“I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do.”
~ Nehemiah 7:2
Hi James and Ellen,
Are you compulsively meticulous? Do you make lists of all the things that you want to do? Do you journal? Nehemiah fastidiously notated in a personal journal a lot of what he did in the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah took on the task and challenge of rebuilding the busted up walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah used lists while he was overseeing the reconstruction of the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah 7 are Nehemiah’s journal entries that he scribed right after he oversaw the rebuilding of the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Levi tribal clan guys, priests, gatekeepers, temple singers and servants along with Israelite people group guys and gals who had in 538 B.C. returned with Zerubbabel to the land of Judah and to the city of Jerusalem and who had helped rebuild the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem were all able to go back to their towns and homes by October and November of 445 B.C. Nehemiah – using the genealogical records that were discovered that listed all the names of every guy, gal and kid who had returned to the land of Judah and to the city of Jerusalem from the country of Babylonia – where in 586 B.C. they had been taken to as captive exiles, painstakingly and conscientiously updated the genealogical records with the exact number of Israelite people group guys, gals and kids who lived in each one of the towns and cities in the land of Judah and by each one of the Israelite people group tribal clans that had returned to the land of Judah and to the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah even recorded the names of the guys whose names did not show up in any genealogical or family record. Per Nehemiah’s thorough and complete count compilation, in the seventh month of 445 B.C. – which today per your dad’s calendar was the last half of October and the first half of November, there were 42,360 Israelite people group guys, gals and kids living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem along with 7,337 guy and gal servants and 245 guy and gal singers. Nehemiah did not just want to know the clear-cut count of guys, gals and kids who were living in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem, Nehemiah also wanted to know the exact number of work animals that the Israelite people group guys had. Nehemiah recorded that in the land of Judah and in the city of Jerusalem that there were 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels and 6,720 donkeys. Nehemiah also kept the financial books for the money gifts that were donated for the work of reconstructing the wall that had once surrounded and protected the city of Jerusalem. The region’s governor gave from his reserve 1,000 drachmas of gold to the money kitty to rebuild the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. A handful of money over 2,450 years ago was called a drachma. Some of the Israelite people group tribal clan heads donated 20,000 drachmas of gold and 2,200 minas of silver. A guy’s normal month’s salary over 2,450 years ago was a mina. The rest of the Israelite people group guys and gals donated another 20,000 drachmas of gold and 2,000 minas of silver for the rebuilding of the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah also listed in his meticulously maintained journal that the region’s governor personally donated 50 bowls that were presumably to be used by Levi people group priests in the temple that was located in the city of Jerusalem plus the guy also donated 530 garments for the priests to wear. The Israelite people group guys and gals donated another 67 garments for the priests to the wear.
Your grandpaa appreciates the overkill of information that Nehemiah thought that he needed to document in his journal – which is now the Nehemiah Book. ‘Pop’ Wilson was Janice Denton’s dad. Your dad and Aunt Lynn would sometimes be flown to or flown home from Tambo in a 206 Cessna airplane that Dennis Denton – who was Janice’s husband, flew. Tambo was New Tribes Missions boarding school in Bolivia that your dad decided that he wanted to go to after he spent his first school year in Bolivia going to Santa the Cruz Christian Learning Center. Your dad was a ninth grader the first year that he was at Tambo. Your dad went to Tambo for three years. Your Aunt Lynn was a fourth grader the first year that she was at Tambo. Your Aunt Lynn graduated from high school at Tambo. ‘Pop’ Wilson was a missionary in Colombia for years. ‘Pop’ Wilson met his wife – Bethany, while he was a missionary in Colombia. Because their daughter was a missionary in Bolivia, ‘Pop’ and Bethany decided to move to Bolivia to help out however they could with the Bolivia South American Mission field missionary team. Even though they were already older than what your grandmaa and grandpaa are now, ‘Pop’ and Bethany were always ready to travel by train, truck, bus, . . . to do whatever they could to help in whatever way. ‘Pop’ and Bethany taught the very first two week module class at the rural resident leadership training center that your grandmaa and grandpaa initiated in January of 1982 in Concepción, Ñuflo de Chávez. ‘Pop’ and Bethany and your grandmaa and grandpaa became good friends. Before ‘Pop’ and Bethany left Bolivia for Canada and for their home in Three Hills, Alberta, ‘Pop’ gave your grandpaa a book on Nehemiah because he thought that your grandpaa did things like Nehemiah did.
Your grandpaa really does like Nehemiah and the way that Nehemiah did what he did. Your grandpaa thinks of Nehemiah being a guy who was not intimidated by a challenge, knew how important information was for the big picture and trusted others. Verse 2 says. “I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel, because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most men do.” Do you want live the meticulous, godly kind of life that Nehemiah lived? God will richly bless you if you pull being a Nehemiah.
Nehemiah 7 (694)