Nehemiah started rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, and many helped him. Elishib the high priest built the Sheep Gate, and the towers of the Hundred, and Hananel, and the sons of Hassenaah built the Fish Gate, and hung the doors with bolts and bars. And next to him Tekoites repaired, “but their nobles did not support the work of their masters.” It’s not their thing, they decided, to work on this wall with the rest.
Joiado repaired, and the men of Gibeion and Mizpah, and next to them Uzziel, the son of goldsmiths, and next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers. A perfumer didn’t say that he doesn’t know how to lay bricks and hammer nails. And they restored Jerusalem as far as the Broad Wall.
Next to them Rephaiah the son of the official of half the district of Jerusalem, and Jedaiah, and Hattush, and Malchijah repaired the Tower of Furnaces. Next to him was Shallum son of the official of the other half of the district of Jerusalem “made repairs, he and his daughters.” Those daughters didn’t consider it too heavy or difficult.
Then there was Baruch who zealously repaired another section. We can only wonder with what flair he built and hammered, that Nehemiah noticed the energy and effort.
The priests repaired too, each in front of his house. And Zadok, and Shemaiah, and Hananiah, and the temple servants. Between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants carried out repairs. Priests helped, and didn’t say their temple duties, sacrifices were enough. Merchants, too, laid aside their business, and became construction workers for the city.
When we read the chapter fast, we miss all that Nehemiah, and ultimately, God noted. The wall was destroyed, but the records of who built, and what they built, has stayed.
Are you building? Or do you have excuses?
Read about the rest of the builders in Nehemiah Chapter 3
“And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ;”
Ephesians 5:11-12
