Certainly, the Lord enabled Nehemiah and the Jews to complete the walls of Jerusalem. However, the leadership of Nehemiah was critical from the human viewpoint. The enemies of the wall threw everything imaginable at him, but he would not turn from the cause at hand. How much we should learn from Nehemiah’s example!
The first two chapters of Esther gave the background of the story of Esther. Chapter three reveals the true conflict of this Bible story. Haman is established as the chief of the princes of the Persian Empire. Then Haman, in his hatred of Mordecai, lashes out at the entire Jewish race within the realm of the great Persian Empire. They are to be completely destroyed.
The children of Israel were to keep themselves separated from the other nations but, by intermarrying with the different nations around them, they had compromised and taken on their abominations. The answer for them, though it might seem harsh, was to separate from their heathen marriages.
Josiah continues to turn Israel back to the Lord. He establishes a covenant with God and cleanses the land from all spiritual defilement. However, judgment is still set to come and after the death of Josiah, the nation goes down quickly.
The revival under the reign of Josiah is one of the great stories in the Bible.
Two evil reigns follow the good reign of Hezekiah. We see the dangers of idolatry in these two reigns. We also see the influence a leader of the people has on those people. In both cases, the people follow their king.
