A Great Work
In this week’s Come, Follow Me lesson we learn about Zerubbabel and Nehemiah who worked to restore Jerusalem to what it once was. The main mission of Zerubbabel was to rebuild the temple. He led the Jews back to Jerusalem around 537 BC (see Ezra 2:2) and was appointed the governor of Jerusalem by Cyrus, king of Persia. He is also listed in the genealogy of Jesus given by Matthew: “And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel” (Matthew 1:12). Nehemiah came much later than Zerubbabel and was the cup-bearer of the king Artaxerxes (a later king of Persia). Nehemiah was told this about the Jews in Jerusalem: “The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire.” He recorded, “when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God of heaven” (Ne...