Leadership Principles From Nehemiah – 7

Leaders Serve People (Nehemiah 7:1-5).

SOME people regard leadership primarily as the art of getting results. Great leaders, they say, are those who get the job done. It matters very little how they operate, as long as they achieve their goals. But when we examine the great leaders of Scripture, we find that they not only accomplished much, but served people in the process.

Nehemiah illustrates the point rather well. His project of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem was never an end in itself. The ultimate objective was to revitalize the people of Israel and return them to their covenant with God. To that end, after the wall was completed, Nehemiah turned the city’s management over to local government leaders (Nehemiah 7:1-2). He did not create dependency on his own skills, nor did he use the project to gain wealth or fame for himself (Nehemiah 5:18). Instead, right from the start, Nehemiah began the process of turning over management of Jerusalem to others.

Nehemiah also helped the people trace their roots by reviewing the census taken twenty-five years earlier in Ezra’s time (Nehemiah 7:5). That set the stage for repopulating the city (Nehemiah 11:1-2) and continuing the initiative of urban revitalization.

Courtesy of Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary
Unless otherwise noted, Scripture taken from the New King James Version®, NKJV © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.