Holy Scriptures and Israel

Guest (Male): Shalom. Holy Scriptures and Israel is a ministry designed to share with the Jewish people the good news of the Lord Jesus, Yeshua the Messiah, and to instruct Christians on the Jewish roots of their faith. And now, teaching God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective, here is Gideon Levytam.

Gideon Levytam: The study of Nehemiah Chapter 7. Even in our own midst, when I was ministering up till today, all kinds of views: someone comes with a denial of the Messianship of Yeshua, another one comes with a denial of the divine nature of Yeshua the Messiah, another one comes with a denial of the tri-unity of the Godhead, another one comes with saying that we can get saved one day and get lost another day, and on and on. Denial of the virgin birth of the Messiah, and so on. In other words, there's many ways to heaven: you go your way and I go my way.

You see what happens in no time, we can have such problems among the people of God. And that's why doctrine, teaching, and practice is very, very important, beloved brothers and sisters. And Nehemiah says, "I'm going to place the porters, the sho'arim, there in order that they will be the ones that will watch who is coming in and who is bringing things that are contrary to the word of God." And then, brothers and sisters, of course, you and I today are all responsible to seek to study the word and to be those that are taught well and sound in the things of the Lord.

Now, that does not mean that every one of us have all the truth; none of us have all the truth. We are all in a school of God. But nevertheless, there need to be carefulness in what is allowed to be brought in. Nehemiah did so; Nehemiah set up the porters.

Secondly, you notice it says in verse 1 that he set up the singers. Now, the singers are those that already in biblical times David set up, 1 Chronicles Chapter 15. From one of the tribes of Israel, there were risen those that were singing among the people of God, leading the people of God in worship. Now, of course, I know that over the years, in the history of the body of Messiah, we set a choir and many have sung in the front and so on, and some of us are still singing today or leading the congregation in singing.

But brothers and sisters, the singers are all believers today. We are all responsible to sing to the Lord and to lift up our voices from our hearts to sing to the Lord and glorifying the name of Yeshua the Messiah. Let me read you a verse from the book of Ephesians Chapter 5 where the apostle Paul encouraged the believers at Ephesus to sing.

And I hope you and I have this desire to sing. Chapter 5 of Ephesians, verse 19, says, "Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart unto the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Yeshua Jesus the Messiah." Singing is a privilege and a responsibility of us all. But in the history of our people Israel, there was a designation of a certain group of people who were singing.

Many of them perhaps wrote the psalms of Israel, like David and many others, who wrote the psalms of Israel, the songs that were lifted up when Israel were singing unto the Lord. And you and I are responsible to sing to the Lord. And you know, a person that doesn't have a desire to sing? Now, not all of us have the same quality of voices, but it is from the heart that we can sing. And believe me, the guitar that we use or a keyboard that we use or any other instrument, though it is beautiful, it doesn't rise above the ceiling.

You know what rises above the ceiling is the song that comes out of the heart of the believer. I will sing unto the Lord for He had been victorious. The armies of the enemies have been defeated. But the people of God can sing unto the Lord. Singing and making melodies in your heart unto the Lord. It's so beautiful to hear the voices of believers that are singing to the Lord. And you know, our song rises above the ceiling because God hears the voice of His people singing about His Son, and He rejoices with the song of the people of God.

With psalms and hymns and spiritual song, singing and making melody in your heart. Notice, it's not even to each other, but it is to the Lord. The singers are responsible to sing to the Lord. You know, so when you sing, when I sing, let's sing to the Lord, like Nehemiah set up the singers to sing.

But notice thirdly, not only the porters, sho'arim, the singers, meshorerim, but also the Levites, the Leviyim. Now who were the Levites? The Levites were the servants. And you see how precious it is because the servants were serving among the people of God. That's what their responsibility of the Levites was. They would be the one that will serve in the temple. They will be the one that will go from place to place and they will bring the sacrifices, they will carry the tabernacle. The responsibility was tremendous in many areas around the tabernacle and the temple in the land of Israel.

Well, this is also a responsibility that you and I have to serve among the people of God. Even though sometimes things are not necessarily as easy as we would like them to be, but we are all called to be servants among the people of God. And I challenge you, brothers and sisters, I can tell you that you will never have so much joy in your heart before the Lord as when you serve Him and be in a blessing to the people of God.

Moses called, "Moses my servant." If you look at the history of the people of Israel, there were serving, those servants were blessed when they were serving the Lord. The apostle Paul called himself as the servant of Yeshua the Messiah on behalf of God's people. So we don't need to wait for Moshe or to wait for Shaul Paul, but we are all responsible to be servants among the people of God.

But here it is: verse 2 tells us now, the wall was built, the gates were set up, the porters, the singers, the Levites, the Leviyim, now were set up. In verse 2, Nehemiah gave a charge, a responsibility to a person who was faithful. It says in verse 2 that I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Yerushalayim, Jerusalem, for he was a faithful man and he feared God above many. Now here it is, brothers and sisters: the Lord can use us and the Lord wants to use us, but it requires faithfulness. Not perfection, but faithfulness.

We know from experience in our personal life that we are not always faithful. But it is required from a servant to be found faithful. Now you notice that it doesn't say that Hanani, that man that he made him to be the ruler over the city of Jerusalem, it doesn't say that Hanani went to school and got a certain degrees. It doesn't say that he was wealthy man and he was able to conduct certain things. But it does say that he was faithful.

In other words, what it really teaches us is that if we are going to serve the Lord and to please the Lord, not men all the time, not people all the time, it is really required that a person will be found faithful. In Hebrew, the word is ne'eman. Ne'eman come from the Hebrew word emuna, faith, and we need this. God delight in this to see faithful brothers, faithful sisters who just want to serve the Lord and they want to be those that can be a blessing to God's people. It has nothing to do with degrees.

It doesn't have anything to do with politics and position and the name that one has; it requires a simple faithfulness in the life of this person. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians Chapter 4 and the first few verses. We want to apply this to us today as Nehemiah did so in the history of our nation Israel. "Let a man so count of us as of the servants of the Messiah and as stewards of the mystery of God." And then verse 2: "Moreover, it is required from a steward that a man may be found faithful."

You know, it's such a wonderful thing when the Lord can say, "Well done, good and faithful servant." You see, a servant is not a man-pleaser. A servant is simply called to serve. Yeshua the Messiah was the greatest example for us as the servant of the Lord, the servant of Jehovah. He was the one that came all the way from heaven, went all the way down to the cross, to the tree with all the shame that He had experienced. He was a faithful servant. And God has raised Him from among the dead and set Him at the pinnacle of the universe.

We need to develop this in our hearts. You know, sometimes we get so taken up with our service that we are occupied with ourselves rather than with the Lord that we are serving. And sometimes we get discouraged because whatever we do, it seems to be that people are not pleased enough and we didn't quite make it and we fail many times. And we don't realize that what the Lord is looking for is simple faithfulness.

Another verse to look at is a very interesting verse: 2 Timothy Chapter 2. Again, Paul is writing, this time he's writing to Timothy. And he says verse 1: "Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in the Messiah Yeshua. And the things which thou have heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also."

Do you know, brothers and sisters, the very fact that you and I are here today and are still reading our Bible and are still going to meetings and are still praying and are still seeking to walk with the Lord is because many other brothers and sisters have been faithful to set up an example in your life and mine. And that helped us to say, "Wait a minute. What they teach is the right thing, and I need to learn from them." And the continuity that they have and their faithfulness that they have become an example to us. And so we desire to learn from this.

It requires from a steward that he may be found faithful. Hanani was faithful. In our chapter, we find and what Nehemiah does, he places Hanani as in charge over the city of Yerushalayim. Again, I'm reading verse 2: "And I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the ruler of the palace, charge over Yerushalayim. For he was a faithful man and he feared God above many."

So here Nehemiah watched around and, by the way, that man Hanani is the very one that is found in Chapter 1. You remember Nehemiah Chapter 1? He was the one that came back from Jerusalem, and Nehemiah asked him about the situation in Jerusalem, about the situation that is found in the land of Israel, in the city of Jerusalem. Notice in Chapter 1 and verse 2: "Then Hanani, one of my brethren, came and a certain men of Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews that escaped."

You see, he was already in the land of Judah, he came back to Persia, he gave that information to Nehemiah, and now we find Hanani again in the city of Jerusalem. It was his life. He wanted to minister to his Jewish people. And he wanted them to be blessed, to restore the city of Jerusalem. What a beautiful example. And by the way, he called him in Chapter 7 "my brother Hanani." In Hebrew, achi, it's not necessarily a brother in the flesh from the same mother and father, but it is a brother from among the nation of Israel.

You see, there is an expression that we say in Hebrew: Kol Yisrael achim, all Israel are brethren. And while we are all brethren from the same nation, and even though there are brethren from the same mother, we are still brethren. And you and I, even though we are not from the same nation, every believer in Yeshua the Messiah is one of the brethren. We are brethren, we are achim. And Hanani was a faithful brother, and he could be set to be over the city of Jerusalem. What an example we have here.

So brothers and sisters, what we learn in verses 1 and 2 is the importance of setting things in order and, beginning in verses 1 and 2, is assigning or recognizing people that are going to be faithful in their ministry: the porters, the singers, and the Levites. We need in our midst those that the Lord will raise to be a servants of the people of God. Faithful men, faithful women, everyone that can be a servant among the people of God are a blessing. And no wonder he placed Hanani in charge over the city of Jerusalem.

Now secondly, I want you to notice in verses 3 and 4, Nehemiah instructs the people and their leadership to shut the doors at night and not to open it until the daylight, until the heat of the day. Again, you might say, "Nehemiah, why are you worried? Don't you trust God?" Again, I would like to say he surely trusts God, but he didn't trust the enemies that were without. And he knew very well that Satan as a roaring lion or as an angel of light will always seek to destroy the testimony of God. He does so today very well, and he seems to be successful in the condition that exists in the church age in which you and I live in, the Laodicean age.

And so we learn from this that he gave them instructions. Notice now verses 3 and 4: "And he said unto them, 'Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun be hot, and while they stand by, let them shut the doors and bar them, and appoint watches over the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch and every one to be over against his house.' Now the city was large and great, but the people were few therein, and the houses were not built."

Now notice, he's now saying, "Listen, don't open the doors of the city of Yerushalayim until the sun be hot." In other words, make sure that it will be by daylight. Now you know very well who comes at night? The thief comes at night. He's coming to devour. He doesn't come during the daytime. He doesn't come in a right order; he's coming in a time where we are not watching. And that's why it is so important, he said to them, "Listen, don't open the gates of Jerusalem until the sun be hot."

In other words, not a little bit of light, make sure the things are clear, that you can see clearly who comes in and who goes out and how things are going on. And notice that also he set watches. Notice the word in verse 3b: "and appoint watches." In Hebrew, we call it mishmarot. When we were in the military, we never could go to sleep at night without to have mishmarot. Every hour we changed one another. One soldier gets up, puts his clothes on, gets his gun on, gets ready; the one who is watching goes back to sleep. An hour passes by, this one finishes his watch and another comes in and exchanges him. He puts his clothes on, he gets ready to watch lest the enemies will come and attack the people of God.

The same thing spiritually speaking. There need to be watching. Yeshua said, "Watch and pray" in the garden of Gethsemane, in Gat Shmani. "Watch and pray." And oftentimes, brothers and sisters, we don't watch. We don't have to speak about each other; we know it ourselves in our own hearts. When we don't watch and when we are not careful, we allow things to come in and ultimately they are not for our benefit. We are losing out.

And Nehemiah, he was wise. They were required to be watching for the welfare of the people of God, watching for the welfare of the city of Yerushalayim. I remember years ago, before even I was born, when the Jewish people immigrated to Israel, they were living in Kibbutz in a commune. But in order to protect themselves, they had to work the ground with a shovel and the gun is on their shoulders. They lived in communities that they can protect each other.

And they didn't live one here and one there and another one there; they lived close to each other so they can protect each other because of the enemies that were coming to attack them. In fact, my sister lives in a Kibbutz called Nativ HaLamed Hei, the Valley of the 35. There were 35 Israeli young men who were ambushed when they were not careful, and they died on the way and there they established a Kibbutz, a commune naming the Way of the 35 who were ambushed and died.

They probably try to watch as much as they could, but still the enemy was successful. And so to understand that spiritually, we too need to be watching. And again, thank God for men and women, godly brothers and godly sisters, who watch over our souls and assist us in our spiritual progress. Thank God who raised these men and women who love the Lord Yeshua the Messiah and teach us and instruct us of the things of the Lord.

Turn with me to the Gospel of Luke Chapter 12 and verse 37. There Yeshua speaks and He says those words: "Blessed are those servants whom the Lord when He comes shall find them watching. Verily I say unto you that He shall gird Himself and make them sit down to meet and will come forth and serve them." Notice what Yeshua is saying. He says, "Listen, I'm going to come soon, but until I come, make sure that you are watching."

"And blessed are those servants," verse 37 of Luke 12, "whom the Lord when He cometh shall find them watching." Because He wants them to be alert He's coming. Watch over the people of God, watch over our lives because the enemy will attack us. And brothers and sisters, I can tell you that if you and I will not stay close to the Lord and watch over what we hear, what we accept, and what we look at and what we are occupied with, you will see how Satan will be successful every time.

Watching is necessary as Nehemiah has placed them. 1 Corinthians Chapter 16 and verse 13. Verse 13: "Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men and be strong." Stop being like children, he's saying, but be strong.

So you see what Nehemiah does, beloved brothers and sisters. He's very wise. In verses 1 and 2, he gives responsibility to faithful men. In verses 3 and 4, he is instructing them to shut the door and not allow anyone just to come in at any time, only by daylight, and making sure that they set up watches. In Nehemiah Chapter 7 and verse 4, it says that the city was large and great, the people were few therein, and the houses were not built.

And you notice that even though our way of looking at a city, it must have been very small, Yerushalayim, but in that time, it was considered to be a large city. And the people that were living inside, these Jewish men and women, were about a few; there were not too many and they were very weak, very fragile. They needed always to be awake and alert because the enemy was going to harm them. And Nehemiah gave the instruction to do so in such a way. Set watches and make sure that you don't allow anyone to come into the city; you don't open the doors during the night, only at the heat of the day, daylight.

In Chapter 7 now, and verses 5, 6, and 7, we have additional thing that we find out here. He shows us that God put in his heart now to know the genealogy of the people of Israel. And notice it began here, it says in verse 5, "And my God put in my heart to gather together the nobles and the rulers and the people, that they might reckon by genealogy, and I found a register of the genealogy of them which came up at first, and I found written therein."

So apparently, God now does something very important: He awakened Nehemiah's heart to say, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, I want to know who is who. I want to know the genealogy, whether these all of the people that are there in Jerusalem and outside are really belong to the people of Israel." And you know the genealogy? This is very important. The Hebrew word here is yuchasin or yichus. There's another word that we use and the word is shoshelet.

In other words, to really see if this person is actually the son of this person and whether he or she are the granddaughter of that person, to see the genealogy. Now why is it so important, genealogies? Well, there are a few reasons. One of the reasons is because God records the name of everyone that belongs to Him. You see, God delights to record the name. Are we written in the Lamb's book of life?

If you will read in your Bible, you find that in Genesis Chapter 4, you have the genealogy of the people who were ungodly or away from God. And in Genesis Chapter 5, you'll find the godly line. And from there on, you find that there was a genealogy given to us in the word of God. In Chapter 10, you have the chapter that gives us the nations, which one belongs to which nation. And you find out throughout the scripture that you have genealogy after genealogy after genealogy and many, many names are given to us. And we ask ourselves the question: well, why is it that it's so important to have genealogies?

Guest (Male): You have been listening to Holy Scriptures and Israel with Gideon Levytam. Gideon teaches God's word from a Hebrew Messianic perspective. For more information about this ministry, write to Holy Scriptures and Israel, Box 1411, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, L0S 1J0, or visit our website at holyscripturesandisrael.com.

You are also invited to Gideon's weekly Bible teaching on Fridays at 11:00 AM and 7:00 PM and Saturdays at 1:00 PM at Willowdale Christian Assembly Hall, 28 Martin Ross Avenue in Toronto. Holy Scriptures and Israel is made possible by your prayers and financial support. If you would like to support the program, visit holyscripturesandisrael.com. God bless you. Shalom, shalom.