Nehemiah's Leadership in Delegation - 04.28.24
Ron Moore
Part of Nehemiah
April 28, 2024

Introduction
All truth is God’s truth. And since all truth is God’s truth every good leadership principle is first a biblical principle. Nehemiah is God’s inspired book on leadership. In Nehemiah, we find the heart, passion, and purpose of a leader. Leadership researcher and writer, Jim Collins, describes those who lead a great company as a “Level 5 leader—an individual who blends extreme personal humility with intense professional will.”1 Today we would call Nehemiah a “Level 5 leader.”

Nehemiah was a leader and had risen to the prestigious position of being a cupbearer to the king, a trusted leadership position. Before the king took a sip of wine or a bite of food, Nehemiah ensured it was safe.

Nehemiah had risen to a prestigious position of leadership in the Persian Empire, but when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem sat with broken walls and burned-down gates, he wept, prayed, and got the king’s permission to return and rebuild the walls (Neh. 1-2).

The first question we must ask is—why were the walls so important?

In ancient times, every city was built on high ground and enclosed by walls, 30-40 feet high and 8-15 feet thick. A wall around a city did two things.

Security—When enemies attacked, there was safety within the city walls.
Identity—Inside the city walls there were homes, merchants, government buildings, and in Israel’s case the Temple. The city walls provided identity and distinctiveness.

A city without secure walls was vulnerable and would ultimately be destroyed.

Nehemiah knew that there was a great task ahead of him and he knew that he couldn’t do it alone. Nehemiah recruited a team of leaders. He recorded their names so that they got the credit. Here are some examples of the 38 leaders.

Eliashib, the high priest (3:1)

Rephaiah—ruler of the half district of Jerusalem (3:9)

Sallum—ruler of the half district of Jerusalem (3:12)

Malchijah—ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem (3:14)

Shallum—ruler of the district of Mizpah (3:15)

Nehemiah recruited leaders, strong men, strong personalities, and people who got things done. All those named in this chapter recruited thousands of others. Some had to have the craftsmanship to build gates. Some had to have the strength to move stones. Some had to have the skills to know which stones had been compromised by the heat when the gates had been burned by the Babylonians.

Two things here:

• Strong leaders followed Nehemiah because of his heart, passion, and purpose.
• Nehemiah had the confidence to recruit leaders better than him. “Insecure leaders” is an oxymoron (See 2 Chron. 24:4, 13).

The second thing we learn about Nehemiah’s leadership in this chapter is that he was a master at delegation. He got the right people around him and strategically organized them.

• He made sure there was a sense of community (See Neh. 3:1-2, 4. The phrase “next to them” is used 12 times in the first 10 verses of Neh. 3.
• He had people rebuild the areas that were important to them. For example, the priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate (Neh. 3:1). That was the place where sacrifices were brought to the Temple.
• He had people repair the walls close to their homes (Neh. 3:23-24, 28-30)
• He had groups from outside of Jerusalem repair that section of the wall where few homes were built (Neh. 3:2, 5, 7).
• Some goldsmiths, perfumers, and merchants built close to their shops and in areas that demanded more patience and funding (Neh. 3:8, 31-32).

Where did Nehemiah learn the art of delegation? (See Ex. 18:13-27 where Moses is taught delegation by his father-in-law, Jethro).

Applying Nehemiah 3 to parents and the home:

• Parents must be students of their children (See The Journey’s special parenting podcast series where we have conversations with experts in early childhood development, Gen Z (13-27 years old), gaining discipline in technology, experts communicating the cultural issues of sexuality in a biblical way, what to do when you learn your child is gay, and praying for your children. You can view the podcasts at https://www.ronmoore.org/podcasts/)
• Parents should build community in their families.
• Parents must build the walls of security and spiritual identity in their family. That starts with building the spiritual walls around your heart.

Proverbs 25:28
A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.


1 Jim Collins, Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t (HarperBusiness, 2001), 21.

Additional Notes

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