Page 30 - Principles of Leadership - Nehemiah

I am sure that as Nehemiah approached Jerusalem, he could see why 2 Hanani said that “The remnant in the
province, who survived the exile, are in great trouble and disgrace. Jerusalem’s wall has been broken down,
and its gates have been burned down.” (1:2-3) The sight of the destruction must have weighed heavily upon
Nehemiah’s heart. He has now found out from the preceding verses that he can expect no support from the
political leaders in every direction. Without Jewish support, his commission will fail. Again, Nehemiah realized
that if you don’t see it before you see it, you won’t see it.

Many commentaries differ on the reason why Nehemiah waited three days before he said anything to the city
officials. Some commentaries say that the journey of at least two months would have worn Nehemiah out.
Therefore, he needed rest. Other commentaries say that he was trying to build anticipation in the citizens of
Jerusalem. They would have seen the soldiers accompanying Nehemiah and would have wondered why he was
there. Therefore, he delayed his announcement to try to build their curiosity. Still, other commentaries say that
the city's destruction was so massive that he felt the need to spend more time in prayer and planning as he had
previously done. It could be possible that all three of these assessments are correct.

After three days, 12, I got up at night and ⌊took⌋ a few men with me. We are not told who these men were
who went with Nehemiah to inspect the walls. We can see from the next verse that a few men… went out at
night under the cover of darkness. Again, we are not told why he was so secretive in his actions.

2. Assessing need (2:13-16)
13 I went out at night through the Valley Gate toward the Serpent’s Well and the Dung Gate, and I inspected
the walls of Jerusalem that had been broken down and its gates that had been destroyed by fire. 14 I went on
to the Fountain Gate and the King’s Pool, but farther down it became too narrow for my animal to go
through. 15 So I went up at night by way of the valley and inspected the wall. Then, heading back, I entered
through the Valley Gate and returned. 16 The officials did not know where I had gone or what I was doing,
for I had not yet told the Jews, priests, nobles, officials, or the rest of those who would be doing the work.

There is no doubt that Nehemiah could still sense the discouragement of the city. “When Nehemiah arrived, the
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most recent failure was only thirteen years in the past.” (See Ezra 4 to understand the failure) Realizing that
the only people he had to work with were discouraged workers, he wanted to approach the matter with careful
preparation, planning, and prayers. Notice the language used, I inspected the walls of Jerusalem, the best he
could under the cover of darkness. Again, he began his fact-finding mission after three days. He takes a few
trusted men with him to scrutinize the destruction. He carefully looked at each section of the wall to organize
the repairs. He knew that apathy had set in, but now he was about to conduct his first vision-casting meeting
with the Jewish priests, nobles, and officials. He had also done a who’s who surveyed also and knew who he
needed to bring together for this first meeting. “A vision community is a diverse group of key members who
become a committed and trusting community to discern and implement God’s vision for the congregation. The
vision community should be part of the change process from beginning to end. Its members must be personally
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prepared, understand, and clearly feel the sense of urgency, and agree that change is needed.”

I want to remind you again of who Nehemiah is about to address. We were told that he took a few men with
me as he inspected the walls. If I were to guess, I would bet you that some of the infantry and cavalry officers
accompanied him for safety concerns. He was there for three days, so my second guess would be that he
learned who the primary builders were, and they probably accompanied him that night. Now he is about to
enlist others into this vision community, which is made up of Jewish priests, nobles, and officials. A leadership
principle that every change leader needs to realize is this. “If the vision community seems to be skewed in its
makeup or lacks representation from a particular segment of the church. Its decisions are more likely to be
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criticized and second-guessed as biased or unfair.”

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