The reason for Nehemiah’s heartfelt grief (Nehemiah 1:5) undoubtedly goes beyond the physical fact that the people are in great trouble and shame due to the city’s broken walls and gates. Those walls and gates were destroyed because the people’s sins were such that God himself could no longer live in the presence of his people (Ezekiel 10:1–22). Yet God promised to restore, not ultimately on the basis of his people’s repentance but on the basis of the work the coming Christ would do; he would be driven out of the holy city to bear the divine wrath that the exiles (and others) deserved (Isaiah 53:4–6; Hebrews 9:11–14; Hebrews 13:12–13). It is because of the coming work of the Son of God, as foreshadowed by the sacrifices offered on the altar in Jerusalem, that the city can be rebuilt and the people made safe. Without the work of the coming Saviour, there can be no successful Nehemiah.
3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”