Learn the Lesson
The Bulletin, 7/15/26
These articles are written to encourage Christians, and to be used by churches for their weekly bulletin.
All I ask is that credit is given with my name and the web address, bible101.substack.com
One of the frustrating things about the Biblical narrative is how often you see sins and mistakes repeated. One generation gets themselves in trouble, and only two or three generations later another will get themselves in the exact same trouble.
On the other hand, it’s refreshing to see a past mistake avoided the next time around. When that happens we see that we don’t have to learn lessons the hard way.
We see this kind of hopeful correction happen in Ezra and Nehemiah.
In Ezra, Zerubbabel led the Jewish captives home to rebuild the temple. They had the blessing and financial support of the Persian emperor, and everything seemed to be going smoothly.
Then, discouragement came. Accusations were made, rumors were started, and the work was brought to a halt. The prophets Haggai and Zechariah had to come along to remind the people that God was on their side, and that the job must be finished (Ezra 5:1-2). Zerubbabel and co. were emboldened, and the work began again.
Later on, Nehemiah’s story took a similar path, but he made a far better choice. He led workers home to rebuild Jerusalem’s city walls, and he, too, had the support of the Persian emperor. Just as before, discouragement came. Accusations, rumors, threats, and deceptive plans were all thrown at Nehemiah and his crew of builders.
And… he didn’t care. He dodged their schemes, refused to play their games, and kept the work going. He prayed (Nehemiah 4:9), encouraged the people (4:14), equipped them to defend themselves (4:21-23), and shut down the critics’ attempts (6:3). He knew the work was what God wanted him to do, and so he kept right on doing it.
We can learn from his determination, but we can also learn from his course correction from his predecessors.
Just because things were done a certain way previously, it doesn’t mean we have to fall into the same mistakes. Nehemiah didn’t need a Haggai or Zechariah to tell him to get back to work, because he knew not to stop.
We, too, should be able to learn from examples good and bad to inform better decisions today.