people were not even willing to come back. But these 50,000 Jews, they love the Lord. They want to come back to the land of Yahweh where they can worship him freely, where the temple can be rebuilt. And so with that love for God in their hearts, this small number returned back to the land. And they come back with a passion because as soon as they return back, they decide, let's start construction work. You know, let's rebuild the temple because during the Babylonian invasion, Nebuchadnezzar had completely destroyed the temple built by Solomon. That temple no longer existed. So now the people decide to, you know, construct a new temple. And so the rebuilding process starts, all right? So this is covered in your Ezra chapters one, two and three. After King Cyrus, you basically have two other kings coming to power and they are not really mentioned in the Bible, but then we find them in historical records. So after Cyrus dies, the next king who comes to the throne is actually somebody named Cambysus. And during his time is when, you know, Haggai writes the events which take place in the book of Haggai, those things happened during the time of the king, Cambysus, you know. So Haggai says, you people have suddenly stopped the construction work. You know, you started off with a lot of passion, but now almost 10 years have gone by. No, you're not bothering to, you know, to continue the construction work. And so he scolds them, he instructs them to start rebuilding the temple. Once again, all that happens, you know, in the time of the King Cambysus. After that, you have another king named Smurdus. During that time, you have the events of the book of Zechariah taking place. All right, so Zechariah also talks to the people. He tells them that they should, you know, start the sacrifices once again. They should stop neglecting the religious laws which have been given. So Zechariah does his ministry during that time. So after Cambysus and Smurdus, you have the next king coming to power. This would be Zeres. Zeres is also known as Ahasuerus, and he is the man who actually marries Esther. So during his time is when you have Ezra chapter four, covers the events of that time. So during Ezra chapter four, the people who are opposing the Israelites, they send letters to Ahasuerus saying that these Israelite people are trying to rebuild their temple. So, and this is not correct. If they rebuild their temple, then they will no longer follow you. They will no longer honor you. And so they send all kinds of accusatory letters against the people of Israel to the king, and the king orders that the temple construction work should be stopped. Okay, so that happens in Ezra chapter four. And then in Ezra chapters five and six, that is basically when Darius comes to power. So in Ezra chapters five and six, he finally agrees to allow them to once again restart the temple construction work. And so even though the original people who came back immediately started the work, because of the long break in between, partially because the people were too lazy and they had not bothered to build, and then partially later on due to the opposition that started, the entire construction work of the temple takes 20 years actually for it to be rebuilt. Okay, so finally during the time of Darius is when the work is completed. So then after Darius, you have the next king, Atta Zeres. And during this king, he allows Ezra to come back to Jerusalem along with 2,000 Jews. So that happens 59 years after the new temple has been constructed. Okay, so during the time of Atta Zeres, Ezra comes back with another batch of Jews. And then shortly two years later, even Nehemiah also comes over there. So this is basically like the chronological outline of events which take place during this time. So like we said, the Cyrus appoints Zeruba Bell as the new governor of Jerusalem and sends him back along with the Jews who are willing to return. So you basically have 50,000 Jews coming back along with Zeruba Bell. So what do you think was going on over here in the land of Jerusalem in the meantime? There were other people already living over there, some who had been left behind from the time of Nebuchadnezzar and a lot of other outsiders who had been placed over there from other regions because that had been the older policy, right? Where they'll bring people from other regions and put them over here in this land. So this entire region, this entire Palestinian region was right now occupied by people of different religions. Some of them were following a kind of Jewish faith, not a proper faith, but kind of mixture of pagan and Jewish customs and others were completely from other religions. So there were different governors appointed in this entire Mesopotamian region who were looking after different portions of territory. And now Cyrus has given permission to the Israelite people to come back and take back their land. So obviously the other governors would not have liked this because up to now they were ruling the place. They had control, they had political power, things were going smoothly for them. But now when Zeruba Bell comes back with the Jewish people to take back this territory, the other governors do not like it. And so first what they try to do is they try to form a partnership. So they approach the Israelites who have come back, they approach them and they say, we would like to partner with you in rebuilding your temple. Because after all you people and we, we all follow the same faith is what they basically say. Why are they saying that we follow the same faith as you? That is because when the mixing of the populations was done by the Babylonians, we see a little bit of background regarding this. In 2 Kings chapter 17 verses 24 up to verse 41, that entire passage, it talks about the events which had taken place in the past long ago, during the time of the Assyrians. So it's good for us to understand this background. And then we can understand why Zeruba Bell took the steps which he took and how the opposition started and what happened and all of those details we're able to understand if we can first establish this background information. So 2 Kings chapter 17, if someone could read out verses 24 and 25, 25. 2 Kings chapter 17 verses 24 and 25, if we could have someone read out please. Faster, is it 24 and 25? Yeah, 17, 24 and 25. The King of Assyria transported groups of people from Babylon, Kutuha, Awa, Hamad and Sepharavia and resettled them in the towns of Samaria, replacing the people of Israel. They took position of Samaria and lived in its towns. But since these foreign settlers did not worship the Lord when they first arrived, the Lord sent lions among them, which killed some of them. Okay, so the Assyrians take the word, the local population and put them in other places. They bring outsiders, foreigners and put them over here in the land. And these foreigners, they come over here with their own religions, with their own customs. And what is Yahweh's response? He sends lions among them, is what it says in verse 25. And so the lions begin to attack these new people who have come over here to settle in the land and the people are very scared. So they complain and they say, how can we live over here in this new place that you have brought us to? The God of this place does not like us, is allowing us to be attacked. So please, if you can send someone to teach us the religion of this place, so that at least we can follow the God of this place and please him, then maybe the lions will stop attacking. Okay, that's basically the background. So then what happens? The Assyrian king decides to send somebody. That would be in verses 27 and 28. Maybe because if someone could read out 27, 28 and 29, yeah. The king of Assyria then commanded, send one of the exiled priests back to Samaria. Let him leave there and teach the new residents the religious customs of the God of the land. So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria, returned to Bethlehem and taught the new residents how to worship the Lord. But these various groups of foreigners also continue to worship their own gods in town after town, where they live. They please their idols and back and show that the people of Samaria have heard. Okay, so it says in verse 29, okay, in verse 28, it says that one of the priests, one of the Jewish priests was sent back to the land to teach the new foreigners how to follow Yahweh, how to please him so that lions will stop attacking them. Okay, so one of the priests comes back, he starts teaching them the ways of God and that is how they start to learn what is there in the law of Moses. They start to learn all the things which are there in the Torah. But the people don't become true followers of Yahweh. They mix their own pagan customs with following Yahweh. So it is sign, oh, they use a term to talk about this. They call it syncretism. You take a little bit of the true faith and you combine it with your own other customs and then you call it as religion, but actually it's not the true faith. It is a syncretist, it's a wrong kind of faith. Okay, so which is what happens over here in this entire Samaritan region. So this is basically how the Samaritans of the New Testament came into existence. Many of them were actually foreigners who had come from outside and then they were taught by a priest who came and taught them at Bethel about the ways of God. But it says in verse 29, in verse 33, in verse 34, in verse 41, it says again and again, they combined the worship of Yahweh with their own pagan customs. And so the Samaritans followed the law of Moses to an extent, but it was a very syncretistic religion. It was combined with a lot of other pagan things as well. And that is why in New Testament times, the Jewish people were very much against the Samaritans because the Samaritans did not really follow the true faith. So now these people, okay, this is the background. These people are coming to Zerubabel, the new governor, and they are telling him, it's okay, no, you've been appointed as the new governor over here, fine. You and us, let us coexist. No, we will help you in rebuilding your temple. So let's have a nice partnership. But Zerubabel does not want any such partnership because he knows that these people are not following the true faith. And that is why he rejects their offer. And this is what Zerubabel says to these local governors. In Ezra chapter, maybe we can read out all those verses in Ezra chapter four versus one to three. Yeah, if someone can read out Ezra four, one to three, this is the response of Zerubabel. Ezra four versus one to three. The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. So they approached Zerubabel and the other leaders and said, let us build with you for we worship your God just as you do. We have sacrificed to him ever since King Esharadan, Akhtaria brought us here. But Zerubabel, Jeshua and the other leaders of Israel replied, you may have no part in this work. We alone will build the temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, just asking Cyrus of Akhtaria. So Zerubabel outright, he says, no, we don't want to have any partnership with you. We know what happened with the partnership which took place between Jehoshaphat and Ahab. It's never good for godly people to form, to be yoked with unbelievers, to form a partnership with pagans. And so Zerubabel plainly says, we alone will build to the Lord God. He says, you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God. So he clearly says no partnership. So once that offer of partnership is rejected, the local governors become openly hostile. So they start taking action against the Jewish people and start attacking them on a regular basis so that they will not be able to rebuild the temple. So that is why the opposition starts increasing a lot. And then when the Zeres comes to power in Persia, you know, the man who married Esther, when that man comes to the throne, they start sending letters to him saying, these people are creating trouble over here in this region. They want to become independent. They don't want to follow you. So if you allow them to build the temple, then it will lead to a lot of rebellion. And so Zeres has the work completely stopped. So the background of all the things which take place and the strong hatred which these people developed towards the Jewish people is because Zerubabel rejected them. He did not wish to have any kind of, you know, relations with them. So finally, we see that only in... So in the very beginning, you know, it says in Ezra chapter three, seven months after they come back to the land, in spite of all the opposition which they are facing with great difficulty, they restart the basic, at least the basic spiritual customs. Okay, the morning and evening sacrifices which they are supposed to do, they restart it. They build the altar. You know, that's the first basic step that they take. They rebuild the altar. They start offering sacrifices to the Lord once again to honor him and they start observing the festivals once again. So they do all this within the first seven months after coming back. And then 14 months after coming back, they are able to lay down the foundation, not the building, the building has not yet come up, but actually the foundation, at least they laid down. And in these 14 months, they have gone through a lot of opposition. Again and again, you know, I mean, the details are not given over here, but it says the people were living in fear of the locals. So it shows that, you know, maybe again and again, those locals would have come and attacked them. Their families would have been in danger. But in spite of all that, within 14 months of their coming back, they at least laid a foundation. That was the commitment of the original people. And then, you know, when the opposition starts later, the people become casual. They say, okay, fine, let the, let the, let the, you know, temple be like that. Let the foundation be over there. Let's build our houses and settle down and make ourselves prosperous, which is when Haggai starts writing his book. He says, you people are living in nice houses, but look at the condition of the temple. You know, it's not even being built. So he says, stop the things that you're doing and first let your first priority be to honor the Lord and rebuild his temple. Okay, so that is the background for the book of Ezra. So in chapters four and five, we finally see the temple construction work being completed because Darius, the king Darius, you know, he gives permission for them to once again start the work and bring the temple construction work to completion. So those are just the things, some of them, some of the main things which I mentioned in your book of Ezra. Now, because we do not have time, let's just quickly come to the book of Nehemiah. So Ezra comes back in 457 BC. Two years later, Nehemiah comes back. So, yeah, right, approximately around the same time. So the temple construction finally finishes off in the time of Darius and then, and yeah, like we saw, it took 20 years for that to be completed, but it takes 83 years for the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. So when they finish the temple construction work, why did they not also finish the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem? Why? It's because of the political implications involved. You see, when they built the temple, there was a lot of opposition, but somehow that work got done because the Lord was with them and he helped them and he granted them favor in the eyes of Darius. So they were able to reestablish their temple, but if the people had also rebuilt the walls, then all the other governors would have openly attacked them with armies because now they are establishing themselves as a politically independent power and the other local governors would not have liked that. So the people are afraid to do that. So even though the temple has been rebuilt and they're worshiping the Lord at the temple, they don't do anything to repair Jerusalem itself. So they're living in all the lands around Jerusalem, you know, on the outskirts where you have the open lands. Basically, they're growing the crops over there and they have built houses for themselves over there and they're living over there, but nobody's actually staying in the city of Jerusalem. That's still in a very broken down condition, okay? People only go over there for the temple to take care of the temple rituals, but nobody is actually living over there. It's not like an established, well, there are people living over there, families living over there, but they have not rebuilt the walls and made it into a strong city. That is the condition in which Jerusalem is even 83 years after the exiles have come back. So that is where you have Nehemiah's story starting. Nehemiah, we get to know is a very high official in the Persian court, okay? So we get to know that he is the cup bearer of the king. The king is Atta-Zeres and Nehemiah is his cup bearer. So exactly who is a cup bearer? It will be some very powerful official whom the king trusts completely. So he will actually, before when the king is given wine or when the king is given food, the cup bearer will first taste the wine. He will first eat a little bit of that food to find out whether it is poisoned or not. And then he will give it to the king. So this is a man whom the king trusts completely. So the king will usually appoint the most trusted official as his cup bearer. Because officials, you know, what they do is they tend to conspire against the king and then they assassinate the king and they put somebody else on the throne and you have all these political conspiracies which used to go on in ancient courts. So the king would appoint somebody as his cup bearer whom he trusts completely. So in this case, we see that the Persian king has chosen Nehemiah to be his cup bearer. So he's probably somebody in a very high position and he's somebody who has a personal, you know, contact with the king. And so this man is a powerful, secular official. He's not a priest. He's not a prophet. He's not in ministry. He is a secular individual, but his heart is completely committed to the Lord. And so we get to know in Nehemiah chapter one that somebody comes from the land of Judah over here, you know, to Susa, in Persia. So somebody comes over from the land of Judah. In chapter one verse two, it says, Hanani, one of my brothers came from Judah with some other men and I questioned them about the Jewish remnant. So he basically asks, how are things in Jerusalem? What's going on? How are the people doing? It's now been 83 years since the people went to the land. Are we all doing well now? Is everything well established? And then these people who have come from Judah, they explain and they say, Jerusalem is still in a very bad condition. There are families living over there, but the walls are all broken down. No repair work has been done. And so the glory of Jerusalem has not been reestablished. This is the response of Nehemiah when he hears about it. Maybe we can actually read out those verses. Chapter one versus three and four. Nehemiah chapter one versus three and four, if someone could read out, please. They said to me, things are not going well for those who return to the province of Judah. They are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem has been torn down and the gates have been destroyed by fire. When I heard this, I sat down and in fact, for days I mount fasted and pray it to the God of heaven. Okay, so Nehemiah is well established in his life. He doesn't lack anything. He's one of the top most officials of one of the top most kingdoms in the entire ancient world. So personally, he doesn't lack anything, but his heart is for the things of God. Even though he's living over there in comfort and luxury and status, his heart is actually in Jerusalem with God's people. And so when he hears that Jerusalem is in a bad condition, that it has been attacked again and again by the local governors and things are in a bad shape, it says he sat down and he wept. And not only does he cry, it says he next moaned and fasted and prayed. No, it's one thing to get emotional and say, oh, so sad, those people over there are suffering so much. No, we all feel that compassion and maybe we may shed a few tears, but he goes one step further. He begins to fast and pray and he says, Lord, please act on our behalf. So it's convenient to just feel sorry for somebody for a little while, but it takes discipline to actually go into a time of fasting and praying and interceding for those people that you felt bad about. So we see Nehemiah actually doing that. So here is a top official who gives up food, he starts fasting and he prays and this is the intercessory prayer which he does. It's a very lovely thing that he says, maybe we can just read out verses six and seven. If you could read out verses six and seven. Listen to my prayer, look down and see my prayer, see me praying night and day for your prayer. I confess that we have sinned against you. Yes, even my own family and I, we have sinned terribly by not obeying the plans, decrees and regulations that you gave up to your servant more. Okay, so Nehemiah is a godly man. I'm sure he has not been living in sin, but when he's interceding for his people, he says, we have sinned against you. He doesn't say, oh Lord, look at them, those people living in Jerusalem, how they have sinned against you. He does not say that, he says, we, all of us together, Lord, we have sinned against you. So in intercession, he's including himself along with the people that he's praying for. He's identifying with them. He considers them as part of his family. That is one key learning that we can take away regarding intercession. You don't just pray for them, like as if you're doing a favor for them. You pray for them as if they are part of you, as if they're part of your family. And you say, Lord, you know, you know, we have sinned, we need your forgiveness. Come to us and you show us your mercy. So you see, he's making himself a part of these people who are living far away in another land in Jerusalem. That is the compassion that he has for his people. And so he asks the Lord to act on their behalf. And he doesn't just simply pray. He again goes one more step further. He decides, I must personally do something about it. It's not enough to just pray for my people. I wish I could personally do something for them. And so he says to the Lord, you know, he prays and he says in verse 11, he says, I'm going to actually approach the King and ask permission for this because I want to do something for my people. So if you basically see, there was no need for Nehemiah to even get involved in this entire thing. He could have continued ruling over there, you know, in comfort and style, you know, as a top official. There was no need for him to come over here in Jerusalem to Jerusalem and put up with all the struggles which the people were going on, going through over there. He could have just ignored it all. But his heart was for the people of God. So do we have that kind of an attitude? Would we like to do ministry in places which are comfortable, where we will have a steady income? Where we will, in fact, maybe even get some status and popularity. Or are we willing to go to places where there is a deep need? Are we willing to cry like this man and say, oh Lord, we have sinned against you. We need your mercy. And I'm willing to personally go over there and do something. Will you help me? That was the attitude of Nehemiah, you know, and so he decides to approach the King regarding this matter. And we see the details of that in chapter two. So in chapter two, we get to know that he has to go into the King's presence to serve him. And at that time, he is a little concerned because his face is sad. And you're not supposed to look sad in the King's presence. I mean, the kings of those times, the emperors were so powerful that they could even decide what expression you should have on your face when you go into their presence. After being so rich and powerful, they don't want unhappy people standing around them. So whether you like it or not, you're supposed to put a smile on your face and act like as if you're fine. So, you know, this man is so burdened in his heart. He has been fasting and praying. He wants to do something for the people of Jerusalem, for the Lord. And so his heart is so heavy that he's not able to put on an artificial smile. So when he goes over there to serve the King, the King immediately sees that he is sad. And this is what the King says. He says, why does your inverse two, chapter two verse two, why does your face look so sad when you are not ill? This can be nothing but sadness of heart. And the next phrase it says over there, I was very much afraid. When the King says you're looking sad, Nehemiah is scared. Why? Because if somebody stands over there looking all sad, they can actually be killed by the King. And so he's scared, what the King will do now? What will be the King's response? And so even though he's afraid, he decides to open his mouth and present his case. So it says in verse four, then I prayed to the God of heaven and I answered the King. So Nehemiah is not walking over there all confident and things are not favorable. He's actually in danger. The King can actually respond in a very, very negative manner if he wishes to. So in spite of the risk, Nehemiah is choosing to go before the King. And even though he's afraid, he opens his mouth and he makes his request. He says that I would like to go back to the land of Jerusalem and help my people in reconstructing the city. Now what do you think the King's response would have basically been? I mean, any secular King, you're a high official in that person's kingdom. And now you're saying, I don't want to do my official duties over here. And I want to go back to my land and I want to spend many, many months, maybe even a year over there, rebuilding my place. What would be the King's basic response? No King will like that, right? I mean, they would prefer you to stay over here and do your duties over here. So Nehemiah was actually risking his life when he did this. And this is what the King says to him in verse eight, I think, over six, I think. Yeah, the King says, how long will your journey take and when will you get back? Now, this is a very tricky question. You know, you're asking your boss for leave and the boss asks how many days do you want to leave? Now here is Nehemiah not asking for one week, two weeks. He's probably asking for at least one year. And so it's not actually a very easy thing that Nehemiah is doing, but still he chooses to do that. And because God's favor is with him, he's able to get permission and he's able to leave. In fact, the King sends him over there as an official in an official capacity. He had a job in Susa, where he was staying with the King, but now the King is so kind towards him. He gives him a new official role and as the governor of Jerusalem, he sends him back to the place. So which means Nehemiah continues to earn a salary. He continues to hold a job. All this God arranges for him because here is a man who truly cares about the things of God. He doesn't care about worldly position and status. He cares about establishing God's purposes first. And so the King in fact appoints him as the new governor and sends him back to the land of Jerusalem. And so Nehemiah comes, he helps in the whole rebuilding process. He encourages the people, motivates them and the locals are not happy. They attack because of the danger which the people are in because of the attacks. He tells them, always have your sword with you when you're doing the construction work of the walls. Always have your sword with you because then if suddenly the enemy attacks, you'll be able to fight. So there's a lot of hardship that they go through during the rebuilding of the walls. There's great danger. And in spite of all of that, they are able to rebuild the walls. And Nehemiah becomes the governor. And there are things which are mentioned about his attitude. It talks about how the rich Jews were exploiting the poor Jews because the taxes which the Persian Empire had imposed upon the people were very, very high. Not all the people could afford to pay such high taxes. So if you have a piece of land and you're growing your crop, a large portion of your crop is going to go away as taxes. You'll only have a little bit left for yourself and your family. So under such conditions, because of poverty, the poorer Jews began to take loan, money loans from the rich Jews. And the rich Jews began to charge high rates of interest even though these are their own people. And so when Nehemiah gets to know about that in verses seven, in chapter, where are we? In chapter five, yeah. In chapter five, Nehemiah chapter five, Nehemiah gets to know that the rich Jews are taking advantage of the poorer Jews charging very high interests. And if they're unable to pay the interest, then the poor Jew has to give away his sons and daughters as slaves to the rich Jew. And then they will work as slaves to work off the loan. So that's the arrangement which is going on. And so this is Nehemiah's response in verses seven and eight. So Nehemiah chapter five, if someone could read out for us verses seven and eight. Nehemiah five verses seven and eight, please. After thinking it over, I spoke out again as these nobles and officials. I told them, you are hurting your own relatives by charging interest when they borrow money. Then I called a public meeting to deal with the problem. At the meeting I said to them, we are doing all we can to redeem our Jewish relatives who have had to sell themselves to pagan foreigners. But you are setting them back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them? And they had nothing to say in their defense. Okay, so earlier many of these poorer Jews had become slaves to Gentiles. And we get to know over here that Nehemiah and his friends from their own pocket, they give money to liberate those Jewish people who have become slaves. So imagine from their own personal finances, they take money and pay it to redeem these Jewish people who have become slaves. And so he says, after all that effort that we went to, to redeem and rescue our Jewish people from slavery, what are you people doing now? You're turning them back into slaves. I mean, what kind of an attitude is this? You're doing this to your own Jewish people. And so he's very, very angry with them. And we also get to know the heart of Nehemiah. Doesn't care anything about money. He's more than willing to give his money to help the others, to help his people. So if we can have that kind of an attitude where we see others as our people and we are willing to intercede for them and go one step further and in fact work on their behalf, if we are willing to do that, then we are indeed following the heart of God. And we see that in Nehemiah. In fact, I mean, we don't have time, but if you look later on in the chapter, we get to know that from his own pocket, he was in fact paying for the food of all the officials who are working under him. And in fact, he was not even charging any governor tax. As a governor, he had the right to impose extra taxes on the people, but he chooses not to do that. And he says in verse, I think it's in verse 15, he says, out of reverence for God, I did not do that. So even though he actually has the personal official right to take taxes from the people, he does not do it out of reverence for God. So we get to see the character of Nehemiah, how committed he is to the Lord and what a tender and kind heart he has towards the people. And so that is why we have many of the Christian leadership seminars. They talk about Nehemiah, the leader, because of the kind of leader that he was. So we could very briefly look at some of the details in Ezra and the book of Ezra. And now here in the book of Nehemiah, we were not able to go into many of the details, but at least now we have a clearer picture about this, about Ezra and Nehemiah, these two men of God. So that bell of yours is early, because it's only 1148. So let's close with the word of prayer. Yeah. Lord, we just thank you so much for the lessons that we could learn today from Chronicles and also Ezra and Nehemiah. We looked at people, oh Lord, who had a heart for you. They were committed. They were willing to humble themselves and accept correction and learn from you. We also looked at examples of people who gave up comforts of life to come back to Jerusalem, because they loved you, oh Lord, and they wanted to honor you. They wanted to rebuild your temple. They wanted to restore Jerusalem. Their passion was not status and power. Their passion was building your kingdom, oh Lord. And I pray that we will have that same attitude in our own Christian work. You enable us, oh Lord, and you equip us. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, amen. Thank you.