“A Great Work” could be the season title for the television epic, “God and Israel: The Real Story of True Love, Rescue, Adultery, Exile, and Restoration.” Set in 445 BC, this particular season introduces a new character, a civil servant named Nehemiah. It is possible to start watching the series with this season. We do it all the time. But just as a well-created series rewards those who watch more than one season, reading Nehemiah will be richer with a recap of the highlights of previous seasons. To understand “A Great Work”, we need to go back a millennium and more.

Let’s start near the end of one of the early seasons, set sometime between 1500 and 1200 BC. “Exodus” features Moses. He was a leader with a broken spirit. Forty years of elite Egyptian leadership training, then forty years attempting to lead sheep. The early episodes leave us wondering how he will recover. But in the episode, “Burning Bush,” Moses gets a life work: “Go rescue your people.” He does. They are rescued, and after forty years in the wilderness, Moses leads the nation to the edge of the end of their journey. Before he dies, before they take on their next battles, Moses spends a special two-hour episode called “Deuteronomy” giving his last lecture. Full of flashbacks and huge crowd shots, this episode reviews the whole history of Moses and God and Israel.

At the end, Moses is blunt: “You are going to screw up.” But then he left the people with this promise:

When all these blessings and curses I have set before you come on you and you take them to heart wherever the Lord your God disperses you among the nations, and when you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey him with all your heart and with all your soul according to everything I command you today, then the Lord your God will restore your fortunes and have compassion on you and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered you. Even if you have been banished to the most distant land under the heavens, from there the Lord your God will gather you and bring you back. He will bring you to the land that belonged to your ancestors, and you will take possession of it. He will make you more prosperous and numerous than your ancestors.^[1]

The “Exodus” season ends with Moses dying on a mountain overlooking the promised land, then dissolves to a glimpse of Joshua, his military aide, standing up looking across the Jordan at that same land. In this Prologue, we aren’t going to look at any of the next seasons, though they have intriguing lead characters. Caleb, poster child for the IARP (Israelite Association of Retired Persons), leading his clan into battle at age 120. Saul, David, and Solomon, the only kings of Israel who ever led all twelve tribes. And the seasons are compelling. “Everyone Knows Best: the End of Judges“, “Head and Shoulders: the First King”, “Hairy and Baldy, the True Story of Elijah and Elisha”.

But we are moving past all those stories. We fast-forward several centuries, from the end of “Exodus” to the last season of “Chronicles of the Kings”. As we move, we see the people of Israel transformed from immigrants to conquering nation to civil war to decline.

And then it happens. The diaspora Moses warned about actually happens. Running from 604 BC to 587 BC, “Jerusalem’s End” is a brutal season. Every episode ends with a cliffhanger, and in the next episode people have fallen off the cliff.^[2] By the end of the season, all that is left of Jerusalem is ruins, piles of burnt rubble, and a few shepherds.

We get to “Exile, Part One.” This season features Daniel. Most people only watch a couple episodes from this season. “Fiery Furnace” tells the story of three of Daniel’s friends. “Lion’s Den”, from near the end of the season, has Daniel risking his life for what he believed. There are several peculiar dream sequences in this season as well. But a major theme of the season is Daniel’s significant role in government.

The season starts in 604 BC, with Daniel and many other bright young men being hauled away from Jerusalem in chains. It is the first of several waves of roundups by the Babylonian armies. By taking the next generation of leadership, two things happen: Jerusalem loses a generation, and Babylon gains talent. And Daniel is talented. He is a skilled administrator, trusted by the king, survives attacks on his religious beliefs, and serves two different empires (Babylon and Persia).

To understand Daniel’s work, we need to look at one of the more challenging dramatic elements of the “God and Israel” series. There are several seemingly random episodes where the author steps in front of the camera and speaks. These “voice of God” episodes have different characters, but all of these episodes, which are found in many seasons, are titled “Prophet”. The episode most helpful in understanding Daniel is “Prophet: Jeremiah’s Letter.” During the early episodes of “Exile, Part One”, a letter appears, carried from Jerusalem to the people, like Daniel, living in Babylon. After assuring the people that everything is going the way God warned them, the letter says “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.”^[3] And, Jeremiah says, the exile will last for seventy years.

The letter arrived while Daniel was a young man training for bureaucratic service. We don’t know whether he read it when it arrived. It is clear, however, that he worked hard for the peace and prosperity of the city. We know Daniel does eventually read the letter, about sixty years after it arrived. By then, the Babylonian empire had been conquered by the Persians, and Daniel is serving the new government.

Cyrus, the ruler, had been predicted by a Jewish prophet to allow the exile to end. When Daniel realizes that he may be within a few years of the end of the exile, he prays. And in his prayer, he refers to the warnings Moses made. He acknowledges the sin that brought about the exile. And he begs God for action.

Now, our God, hear the prayers and petitions of your servant. For your sake, Lord, look with favor on your desolate sanctuary. Give ear, our God, and hear; open your eyes and see the desolation of the city that bears your Name. We do not make requests of you because we are righteous, but because of your great mercy. Lord, listen! Lord, forgive! Lord, hear and act! For your sake, my God, do not delay, because your city and your people bear your Name.^[4]

Soon, there is action. In 538, Cyrus the Persian gives the Jews permission to return to Jerusalem. During the next 100 years, some Jews go back. The temple is slowly rebuilt. But no one can accomplish any significant work rebuilding the walls. In fact, at one point the king orders an end to attempts to rebuild.  Nearly 170 years after the beginning of the exile, one hundred years after Cyrus ended the exile, Jerusalem is still a ruined city.

But then we see the previews for the new season. A man called Nehemiah is working for King Artexerxes of Persia. He had a civil service job, working in the palace. He was a sommelier, a wine steward, one of the cupbearers to the king. He carried the cup to the king, tested it for poison, and then served it. As a result, he was also a trusted member of the King’s court.

Day after day, Nehemiah does his work. And the season starts.

It’s evening. There’s a knock on the door.