Nobleman Who Built The Wall Of Jerusalem

Stories From The Hebrew Bible
THE NOBLEMAN WHO BUILT THE WALL OF JERUSALEM

While the good scribe Ezra was at work finding the books of the Hebrew Bible, copying them, and teaching them, another great man was helping God’s people in another way. This man was Nehemiah. He was a nobleman of high rank at the court of the great King Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes reigned after Ahasuerus. Remember him? We read about Ahasuerus in the story of Queen Esther.

Nehemiah was “cupbearer” for the king of Persia at Shushan. It was his job to take charge of all the wine that was used at the king’s table. He would pour the wine and hand the cup to the king. This was an important job, because he saw the king every day at meal-time, and could speak with him as few others could. Then, too, the life of the king was in his hands, because if he didn’t do his job, then an enemy could put poison into the wine and kill the king. So the cupbearer was always a man the king trusted as his friend. Nehemiah was a Jew, and, like all Jews, he felt a great love for Jerusalem. On one occasion, a man named Hanani and a few of his friends came from Jerusalem, visited with Nehemiah. Nehemiah asked them, “How are the people in Jerusalem doing? How does the city look?”

And they answered, “The people who are living in the land of Judea are very poor, and are looked down upon by all around them. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been burned with fire.”

When Nehemiah heard this, he was filled with sorrow for the city and his people. After Hanani and the few friends left him, Nehemiah sat down for days and would not eat. He fasted and wept and prayed. He said,

O Lord God of heaven, the great God, who keeps his promises to those who love him and do his will; hear, O Lord, my prayer for the people of Israel, thy servants. We have done very wickedly, O Lord, and because of our sins, thou hast scattered us among the nations. Now, O Lord, give me grace this day in the sight of this man, the king of Persia, and may the king help me to do good and to help my people in the land of Israel.

A few days after this Nehemiah was standing beside the king’s table, while the king and queen were dinned. As he poured the wine, the king saw that his face was sad. This was not normal because Nehemiah was of a cheerful spirit, and generally showed a happy face. The king said to him, “Nehemiah, why do you look so sad? You do not seem to be sick. I am sure that there is something that gives you trouble. What is it? Tell me.” Nehemiah was afraid that the king might be displeased with him, but still he said, “Let the king live forever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city where my fathers are buried lies waste, with its walls broken down and its gates burned with fire?”

The king said, “Do you wish to ask of me any favor? Tell me what I can do to help you.”

Then Nehemiah lifted up a silent prayer to God and said, “May it please the king, I would be glad if you would send me to Jerusalem, in the land of Judah, with an order to build the walls.”

The king said, “How long will the journey be? And when will you come back?”

Nehemiah fixed upon a time, and told the king how long it would be. Nehemiah also asked for letters to the men who ruled the different provinces through which he would pass – granting him safe passage. He also requested a letter to the keeper of the king’s forest, telling him to give Nehemiah wood for the beams and pillars of a house which he wished to build; for repairing the Temple and building the wall. The king was kind to Nehemiah and gave him all that he asked.

Nehemiah, with a group of horsemen and many friends, made the long journey of almost a thousand miles to Jerusalem. All the people were glad to have a visit from a man of such high rank, and the whole city rejoiced at his coming. But Nehemiah was distressed when he saw the poor and helpless condition of the city.

One night, without telling any of the men in the city his purpose, he rose up with a few of his friends, and by the light of the moon rode around the city on his horse. He saw all the places where the walls were in heaps of ruins. He found the gates broken down and burned. He found such great heaps of ashes and piles of stone, that in some places his horse could not walk through it. The next day he called together the rulers and chief priests of the city, and he said,

You see how poor and helpless this city lies, without walls or gates and open to all its enemies. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, so that no longer other people may look upon us with contempt.

Then he told them how God had heard his prayer and made the king friendly and how the king had sent gifts to help them. Then the people and the rulers said, “Let us rise up and build the wall!” So, at once they began the work. Each family in Jerusalem agreed to build a part of the wall. The high priest said that he would build one of the gates and the wall beside it to a certain tower. Some of the rich men built a long space, others did very little, while some did nothing at all. One man built just as much of the wall as would stand in front of his house, and no more. Another man built only that part of the wall that fronted his own room. One man and his daughters hired workers to build; the goldsmiths built some, and so did the apothecaries, the men who sold medicines; and merchants also built a part. Almost all the men of the city, and some of the women, took part in the building, for the people had a mind to work.

Soon the news went out far and wide throughout Judea and the lands around, that the walls of Jerusalem were rising from the ruins. There were many who were upset and displeased about hearing this, because they hated the Jews and their God, and did not want to see Jerusalem strong again. The leader of these enemies was a man named Sanballat, who came from Samaria, where all the people were jealous of the Jews.

“What are these feeble Jews doing?” said Sanballat. “Do they intend to make their city strong? Will they pile up stones out of the rubbish of the burned city?”

And his servant, Tobiah, was with him, saying, “Why, if a fox should go up, he could break down their little wall.”

The Arabians from the desert and the Philistines from Ashdod on the plain and the Ammonites from the east of Jordan, knew that if the wall was built they could no longer rob and plunder the city. So, they tried to form an army to war against the city and stop the building. But Nehemiah prayed to God for help, and chose watchmen to go around the wall and watch for enemies. Half of Nehemiah’s men worked on the wall and the other half held bows, spears and armor for the workers. And, in some places, a man would hold a spear in one hand while he spread mortar with the other. At other places men worked with their swords hanging at one side, ready to fight any moment. Nehemiah rode around the wall on his horse, with his servant walking beside him with a trumpet. He said, “The work is large, and you are apart from each other. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, leave your work, take your arms, and go to the place where it sounds; and there the Lord will fight with us and for us.”

But their enemies were not strong enough to fight them; so Sanballat and Tobiah, along with another of their leaders named Geshem, sent a letter to Nehemiah, saying, “Come and meet us in one of the villages on the plain near the Great Sea, and let us talk over this matter.”

Now Nehemiah knew that if he went to this place and then returned to Jerusalem it would take more than a week. So, he sent this answer, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down; why should the work stop, while I leave it, to come down and talk with you?”

Over and over again they sent for Nehemiah, but he refused to come. Finally, Sanballat sent a letter, with this message: “It is told among all the people, and Geshem says it is a fact, that you are building this city to rebel against the king of Persia and to set up a kingdom of your own. Come now, and let us talk with you, or trouble may come to you.”

Nehemiah wrote back, “You know very well that there is no truth in all these stories. You have made them up yourselves.”

Some of the Jews in the city were friendly to these enemies from outside, and tried to frighten Nehemiah. One of them acted like he was a prophet and said to Nehemiah, “Go into the Temple and hide, for in the night your enemies will come to kill you!”

“Should such a man as I am run away and hide himself?” said Nehemiah. “No; I will not go.”

The men of Judah worked so earnestly that in fifty-two days from the beginning of the work it was finished. The gates were hung and guards were placed within – at last, no enemy could enter. Jerusalem now began to rise up from its weakness and helplessness – to become a strong city.