Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brothers the priests, and they built the sheep gate. They sanctified it, and set up its doors. They sanctified it even to the tower of Hammeah, to the tower of Hananel. Next to him the men of Jericho built. Next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.
The sons of Hassenaah built the fish gate. They laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. Next to them, Meremoth the son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz made repairs. Next to them, Meshullam the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabel made repairs. Next to them, Zadok the son of Baana made repairs. Next to them, the Tekoites made repairs; but their nobles didn’t put their necks to the Lord’s work.
Joiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah repaired the old gate. They laid its beams, and set up its doors, and its bolts, and its bars. Next to them, Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, repaired the residence of the governor beyond the River. Next to him, Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, goldsmiths, made repairs. Next to him, Hananiah, one of the perfumers, made repairs, and they fortified Jerusalem even to the wide wall. Next to them, Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs. Next to them, Jedaiah the son of Harumaph made repairs across from his house. Next to him, Hattush the son of Hashabneiah made repairs. Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hasshub the son of Pahathmoab, repaired another portion, and the tower of the furnaces. Next to him, Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, he and his daughters, made repairs.
Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate. They built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and one thousand cubits of the wall to the dung gate.
Malchijah the son of Rechab, the ruler of the district of Beth Haccherem repaired the dung gate. He built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars.
Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of the district of Mizpah repaired the spring gate. He built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king’s garden, even to the stairs that go down from David’s city. After him, Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of half the district of Beth Zur, made repairs to the place opposite the tombs of David, and to the pool that was made, and to the house of the mighty men. After him, the Levites, Rehum the son of Bani made repairs. Next to him, Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, made repairs for his district. After him, their brothers, Bavvai the son of Henadad, the ruler of half the district of Keilah made repairs. Next to him, Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another portion, across from the ascent to the armory at the turning of the wall. After him, Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired another portion, from the turning of the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. After him, Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz repaired another portion, from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. After him, the priests, the men of the Plain made repairs. After them, Benjamin and Hasshub made repairs across from their house. After them, Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah made repairs beside his own house. After him, Binnui the son of Henadad repaired another portion, from the house of Azariah to the turning of the wall, and to the corner. Palal the son of Uzai made repairs opposite the turning of the wall, and the tower that stands out from the upper house of the king, which is by the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh made repairs. (Now the temple servants lived in Ophel, to the place opposite the water gate toward the east, and the tower that stands out.) After him the Tekoites repaired another portion, opposite the great tower that stands out, and to the wall of Ophel.
Above the horse gate, the priests made repairs, everyone across from his own house. After them, Zadok the son of Immer made repairs across from his own house. After him, Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the east gate made repairs. After him, Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another portion. After him, Meshullam the son of Berechiah made repairs across from his room. After him, Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths to the house of the temple servants, and of the merchants, made repairs opposite the gate of Hammiphkad, and to the ascent of the corner. Between the ascent of the corner and the sheep gate, the goldsmiths and the merchants made repairs.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 7, 8, 11, 15, 19, 22, 26, 30, 31 In Hebrew, they sanctified it, that is, they finished…
In Hebrew, they sanctified it, that is, they finished it, and so dedicated it to the Lord by prayer, in desiring him to maintain it.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–32 Neh 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up…
Neh 3:1 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel.
Ver. 1. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up] He was first, as fit he should, for example’s sake; ministers must be patterns of piety; they have many eyes upon them, and everything in their practice should be worthy imitation. This Eliashib was grandchild to Jeshua, Neh 12:10.
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With his brethren the priests] Who were before fearful, or forgetful; till reminded and excited by Nehemiah; who, as a lion, became captain to this hosts of harts, and achieved great matters. So strong and so sweet an operation hath a seasonable exhortation, when it falleth on a prepared heart, and is set on by God.
And they built the sheep gate] And reason it was, saith an interpreter (Bishop Pilkington), that as they were shepherds to the people, so they should build the sheep gate, which was at the east end of the city where the Temple was, where the sheep came in that were offered in sacrifice, and whereof they had their parts, according to the law. This gate may well be compared to Christ Jesus, who sought the lost sheep, and was sacrificed as a lamb, and is the gate whereby only we enter, and his shepherds must be the builders of it, and bring the people into the fold.
They sanctified it] i.e., beautified it, and then consecrated it by their prayers and devotions. This was priest like; and probably hereupon followed that miracle of an angel’s descending, at their several solemn feasts, into the pool of Bethesda (which was near to this gate, and where they washed their sacrifices), and healing all diseases, Joh 5:4.
Even unto the tower of Meah] Or the centenary tower, so called for its hundred pinnacles, haply; or, because a hundred cubits high.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 Eliashib the high priest; grandchild of Joshua, the first…
Eliashib the high priest; grandchild of Joshua, the first high priest after their return from Babylon.
Rose up; began the work.
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They builded the sheep-gate; which was next to the temple; so called, either from the sheep-market, or the sheep-pool of Bethesda, Joh 5:2, where the sheep were washed, and then brought to the temple to be sacrificed.
They sanctified it; or, they prepared or repaired it; for so the word sometimes signifies. But our translation seems best, both because that use of the word is most common, and because this is spoken only of this gate, which being built by the priests, and nighest to the temple, and with a special eye to the service of the temple, for which both men and things were most commonly brought in this way, and being also the first part of the building, might be in a peculiar manner sanctified by solemn prayer and sacrifice, whereby it was dedicated to God’s service; and this either as it was considered in itself, or with respect to the rest of the building, of which this was the beginning, and in a manner the first-fruits, and therefore in the sanctification of it the whole lump and building was sanctified. And seeing the whole city is oft called the holy city, it is not strange if the walls and gates of it be also holy, and said to be sanctified, and especially this gate. Compare Deu 20:5.
The tower of Meah, or, of a hundred; so called, either because it was a hundred cubits high, or so far distant from the sheep-gate.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 The best way to know how to divide this…
The best way to know how to divide this chapter is to observe how the work was divided among the undertakers, that every one might know what he had to do, and mind it accordingly with a holy emulation, and desire to excel, yet without any contention, animosity, or separate interest. No strife appears among them but which should do most for the public good. Several things are observable in the account here given of the building of the wall about Jerusalem: -
I. That Eliashib the high priest, with his brethren the priests, led the van in this troop of builders, Neh 3:1. Ministers should be foremost in every good work; for their office obliges them to teach and quicken by their example, as well as by their doctrine. If there be labour in it, who so fit as they to work? if danger, who so fit as they to venture? The dignity of the high priest was very great, and obliged him to signalize himself in this service. The priests repaired the sheep-gate, so called because through it were brought the sheep that were to be sacrificed in the temple; and therefore the priests undertook the repair of it because the offerings of the Lord made by fire were their inheritance. And of this gate only it is said that they sanctified it with the word and prayer, and perhaps with sacrifices perhaps, 1. Because it led to the temple; or, 2. Because with this the building of the wall began, and it is probable (though they were at work in all parts of the wall at the same time) that this was first finished, and therefore at this gate they solemnly committed their city and the walls of it to the divine protection; or, 3. Because the priests were the builders of it; and it becomes ministers above others, being themselves in a peculiar manner sanctified to God, to sanctify to him all their performances, and to do even their common actions after a godly sort.
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II. That the undertakers were very many, who each took his share, some more and some less, in this work, according as their ability was. Note, What is to be done for the public good every one should assist in, and further, to the utmost of his place and power. United force will conquer that which no individual dares venture on. Many hands will make light work.
III. That many were active in this work who were not themselves inhabitants of Jerusalem, and therefore consulted purely the public welfare and not any private interest or advantage of their own. Here are the men of Jericho with the first (Neh 3:2), the men of Gibeon and Mizpah (Neh 3:7), and Zanoah, Neh 3:13. Every Israelite should lend a hand towards the building up of Jerusalem.
IV. That several rulers, both of Jerusalem and of other cities, were active in this work, thinking themselves bound in honour to do the utmost that their wealth and power enabled them to do for the furtherance of this good work. But it is observable that they are called rulers of part, or the half part, of their respective cities. One was ruler of the half part of Jerusalem (Neh 3:12), another of part of Beth-haccerem (Neh 3:14), another of part of Mizpah (Neh 3:15), another of the half part of Beth-zur (Neh 3:16), one was ruler of one half part, and another of the other half part, of Keilah, Neh 3:17, Neh 3:18. Perhaps the Persian government would not entrust any one with a strong city, but appointed two to be a watch upon each other. Rome had two consuls.
V. Here is a just reproach fastened upon the nobles of Tekoa, that they put not their necks to the work of their Lord (Neh 3:5), that is, they would not come under the yoke of an obligation to this service; as if the dignity and liberty of their peerage were their discharge from serving God and doing good, which are indeed the highest honour and the truest freedom. Let not nobles think any thing below them by which they may advance the interests of their country; for what else is their nobility good for but that it puts them in a higher and larger sphere of usefulness than that in which inferior persons move?
VI. Two persons joined in repairing the old gate (Neh 3:6), and so were co-founders, and shared the honour of it between them. The good work which we cannot compass ourselves we must be thankful to those that will go partners with us in. Some think that this is called the old gate because it belonged to the ancient Salem, which was said to be first built by Melchizedek.
VII. Several good honest tradesmen, as well as priests and rulers, were active in this work - goldsmiths, apothecaries, merchants, Neh 3:8, Neh 3:32. They did not think their callings excused them, nor plead that they could not leave their shops to attend the public business, knowing that what they lost would certainly be made up to them by the blessing of God upon their callings.
VIII. Some ladies are spoken of as helping forward this work - Shallum and his daughters (Neh 3:12), who, though not capable of personal service, yet having their portions in their own hands, or being rich widows, contributed money for buying materials and paying workmen. St. Paul speaks of some good women that laboured with him in the gospel, Phi 4:3.
IX. Of some it is said that they repaired over against their houses (Neh 3:10, Neh 3:23, Neh 3:28, Neh 3:29), and of one (who, it is likely, was only a lodger) that he repaired over against his chamber, Neh 3:30. When a general good work is to be done each should apply himself to that part of it that falls nearest to him and is within his reach. If every one will sweep before his own door, the street will be clean; if every one will mend one, we shall be all mended. If he that has but a chamber will repair before that, he does his part.
X. Of one it is said that he earnestly repaired that which fell to his share (Neh 3:20) - he did it with an inflamed zeal; not that others were cold or indifferent, but he was the most vigorous of any of them and consequently made himself remarkable. It is good to be thus zealously affected in a good thin; and it is probable that this good man's zeal provoked very many to take the more pains and make the more haste.
XI. Of one of these builders it is observed that he was the sixth son of his father, Neh 3:30. His five elder brethren, it seems, laid not their hand to this work, but he did. In doing that which is good we need not stay to see our elders go before us; if they decline it, it does not therefore follow that we must. Thus the younger brother, if he be the better man, and does God and his generation better service, is indeed the better gentleman; those are most honourable that are most useful.
XII. Some of those that had first done helped their fellows, and undertook another share where they saw there was most need. Meremoth repaired, Neh 3:4. and again, Neh 3:21. And the Tekoites, besides the piece they repaired (Neh 3:5), undertook another piece (Neh 3:27), which is the more remarkable because their nobles set them a bad example by withdrawing from the service, which, instead of serving them for an excuse to sit still, perhaps made them the more forward to do double work, that by their zeal they might either shame or atone for the covetousness and carelessness of their nobles.
Lastly, Here is no mention of any particular share that Nehemiah himself had in this work. A name-sake of his is mentioned, Neh 3:16. But did he do nothing? Yes, though he undertook not any particular piece of the wall, yet he did more than any of them, for he had the oversight of them all; half of his servants worked where there was most need, and the other half stood sentinel, as we find afterwards (Neh 4:16), while he himself in his own person walked the rounds, directed and encouraged the builders, set his hand to the work where he saw occasion, and kept a watchful eye upon the motions of the enemy, as we shall find in the next chapter. The pilot needs not haul at a rope: it is enough for him to steer.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–30 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his…
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests,.... This was the grandson of Jeshua or Joshua the high priest, his father's name was Joiakim, Neh 12:10, being high priest, and rising first, he set a good example both to the priests and to the people, and served no doubt greatly to animate and encourage them:
and they built the sheep gate; so called, because the sheep were led through it to the temple, and near it was the sheep market, where they were sold, and the sheep pool, where the sacrifices were washed; and this being near the temple, and for the service of it, the priests undertook that; not that they laboured with their hands at it, though it is possible some of them might; but they were at the expense of it, employed labourers, and paid them, and directed them, and had the oversight of them: this gate was to the south of the city; and Rauwolff (u) says, it was still standing by Moriah, the mountain of the temple, which the Turks have taken to themselves, and built on it a Turkish mosque or temple. Near the gate you see still, he says, the sheep pond, which is large and deep, wherein the Nethinims used to wash the beasts, and then gave them to the priests; it is said (w) to lead to the mount of Olives, to Bethany, to Jericho, the desert, and all the east country to Jordan:
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they sanctified it; this being for sacred use, and they sacred persons; and this the first part of the building, they prayed for a blessing on it, and in it on the whole work undertaken, of which this was the firstfruits:
and set up the doors of it; and so finished it:
even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel; so far they built, and what they built they sanctified. The tower of Meah, or a "hundred", as the word signifies, might be so called, either because it was one hundred cubits from the sheep gate on one side, and as many from the tower of Hananeel on the other side, standing between both; or because it was one hundred cubits high: these two towers, perhaps, were firm and strong, and needed no repair, since no mention is made of any; though they seem to me to be one and the same tower; see Jer 31:38.
(u) Travels, par. 3. c. 3. p. 226, 228. (w) Vid. Quistorp. in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 16, 20, 21, 27, 30 The names of those who presided over the builders,…
The names of those who presided over the builders, and the parts which each company built, ver. 1-32.
Eliashib - Grand-child of Joshua, the first high-priest after their return from Babylon. Rose - Began the work. Ministers should be foremost in every good work, animating others by their example as well as doctrine. Sheep-gate - Which was next to the temple; so called, because the sheep were brought thro' it to be sacrificed. Sanctified - Or, they prepared or repaired it: for so the word sometimes signifies. But our translation seems best, both because that use of the word is most common, and because this is spoken only of this gate, which being built by the priests, and nighest to the temple, and with a special eye to the service of the temple, for which both men and things were most commonly brought in this way, and being also the first part of the building, might be in a peculiar manner sanctified by solemn prayer and sacrifice, whereby it was dedicated to God's service.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 19, 20, 22, 28, 32 The names of those who rebuilt the walls of…
CHAPTER III
The names of those who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem; and the
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part assigned to each person, 1-32.
NOTES ON CHAP. III
Verse 1. Eliashib the high priest] It was right that the priests should be first in this holy work; and perhaps the sheep gate which is mentioned here is that by which the offerings or sacrifices were brought into the temple.
They sanctified it] As they began with the sacred offering as soon as they got an altar built, it was proper that the gate by which these sacrifices entered should be consecrated for this purpose, i. e., set apart, so that it should be for this use only.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 14, 19, 20, 21, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 30, 32 Neh 3:1. Then Eliashib the high-priest rose up —…
Neh 3:1. Then Eliashib the high-priest rose up — The grandchild of Jeshua, the first high-priest after their return from Babylon. He, with his brethren, set a noble example, in being the first that began to rebuild the walls of the holy city, which the Babylonians had demolished. Ministers should be foremost in every good work, animating others by their example as well as doctrine. And they built the sheep-gate — Which was on the south side of the city, in that part of the valley which looked toward mount Zion and the temple; called the sheep-gate, because the sheep were brought through it to be sacrificed. Thus he not only shows by whom, but in what order, the wall was built. They sanctified it — Or they prepared, or repaired it; for so the word sometimes signifies. But our translation seems best, both because that use of the word is most common, and because this is spoken only of this gate, which, being built by the priests, and nearest to the temple, and with a special eye to the service of the temple, for which both men and things were most commonly brought in this way, and being also the first part of the building, might be in a peculiar manner sanctified by solemn prayer and sacrifice, whereby it was dedicated to God’s service. Even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it — That is, they sanctified the rest of the wall which they built as far as the tower of Meah on one side, and the tower of Hananeel on the other.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11, 13, 15, 16, 17, 31 Eliashib (compare the marginal reference) was the grandson of…
Eliashib (compare the marginal reference) was the grandson of Joshua, the high priest contemporary with Zerubbabel.
The sheep gate - This was a gate in the eastern wall, not far from the pool of Bethesda, marginal reference, which was perhaps originally a sheep-pool.
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The exact line which the writer follows in describing the circuit of the wall will probably be always a matter of dispute. According to the view here taken, the line described commences near the pool of Bethesda, on the east of the city, and is traced thence, first, northward, then westward, then southward, and finally eastward, as far as the pool of Siloam Neh 3:15. From this point, it seems to the writer of this note that the line of the outer wall is not followed, but, instead of this, the inner wall of the “city of David,” which included the temple, is traced. This wall is followed northward from the pool of Siloam, past the “sepulchres of David” and Hezekiah’s pool to the “armoury” Neh 3:19 at its northwest corner; it is then followed eastward to “the tower which lieth out from the king’s house” Neh 3:25; from this it is carried southward, along the western edge of the Kidron valley to the “great tower which lieth out” Neh 3:27, and then southwestward to the point at which it commenced near Siloam Neh 3:27. The special wall of the “city of David” being thus completed, the writer finishes his entire account by filling up the small interval between the northeast angle of this fortification and the “sheep-gate” Neh 3:28-32, from which he started.
They sanctified it - The priests commenced the work with a formal ceremony of consecration. When the work was completed, there was a solemn dedication of the entire circuit (see Neh. 12:27-43).
The tower of Hananeel is often mentioned; that of Meah, or rather Hammeah, or “the Hundred,” in Nehemiah only. Both towers must have been situated toward the northeastern corner of the city.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 26, 28, 29 Priest, the third since the captivity, son (Calmet) or…
Priest, the third since the captivity, son (Calmet) or brother of Joachim. (Lyranus) --- Flock-gate, near which was probably the miraculous pool, John v. 2. But the situation of these gates is not ascertained. --- Sanctified it, beginning the work (Calmet) with some religious ceremonies. (Junius) --- It was designed to protect God’s temple; and therefore, when finished, they dedicated it (Worthington) with solemnity, as they did all the walls, chap. xii. 27. The like custom is observed on laying the foundation-stone of our temples. (Haydock) Sanctified may also mean, cleared away the rubbish. (Vatable) (Tirinus) --- Hundred. Hebrew Mea. --- Cubits is not in the original, Septuagint or Syriac, (Calmet) though it seems to be understood. The ancient Jerusalem had twelve principal gates, four east, north, and west. There were none on the south, where Mount Sion lay. (Tirinus) --- The priests and others undertook this work, considering their eternal as well as their temporal inheritance. (Du Hamel)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 1Then Eliashib, the high-priest, rose up with his brethren…
Neh_3:1-32
1Then Eliashib, the high-priest, rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep-gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel. 2And next unto him [lit. at his hand] builded the men of Jericho. And next to them [rather, next 3to him, i.e., next to Eliashib] builded Zaccur the son of Imri. But [and] the fish-gate did the sons of Hassenaah [sons of Senaah] build, who also laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks [sockets] thereof, and the bars thereof. 4And next unto them repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah, the son of Koz [Hakkoz], and next unto them repaired Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. 5And next unto them repaired Zadok, the son of Baana. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the 6work of their Lord. Moreover [and] the old gate repaired Jehoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks [sockets] thereof, and the bars thereof. 7And next unto them repaired Melatiah the Gibeonite, and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah [the Mizpah which belonged] unto the throne of the governor on this side the river 9Next unto him repaired Uzziel the son of Harhaiah, of the goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah the son of one of the apothecaries [the son of Shelemiah of the apothecaries (?)], and they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall. 9And next unto them repaired Rephaiah the son of Hur, the ruler of the half part [half the circuit] of Jerusalem. 10And next unto them repaired Jedaiah the son of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush the son of Hashabniah. 11Malchijah the son of Harim, and Hashub the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece 12[a second piece], and the tower of the furnaces. And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part [half the circuit] of Jerusalem. 13The valley-gate repaired Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks [sockets] thereof, and the bars thereof, and a 14thousand cubits on the wall unto the dung-gate [rubbish gate]. But [and] the dung-gate [rubbish gate] repaired Malchiah the son of Rechab, the ruler of part [the circuit] of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks 15thereof and the bars thereof. But [and] the gate of the fountain repaired Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part [the circuit] of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up the doors thereof, the locks [sockets] thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the pool of Siloah [Shelah] by [that appertained to] the king’s garden, and unto the stairs that go down from the city of David. 16After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk the ruler of the half part [half the circuit] of Beth-zur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the part that was made, and unto the house of the mighty. 17After him repaired the Levites, [under] Rehum the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah the ruler of the half part [half the circuit] of Keilah in his part. 18After him repaired their brethren, [under] Bavai the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half part [half the circuit] of Keilah. 19And next to him repaired Ezer the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece [a second piece] over against the going up to the armory at the turning of the wall [armory of the corner]. 20After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece [a second piece], from the turning of the wall [from the corner] unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high-priest. 21After him repaired Meremoth the son of Urijah the son of Koz [Hakkoz] another piece [a second piece] from the door of the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house 22of Eliashib. And after him repaired the priests, the men of the plain. After him repaired Benjamin and Hashub over against their house. 23After him repaired Azariah the son of Maaseiah the son of Ananiah by his house. 24After him repaired Binnui the son of Henadad another piece [a second piece] from the house of Azariah unto the turning of the wall [unto the corner], even unto the corner [and unto the turret]. 25Palal the son of Uzai [repaired] over against the turning of the wall over against the corner], and the tower which lieth out from the king’s high house, that was by the court of the prison. After him Pedaiah the son of Parosh [repaired.] 26Moreover [and] the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel unto the place over against 27the water-gate towards the east, and the tower that lieth out. After them [him] the Tekoites repaired another piece [a second piece], over against the great tower that lieth out, even unto the wall of Ophel. 28From above the horse-gate repaired the priests, over against his house. After them (him, i.e., the last one of these 29priests] repaired Zadok the son of Immer over against his house. After him repaired also Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the east gate. 30After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shelemiah, and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, another piece [a second piece]. After him repaired Meshullam the son of Berechiah over against his chamber. 31After him repaired Malchiah the goldsmith’s son unto the place [house] of the Nethinim and of the merchants over against the gate Miphkad [gate of the visitation] and to the going up of the corner [turret]. 32And between the going up of the corner [turret] unto the sheep-gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.
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TEXTUAL AND GRAMMATICAL
9. פֶּלֶךְ. In this sense of “circuit” the word is Chaldee. See Targum on Jos_17:11. In Heb. it means “staff,” or “distaff.” See 2Sa_3:29; Pro_31:19.
13. הָשְׁפוֹת. The omission of the א is to be noted as comp. with Neh_3:14. Gesenius considers the א as prosthetic, and makes the root שָׂפַת, but it is as likely to be אָאַף.
30. שֵנִי, a lapsus for שֵּנִית ,נִשְׁכָּה. here and in Neh_12:44 and Neh_13:1, seems to be a varied form of לִשְׁכָּה.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The Wall-Building
Neh_3:1. Eliashib the high-priest.—This man was afterwards closely allied to Jerusalem’s enemies, one of his grandsons having married Sanballat’s daughter (Neh_13:28). His alliance with Tobiah became so close that he prepared a room for Tobiah in the temple (Neh_13:4; Neh_13:7). Eliashib may have excused this desecration on the ground that Tobiah was a Jew by birth. (See on Neh_2:10.) Eliashib was grandson of Jeshua, who, with Zerubbabel, led the original return. Notwithstanding the unworthiness of this high-priest and his probable want of sympathy with Nehemiah’s piety and patriotism, he could not refuse to take the lead in the wall-building. Public opinion was too strong under the appeals of Nehemiah.
The sheep-gate,Sha’ar hatz-tzon, must have been by the temple, or else the priests would not have been selected to build it. It is probably the προβατικὴ of Joh_5:2, translated in E. V. “sheep-market.” It seems to have been at the north-eastern corner of the temple-area, in the neighborhood of the present St. Stephen’s gate. It might derive its name from the fact that through this gate the sheep and goats (for the word refers to all small cattle) destined for the sacrifices were driven. (See Excursus.)
They sanctified it and set up the doors of it.—This gate is the only one which is said to be sanctified (kidshuhu), and we cannot tell whether it was done at once, so soon as it was built by the priests, or afterwards when the doors were set up (Neh_6:1). The other gates were purified (another verb, taher) after the completion of the wall (Neh_12:30). This seems to indicate a special connection with the temple. It probably opened into the temple-area. The setting up of the doors was not done until afterwards, but is here anticipated.1 (See Neh_6:1.)
The tower of Mean,migdol ham-meah,… the tower of Hananeel,migdol hananeel.—These two towers were between the sheep-gate and the fish-gate. They are have occupied the north-eastern corner of the temple-enclosure, and the corner west of that, where the city-wall from the north joined the wall of the temple-enclosure. Hence they would (like the sheep-gate) be both connected with the temple, and hence they were sanctified. (See Excursus.) (They sanctified it in the second occurrence seems to refer to the wall including the two towers. )—The tower of Meah may have been the place where the nobles and rulers collected their hundredth (Neh_5:11), Meah being the Heb. for the “hundredth:” but?
Neh_3:2. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur the son of Imri.—This should read literally: And at his hand builded the men of Jericho, and at his hand builded Zaccur the son of Imri.—Zaccur may have been leader of the men of Jericho. The English version misleads.
Neh_3:3. The fish-gate,Sha’ar had-dagim, was east of the present Damascus-gate in the north wall. It is mentioned 2Ch_33:14 and Zep_1:10. (See Excursus.)
The sons of Hassenaah.—Rather: the sons of Senaah. (See Ezr_2:35.) Senaah was a city, or more likely a large territory (if we are to judge from the large numbers in Ezra, l. c.), near Jericho. In the Onomasticon we find a Senna, seven miles north of Jericho.—The locks thereof were probably the sockets into which the bars fitted.
Neh_3:4. Meremoth, the son of Urijah, is the same who is called in Ezr_8:33 “Mere-moth, the son of Uriah the priest.” (See Neh_10:5.) He was of the family of Hakkoz, written wrongly in E. V. in this place Koz. See 1Ch_24:10.
Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel.—This Meshullam was allied to Tobiah, for Tobiah’s son Johanan had married Meshullam’s daughter (Neh_6:18). Nehemiah made the Jews, allied to the enemies of Judah, to commit themselves to the welfare of the city, as against their chosen intimates of the heathen. The “Meshezabeel” may be the same mentioned in Neh_10:21; Neh_11:24.—Zadok, the son of Baana, seems to be the same as the Zadok of Neh_10:21. Both Meshullam and Zadok were probably of the tribe of Judah.
Neh_3:5. The Tekoites.—Tekoa (still bearing its old name) is nine miles due south of Jerusalem, and about two miles south-west of the conspicuous Frank Mountain.—Their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.—Nehemiah’s task was an immense one, to unite a people, in many of whom there was no sympathy with the cause, for a rapid and successful movement. The fashionable part of Jerusalem was in virtual league with the enemies of God. Some of these were constrained (as Eliashib) by circumstances to take part in the work of rebuilding the Holy City, but others (as these Tekoite nobles) resolutely kept aloof.
Neh_3:6. The old gate must have been in the north wall, east of the present Damascusgate. Keil reads: “gate of the old wall” with Arnold and Hupfeld, as referring to the old wall in distinction from the “broad wall,” which was newer. If we are to read Jeshanah as a genitive, it is possible that the gate was “the gate of Jeshanah” as leading to that town (2Ch_13:19). (See Excursus.)
Neh_3:7. Meronothite.—Here and in 1Ch_27:30 only. Meronoth may have been a dependent village of Mizpah.—Unto the throne of the governor on this side the river.—They did not repair unto (i.e. as far as) the throne, etc. Then the preposition would have been ’ad, but it is l (i.e. el). It connects the description with Mizpah, and describes this Mizpah as belonging to the throne (or sway) of the governor beyond the river (i.e. beyond the river from Susa and the empire’s centre), or as our version has it “the governor on this side the river.” Perhaps this was to distinguish it from the Gilead Mizpah, which was under another governor (Jdg_10:17, etc.). In this case the “river” would be the Jordan. Some place Mizpah at Neby Samwil, some at Scopus.
Neh_3:8. The son of one of the apothecaries.—Probably the name Shelemiah (Neh_3:30) has dropped out here. The goldsmiths and apothecaries (makers of spices, ointments and perfumes) worked under these leaders. These apothecaries are supposed by some to have been priests (1Ch_9:30).
Fortified Jerusalem.—Here and at Neh_4:2, the Heb. word ’azab is translated in E. V. “fortify.” Fürst derives it from an original meaning of “knot” or “bind;” hence “fasten” or “repair.” Ewald gives it the meaning of “shelter.” But in Exo_23:5 it seems to mean “help,” though Fürst there gives it the meaning of “loosen.” A common meaning of the word is “to forsake” as in Deu_31:16. This last meaning Fürst and Gesenius retain in Neh_4:2 by translating: “will they (the governors) forsake the matter to them?” or “will they allow them?” May not this general notion be intended here: “they loosened (i. e freed from exposure and peril) Jerusalem?” Keil retains the common meaning of azab, and reads: “they (the builders, or else the Chaldeans) left Jerusalem untouched as far as the broad wall.”
The broad wall,hahomah harehavah (Neh_12:38) seems to have been a special fortification at the north-west corner of the city. Keil would identify it with the four hundred cubits destroyed by Joash, and afterward rebuilt by Uzziah. (See Excursus.)
Neh_3:9. Ruler of the half part of Jerusalem.—Compare Neh_3:12; Neh_3:14-18. Pelek means a circuit, and is a governmental term. Rephaiah was ruler of half the circuit of Jerusalem, and Shallum (Neh_3:12) was ruler of the other half. The circuits of Beth-zur and Keilah had each two rulers also (see Neh_3:16-18). These circuits were probably districts deriving their names from their chief towns.
Neh_3:11. The other piece,middah shenith, “a second piece,” as in Neh_3:19; Neh_3:21; Neh_3:27; Neh_3:30. The first piece (“first,” perhaps, because first assigned to them) which they repaired is mentioned in Neh_3:23, where Malchijah is called Benjamin. The Harim and the Pahath-moab, who are mentioned as the fathers of Malchijah and Hashub, who repaired this second piece, were probably remote ancestors, Harim being the third of the twenty-four who in David’s time gave name to the priestly divisions or courses (1Ch_24:8), and Pahath-moab being one of the chiefs of families who came back with Zerubbabel a century before (see Neh_7:11). The name Pahath-moab (governor of Moab) is one of the evidences of a close connection with Moab on the part of some of the families of Israel. Elimelech’s residence in Moab and David’s use of Moab as a place of safety for his family are other evidences. (See also 1Ch_4:22 for another allusion.)
The Tower of the Furnaces,Migdal hattannurim would naturally fall into the neighborhood of the Jaffa Gate, and may be represented by the north-eastern tower of the citadel, which Dr. Robinson identifies with Herod’s tower of Hippicus. (See Excursus.)
Neh_3:12. Shallum, the son of Halohesh. Halo‘hesh, or Hallo‘hesh, is another ancestral name, and not that of an immediate father. (See Neh_10:24.) He and his daughters not ruling, but building. The zeal of these women is emphasized.
Neh_3:13. The valley-gate. See on Neh_2:13. Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah.—Hanun is called in Neh_3:30, “the sixth son of Zalaph.” Zanoah was about twelve miles west of Jerusalem.
The dung-gate. See on Neh_2:13.
Neh_3:14. The ruler of part of Beth-haccerem, or the ruler of the circuit of Beth-haccerem. Beth-haccerem was near Tekoa, and was a height where a beacon could be displayed (Jer_6:1). It is identified by modern travellers with Jebel Fureidis, or the Frank Mountain.
Neh_3:15. Gate of the Fountain.—See Neh_2:14. Shallum the son of Col-hozeh, a Judahite (Neh_11:5). The ruler of part of Mizpah, or the ruler of the circuit of Mizpah. The circuit of Mizpah, and Mizpah itself, had different rulers. (See Neh_3:19.) Covered it. Probably equivalent to “laid the beams thereof” of Neh_3:3; Neh_3:6. The pool of Siloah, by the king’s garden,Beréchath hash Shelah, legan ham-melek. It is Shiloah in Isaiah, and Shelah here. The pool is the present Birket Silwan, and probably includes the Birket el-Hamra. It was outside the city, near the Tyropœon valley, where it enters the valley of the Son of Hinnom. Just at this junction was the king’s garden (see 2Ki_25:4, and Joseph., A. J. 7, 11), watered by this pool. It receives its water through a subterranean canal under the lower end of Ophel (the ridge running south from the temple-area) from the Fountain of the Virgin, on the west side of the Kidron valley. The old wall probably embraced all Zion, running along its southern brow, and stretched over to Ophel, in the neighborhood of the pool of Siloam, the fountain-gate being near by.
The stairs that go down from the city of David would then be an access to the Tyropœon from Zion, ending in this neighborhood of the pool. (See Excursus.)
Neh_3:16. The ruler of the half part of Beth-zur, or the ruler of half the circuit of Beth-zur. Beth-zur is about four miles north of Hebron. Unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty.—The sepulchres of David were probably the same as the sepulchres of the kings (2Ch_28:27, et al.), and we may place them somewhere on Zion (1Ki_2:10). The part of the wall here designated would be that on Ophel, opposite that portion of Zion where the sepulchres were, the valley of the Tyropœon being between. The “pool that was made” may be the present fountain of the Virgin, which perhaps Hezekiah formed with its remarkable galleries (see Capt. Warren’s account in “the Recovery of Jerusalem”) for the supply of Ophel (see 2Ki_20:20). The “house of the mighty” (beth-hag-geborim) we have no clue to.
Neh_3:17. The ruler of the half part of Keilah in his part, or the ruler of the half circuit of Keilah for his circuit. Those of the other half-circuit of Keilah are next mentioned.
Neh_3:19. The ruler of Mizpah another piece.—The first piece is given in Neh_3:7. Over against the going up to the armory at the turning of the wall.—Rather, from opposite the ascent of the armory of the corner. The armory of the corner was perhaps at an angle in the eastern Ophel wall.
Neh_3:20. Baruch the son of Zabbai is honorably mentioned for his distinguished zeal. He worked at a second piece from the corner mentioned above to the high-priest’s house, which seems to have been on Ophel. Perhaps this Baruch’s first piece of work has slipped from the text. Zabbai may be the same mentioned in Ezr_10:28. Baruch may be the priest of Neh_10:6.
Neh_3:21. Meremoth, the son of Urijah, the son of Koz.—See on Neh_3:4. As a conspicuous priest, it was appropriate that he should be connected with the work on the wall in front of the high-priest’s house.
Neh_3:22. The men of the plain.—The word translated “plain” is kikkar, which is generally used for the Jordan valley, but in Neh_12:28 it is used of the environs of Jerusalem. It literally signifies a circuit. As no qualifying word or phrase is found here, this kikkar is probably the Jordan valley.
Neh_3:23. Benjamin (see on Neh_3:11) one of the descendants of Harim. (See Ezr_10:32.) Hashub was son (or descendant) of Pahathmoab. (See on Neh_3:11.) Their house may refer only to Benjamin, who was a priest (one of the Bene-Harim), Hashub, perhaps, being in some way allied to him.
Azariah may be the Levite mentioned in Neh_8:7.
Neh_3:24-25. Binnui is the Levite mentioned in chs. Neh_10:9 and Neh_12:8. Unto the turning of the wall, even unto the corner.—Or, unto the corner of the wall and unto the turret. By this seems to be intended the corner, where the “tower which lieth out” (Neh_3:25) formed a projection. Capt. Warren found about four hundred feet south-west of the south-east corner of the temple area the remains of an outlying tower to the wall, which he conjectures may be the “tower which lieth out.” This tower is described in the next verse as the tower which lieth out from the king’s high house.—Solomon’s palace, doubtless, occupied the south-east corner of the present Haram. It probably had a high fortified position extending south to the Ophel wall (see Capt. Warren’s map). This part was perhaps built by Jotham (2Ch_27:3), or Hezekiah (2Ch_32:5), or Manasseh (2Ch_33:14). The height of Manasseh’s building is especially mentioned.
The court of the prison is spoken of in Jer_32:2 as appertaining to the king’s house.
Neh_3:26. Moreover the Nethinim dwelt in Ophel. Some with the Syriac, insert the relative and read, “the Nethinim who dwelt in Ophel,” and then supply the verb “repaired.” This is not needed. We may count this an interjected statement, showing what an important site had been given to the Nethinim. See, moreover, the אַחֲרָיו of Neh_3:27, referring to Pedaiah. The water-gate was, perhaps, a gate opening into the subterranean water galleries, lately discovered by Capt. Warren. If so, then the Nethinim dwelt in all Ophel from a point a little north of the Fountain of the Virgin to this “tower which lieth without,” that is, along a distance of about eight hundred feet. This position of the water-gate answers to the narrative in Neh_12:37. (See Excursus.)
The Nethinim (i.e., dedicated ones) were servants of the temple, who performed the menial duties of the precinct. In Josephus they are ἱερόδουλοι (temple-servants). They were appointed by David (Ezr_8:20), as another guild of service (Solomon’s servants, or Andhé Shelomoh) was appointed by Solomon (Ezr_2:58). The Levites, as compared with the priests, were called Nethunim (Num_8:19), a word of the same signification as Nethinim. (Comp. the K’tib of Ezr_8:17.) Perhaps David’s Nethinim were the Gibeonites (hewers of wood and drawers of water) restored to their service in a regular manner, after a dispersion of their number in Saul’s time. (See 2Sa_21:2.)
Neh_3:27. The Tekoites repaired their first piece near the old gate (Neh_3:5).
The great tower that lieth out is probably the same as “the tower that lieth out” of Neh_3:25.
The wall of Ophel would be the southern wall of the temple-area where it joined the district of Ophel.
Neh_3:28. The horse-gate was where Athaliah was slain. It was between the temple and the palace. This would put it about 200 feet north of the present S. E. corner of the Haram. (See 2Ch_23:15, and Jer_31:40). The part from the “wall of Ophel” to the horse-gate (Sha’ar Has-susim) was probably in good order, as it was the wall of the old royal palace, and had been occupied by the governors of the city. Hence it is not mentioned as rebuilt at this time, but the next builders to the Tekoites begin from above (i.e., up the Kidron) the horse-gate. (See Excursus).
Neh_3:29. The keeper of the east gate.—This Sha’ar ham-mizrah is the sha’ar hak-kadmoni of Eze_11:1, one of the inner temple-gates, not a city gate. If this Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah, is the same as the one mentioned in 1Ch_3:22, then he was a descendant of the kings, and his title may have been one of honor only. He may, however, have been another and a Levite.
Neh_3:30. Hananiah. See on Neh_3:8. Hanun another piece.—See on Neh_3:13.Meshullam the son of Berechiah. See on Neh_3:4.
Neh_3:31. The place of the Nethinim and of the Merchants over against the gate Miphkad and to the going up of the corner. Lit. The house of the Nethinim and the traders opposite the gate of the visitation even to the ascent of the projecting turret. The “house” of the Nethinim and traders was not their dwelling-place, but, we suppose, the place where under the direction of the Nethinim the traders (see Mat_21:12) brought their doves, etc., for sale to worshippers. We may place it near the northeast angle of the Haram. For the gate Miphkad, see Excursus. The ascent of the turret would be the stairs at the north-east angle leading up to a corner-tower, not far from the sheep gate.
Neh_3:32. The goldsmiths may have been also connected with these matters of the Nethinim and traders.
For a plan of the walls of the city, see Excursus.
From this outline it will be seen that only those gates whose bars and locks and doors are mentioned do we consider as belonging to the city wall, to wit:
1. Sheep-gate, Neh_3:1.
2. Fish-gate, Neh_3:3.
3. Old-gate, Neh_3:6.
4. Valley-gate, Neh_3:13.
5. Dung-gate, Neh_3:14.
6. Fountain-gate, Neh_3:15.
The other gates are not spoken of as now constructed, and we take them to be inner gates belonging to the inner temple and palace divisions, to wit:
1. Water-gate, Neh_3:26.
2. Horse-gate, Neh_3:28.
3. East-gate, Neh_3:29.
4. Gate Miphkad, Neh_3:31.
We also consider the wall along the southern brow of Zion to have continued across the Tyropœon to Ophel near the pool of Siloam.
HISTORICAL AND ETHICAL
1. Eliashib’s connection with Sanballat and Tobiah (Neh_13:7; Neh_13:28) must have taken place at a later date, when Nehemiah had returned to Susa, and was not expected to revisit Jerusalem. If the high-priest had already made those scandalous alliances, Nehemiah certainly would have taken him to task, and the record of such reprimand would have been here given. With a heart disaffected, Eliashib nevertheless takes his place in the rebuilding of the wall. His prominence in the work was doubtless a great help to Nehemiah.
2. It is an interesting feature of this wall-building that those whose local interests were far off, as at Jericho, Tekoah, and Beth-zur, took such deep interest and such conspicuous part in the work. The old love for Zion and for the temple was still warm in the breasts of the returned Jews. They felt that the true life of the nation flowed from Jerusalem as the central heart. Their union in this work was a powerful means of renewing their patriotic affection and strengthening the interests of the commonwealth. Co-working for defence always brings souls together; and when the co-working is in defence of the citadel of religion and country, the strongest bond of union is formed. The wall-buildings formed a strong basis, on which Nehemiah could introduce his reforms.
3. However, there must have been many who refused the service, and were apathetic, if not hostile to the work. Otherwise we should not see some of them engaged doing a second piece of the wall, and perhaps a longer list of leaders in the service would be recorded. It is not to be believed that, if the high-priest himself was inclined to ally himself to Sanballat, there were not many others who had no hearty interest in the restoration of Jerusalem’s glory. The nobles of Tekoah (Neh_3:5) were but samples of a large number.
4. And yet, again, the thirty-four leaders whose names are given us cannot be considered as the only chief men engaged in the wall-building. Other prominent men whose names occur later in the book may have held office under them, and hence are here unmentioned.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Neh_3:1. The importance of Zion’s walls. 1) For uniting the congregation, the congregation must be able to shut itself off and secure itself to protect its peculiar goods. 2) For exclusion of the world,—the world must be kept at a distance, so long as it only strives to rob the goods of the congregation.
Neh_3:1-2. The precedence of the high-priest in making the city of God secure. 1) He himself is the first to build. 2) By this he consecrates the work of the others. 3) He is a pledge for the success of the work.—The duty of building the walls of Zion. 1) For those in authority (as Nehemiah), who have to incite and uphold the priests and people in their work. 2) For the priests who are not exalted above the common obligation.—3) For the people whose members must not forget in their household and inferior cares, those which are higher and more universal.—Bede: Qui portas et turres ædificant, per quas vel cives ingrediantur vel arceantur inimici, ipsi sunt prophetæ, apoastoli, evangelistæ, per quos nobis forma et ordo fidei ac rectæ operations, per quam unitatem ecclesiæ sanctæ intrare debeamus, ministrata est, quorumque verbis, qualiter adversarios veritatis redarguamus ac repellamus, discimus. Qui vero reliquis verbis extruunt, ipsi sunt pastores et doctores.—Starke: The clergy should set to work first in building the city of God, and precede others by a good example. The memory of those who have rendered services to the church and to the commonwealth remains, justly, blessed. Pro_10:7. The most powerful and richest people do, generally, the least in the temporal and spiritual edifice of the city of God. Happy he who willingly puts on the light and easy yoke of Christ at the building of the spiritual Jerusalem.
Neh_3:31. The honor of the mechanics and artists. 1) They may be, and shall be at the same time priests of God. 2) Their products can and shall serve for God’s honor. 3) Their doing has in itself worth and reward.
Nehemiah 3:33–35. Why the world so easily pretends that our work will have no result. 1) Because in truth of ourselves we are not capable of great efforts: only the sacrifice and the power of Christ can make us willing and endow us with perseverance. 2) Because in truth the work is indeed altogether too lofty and glorious,—only the Spirit of Christ can consecrate us to it. 3) Because the world only sees that which is before its eyes; there is, however, something higher.—Starke: Fleshly-minded spirits consider the undertaking and the work of God’s children as contemptible and small, and measure it according to their standard. Wis_5:3; 2Ki_19:10. There are different degrees among the godless, in regard to their wickedness. The worst are those who not only do wickedly themselves, but also cannot bear to see others doing good, and express their rage in poisonous jeers. Joh_10:32; Psa_109:4.
Nehemiah 3:36–38. Prayer is the most powerful weapon against the enemy. 1) It secures to us the best allies. 2) It makes us sure of the weakness of the enemy. If they are God’s enemies at the same time, they have God’s holiness opposed to them, before which nothing which is evil can endure. 3) It pledges the final victory to us. They can only escape by change of heart.—Starke: When we are in the greatest straits, there God is our safety, our rock, our strength and refuge, and we must fly to Him in prayer. 2Ch_20:12; Pro_18:10; Nah_1:3.
Nehemiah 3:38. The blessing of the oppression which the scorn of the world exercises upon us. 1) We work the more steadily under it, we do not indeed know how long the evening will permit us to work. 2) The joy in the work increases as surely as it is elevating to bear the disgrace of Christ. 3) The work advances so much the better. Starke: In the work of the Lord we must confidently proceed, heedless of all opposition. 2Ti_4:3-5. At pleasure’s call all work seems small, therefore be not slothful in what you should do. Rom_12:11; Pro_6:6. If God has given us successful progress in our work, this should be an admonition to us that we should the more boldly persist in pursuing our calling.
Footnotes:
[1]This gate and the water-gate and horse-gate and gate Miphkad (Neh_3:26; Neh_3:28; Neh_3:31) all appear to have been within the temple-precinct or its neighborhood, and all appear to have been destitute of locks and bars; for these are spoken of with regard to all the other gates (Neh_3:3; Neh_3:6; Neh_3:13-14), but not with regard to these. These gates may have been kept constantly open, but guarded by an armed force.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 8, 12, 13, 14, 16, 19, 25, 26 next unto him builded the men of Jericho, &c.--The…
next unto him builded the men of Jericho, &c.--The wall was divided into portions, one of which was assigned respectively to each of the great families which had returned from the captivity. This distribution, by which the building was carried on in all parts simultaneously with great energy, was eminently favorable to despatch. "The villages where the restorers resided being mostly mentioned, it will be seen that this circumstance affords a general indication of the part of the wall upon which they labored, such places being on that side of the city nearest their place of abode; the only apparent exception being, perhaps, where they repaired more than their piece. Having completed their first undertaking (if they worked any more), there being no more work to be done on the side next their residence, or having arrived after the repairs on that part of the city nearest them under operation were completed, they would go wherever their services would be required" [BARCLAY, City of the Great King].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 1. Eliashib the high priest — He must now…
1. Eliashib the high priest — He must now have been an old man. Compare Ezr_10:6, note. The priests seem to have built the gates and walls nearest to the temple.
Sheep gate — This we understand from Joh_5:2 (where see note) to have been near the pool of Bethesda, called the “king’s pool” in Neh_2:14, and now known as the “Fountain of the Virgin,” in the Kedron valley, near the southeastern corner of the city. The gate was probably so called because the sheep used in the sacrifices were brought through it into Jerusalem.
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They sanctified it — By some dedicatory service.
And set up the doors — Raised them and hung them on their hinges, or set them in sockets or upon pivots, in which they were to turn. One gate might have several doors.
Even unto — Here in thought we may supply the words, they builded the walls. They not only builded the sheep gate, but also the city wall on the eastern side as far as to the towers here mentioned. The tower of Meah and that of Hananeel must have been located in the eastern wall, but their places can only be designated by conjecture. See the plan of Jerusalem on opposite page.
They sanctified it — Not only the tower of Meah, but their entire work.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–32 Ch. Neh_3:1-32. The Distribution of the Work
Ch. Neh_3:1-32. The Distribution of the Work
The Rebuilding of the Wall. The present chapter mentions 42 portions of the work. But the description is clearly incomplete; and we may suppose that Nehemiah’s list either has been only partially reproduced by the Compiler or had been preserved in a mutilated copy. See notes on Neh_3:7; Neh_3:25-28.
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Eliashib the high priest] Eliashib was the son of Joiakim, and the grandson of Jeshua (Ezr_3:2; Neh_12:10). Though he co-operated in the work of rebuilding the walls, his close connexion with Tobiah, as described in chap. Neh_13:4, shows that he did not sympathize with the policy of Ezra and Nehemiah in separating the Jews from any alliance or combination with other nations.
The technical title ‘the high-priest,’ literally ‘the great priest,’ which is used here and in Neh_3:20, Neh_13:28, is found in Lev_21:10; Num_35:25; Num_35:28; Jos_20:6; 2Ki_12:10; 2Ki_22:4; 2Ch_34:9; Hag_1:1; Hag_1:12; Hag_1:14; Hag_2:2; Hag_2:4; Zec_3:1; Zec_3:8; Zec_6:11. Elsewhere we find him called ‘the chief priest,’ e.g. 2Ki_25:18; 2Ch_24:11; 2Ch_26:20; Ezr_7:5; Ezr_8:17; Jer_52:24.
the sheep gate] This gate is also referred to in Neh_3:32 and Neh_12:39. There can be little doubt that it is the same gate as that mentioned by St Joh_5:2, ‘Now there is in Jerusalem by the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew Bethesda.’ The fact that the priests restored it suggests its proximity to the Temple. This is confirmed by the reference to it in chap. Neh_12:39. Its position was in the N.E. portion of the city, and corresponded to the modern St Stephen’s gate, so far as the change in walls and ground-level permits of comparison. We may suppose that the name was taken from a sheep-market in the immediate neighbourhood. Large numbers of sheep would be required for the Temple sacrifices. The chief supplies of sheep would come from Eastern Palestine and the land of Moab. Their arrival through this eastern gate, whether a market stood near or not, was sufficient to account for the name.
Socin (Baedeker, Palestine and Syria, p. 151) says ‘As the pool of Bethesda is now believed to have been near the present ‘Ain esh-Shifâ,’ and not at the place assigned to it by tradition, we must inter that the sheep gate led from the industrial quarter of the Tyropœon into the Temple precincts.’ Comparing, however, this passage with Zec_14:10, it is tempting to identify ‘the sheep gate’ with ‘the gate of Benjamin,’ which is not mentioned in our chapter, but which clearly stood at the N.E. of the city (cf. Jer_37:13).
they sanctified it] The same Hebrew word occurs in connexion with the completion of a building in 1Ki_8:64, ‘The same day did the king hallow the middle of the court.’ It does not anticipate the solemn dedication of the walls in chap. 12. The completion of the priests’ work was signalised by a special sacred function. (See note on the word ‘sanctify’ in Neh_12:47.)
set up the doors] This was the final act. See 1Ki_16:34, where ‘gates’ is kept by the R.V. as the rendering of the same word.
unto the tower of Meah] R.V. unto the tower of Hammeah. Marg., unto the tower of ‘The hundred.’ What is intended by ‘the tower of Hammeah,’ we have no means of determining. The alternative rendering ‘the tower of The hundred,’ supposes either that the tower was approached by 100 steps, or that it required 100 men to defend it. It is possible that there has been some early defect in the reading.
they sanctified it] The repetition of these words shows that the wall running from the sheep gate to the tower is here intended. But the omission of the object to the verb creates a difficulty.
unto the tower of Hananeel] R.V. Hananel. This was a well-known building, which is mentioned also in chap. Neh_12:39; Jer_31:38; Zec_14:10. From the first of these passages we gather that the tower stood midway between the sheep gate and the fish gate. From the two others, that it stood at the N.E. corner of the city. Probably from this point the wall, which had run N.W., now turned due W. It may have owed its name to its builder.
The way in which it is mentioned here occasions some difficulty. If it is the same as the tower of Hammeah, there seems no reason why the writer should first of all have designated the well-known tower of Hananel by the name of Hammeah. If it is a different tower, how does it happen that two towers are mentioned as the limit of the priests’ restoration of the wall?
Supposing the text to be correct, the tower of Hammeah may have been the Eastern tower of the same stronghold which is also called Hananel. From the emphatic way in which it is mentioned this fortress probably represented an important strategic point. Now ‘the castle (or bîrah) which appertaineth to the house’ may have stood on high ground near this point. And the conjecture is plausible that the tower of Hananel was the name given to an outwork of the great fortress at the point where the city wall ran into it.
According to this theory, Eliashib and the priests restored the city wall between the sheep gate and a portion of the great fortress which commanded the Temple. It does not appear from this chapter that these towers had been pulled down. They had possibly been left to receive a garrison or were not so easily dismantled as the walls.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 32 (1) Then Eliashib.—The account begins with due honour to…
(1) Then Eliashib.—The account begins with due honour to the high priest and the priesthood.
The sheep gate was in the neighbourhood of the priests’ quarter. Through it the victims passed for sacrifice, first being washed in the neighbouring pool of Bethesda. This being built, “they sanctified it,” as an earnest of the subsequent consecration of the entire wall. Their work and the sanctification of it extended to two towns near each other at the north-east corner.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32 COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK, AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORKING…
COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORK, AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE WORKING PARTIES, WITH THE NAMES OF THOSE WHO SUPERINTENDED THE BUILDING. (Ne 3) The especial object of this chapter seems to be the rendering of honour where honour was due the putting on record of the names of the men who boldly came to the front on this occasion, sacrificed their ease to their duty, and exposed themselves to a threatened hostile attack. (Neh_4:8-20) Though Nehemiah"s eloquence had carried over to him the bulk of the nation, (Neh_2:18) it had not carried the whole. There were those who refused to take any part in the work even though it was "the work of their Lord" (Neh_3:5) and these laggards were of the "noble" class. The more credit was therefore due to the head men who chose the better part, supported Nehemiah with zeal, and, sword in hand, (Neh_4:17) either worked themselves or superintended the workers. Nehemiah records the names of thirty-eight such persons, and in thirty cases adds to the name of the individual that of his father. Where this designation is wanting, he for the most part supplies its place by some other, so as definitely to mark out the person intended. With this general purpose of doing honour to the deserving is combined the wish graphically to place the whole scene before the reader. This is done by means of a profusion of topographical details. Nehemiah takes us along the entire circuit of the wall shows us "the tower of Meah," "the tower of Hananeel," "the fish gate," "the old gate," "the throne of the governor," "the broad wall," "the tower of the furnaces," "the valley gate," "the dung gate," "the gate of the fountain, .... the pool of Siloam," "the king"s garden," "the stairs, .... the sepulchres of David," "the pool that was made," "the armoury," "the tower that lay out," "Ophel," "the horse gate," "the gate Miphkad," "the sheep gate," and "the ascent of the corner exhibits to us the party at work in each place, repairing a portion of the wall, or rebuilding a gateway notes the zeal of those who, completing the piece first assigned to them rapidly, then undertook a second piece (vers. 11, 19, 21, 24, etc.), and altogether gives us a description which is full of life and activity. The passage is invaluable to the topographer, and though not resolving all the difficulties with which he meets in his attempts to reproduce the plan of the ancient city, furnishes more effectual help than all other existing notices on the subject put together.
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up. It is satisfactory to find Eliashib the high priest taking the part which befitted him on this occasion. Subsequently we find him "allied by marriage to Tobiah, (Neh_13:4) and guilty of a profanation of the temple (ibid. ver. 5). By the line of high priests given in Neh_12:10, Neh_12:11, it appears that Eliashib was the son of Joiakim, and the grandson of the Jeshua who returned from Babylon with Zerubbabel. (Ezr_2:2 Ezr_3:2) With his brethren. The priests generally. Compare ver. 28, which shows that the priests undertook a portion of the eastern wall, besides the work here mentioned. Builded the sheep gate. The "sheep gate" appears to have been a gate in the eastern wall, the probatikh of St. John, (Joh_5:2) which was close to the pool of Bethesda. By this gate were brought in the sheep needed for sacrifice, which were then washed in the adjoining pool, and conveyed from it into the temple area, whereon the pool abuts. The priests dwelt principally in this portion of the city. They sanctified it. This appears to have been a dedication quite distinct from that which is described in Neh_12:27-43. The priests, having completed the rebuilding of the sheep gate, and of the wall extending from it northwards as far as the tower of Hananeel, anticipated the general dedication by a special one, which "sanctified," or consecrated, their own portion of the wall Thus a sacred character was impressed on the work at the earliest possible moment, and it was placed under the protection of the Almighty. The tower of Meah (or rather Hammeah, i.e. "the Hundred") and the tower of Hananeel appear to have been situated almost at the same point of the wall. Perhaps they were opposite each other, like the towers in the walls of Babylon (Herod., 1:179).
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An honourable record.
In the preceding chapter the good resolutions of the people are recorded; here, what is more satisfactory, their performances. It is a record of those who united to restore the wall of Jerusalem, and the part which each principal person, or group of persons, took in the work. The account may appear of little interest for us; but it would be of much to the Jews, especially the descendants of those whose names are so honourably recorded, as long as they preserved their genealogies. To us also it need not be barren of interest or profit.
I THE WORKERS AND THEIR WORK. A very great undertaking carried through rapidly (Neh_6:15) and successfully; because
1. A voluntary work. All animated with zeal, and labouring heartily, not of compulsion. What is especially reported of one (ver. 20) was doubtless true, in good measure, of all: they "earnestly repaired.
2. By a united people. With a few exceptions (ver. 5), all appear to have done their part. Priests, nobles, merchants, tradesmen, working-men; dwellers in the city and dwellers in the country (for the welfare of the metropolis, with its temple, etc., was felt to be of common concern), all combined their energies.
3. By a people acting in orderly co-operation. Without this, their number and zeal would have availed little. The work was distributed into many parts, and each individual and group took the part assigned them by those at the head of affairs. Each band of men repaired that part of the wall which fell to its lot; and of each band the various classes did what they were best fitted for; some finding means, some superintending, some clearing away rubbish and picking out serviceable stones, others doing the masonry. Hence confusion was avoided, and the time and labour of none wasted. Many a good undertaking is rendered abortive, or much hindered, for the want of such willing order and subordination, which cannot be secured because of the pride, self-will, jealousy, etc. of those who should co-operate.
4. With religious services (ver. 1) The high priest and his fellow-priests led the way and "sanctified" (dedicated) their work to God; most likely having regard, in this solemn act of piety, to the whole work. The account is instructive, as showing how much may be done by even a feeble people when united, zealous, and willing each to do the part allotted to him, and offering all to God in dependence on his aid and blessing.
II THE RECORD. May be of use as
1. An example. The names and works of those who have done good service to the nation, the city, or the Church should be commemorated
(1) For the glory of God, whose product and gift good and useful men are.
(2) For the honour of the workers.
(3) As an illustration of great principles. Their nature, operation, worth. (comp. Heb 11)
(4) As a stimulus and encouragement to others. The young should be familiarised with the names and deeds of the noblest men and women, and the principles which formed their character, that they may imbibe their spirit and imitate their nobleness. Hence the value of history and biography, whether sacred or ordinary.
2. A reminder. There is a record of good men and good deeds in another book the memory of God, (Heb_6:10) a record which is
(1) Exact. Excluding many who receive honour from men, but including all who have served God and their brethren with sincere piety and love. Only the few can be mentioned by name in human records; but all are "in the book of life". (Php_4:3) Many who are of little account here stand high there. And small services as well as great find a place in that record. (Mat_10:42)
(2) Indelible. No names or deeds registered there drop out, or are erased, or fade away.
(3) To be published. At the great day, when many who are now obscure and thinking little of themselves will become famous.
(4) To be the guide in conferring rewards. Every man according to his works. (comp. Luk_19:15-19 2Co_9:6) The thought of this record should
(1) Incite us to active and devoted service, leading us to do our part, and do it well, aspiring to "honourable mention" in the Divine record and at the last day.
(2) Encourage us under undeserved neglect, misrepresentation, or censure. So Nehemiah again and again beseeches God to remember his good deeds, as if despairing of due estimation or recompense from men.
(3) Nourish joyful expectation. Another record is kept, of evil-doers and their works, and all hypocritical pretenders to Christian zeal and faithfulness. This also will be published. Hence "some will rise to shame and everlasting contempt". (Dan_12:2; comp. 1Co_4:5)
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Ch. 3. Doing God"s work.
Under Nehemiah"s direction, and inspired with his own earnestness, the children of Israel gave themselves to the good work of encircling the city of God with walls. The account of their building in this chapter reminds us
I THAT ALL WORK WE DO FOR GOD IS CONSIDERED IMPORTANT AND IS RECORDED BY HIM. We should hardly have expected, judging antecedently, that all these names would have appeared in the sacred Scriptures with the posts assigned them. We should have thought that the space thus taken would have been better occupied with more of the miracles or parables of our Lord, or of the acts of the apostles. The fact that these names are inserted in this book, which is to go over all the world and down all the ages, is evidence that God counts of importance all work done for him, and that he records it. Other books of remembrance he has (Mal_3:16. Cf. Psa_40:7 Psa_56:8 Psa_139:16 Rev_20:12) in which the endurances and the actions of his people are written. All is recorded there the work in building the city wall, the offering the cup of cold water, the kind word of encouragement or sympathy. Our record is on high. The notable and famous deeds of wickedness will be forgotten when humblest actions of devout usefulness are immortalised in one or other of the books of God.
II THAT IF DONE RAPIDLY, GOD"S WORK SHOULD BE DONE REGULARLY AND DISCERNINGLY. They proceeded with all speed, losing no time, but everything was done in order. There was no hurry. Every man had his proper post, and took it without interrupting his neighbour. The priests "builded the sheep gate" (ver. 1). "Next came the men of Jericho" (ver. 2); ..." but the fish gate did the sons of Hassenaah build" (ver. 3), etc. Certain priests and other individual workmen had assigned to them the wall "over against their house" (vers. 10, 23, 28-30), where they would least interfere with others, and in which they would naturally take the greatest interest. So also the Levites had for their share the part nearest the temple (ver. 17), where they would work with the greatest zeal.
III THAT IT SHOULD BE DONE RELIGIOUSLY. It is only too possible and too common to do religious work in an unreligious, if not positively irreligious, spirit mechanically and thoughtlessly, if not sullenly and selfishly. Three things in this record point to religious earnestness.
(a) The ministers of God took the lead. "The high priest rose up with his brethren the priests" (ver. 1). When the leaders of religion take the front posts of danger, difficulty, and toil, there is a guarantee of some spiritual zest in the work.
(b) They stopped to dedicate the work they had done. "They sanctified it" (ver. 1).
(c) Of one of them we read, that "Baruch earnestly repaired," etc. He was conspicuous for the zest with which he laboured, outstripping and inciting the others. Workmen in the vineyard of Christ should often remind themselves why it is they labour, what it is they aim to do, for whom they are employed.
IV THAT THE CO-OPERATION OF ALL WHO WILL HEARTILY HELP SHOULD BE CHEERFULLY ACCEPTED. Here we have in united labour
(1) priests (vers. 1, 22),
(2) Levites (ver. 17),
(3) Nethinims (ver. 26),
(4) outsiders (vers. 2, 5, 7),
(5) rulers (vers. 16, 17, 19),
(6) tradesmen (vers. 31, 32),
(7) women and his daughters" (ver. 12).
All can lend service; what one cannot do another may. No sincere helper is to be despised. In crises, especially such as this, when great things depend on the success of a few days" labour, all distinctions should be laid aside. By those who have the kingdom of Christ at heart they will be laid aside, and all will join hands, not only consentingly, but enthusiastically.
V THAT NEGLIGENCE IS NOTED AND RECORDED BY THE DIVINE MASTER. "Their nobles (of Tekoah) put not their necks to the work of their Lord." Whether it was from indolence or pride, whether they were unwilling to task themselves with unusual labour, or whether they shrank from associating with their social inferiors, we cannot tell. We know, however, that both indolence and pride do keep many from the work of the Lord, and we know that such refusal of help is both unwise and guilty. It is to withhold the hand from that which is worthiest and most enduring; it is to stand outside the blessing of those whom God most honours. It is to invite the curse of Meroz, (Jud_1:5:23) the condemnation of the Son of man at the day of judgment. C. (Mat_5:45)
HOMILIES BY R.A. REDFORD Vers. 1-32. Church work.
Notice several points in this record of the labours and the distribution of their work.
I Devotion and effort in the cause of God are worthy of DISTINCTION AND REMEMBRANCE. Names have great power, both among contemporaries and successors. We are stimulated by individual examples.
1. The priests are mentioned first; and God"s ministers should be first and foremost in every good work, especially that which is most closely connected with his house.
2. Not only individuals are honoured in thin record, but families. Our household life should be intimately bound up with our Church life. The best family title is that which is won in the field of holy enterprise.
3. While all were invited, some refused. The "nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord." But over against that disgraceful idleness we can place the superabundant zeal of others, who not only did their own work, but the work of others as well.
II Even THE WOMEN WERE READY TO DO THEIR PART, and, understanding "daughters" in the sense of women, the daughters of Shallum, "ruler of the half part of Jerusalem," not too high or too weak to unite in such a cause. In the building of the spiritual Jerusalem the "daughters" contribute no mean portion.
III SOME UNDERTOOK THE WORK "OVER AGAINST THEIR OWN HOUSE." We may find the opportunity close at hand. No greater honour can we attach to our own house than to connect it with the praise and glory of Jerusalem.
IV The EFFECT of this general and contemporaneous effort of all the Lord"s people to repair the ruins of their city in uniting them, effacing wrong distinctions, developing great qualities, lifting up their faith to a higher platform. Reformation both effect and cause of revival. R.
HOMILIES BY J.S. EXELL. Ch. 3. The Church engaged in a work of moral repair.
I THAT THE CHURCH IS ENGAGED IN REPAIRING MORAL RUIN. "And next unto them repaired Meremoth" (ver. 4). Jerusalem was once a strong and beautiful city; now it is in ruins. Society has not always been a ruin. Man has not always been a wreck.
1. The desolation was extensive. The entire city was waste; not a wall or gate remained intact. And man"s entire intellectual and moral nature is laid waste by sin; he has no unfallen faculty.
2. The desolation was varied. The sheep gate, the doors, the beams, the locks had all been destroyed; and so all the manifold capabilities of man have been injured by sin.
3. The desolation was pitiable. It was sad to see Jerusalem in ruins; but much more so to see the ruin of the human soul.
4. The desolation was visible. Travellers saw the ruined city; the fallen condition of man is evident to all.
II THE METHOD WHICH THE CHURCH SHOULD PURSUE IN ITS WORK OF MORAL REPARATION.
1. There must be good official leadership. "Then Eliashib the high priest rose up" (ver. 1).
2. There must be a wise use of individual talent. "Goldsmiths," "apothecaries" (ver. 8).
3. There must be pursued a common purpose through a variety of tasks.
4. There must be a recognition of the power of the domestic affections (ver. 29).
5. There must be a strict attention to the minute detail of the work. "And set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof" (ver. 6).
6. There are always those in the Church who refuse to aid in its enterprise. E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 8, 10, 12, 15, 28 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his…
Neh_3:1-32
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren.
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The builders at work
Unity in diversity seems to be the principle on which God works both in the natural and spiritual world--a truth which is capable of almost endless illustration.
I. We see it, for instance, in an individual church. What a variety of mental constitution and habits of thought; what difference in training, in education, and, consequently, in apprehension of spiritual things, and also in time, opportunity and social influence, among individual members. Yet where there is the quickening breath of the Spirit of God, there will be unity in the work while there is diversity in the operations. Thus one man is called to preach, another to take charge of the finances; while each takes his own part and seeks by Gods help to discharge his individual responsibility, there must be a chord of sympathy between all the workers, for they are members one of another.
II. The same is true of the different sections into which the Church of Christ is still unhappily divided.
III. We may go farther and apply this truth to the many efforts that are now being put forth all over the world. Among the nations of Europe there are zealous workers, and we must bear them up before God in believing prayer. They are working on the same wall, though on different parts of it. And there are indirect workers, too, whom we must not fail to recognise. The philanthropist, the temperance reformer, those engaged in educational, charitable, and other movements which tend to benefit the masses of the people--they also are engaged in building the wall. We must enlarge our sympathies and rejoice in every man who seeks to do honest work for God. We must not forget, however, that while there was oneness in the work, there was individuality in its different parts. The work being great, it was subdivided, and each man had a special portion allotted to him, generally that which lay nearest to his own dwelling. There is work there if he will only look for it under the guidance of Gods Spirit. About twenty years ago a youth in whose heart lay the fervent desire to preach to the heathen, stood in a crowded assembly listening to a popular preacher. You think, said the speaker, of a group of blacks gathered under the wide-spreading banian tree, and you imagine how you could discourse to them of the wondrous love of Christ. Ah I my brother, begin at home; try it in the streets of London first. It was a word in season; the young man began to build over against his house; God blessed him to the conversion of hundreds of souls, and He is blessing him still. In Christian work, too, we may see that the selfish instinct is recognised--not the selfishness which robs God and glorifies self, but that which leads a worker to be interested in his own department of work as he can be in no other. In this sense there is a selfishness which is not sinful, and which we may almost say is not selfish. If kept in due subordination to thoughts of the oneness of the work, it is commendable and ought to be cultivated. How often in conversation with a brother worker have we failed to gain his close attention while we spoke to him of our work or the work of other brethren! But when we asked about his congregation, his mission-room, or his Sunday or ragged school, what a change! His tongue was loosed, and his whole face glowed with animation as he told us how the Lord was helping and blessing him. It is both natural and right that it should be so. He is building before his own door, and while not ignoring others, he thinks of the work over against his house as he can of no other part of the wall. His heart is specially there. From the portions of work allotted to the individual citizens, we may learn also the importance of concentration in Christian effort. Had a man put a brick here, and a daub of mortar there, and laid a beam yonder, the wall would have made but slow progress; but as one man built before his own door, and another before his, and so on all round the city, the attention and energy of each were concentrated upon his special portion, and the wall rapidly approached completion. Now, concentration is an important principle in Christian work as well as in the building of a Wall, and if we look back on the history of the Church, we shall find that the greatest results have been achieved by men who have continuously bent their energies towards a given point. It is the fashion in our day rather to decry men of one idea. This fashion is much promoted by men of no idea, who are jealous of brethren more fortunate than themselves. This principle is important in reference not only to the object of life, but to the sphere of labour. It is of greater consequence to do one thing well than many things indifferently. Diffusion seems to be the aim of many workers in this restless age, and breadth rather than depth is characteristic of their efforts. (W. P. Lockhart.)
The repairer of the breach
I. The builders. The patriots have expressed their purpose to build the wall, and they proceed immediately to carry this good resolution into effect. We know nothing in all history like the scene here portrayed. We have read, indeed, of ancient Rome, when burned by fire, being rebuilt by her citizens; but these were still rich and powerful. We have heard, too, of ancient Carthage, when almost razed to the ground by foreign invaders, being repaired and fortified by the patriots of the nation; but these were yet numerous and wealthy. We know nothing, however, like this in the annals of the world, where the small remnant of the captives of Judah, with simple trust in God, set themselves to rebuild their fallen capital, while they were few in numbers, poor in resources, and surrounded with hosts of enemies frowning on their enterprise.
1. They were all Israelites in the land of Judah. In the book of Ezra we learn that aliens from the commonwealth of Israel were not permitted to join in rebuilding the temple, even though for sinister ends they proffered their services. They could not enter with spirit into the undertaking, and the labour of the hand was not accepted when unaccompanied with the love of the heart. And it is the spiritual Israel still who can labour in promoting Christs cause and truth in the earth. They alone can effectually advance religion who love and exemplify it. They alone can truly know the truth so as to speak it and spread it. It is a profound observation of Pascal, that natural things must be known to be loved, but Divine things must be loved in order to be known. Saving truth is not discerned by the mere power of natural reason, or through the acquirements of human learning; it can be perceived only through the illumination of the Holy Ghost. Believers of the word of salvation can alone declare that word with living power. It is a feeble, as well as a heartless thing, for a man to speak truth for the faith of others, that he does not believe in his own soul. It is in vain to expect earnest effort for the conversion of souls from those who have no mercy on themselves, and who have never repented of their own sins.
2. They were of diversified stations and gifts. It deserves remark, that those mentioned here not only gave contributions in money, that the work might advance, but they laboured by personal effort in the building of the wall. This is worthy of high praise, as showing a heart for the good cause, and wisdom in advancing it. Money can, no doubt, do much to procure or sustain effort in promoting the work of God; but there is a power in living activity, in the warm sympathy, in the personal influence, of the present believer helping forward a religious enterprise, that donations of gold can never secure. It is, hence, to the honour of those saints of Judah that they not merely gave their money, but they gave themselves, in life, in love, to labour with their hands in this work of God for building their city walls. In the narrative of these diversified personal efforts we observe--
(1) The priests and Levites joined in the work. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate (verse 1). And after him repaired the Levites (verse 17). But the lowliest act done for the cause of God receives glory from its connection with Him; and the ministers of the sanctuary should be foremost in effort to build up the cause of truth in the earth.
(2) The governor and nobles laboured at the wall. There is, indeed, one notable exception to this patrician work. Respecting the nobles of the Takoites it is said, But their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord (verse 5).
(3) The daughters of Judah shared this honourable toil. Shallum, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, repaired, he and his daughters (verse 12).
(4) The young united in this sacred employment. And Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph, repaired another piece (verse 30). Youth are often tempted to think religion a gloomy thing, and that to embrace it in their early years would be to lose all the pleasures of life.
3. The builders here belonged to different parts of the Holy Land. They were there from Jericho, and Gibeon, and Keilah, and Mizpah, and Tekoa. These were not men of Jerusalem, but they loved the public interests of religion connected with the city of God, and, as true Israelites, they laboured for its restoration. The extension, the purity, the revival of the Church in every part of the world, is the common cause of all who name the name of Christ. Christians, then, should never be so absorbed with their own party interests as to forget the great cause of His glory, and the good of man. If they really love the Lord Jesus their regard for His honour must be tested by their active effort to overthrow the reign of sin, and advance the empire of righteousness.
II. The prgress of the work. In the call of Divine judgment for the overthrow of the city God commanded, Begin at My sanctuary; and so we remark, this work of restoration commences beside the temple, proceeds north, and westward, till it completes the circuit of the wall. The priests built the sheep gate, and they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it. Through it the sacrifices were brought into the holy place, and the patriots first repaired it, that they might defend the house of God from all assaults or danger. They were the ministers of religion that performed this part of the work, and they thus teach their brethren that everything connected with Divine worship is to be guarded with religious care. From them, too, we learn that our first concern in all reform, as well as in the activities of life, should be for the safety and prosperity of the Church of God. But if the Church of Christ is dear to the hearts of her members, and is prosperous through their works of faith, the cause of humanity and of truth is secure in the earth. The work here was carried on by the labourers where each of them was most deeply interested. It is recorded of several of the householders of Jerusalem that he repaired over against his house (verse 23), and respecting one who seems to have been only a lodger, it is said, he repaired over against his chamber (verse 30). Labour near their respective dwellings was most convenient for the persons engaged, and it was necessary for their own safety that the wall there should not be broken down. Religion ever appeals to the instinct of self-love, and the strength of domestic affection in the human heart, to animate zeal for its advancement. Christian parent! your own children are dear to you, and you are appointed to labour and pray for their salvation. Christian philanthropist I your own country is the object of your love, and you are required to give your foremost endeavours for the religious welfare of your brethren, your kinsmen according to the flesh. This work, moreover, was prosecuted with varied zeal. The enterprise required co-operation of effort; and we find sometimes two persons united in setting up one gate. There was need, too, for diversity of zeal, for while one part had only to be repaired, another had to be entirely rebuilt; but the diversity of grace demanded was perseveringly displayed. To the honour of one we read, Baruch earnestly repaired (verse 20), as if his diligence was such as to be manifest to all beholders. To the praise of others, we are given to understand that when they had raised up one part they proceeded to restore another. Meremoth, and the Tekoites (verses 21, 27), after finishing the work first allotted to them, undertook a second portion of labour, as if they felt there should be no remission from toil so long as any part of Jerusalem remained broken down.
III. The opposition of enemies. It is not good that the spiritual life should flow on without trial, or that a great work should progress without admonition of its constant dependence on God. Long seasons of repose or prosperity are apt to produce self-complacency in the heart; God therefore subjects His servants to humbling reverses, and pours them from vessel to vessel, lest they should be settled on their lees. In the performance of s good work the encounter of difficulties is salutary, and it is permitted in profound wisdom. He that sits in the seat of the scornful seldom needs to sit long there alone. Here we observe the leading mocker is soon joined by a humble imitator, in the same strain of ridicule at the works of earnest piety. Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. And so it has been in all ages. The most solemn scenes and venerable characters, the greatest actions and the grandest enterprises, have encountered the derision of bad men, sitting in the seat of the scorner. The leading infidel of the Continent in the close of last century vented his malicious jests at the sublime verities of the Christian faith, and sneered at the redemption of the world by the blood of Gods Son. Thus, too, the profane wits of the time laughed to scorn the commencement of the great enterprise of modern missions to the heathen, and derided the proposal to convert the world to the Christian faith, while only a few pounds were as yet in the treasury, and some illiterate artizans were consecrated the apostles of the gospel to India. All such mockers overlook this one thing, that the cause of truth has God for its author, and therefore faith in effort for its advancement rests on Omnipotence for success. It requires but little talent to raise a laugh against the affections and works of piety.
IV. The devotion of Judah under Nehemiah. In narrating the zeal of the builders, Nehemiah makes no mention of his own great service in the common cause. He was the soul of the whole undertaking--planning, animating, and sustaining it, at every, point; yet he never once refers to himself among those whose names are recorded with honour. In the outset of the enterprise, while it still prospers, this truly great man narrates the progress of the work in the third person, as if he had had no share in the honourable toil. But so soon as difficulties occur, the style of the history is changed, and he takes his place under the term we, among the sufferers for the cause of truth. It is a beautiful example of modesty and humility to all the servants of God. Nehemiah in this hour of trial displays great forbearance under wrong. The proud scorn he encountered might have provoked his resentment to inflict punishment on its despicable authors. He was high in favour with the king, and it would probably have been easy for him to obtain power to chastise these adversaries of his country; but he is as distinguished for patience as for courage. There is not a Christian that suffers reproach in serving Christ, but the Lord feels it as done to Himself; and unless mercy is asked to pardon the affront, it will be visited with the wrath of the Lamb for evermore.
V. The zeal of the people for the completion of the work. Derision and discouragement drive multitudes from the support of a good cause. Many have begun to run well in their religious course. How many, too, are frightened away from a good work by the sneers and opposition directed against those who are zealous in its promotion. They believe the enterprise to be right in itself, they are persuaded it is fraught with blessings to men; but they cannot bear the jests or banter which open adherence to it entails. (W. Ritchie.)
Honourable mention
It was natural that the Pasha should thus make honourable mention of those who came to the front, and threw their energies into this patriotic work. Nehemiah was doubtless anxious to hand down to posterity the names of all who were leaders in the movement; he did not wish to take to himself the whole credit of the work; we may be sure that he wrote down this register of names with both pleasure and pride. We find that priests, rulers, merchants, and tradesmen all took a share in this enterprise; and, where the work of the Lord is concerned, it is only becoming that there should be this unity of spirit and division of labour. Often, in our modern Christian Churches, too much is left to the ministers of religion; and sometimes one man is expected to do a work which ought to be shared by a whole congregation. The merchant and tradesman will sometimes plead the engrossing claims of business or the pressure of bad times as a reason for holding aloof from the varied efforts of Christian benevolence; and it is to be feared also that some of our modern aristocrats are prevented by the haughty and foolish pride of rank from throwing their energies and influence into the activities of the Christian Church. (T. C. Finlayson.)
A godly ancestry
To us Nehemiahs catalogue of the builders may now seem to be little more than a dry register of names. But it is not difficult to imagine how interesting it may have been for generations after it was written. As Jerusalem began to grow again in power and splendour, men would scan with eager interest the list of those who had engaged in such a brave and self-denying work. We can imagine how, centuries later, the eye of some young boy might kindle with pride and enthusiasm when he read here, in one of the sacred books, the name of some ancestor of his own, who had nobly borne his part in building up the walls of Jerusalem. It is a grand thing to come of a patriotic or godly lineage. (T. C. Finlayson.)
At work
Words have given place to deeds.
I. In looking over this list of workers we are struck with the fact that they are drawn from all classes of society.
1. The priests took a prominent part in this work. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep-gate. We fear that, as respects the high priest, what he did in this way was not a work of love. Some years afterwards, much to Nehemiahs regret, this same Eliashib acted a very unworthy and unpatriotic part: and we suspect it was more for the sake of appearances than from any real wish to promote the success of the enterprise that he was found among the builders mentioned in this chapter. Again, it was quite right the priest should be active on this occasion, for it was owing in a great measure to their unfaithfulness--to the unfaithfulness, that is, of the priesthood prior to the time of the Babylonian captivity, that the city was laid in ruins. In Jeremiah we read, The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
2. The rulers, too, or princes of the house of Israel, took a leading part in repairing the wall, and, as in the case of the priests, it was proper they should; for their misconduct, their evil practices, had contributed greatly to bring about the downfall of the city (Mic_3:9; Mic_3:12). The advantages of co-operation were thus secured. By means of this combination the work was done quickly, simultaneously, and economically. Here, certainly, was a remarkable spectacle: all classes of the community concentrating their energies on a common object. Difference of opinion and rivalries might exist among them, but for the nonce these were sunk in the achievement of a purpose dear to every patriotic heart.
II. That the work referred to was under-taken by parties from various localities, and not by the citizens of the capital alone. Thus we read, And next unto him builded the men of Jericho. The Tekoites are also named, and the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, and the inhabitants of Zanoah, and the rulers of Bethhaccerem--these and others from places round about are represented as co-operating with the residents of the city in repairing the wall. It was a work of national importance, and as such it was regarded by those just named.
III. On further examining this register we find incidental references in it that should not be overlooked.
1. The first of these I will name relates to the aristocracy of Tekoah, and is evidently not intended to be complimentary to them. The Tekoites, as a people, were not backward, but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord. They dishonoured themselves by standing aloof as they did at this crisis. Their conduct, it is true, might have been worse. If they were not active in it, we cannot say of them that they were active in their opposition to it. You have known persons not content with a passive attitude towards what is good. What restless--yea, raging opponents Christianity in its early days had to encounter!
2. In striking contrast to the supineness of the nobles of Tekoah was the conduct of Baruch the son of Zabbai. Nehemiah says of him that he earnestly repaired his section of the wall. He specially commends the zeal of Baruch. Luther, Wesley, Whitfield, these also are names with which, among other high qualities, will ever be associated an unflagging zeal, as attested by their more abundant labours. Did the keen glance of Nehemiah note the zeal of Baruch? and shall the eye of God pass over unnoticed one earnest worker for Him anywhere, or at any time?
3. The third and last incidental reference to which I shall call your attention informs us that there were those engaged in this wall-building whom we should hardly have expected to find thus employed. At verse 12 we read, And next unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his daughters. All honour to them. We think of others of their sex who have toiled right worthily, and in some instances heroically, in the service of Christ. The case of Sister Dora of the Walsall Cottage Hospital occurs to us. We think too of some who are thus labouring to-day; ladies by birth and education who have consecrated their property and their lives to the Lord, for whose dear sake they shrink not from menial tasks, and repulsive ministries, and risks and dangers, to face which requires a loftier courage than nerves the soldier for the battlefield. (T. Rowson.)
Individual labours
The workman is always the worlds true nobleman. To pay others to do some portion of our work for us does not absolve us from the duty of personal labour. Every merchant knows that for him to pay a manager and a staff of clerks to conduct his business, while he himself goes away into the country to live and enjoy himself, means, in nine cases out of ten, the decline of his receipts, the breaking up of his trade connection, and presently, the ruin of his business. Every lady knows that to engage servants is not sufficient to secure the order and wholesomeness of her rooms, the regularity of meals in the house, nor the comfort of her husband, herself, and her children. The master, the mistress, must themselves think, and plan, and labour. In Church-work the same law is in force to its utmost jot and tittle. (A. G. Griffith.)
Lifes masonry
More than one figure in Scripture represents the work of life as a building (1Pe_2:4-5; Mat_16:18; 1Co_3:10-15).
I. Every one to contribute his life-toil to the building up of the city of God.
II. Every man has his own appointed sphere and kind of work.
1. Every one must find his own task.
2. Every one must be content with his own task.
III. Every man contributes but a fragment to the great whole.
IV. Every man to work in harmonious aim with his fellow-builders.
V. The united work is superintended by the great architect.
1. He only understands the whole of the great intricate plan of life.
2. He is near us with directions.
3. Let the thought, Thou God seest me, animate us at our toil. (Homiletic Commentary.)
A suggestive Church record
I. The potency of personal influence. Nehemiah created a spirit of enthusiasm which set all this train of exertion in motion.
II. The force of example. The priests took the lead in the common labour.
III. Advantages of systematic organisation. Each volunteer made responsible for some limited portion of work.
IV. The gigantic result achievable by individual action. Like coral insects at work, the multitude of builders each did his part of the whole.
V. The diversity of disposition revealed by the great emergency.
1. Enthusiastic work.
2. Refusal to put the neck to the yoke.
VI. The consentaneity of purpose and effort which a great emergency demands and is calculated to bring about. VII. The diversity of gifts which a great emergency calls into requisition. (Homiletic Commentary.)
Associated labour
A single bee, with all its industry, energy, and innumerable journeys it has to perform, will not collect more than a teaspoonful of honey in a single season, and yet the total weight of honey taken from a single hive is often from sixty to one hundred pounds. A very profitable lesson to mankind of what may arise from associated labour. (Scientific Illustrations, etc.)
The building of the wall
Learn--
I. That while God grants success to earnest effort, that very success will often arouse opposition.
II. Opposition to earnest work generally comes from the mixed multitude who hover round the true people of God.
III. What one man dare not do alone, he is emboldened to do by association with others; and often men of diverse opinions and tastes are banded together to oppose Gods work, their only bond of union being a desire to have it stopped.
IV. Timid and fearful ones there are in every community whose hearts readily fail them, and who often think that the good cause is about to be worsted.
V. In almost every christian church the ardour of the few is more or less damped by the apathy of the many.
VI. We must watch as well as pray. A Russian proverb says, When in a storm, pray to God and row to the shore.
VII. The oneness of the workers, and that they should encourage each other when beset by friend or foe.
VIII. Steady and persistent work tells best in the long run.
IX. That even in the midst of arduous labour for the Lord, the decencies and proprieties of life are in no wise overlooked. (W. P. Lockhart.)
Ministers should be leaders
The ministers of Christ must not only give good exhortation to their flocks, but also put their own shoulder to the work. Example is mightier than precept. The roads in the Ban de la Roche were soon levelled and put in order when the good pastor Oberlin set the example of manual toil to his parishioners. (J. M. Randall.)
Merchant workers
In our own country, the names of Henry Thornton, Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Sir Francis Crossley, and Samuel Budget, will occur to many. Our merchants and tradesmen have indeed glorious opportunities for extending the Redeemers name, if they had but a mind to the work. (J. M. Randall.)
And next unto him builded the men of Jericho.
System and detail in work
A great work--
I. Can only be planned by a great mind.
II. Can only be carried out by a division of labour.
III. Can only be accomplished by attention to details. Bars and locks.
IV. Brings out special adaptations.
V. Must have regard to practical utility. The fish-gate as necessary as the repairing of temple wall.
VI. Must be inspired by a lofty purpose.
VII. Must look on to the future. It must have in it the element of permanence. (Homiletic Commentary.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Nehemiah 3
BUILDING THE WALLS
Nehemiah 3
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THE third chapter of the Book of Nehemiah supplies a striking illustration of the constructive character of the history of the Jews in the Persian period. Nor is that all. A mechanical, Chinese industry may be found side by side with indications of moral littleness. But the activity displayed in the restoration of the city walls is more than industrious, more than productive. We must be struck with the breadth of the picture. This characteristic was manifest in the earlier work of building the temple, and it pervades the subsequent religious movement of the shaping of Judaism and the development of The Law. Here it is apparent in the fact that the Jews unite in a great common work for the good of the whole community. It was right and necessary that they should rebuild their private houses, but though it would appear that some of these houses must have been in a very ruinous condition, for this was the case even with the governors residence, {Neh_2:8} the great scheme now set on foot was for the public advantage. There is something almost socialistic about the execution of it; at all events we meet with that comprehensiveness of view, that elevation of tone, that sinking of self in the interests of society, which we should look for in true citizenship.
This is the more noteworthy because the object of the Jews in the present undertaking was what is now called "secular." The earlier public building operations carried out by their fathers had been confessedly and formally religious. Zerubbabel and Jeshua had led a band of pilgrims up to Jerusalem for the express purpose of rebuilding the temple, and at first the returned exiles had confined their attention to this work and its associated sacrificial rites, without revealing any political ambition, and apparently without even coveting any civic privileges. Subsequently some sense of citizenship had begun to appear in Ezras reformation, but every expression of it had been since checked by jealous and hostile influences from without. At length Nehemiah succeeded in rousing the spirit of citizenship by means of the inspiration of religious faith. The new enthusiasm was not directly concerned with the temple; it aimed at fortifying the city. Yet it sprang from prayer and faith. Thus the Jews were feeling their way to that sacredness of civic duties which we in the freer air of Christianity have been so slow to acknowledge.
The special form of this activity in the public interest is also significant. The process of drawing a line round Jerusalem by enclosing it within the definite circuit of a wall helped to mark the individuality and unity of the place as a city, which an amorphous congeries of houses could not be, according to the ancient estimate, because the chief distinction between a city and a village was just this, that the city was walled while the village was unwalled. The first privilege enjoyed by the city would be its security-its strength to withstand assaults. But the walls that shut out foes shutin the citizens-a fact which seems to have been present to the mind of the poet who wrote, -
"Our feet are standing
Within thy gates, O Jerusalem;
Jerusalem, that art builded
As a city that is compact together." {Psa_122:2-3}
The city is "compact together." City life is corporate life. It is not at all easy for us to appreciate this fact while our idea of a city is only represented by a crowd of men, women, and children crammed into a limited space, but with scarcely any sense of common life and aims, still less when we look behind the garish splendour of the streets to the misery and degradation, the disease and famine and vice, that make their nests under the very shadow of wealth and pleasure. Naturally we turn with loathing from such sights, and long for the fresh, quiet country life. But this accidental conglomerate of bricks and human beings is in no sense a city. The true city-such a city as Jerusalem, or Athens, or Rome in its best days-is a focus of the very highest development of life known to man. The word "civilisation" should remind us that it is the city which indicates the difference between the cultivated man and the savage. Originally it was the civis, the citizen, who marched in the van of the worlds progress. Nor is it difficult to account for his position. Inter-communication of ideas sharpening intelligence-"as iron sharpeneth iron,"-division of labour permitting the specialisation of industry, combination in work making it possible for great undertakings to be carried out, the necessity for mutual considerateness among the members of a community and the consequent development of the social sympathies, all tend to progress. And the sense of a common life realised in this way has weighty moral issues. The larger the social unit becomes, the more will people be freed from pettiness of thought and selfishness of aim. The first step in this direction is made when we regard the family rather than the individual as the true unit. If we pass beyond this in modern times, we commonly advance straight on to the whole nation for our notion of a compact community. But the stride is too great. Very few people are able to reach the patriotism that sinks self in the larger life of a nation. With a Mazzini, and even with smaller men who are magnetised by the passion of such an enthusiast in times of excitement, this may be possible. But with ordinary men in ordinary times it is not very attainable. How many Englishmen leave legacies for the payment of the National Debt? Still more difficult is it to become really cosmopolitan, and acquire a sense of the supreme duty of living for mankind. Our Lord has come to our aid here in giving us a new unit-the Church, so that to be a citizen of this "City of God" is to be called out of the circle of the narrow, selfish interests into the large place where great, common duties and an all-comprehensive good of the whole body are set before us as the chief aims to be pursued.
In rebuilding the city walls, then, Nehemiah was accomplishing two good objects; he was fortifying the place, and he was restoring its organic unity. The two advantages would be mutually helpful, because the weakness of Jerusalem was destroying the peculiar character of her life. The aristocracy, thinking it impossible to preserve the community in isolation, had encouraged and practised intermarriage with neighbouring people, no doubt from a politic regard to the advantage of foreign alliances. Although Nehemiah was not yet prepared to grapple with this great question, his fortification of Jerusalem would help the citizens to maintain their Jewish separateness, according to the principle that only the strong can be free.
The careful report which Nehemiah has preserved of the organisation of this work shows us how complete it was. The whole circuit of the walls was restored. Of course it was most necessary that nothing less should be attempted, because, like the strength of a chain, the strength of a fortress is limited to that of its weakest part. And yet-obvious as it is-probably most failures, not only in public works, but also in private lives, are directly attributable to the neglect of this elementary principle of defence. The difficulty always is to reach that kind of perfection which is suggested by the circle, rather than the pinnacle-the perfection of completeness. Now in the present instance the completion of the circuit of the walls of Jerusalem testifies to the admirable organising power of Nehemiah, his tact in putting the right men in the right places-the most important and difficult duty of a leader of men, and his perseverance in overcoming the obstacles and objections that must have been thrust in his path-all of them what people call secular qualities, yet all sustained and perfected by a noble zeal and by that transparent unselfishness which is the most powerful solvent of the selfishness of other people. There are more moral qualities involved in the art of organisation than they would suppose who regard it as a hard, mechanical contrivance in which human beings are treated like parts of a machine. The highest form of organisation is never attained in that brutal manner. Directly we approach men as persons endowed with rights, convictions, and feelings, an element of sympathy is called for which makes the organising process a much more delicate concern.
Another point calls for remark here. Nehemiahs description of his organisation of the people for the purpose of building the walls links the several groups of men who were responsible for the different parts with their several districts. The method of division shows a devolution of responsibility. Each gang had its own bit of wall or its own gate to see to. The rule regulating the assignment of districts was that, as far as practicable, every man should undertake the work opposite his own house. He was literally to "do the thing that lay nearest" to him in this business. It was in every way a wise arrangement. It would prevent the disorder and vexation that would be excited if people were running about to select favourite sites-choosing the easiest place, or the most prominent, or the safest, or any other desirable spot. Surely there is no principle of organisation so simple or so wise as that which directs us to work near home in the first instance. With the Jews this rule would commend itself to the instinct of self-interest. Nobody would wish the enemy to make a breach opposite his own door, of all places. Therefore the most selfish man would be likely to see to it that the wall near his house was solidly built. If, however, no other inducements had been felt in the end, the work would have failed of any great public good, as all purely selfish work must ultimately fail. There would have been gaps which it was nobodys interest in particular to fill.
Next it is to be observed that this building was done by "piece work," and that with the names of the workmen attached to it, so that if any of them did their work ill the fact would be known and recorded to their lasting disgrace, but also so that if any put an extra amount of finish on their work this too should be known and remembered to their credit. The idle and negligent workman would willingly be lost in the crowd, but this escape was not to be permitted, he must be dragged out and set in the pillory of notoriety. On the other hand, the humble and devoted citizen would crave no recognition, doing his task lovingly for the sake of his God and his city, feeling that the work was everything-the worker nothing. For his own sake one who labours in this beautiful spirit seems to deserve to be sheltered from the blaze of admiration at the thought of which he shrinks back in dismay. And yet this is not always possible. St. Paul writes of the day when every mans work shall be made manifest. {1Co_3:13} If the honour is really offered to God, who inspires the work, the modesty which leads the human agent to seek the shade may be overstrained, for the servant need not blush to stand in the light when all eyes are directed to his Master. But when honour is offered to the servant also, this may not be without its advantages. Rightly taken it will humble him. He will feel that his unworthiness would not have permitted this if God had not been very gracious to him. Then he will feel also that he has a character to maintain. If it is ruinous to lose a reputation-"the better part of me," as poor Cassio exclaims in his agony of remorse-it must be helpful to have one to guard from reproach. "A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches," {Pro_22:1} not only because of the indirect advantages it brings from the consideration of the world-its mere purchasing power in the market of human favour; this is its least advantage. Its chief value is in the very possession of it by one whose honour is involved in living worthily of it.
From another point of view the record of the names of people who have rendered good service may be valuable. It will be a stimulus to their successors. The early church preserved the names of her confessors and martyrs in the diptychs which were expressly provided for use in public worship, that God might be praised for their noble lives, and that the living might be stimulated to follow their example. Here is one of the great uses of history. We cannot afford to forget the loyal service of the past, because out of it we draw inspiration for the present. The people with a great history have come into a rich heritage. To be a child of a really noble house, to spring from a family truly without reproach-a family all whose sons are pure and all whose daughters are brave-surely this is to receive a high commission to cherish the good name unsullied. As the later Jews gazed at the towers of Jerusalem and marked well her bulwarks, with the thought that this massive strength was the fruit of the toil and sacrifice of their own forefathers-so that the very names of individual ancestors were linked with exact spots on the grey walls-they would hear a call to loyal service worthy of their noble predecessors.
To proceed, we may observe further that the groups of builders fall into several classes. The first place is given to the priestly order-"the high-priest and his brethren the priests." {Neh_3:1} This is quite in accordance with the sacerdotal spirit of the times, when the theocracy was emerging into power to take the place left vacant by the decay of the house of David. But the priests are not only named first. Nehemiah states that they were the first to respond to his appeal. "Then" - i.e., after he had addressed the assembled Jews-"Then Eliashib the high-priest rose up," etc. This man-the grandson of Jeshua, from whom so much was expected by Zechariah-was the first to set his hand to the tremendous task. First in honour, he was first in service. The beauty of his action lies in its silence. Not a word is recorded as spoken by him. But he was not satisfied to sanction the work of humbler men. He led the people in the best possible way, by beginning the work himself, by directly taking upon him his share of it. In this noble simplicity of service Eliashib was followed by the priesthood generally. These men put forth no claims to immunity from the obligation of civic duties or secular occupations. It never occurred to them to object that such employments were in the least degree inconsistent with their high office. The priestly order was hampered by the strictest rules of artificial separation, but the quaint notion-so common in the East, and not quite unknown in the West-that there is something degrading in hard work did not enter into them.
There are two points to be noticed in the special work of the priests. First, its locality. These ministers of the temple set up the "Sheep Gate," which was the gate nearest to the temple. Thus they made themselves responsible for their own quarters, guarding what was especially entrusted to their care. This was in accordance with the plan observed all round the city, that the inhabitants should work in the neighbourhood of their respective houses. The priests, who have the honour of special connection with the temple, feel that a special charge accompanies that honour, and rightly, for responsibility always follows privilege. Second, its consecration. The priests sanctified their work-i.e., they dedicated it to God. This was not in the sacred enclosure-the Haram, as it is now called. Nevertheless, their gate and wall, as well as their temple, were to be reckoned holy. They did not hold the strange modern notion that while the cemetery, the city of the dead, is to be consecrated, the city of the living requires no consecration. They saw that the very stones and timbers of Jerusalem belonged to God, and needed His presence to keep them safe and pure. They were wise, for is He not "the God of the living" and of all the concerns of life?
The next class of workmen is comprised of men who were taken according to their families. These would probably be all of them citizens of Jerusalem, some present by right of birth as descendants of former citizens, others perhaps sprung from the inhabitants of distant towns not yet restored to Israel who had made Jerusalem their home. Their duty to fortify their own city was indubitable.
But now, as in the earlier lists, there is another class among the laity, consisting of the inhabitants of neighbouring towns, who are arranged, not according to families, but according to their residence. Most likely these men were living in Jerusalem at the time, and yet it is probable that they retained their interest in their provincial localities. But Jerusalem was the capital, the centre of the nation, the Holy City. Therefore the inhabitants of other cities must care for her welfare. In a great scheme of religious centralisation at Jerusalem Josiah had found the best means of establishing unity of worship, and so of impressing upon the worshippers the idea of the unity of God. The same method was still pursued. People were not yet ripe for the larger thoughts of God and His worship which Jesus expressed by Jacobs well. Until that was reached, external unity with a visible centre was essential if a multiplex division of divinity was to be avoided. After these neighbours who thus helped the metropolis we have two other groups-the temple servants and the trade guilds of goldsmiths and merchants.
Now, while on all sides ready volunteers press forward to the work, just one painful exception is found to mar the harmony of the scene, or rather to lessen its volume-for this was found in abstention, not in active opposition. To their shame it is recorded that the nobles of Tekoa "put not their necks to the work of their Lord." {Neh_3:5} The general body of citizens from this town took part. We are not told why the aristocracy held back. Did they consider the labour beneath their dignity? or was there a breach between them and the townsfolk? The people of Tekoa may have been especially democratic. Ages before, a herdsman from this same town, the rough prophet Amos, had shown little respect for the great ones of the earth. Possibly the Tekoites had vexed their princes by showing a similar spirit of independence. But if so, Nehemiah would regard their conduct as affording the princes no excuse. For it was the Lords work that these nobles refused to undertake, and there is no justification for letting Gods service suffer when a quarrel has broken out between His servants. Yet how common is this miserable result of divisions among men who should be united in the service of God. Whatever was the cause-whether it was some petty personal offence or some grave difference of opinion-these nobles go down the ages, like those unhappy men in the early days of the Judges who earned the "curse of Meroz," disgraced eternally, for no positive offence, but simply because they left undone what they ought to have done. Nehemiah pronounces no curse. He chronicles the bare fact. But his ominous silence in regard to any explanation is severely condemnatory. The man who builds his house on the sand in hearing Christs words and doing them not, the servant who is beaten with many stripes because he knows his lords will and does not perform it, that other servant who buries his talent, the virgins who forget to fill their vessels with oil, the people represented by goats on the left hand whose sole ground of accusation is that they refused to exercise the common charities-all these illustrate the important but neglected truth that our Lords most frequent words of condemnation were expressed for what we call negative evil-the evil of harmless but useless lives.
Happily we may set exceptional devotion in another quarter over against the exceptional remissness of the nobles of Tekoa. Brief as is his summary of the division of the work, Nehemiah is careful to slip in a word of praise for one Baruch the son of Zabbai, saying that this man "earnestly repaired" his portion. {Neh_3:20} That one word "earnestly" is a truer stamp of worth than all the honours claimed by the abstaining nobles on grounds of rank or pedigree; it goes down the centuries as the patent of true nobility in the realm of industry.
"MARK YE WELL HER BULWARKS."
Nehemiah 3
THE book of Nehemiah is our principal authority for the ancient topography of Jerusalem. But, as we have been already reminded, the sieges from which the city has suffered, and the repeated destruction of its walls and buildings, have obliterated many of the old landmarks beyond recovery. In some places the ground is now found to be raised sixty feet above the original surface, and in one spot it was even necessary to dig down a hundred and twenty feet to reach the level of the old pavement. It is therefore not at all wonderful that the attempt to identify the sites here named should have occasioned not a little perplexity. Still the explorations of underground Jerusalem have brought some important facts to light, and others can be fairly divined from a consideration of the historical record in the light of the more general features of the country, which no wars or works of man can alter.
The first, because the most obvious, thing to be noted in considering the site of Jerusalem is its mountainous character. Jerusalem is a mountain city, as high as a Dartmoor tor, some two thousand feet above the Mediterranean, with a drop of nearly four thousand feet on the farther side, beyond the Mount of Olives, towards the deep pit where the Dead Sea steams in tropical heat. Looked at from the wilderness, through a gap in the hills round Bethlehem, she soars above us, with her white domes and towers clean-cut against the burning sky, like a city of clouds. In spite of the blazing southern sunshine, the air bites keenly on that fine altitude. It would be only reasonable to suppose that the vigour of the highlanders who dwelt in Jerusalem was braced by the very atmosphere of their home. And yet we have had to trace every impulse of zeal and energy after the restoration to the relaxing plains of the Euphrates and the Tigris! In all history the moral element counts for more than the material. Race is more than habitat, and religion is more than race.
Closely associated with this mountainous character of Jerusalem is a second feature. It is clear that the site for the city was chosen because of its singularly valuable ready-made defences. Jerusalem is a natural fortress. Protected on three sides by deep ravines, it would seem that she could be easily made impregnable. How awful, then, is the irony of her destiny! This city, so rarely favoured by nature for security against attack, has been more often assaulted and captured, and has suffered more of the horrors of war, than any other spot on earth.
The next fact to be noticed is the small size of Jerusalem. The dimensions of the city have varied in different ages. Under the Herods the buildings extended far beyond the ancient limits, and villas were dotted about on the outlying hills. But in Nehemiahs day the city was confined within a surprisingly contracted area. The discovery of the Siloam inscription, leading to the identification of the gorge known to the Romans as the Tyropaeon with the ancient "Valley of Hinnom" or "Tophet," cuts off the whole of the modern Zion from the site of the ancient city, and points to the conclusion that the old Zion must have been nearer Moriah, and all Jerusalem crowded in the little space to the east of the chasm which was once thought to have run up through the middle of the city. No doubt the streets were narrow; the houses may have been high. Still the population was but slender, for after the walls had been built Nehemiah found the space he had enclosed too large for the inhabitants. {Neh_11:1} But our interest in Jerusalem is in no way determined by her size, or by the number of her citizens. A little town in a remote province, she was politically insignificant enough when viewed from the standpoint of Babylon, and in comparison with the many rich and populous cities of the vast Persian dominions. It is the more remarkable, then, that successive Persian sovereigns should have bestowed rare favours on her. From the day when Solomon built his temple, the unique glory of this city had begun to appear. Josiahs reformation in concentrating the national worship at Jerusalem advanced her peculiar privileges, which the rebuilding of the temple before the restoration of the city further promoted. Jerusalem is the religious metropolis of the world. To be first in religious honour it was not necessary that she should be spacious or populous. Size and numbers count for very little in religion. Its valuation is qualitative, not quantitative. Even the extent of its influence, even the size and mass of this, depends mainly on its character. Moreover, in Jerusalem, as a rule, the really effective religious life was confined to a small group of the "pious"; sometimes it was gathered up in a single individual-a Jeremiah, an Ezra, a Nehemiah. This is a fact replete with encouragement for faith. It is an instance of the way in which God chooses the weak things-weak as to this world-to confound the strong. If a small city could once take the unique position held by Jerusalem, then why should not a small Church now? And if a little knot of earnest men within the city could be the nucleus of her character and the source of her influence, why should not quite a small group of earnest people give a character to their church, and, through the church, work wonders in the world, as the grain of mustard seed could move a mountain? The secret of the miracle is, like the secret of nature, that God is in the city and the church, as God is in the seed. When once we have discovered this truth as a certain fact of life and history, our estimate of the relative greatness of things is revolutionised. The map and the census then cease to answer our most pressing questions. The excellence we look for must be spiritual-vigour of faith, self-abnegation of love, passion of zeal.
As we follow Nehemiah round the circuit of the walls the more special features of the city are brought under our notice. He begins with the "Sheep Gate," which was evidently near the temple, and the construction of which was undertaken by the priests as the first piece of work in the great enterprise. The name of this gate agrees well with its situation. Opening on the Valley of the Kidron, and facing the Mount of Olives and the lonely pass over the hills towards Jericho, it would be the gate through which shepherds would bring in their flocks from the wide pasturage of the wilderness. Possibly there was a market at the open space just inside. The vicinity of the temple would make it easy to bring up the victims for the sacrifices by this way. As the Passover season approached, the whole neighbourhood would be alive with the bleating of thousands of lambs. Rich associations would thus cluster round the name of this gate. It would be suggestive of the pastoral life so much pursued by the men of Judah, whose favourite king had been a shepherd lad, and it would call up deeper thoughts of the mystery of sacrifice and the joy of the Paschal redemption of Israel. To us Christians the situation of the "Sheep Gate" has a far more touching significance. It seems to have stood near where the "St. Stephens Gate" now stands; here, then, would be the way most used by our Lord in coming to and fro between Jerusalem and Bethany, the way by which He went out to Gethsemane on the last night, and probably the way by which He was brought back "as a sheep" among her shearers, "as a lamb" led to the slaughter.
Going round from this spot northwards, we have the part of the wall built by the men of Jericho, which would still look east, towards their own city, so that they would always see their work when they got their first glimpse of Jerusalem as they passed over the ridge of the Mount of Olives on their pilgrimages up to the feasts. The task of the men of Jericho ended at one of the northern gates, the construction of which, together with the fitting of its ponderous bolts and bars, was considered enough for another group of builders. This was called the "Fish Gate." Since it faced north, it would scarcely have been used by the traders who came up from the sea fisheries in the Mediterranean; it must have received the fish supply from the Jordan, and perhaps from as far as the Sea of Galilee. Still its name suggests a wider range of commerce than the "Sheep Gate," which let in flocks chiefly from neighbouring hills. Jerusalem was in a singularly isolated spot for the capital of a country, one chosen expressly on account of its inaccessibility - the very opposite requisite from that of most capitals, which are planted by navigable rivers. Nevertheless she maintained communication, both political and commercial, with distant towns all along the ages of her chequered history.
After passing the work of one or two Jewish families and that of the Tekoites, memorable for the painful fact of the abstention of the nobles, we come to the "Old Gate." That a gate should bear such a name would lead us to think that once gates had not been so numerous as they were at this time. Yet most probably the "Old Gate" was really new, because very little of the original city remained above ground. But men love to perpetuate memories of the past. Even what is new in fact may acquire a flavour of age by the force of association. The wise reformer will follow the example of Nehemiah in linking the new on to the old, and preserving the venerable associations of antiquity wherever these do not hinder present efficiency.
Next we come to the work of men from the northern Benjamite towns of Gibeon and Mizpah, {Neh_3:7} whose volunteer service was a mark of their own brotherly spirit. It should be remembered, however, that Jerusalem originally belonged to the tribe of Benjamin. Working at the northern wall, in accordance with the rule observed throughout that all the Jews from outlying places should build in the direction of their own cities, these Benjamites carried it on as far as the districts of the goldsmiths and apothecaries, {Neh_3:8} whose principal bazaars seem to have occupied the north quarter of the city-the quarter most suitable for trade, because first reached by most travellers. There, however-if we are to accept the generally received emendation of the text mentioned in the margin of the Revised Version-they found a bit of wall that had escaped destruction, and also probably the "Ephraim Gate," which is not named here, although it existed in the days of Nehemiah. {Neh_8:16} Inasmuch as the invasions had come from the north, and the recent Samaritan raid had also proceeded from the same quarter, it seems likely that the city had been taken on this side. If so, the enemy, after having got in through a gate which they had burnt, or through a breach in the wall, did not think it necessary to waste time in the heavy labour of tearing down the wall in their rear. Perhaps, as this was the most exposed quarter, the wall was most solid here-it was known as "the broad wall." The wealthy goldsmiths would have been anxious that their bazaars should not be the first parts of the city to entertain a marauding host through any weakness in the defences. The next bit of wall was in the hands of a man of some importance, known as "the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem," {Neh_3:9} i.e., he had the management of half the land belonging to the city-either a sort of police supervision of private estates, or the direct control of land owned by the municipality, and possibly farmed for the time being on communal principles.
Still following the northern wall, we pass the work of several Jerusalem families, and so on to the potteries, as we may infer from the remark about "the tower of the furnaces." {Neh_3:11} Here we must be at the "Corner Gate," {2Ch_26:9, Jer_31:38} which, however, is not now named; "the tower of the furnaces" may have been part of its fortifications. Evidently this was an important position. The manager of the second half of the city estates and the villages on them-known as "his daughters"-had the charge of the work here. It was four hundred cubits from the "Ephraim Gate" to the corner. {2Ki_14:13} At this point the long north wall ends, and the fortifications take a sharp turn southwards. Following the new direction, we pass by the course of the Valley of Hinnom, leaving it on our right. The next gate we meet is named after this ravine of evil omen the "Valley Gate." It would be here that the poor children, victims to the savage Moloch worship, had been led out to their fate. The name of the gate would be a perpetual reminder of the darkest passage in the old citys history of sin and shame. The gate would face west, and, in accordance with the arrangement throughout, the inhabitants of Zanoah, a town lying out from Jerusalem ten miles in that direction, undertook the erection of it. They also had charge of a thousand cubits of wall-an exceptionally long piece, but the gates were fewer on this side, and here possibly the steepness of the cliff rendered a slighter wall sufficient.
This long, unbroken stretch of wall ends at the "Dung Gate," through which the refuse of the city was flung out to the now degraded valley which once had been so famous for its pleasure gardens. Sanitary regulations are of course most necessary. We admire the minuteness with which they are attended to in the Pentateuch, and we regard the filthy condition of modern eastern cities as a sign of neglect and decay. Still the adornment of a grand gateway by the temple, or the solid building of a noble approach to the city along the main route from the north, would be a more popular undertaking than this construction of a "Dung Gate." It is to the credit of Nehemiahs admirable skill in organisation that no difficulty was found in filling up the less attractive parts of his programme, and it is even more to the credit of those who accepted the allotment of them that, as far as we know, they made no complaint. A common zeal for the public good overcame personal prejudices. The just and firm application of a universal rule is a great preventative of complaints in such a case. When the several bands of workers were to undertake the districts opposite their own houses if they were inhabitants of the city, or opposite their own towns if they were provincial Jews, it would be difficult for any of them to frame a complaint. The builders of the "Dung Gate" came, it would seem, from the most conspicuous eminence in the wilderness of Southern Judaea - that now known as the "Frank Mountain." The people who would take to such an out-of-the-world place of abode would hardly be such as we should look to for work requiring fineness of finish. Perhaps they were more suited to the unpretentious task which fell to their lot. Still this consideration does not detract from the credit of their good-natured acquiescence, for self-seeking people are the last to admit that they are not fit for the best places.
The next gate was in a very interesting position at the southwest corner, where the Tyropaeon runs down to the Valley of the Kidron. It was called the "Fountain Gate," perhaps after the one natural spring which Jerusalem possesses-that now known as the "Virgins Fountain," and near to the Pool of Siloam, where the precious water from this spring was stored. The very name of the gate would call up thoughts of the value of its site in times of siege, when the fountain had to be "sealed" or covered over, to save it from being tampered with by the enemy. Close by is a flight of steps, still extant, that formerly led down to the kings garden. We are now near to Zion, in what was once the favourite and most aristocratic portion of the town. The lowering of the top of Zion in the time of the Maccabees, that it might not overlook the temple on Mount Moriah, and the filling up of the ravines, considerably detract from the once imposing height of this quarter of the city. Here ancient Jerusalem had looked superb-like an eagle perched on a rock. With such a fortress as Zion her short-sighted citizens had thought her impregnable, but Nehemiahs contemporaries were humbler and wiser men than the infatuated Jews who had rejected the warnings of Jeremiah.
The adjoining piece of wall brings us round to the tombs of the kings, which, according to the custom of antiquity, as we learn from a cuneiform inscription at Babylon, were within the city walls, although the tombs of less important people were outside-just as to this day we bury our illustrious dead in the heart of the metropolis. Nehemiah had been moved at the first report of the ruin of Jerusalem by the thought that his fathers sepulchres were there.
From this spot it is not so easy to trace the remainder of the wall. The mention of the Levites has given rise to the opinion that Nehemiah now takes us at once to the temple again, but this is hardly possible in view of his subsequent statements. We must first work round by Ophel, the "Water," the "East," and the "Horse" Gates-all of them apparently leading out towards the Valley of the Kidron. Levites and Priests, whose quarters we are gradually approaching, and other inhabitants of houses in this district, together with people from the Jordan Valley and the east country, carried out this last piece of work as far as a great tower standing out between Ophel and the corner of the temple wall, a tower so massive that some of its masonry can be seen still standing. But the narrative is here so obscure, and the sites have been so altered by the ravages of war and time, that the identification of most of them in this direction baffles inquiry. "Mark ye well her bulwarks." Alas! they are buried in a desolation so huge that the utmost skill of engineering science fails to trace their course. The latest great discovery, which has simply revolutionised the map by identifying the Tyropaeon with the Old Testament "Valley of Hinnom" or "Tophet," is the most striking sign of these topographical difficulties. The valley itself has been filled up with masses of rubbish, the sight of which today confirms the dreadful tragedy of the history of Jerusalem, the most tragic history on record. No city was ever more favoured by Heaven, and no city was ever more afflicted. Hers were the most magnificent endowments, the highest ideals, the fairest promises; hers too was the most miserable failure. Her beauty ravaged, her sanctity defiled, her light extinguished, her joy turned into bitterness, Heavens bride has been treated as the scum of the streets. And now, after being abused by her own children, shattered by the Babylonian, outraged by the Syrian, demolished by the Roman, the city which stoned her prophets and clamoured successfully for the death of her Saviour has again revived in poverty and misery-the pale ghost of her past, still the victim of the oppressor. The witchery of this wonderful city fascinates us today, and the very syllables of her name "JERUSALEM" sound strangely sweet and ineffably sad-
"Most musical, most melancholy."
It was fitting that the tenderest, most mournful lament ever uttered should have been called forth by our Lords contemplation of such a city-a city which, deeming herself destined to be the joy of all the earth, became the plague-spot of history
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Neh_3:1. Eliashib] The grandson of Jeshua, and the first…
EXPLANATORY NOTES.]
Neh_3:1. Eliashib] The grandson of Jeshua, and the first high priest after the return from Babylon. No reason to doubt that the same Eliashib is referred to in Ezr_10:6. The sheep gate] In regard to the gates of ancient Jerusalem much uncertainty prevails. The sheep gate probably the προβατικὴ of Joh_5:2, translated in E. V. “sheep market.” Modern topographers seek it near the present St. Stephen’s gate, through which the Bedouins to this day drive sheep into the town for sale. Near the temple area. Sanctified] Consecrated it by special ceremonies. “It was the first-fruits, and therefore, in the sanctification of it, the whole lump and building was sanctified.”—Poole. The tower of Meah, the tower of Hananeel] Meah is the Hebrew word for “a hundred.” Fuerst translates it the giant tower. Whence the names of these towers were derived is unknown.
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Neh_3:2. And next unto him] Lit. And at his hand. The wall was divided into portions, one of which was assigned to each of the great families.
Neh_3:3. The sons of Hassenaah] Rather, the sons of Senaah (see Ezr_2:35). Senaah was a city or perhaps a district.
Neh_3:6. The old gate] Keil reads, “gate of the old wall,” as referring to the old wall in distinction from “the broad wall,” which was newer.
Neh_3:8. The broad wall] “or double wall, formerly broken down by Joash, afterwards rebuilt by Uzziah, who made it so strong Chaldeans left it standing.”—Jamieson.
Neh_3:9. The ruler of the half part] A half district; the district being divided into two that it might be managed more easily (comp. Neh_3:12; Neh_3:14-18).
Neh_3:13. Zanoah] The name of two towns in the territory of Judah.
Neh_3:14. Beth-haccerem] From Jer_6:1 we find that it was used as a beacon-station, and that it was near Tekoa. Supposed to be now occupied by Bethulia on the hill called by Europeans “The Frank Mountain.”
Neh_3:16. The sepulchres of David, &c.] i. e. along the precipitous cliffs of Zion.—Barclay.
Neh_3:19. At the turning of the wall] i. e. the wall across the Tyropæon being a continuation of the first wall, connecting Mount Zion with the temple wall.—Barclay.
Neh_3:25. The tower which lieth out from the king’s high house] Solomon’s palace doubtless occupied the south-east corner of the present Haram.
Neh_3:26. The Nethinims] The Nethinim were a servile and subject caste. “Not only the priests and the Levites, but the meanest persons that belonged to the house of God contributed to the work.”—Bishop Patrick.
HOMILETIC CONTENTS OF CHAPTER 3
Neh_3:1-32. The Moral Significance of Names.
Neh_3:1-32. Life’s Masonry.
Neh_3:1-32. A Suggestive Church Record.
Neh_3:1. Priesthood.
Neh_3:1. Ministerial Adaptability.
Neh_3:2-3. System and Detail in Work.
Neh_3:5. Rival Classes.
Neh_3:6. The Old Gate.
Neh_3:8. The Broad Wall.
Neh_3:12. Family Zeal.
Neh_3:13-19. High Men at Lowly Tasks.
Neh_3:15-16. David, the National Hero.
Neh_3:20-32. The Workmen’s Day-Book.
THE MORAL SIGNIFICANCE OF NAMES
A CHAPTER of names. To be passed over by the bulk of Bible readers. But the names are biblical. The chapters of names are a noticeable part of the Book of Nehemiah, as they are of the Bible.
I. The meaning of individual names. The origin of language is mysterious. But in earliest times amongst all nations—our own not excepted—names meant things. Specially true of the Jewish nation. Names were not given from caprice or because others bore them. They shadowed forth the character, or commemorated a circumstance, or prophesied a future.
Abel signified breath, vapour—a sign of the transitoriness of his life. David meant dearly-beloved. Enoch, disciplined. Elijah, God the Lord, or the strong Lord. Elisha, “to whom God is salvation.” Abraham, “the father of a multitude,” and Moses, “drawn out of the water,” were commemorative. Sometimes the name was a protest. Amittai, a veracious man living in a time of laxity.
Eliashib’s name (Neh_3:1) perpetually reminded him that “God was in heaven, and governed the world he created.” Nehemiah could not have borne a name better adapted for a work so arduous as his. Nehemiah means, “whom God comforts.” Meremoth (Neh_3:4), if true to his name, should be a firm man. Jehoiada (Neh_3:6) needed no priest to remind him that he was known of God. Uzziel (Neh_3:8) might work fearlessly, for, said his name, “God is my strength.” Malchijah (Neh_3:11) would hardly be afraid of Sanballatʼs anger or Tobiah’s scorn. “Am not I Malchijah,” he would say, “and does not that tell me that God is my king?” The Nethinims (Neh_3:26) were the dedicated ones.
In other languages the same law prevailed. A man bearing the name of Andrew was courageous, and an Augusta majestic. Arthur was a strong man. She who was honoured with the name Agnes was chaste. An Alice was noble, and a Louisa modest.
In more artificial times names lost their meaning. When the mother of John Baptist declared that he should be called John, her friends said, “There is none of thy kindred that is called by this name.” Names were losing their meaning. Here was a man born into the world filled with the grace of God—what shall his name be? “Zacharias,” they say; “that is his father’s name.” They ask the dumb father, and he writes “John.” Now-a-days a man may have the name of John and be graceless enough. We have no proof that Charles will be noble. We give our children fancy names. Family names are reasonable; fancy names are foolish. Except that they are given thoughtlessly, their morality would be doubtful. Our true name is our Christian name.
II. The solemn significance of names. A name is a key to the nature or history of the thing which bears it. In the history of the creation we read that “God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.” And so it has been well said by Carlyle that not only all common speech, but science, poetry itself, is no other than a right naming. Some languages have the same expression for WORD and THING. Jesus Christ said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh” (Mat_12:34). “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Pro_23:7). “Lie not one to another”—not because you will not be trusted, but because—“ye have put off the old man with his deeds” (Coloss. Neh_3:9). Wise men say that you can tell the character of any nation by its language. “There was a time in the history of Europe when the controversy about what a name represents involved issues so grave that men were burnt for taking what was considered the heretical side of this controversy.”—R. W. Dale. “Our general terms, man, tree, insect, flower, are the names of particular or single specimens extended, on the ground of a perceived similarity, to kinds or species. They come in this manner to stand for millions of particular men, trees, insects, flowers that we do not and never can know. They are, to just this extent, WORDS OF IGNORANCE; only we are able, in the use, to hold right judgments of innumerable particulars we do not know, and have the words so far as WORDS OF WISDOM.”—Horace Bushnell. Reality is a cardinal virtue. Speech is not given us to hide our thoughts. What is truth but the correspondence of words with things, of life with speech? “By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Mat_12:37).
III. The relation of the individual to the race. Names perpetuate memories. William is named to-day after a William of sixty years ago. Of this latter there is only a name. “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh” (Ecc_1:4). THE DAY OF JUDGMENT will harmonize names and things. “Then shall the King say,” &c. (Mat_25:34-46).
ILLUSTRATIONS
Hebrew names. “The Hebrew names were nearly all significant. Sometimes commemoration was in a name. Sometimes it uttered a testimony. Sometimes a prophecy stirred in it. The very name of a man sometimes shone like a burning lamp in the darkness of an evil time. When need was, a new name was taken or given, in addition to, or in place of, the original one, and borne as men bear a banner or speak a watchword.”—Alexander Raleigh, D.D.
Names and periods in Hebrew history. “What signifies a name? In these days, when names are only epithets, it signifies nothing. ‘Jehovah. Jove, or Lord,’ as the ‘Universal Prayer’ insinuates, are all the same. Now, to assert that it matters not whether God be called Jehovah, Jove, or Lord is true, if it mean this, that a devout and earnest heart is accepted by God, let the name be what it will by which he is addressed. But if it mean that Jove and Jehovah express the same Being—that the character of him whom the pagan worshipped was the same as the character of him whom Israel adored under the name of Jehovah—that they refer to the same group of ideas—or that ALWAYS names are but names, then we must look much deeper.
“In the Hebrew history are discernible three periods distinctly marked, in which names and words bore very different characters. These three, it has been observed by acute philologists, correspond to the periods in which the nation bore the three different appellations of Hebrews, Israelites, Jews.
“In the first of these periods names meant truths, and words were the symbols of realities. The characteristics of the names given then were simplicity and sincerity. They were drawn from a few simple sources: cither from some characteristic of the individual, as Jacob, the supplanter; or Moses, drawn from the water; or from the idea of family, as Ben-jamin, the son of my right hand; or from the conception of the tribe or nation, then gradually consolidating itself; or, lastly, from the religious idea of God. But in this case not the highest notion of God; not Jah, or Jehovah, but simply the earlier and simpler idea of Deity: El—Israel, the prince of El; Peniel, the face of El. In these days names were real, but the conceptions they contained were not the loftiest.
“The second period begins about the time of the departure from Egypt, and it is characterized by unabated simplicity, with the addition of sublimer thought and feeling more intensely religious. The heart of the nation was big with mighty and new religious truth, and the feelings with which the national heart was swelling found vent in the names which were given abundantly. God, under his name Jah, the noblest assemblage of spiritual truths yet conceived, became the adjunct to names of places and persons. Oshea’s name is changed into Je-hoshua.
“Observe, moreover, that in this period there was no fastidious, over-refined chariness in the use of that name. Men conscious of deep and real reverence are not fearful of the appearance of irreverence. The word became a common word, as it always may, so long as it is FELT, and awe is REAL. A mighty cedar was called a cedar of Jehovah; a lofty mountain, a mountain of Jehovah. Human beauty even was praised by such an epithet. Moses was divinely fair, beautiful to God. The eternal name became an adjunct. No beauty, no greatness, no goodness was conceivable except as emanating from him: therefore his name was freely but most devoutly used.
“Like the earlier period, in this too words meant realities; but, unlike the earlier period, they are impregnated with deeper religious thought.
“The third period was at its zenith in the time of Christ: words had lost their meaning, and shared the hollow, unreal state of all things. A man’s name might be Judas, and still he might be a traitor. A man might be called Pharisee, exclusively religious, and yet the name might only cover the hollowness of hypocrisy; or he might be called most noble Festus, and be the meanest tyrant that ever sat upon a pro-consular chair. This is the period in which every keen and wise observer knows that the decay of national religious feeling has begun. That decay in the meaning of words, that lowering of the standard of the ideas for which they stand, is a certain mark of this. The debasement of a language is a sure mark of the debasement of a nation. The insincerity of a language is a proof of the insincerity of a nation: for a time comes in the history of a nation when words no longer stand for things; when names are given for the sake of an euphonious sound; and when titles are but the epithets of unmeaning courtesy; a time when Majesty, Defender of the Faith, Most Noble, Worshipful, and Honourable not only mean nothing, but do not flush the check with the shame of convicted falsehood when they are worn as empty ornaments.”—F. W. Robertson.
Origin of language. “The opinions about the origin of language may be divided into three classes, as follows:—
“(a) The belief that man at his creation was endowed with a full, perfect, and copious language, and that as his faculties were called forth by observation and experience, this language supplied him at every step with names for the various objects he encountered. In this view, which has found many able advocates, speech is separated from and precedes thought; for as there must have been a variety of phenomena, both outward and in his mind, to which the first man was a stranger, until long experience gradually unfolded them, their names must have been intrusted to him long before the thoughts or images which they were destined ultimately to represent were excited in his mind.
“(b) The belief that the different families of men, impelled by necessity, invented and settled by agreement the names that should represent the ideas they possessed. In this view language is a human invention, grounded on convenience. But to say that man has invented language would be no better than to assert that he has invented law. To make laws, there must be a law obliging all to keep them; to form a compact to observe certain institutes, there must be already a government protecting this compact. To invent language presupposes language already, for how could men agree to name different objects without communicating by words their designs? In proof of this opinion, appeal is made to the great diversity of languages. Here it is supposed again that thought and language were separate, and that the former had made some progress before the latter was annexed to k.
“(c) The third view is, that as the Divine Being did not give man at his creation actual knowledge, but the power to learn and to know, so he did not confer a language, but the power to name and describe. The gift of reason, once conveyed to man, was the common root from which both thought and speech proceeded, like the pith and the rind of the tree, to be developed in inseparable union. With the first inspection of each natural object the first imposition of a name took place (Gen_2:19). In the fullest sense language is a Divine gift; but the power, and not the results of its exercise, the germ, and not the tree, was imparted. A man can teach names to another man, but nothing less than Divine power can plant in another’s mind the far higher gift, the faculty of naming. From the first we have reason to believe that the functions of thought and language went together. A conception received a name; a name recalled a conception; and every accession to the knowledge of things expanded the treasures of expression. And we are entangled in absurdities by any theory which assumes that either element existed in a separate state antecedently to the other.”—Archbishop of York.
“We do not make words; they are given to us by One higher than ourselves. Wise men say that you can tell the character of any nation by its language, by watching the words they use, the names they give to things; for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. It is God, and Christ, the Word of God, who gives words to men, who puts it into the hearts of men to call certain things by certain names; and according to a nation’s godliness, and wisdom, and purity of heart will be its power of using words discreetly and reverently. That miracle of the gift of tongues, of which we read in the New Testament, would have been still most precious and full of meaning if it had had no other use than this—to teach men from whom words come. When men found themselves all of a sudden inspired to talk in foreign languages which they had never learnt, to utter words of which they themselves did not know the meaning, do you not see how it must have made them feel that all language is God’s making and God’s giving? Do you not see how it must have made them feel what awful, mysterious things words were, like those cloven tongues of fire which fell on the apostles? The tongues of fire signified the difficult foreign languages which they suddenly began to speak as the Spirit gave them utterance. And where did the tongues of fire come from? Not out of themselves, not out of the earth beneath, but down from the heaven above, to signify that it is not from man’s flesh or brain, or the earthly part of him, that words are bred, but that they come down from Christ, the Word of God, and are breathed into the minds of men by the Spirit of God.”—Charles Kingsley.
LIFE’S MASONRY
INTRODUCTION.—The Scriptural figures of life’s work as a building. St. Peter’s description of God as building up a fabric of “lively stones” (1Pe_2:4-5). It is his remembrance of the Saviour’s own use of the figure in Mat_16:18 : “Upon this rock I will build my Church.” St. Paul’s description of his own apostolic life as that of a “wise master-builder”—a spiritual Nehemiah (1Co_3:10-15).
I. Every one to contribute his life-toil to the building up of the city of God.
1. True of the individual character—the fallen, ruined “city of Mansoul.” Not what we rake together of earthly things, but what we rear in the edifice of our personal character, our true work.
2. True of society. The history of the world a history of the restless reconstructions of society. The reformers and teachers of every age, scanning the desolations of their time, have said, “Let us arise and build!” and with none of Babel’s profanity have said in hope, “Go to, let us build a tower whose top shall reach to heaven!” That is what the piled-up fruit of generations of toil shall be.
II. Every man has his own appointed sphere and kind of work.
1. The manifold division of labour in the erection of a great edifice may become to us a parable of the various uses of human character and ability. To some the strong work—the foundations and buttresses—plain, practical usefulness. To others there is given work at the gates of knowledge and intercourse. To some it is the task to beautify and embellish life and its surroundings, to sculpture bright things and thoughts. To the sagacity of others is committed the towers of outlook and defence for human society.
2. Every man to find his own task. Providential circumstances and the bent of wise inclination point us to our share of the wall. The ruin lying nearest our feet, the weak place nearest our own home, is our taskwork.
3. Every man to be content with his own task. Who does not at times sigh in envy of his brother’s portion in life’s great enterprise! We think we could work with less moiling, and get the lines truer, if we were working on some other piece of ground. It’s better as it is. “To every man his work” (Mar_13:34).
III. Every man contributes but a fragment to the great whole. All each builder does is to contribute so many feet of the great girdle of masonry; but it is the multiplication of these small piles which completes the circumference.
1. Individual life. Do not judge of experiences singly and alone. Life is a complex and mingled process, and that which seems to have no uses of edification may be one of many powers which uplift the character. Our life is a great whole. WE “walk to-day and to-morrow, and the THIRD day WE are perfected.”
“If sad thy present, fancy not
The whole of life is in to-day;
To past and future look away;
Thy life is not thy present lot.”
2. Socially. Do not judge a life with regard to society in its mere isolation or as a disconnected unit; it is a length of fabric to join on with some one else’s work.
Moses bursts out of Egypt; Joshua leads through Jordan into Canaan; David prepares for a consolidated nation; Solomon ushers in the rest and magnificence of peace: each builds his own layer and length of the history.
One man toils to feed the people; another gives them garments; another settles their quarrels; another tells them the story of the day’s life; another teaches them knowledge; another pleads with them for God; another heals their sickness; another goes out to sea for their merchandise; another gives them a book of cheering song; and each contributes to the walls and gates and towers of man’s life below.
EACH is but a small length, but ALL make the mighty ring.
IV. Every man to work in harmonious aim with his fellow builders.
1. Recognizing the one reigning purpose—the edification of a city of God; to make Jerusalem a praise in the earth and a city of the great King.
2. Recognizing the, worth of his brother’s work. He has his own task, and has not to work by our piece of the plan.
3. Eccentric people who will pile their stones in other people’s way, and blind other people with their chippings and the bespatterings of their mortar. Do not hinder your “brother mason.”
V. The united work is superintended by the great Architect.
1. He only understands the whole of the great intricate plan of life. He has surveyed the whole field, and has appointed each one his place. To understand our own section and task, and to trust to the great unifying power above, is all we can do. These broken, incomplete piles rising in their fragmentariness will, under his direction, circle into the order of his great will. The full plan of life is only seen and understood in heaven, but it is understood THERE.
2. He is near us with directions. In their straits these amateur masons must have often summoned Nehemiah as he rode round among the workers. In all perplexities we can call in Divine direction. “If any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God” (Jas_1:5).
3. Let the thought “THOU GOD SEEST ME” animate us at our toil. (a) It is a cheering thought. No eye can look so indulgently as his. “He knoweth our frame,” &c. (Psa_103:14). (b) It is an admonitory thought. He WILL have true work; and all the wrong that we pile up he will push down.
“As ever in my great Taskmaster’s eye.”
CONCLUSION.—What this finished work shall be we read in the closing chapters of the Bible. The New Jerusalem is man’s work transfigured by the glory of God.
The rude foundations we have put in with weariness and toil shall show themselves “garnished with all manner of precious stones.” The gates so clumsily made will shine “every several gate of one pearl.” The building of the wall shall be “as jasper,” and the shapeless, disjointed masses shall be all joined and balanced: “the length of it, and the breadth of it, and the height of it equal.”
“And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it. And there shall be no night there; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
Sacredness of labour. “Two men I honour, and no third. First, the toil-worn craftsman that with earth-made implement laboriously conquers the earth, and makes her man’s. Venerable to me is the hard hand—crooked, coarse; wherein notwithstanding lies a cunning virtue, indefeasibly royal, as of the sceptre of this planet. Venerable too is the rugged face, all weather-tanned, besoiled, with its rude intelligence; for it is the face of a man living man-like. O, but the more venerable for thy rudeness, and even because we must pity as well, as love thee! Hardly entreated brother! for us was thy back so bent, for us were thy straight limbs and fingers so deformed: thou wert our conscript, on whom the lot fell, and fighting our battles wert so marred. For in thee too lay a God-created form, but it was not to be unfolded; encrusted must it stand with the thick adhesions and defacements of labour; and thy body, like thy soul, was not to know freedom. Yet toil on, toil on: THOU art in thy duty, be out of it who may; thou toilest for the altogether indispensable, for daily bread.
“A second man I honour, and still more highly: him who is seen toiling for the spiritually indispensable; not daily bread, but the bread of life. Is not he too in his duty; endeavouring towards inward harmony; revealing this, by act or by word, through all his outward endeavours, be they high or low? Highest of all when his outward and inward endeavours are one; when we can name him artist; not earthly craftsman only, but inspired thinker, who with heaven-made implement conquers heaven for us! If the poor and humble toil that we have food, must not the high and glorious toil for him in return, that he have light, have guidance, freedom, immortality? These two, in all their degrees, I honour: all else is chaff and dust, which let the wind blow whither it listeth.
“Unspeakably touching is it, however, when I find both dignities united, and he that must toil outwardly for the lowest of man’s wants is also toiling inwardly for the highest. Sublimer in this world know I nothing than a peasant saint, could such now anywhere be met with. Such a one will take thee back to Nazareth itself; thou wilt sec the splendour of heaven spring forth from the humblest depths of earth, like a light shining in great darkness.”—Carlyle.
Work is the common duty of all. “It would be very strange if it were not so. The first thing we read of God doing for man when he made him was to assign him work. Before he gave him a right to eat of the fruit of the trees, ‘he put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it’ (Gen_2:15). When man is translated to the heavenly Eden it is not to idleness: ‘they serve him day and night in his temple.’ The wise man when he looked abroad on the world made this deep reflection: ‘All things are full of labour.’ The calm stars are in ceaseless motion, and every leaf is a world with its busy inhabitants, and the sap coursing through its veins as the life-blood through our own. He who made all worlds has said, ‘My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.’ ”—John Ker, D.D.
All the workers shall be rewarded. “Each shall find that he has a share in the completed results, where the labours of all are represented. What does it matter in which stage of the great process our co-operation has been enlisted? Every man that has had a part in the building shall have a share in the glory. What does it matter whether we have been set to dig out the foundation, working amongst mud and wet, or have laid the lowermost courses, which are all covered up and forgotten, or happen to have been amongst those who bring forth the head-stone with shoutings? We are all builders all the same. The main thing is that we have some work there. Never mind whereabouts it is. Never mind whether it be visible or no. Never mind whether your name is associated with it. You may never see the issues of your toils. If you can see them they will generally not be worth looking at. We work for eternity. We may well wait for the scaffolding to be taken away. Then we shall find that preparatory work is all represented in the final issue; even as the first film of alluvium, deposited in its delta by some mighty stream, is the real foundation for the last, which, long ages after, rise above the surface and bear waving corn and the homes of men.”—Alexander Maclaren, D.D.
A SUGGESTIVE CHURCH RECORD
I. The potency of personal influence. Nehemiah created a spirit of enthusiasm which set all this train of exertion in motion.
II. The force of example. The priests took the lead in the common labour.
III. Advantages of systematic organization. Each volunteer made responsible for some limited portion of work.
IV. The gigantic results achievable by individual action. Like coral insects at work, the multitude of builders each did his part of the whole.
V. The diversity of disposition revealed by a great emergency.
1. Enthusiastic work.
2. Refusal to put the neck to the yoke.
VI. The consentaneity of purpose and effort which a great emergency demands and is calculated to bring about. All rivalries forgotten in the great aim—to again rebuild Jerusalem.
VII. The diversity of gifts which a great emergency calls into requisition.
Illustrations:—
“No life is waste in the great Worker’s hand.
The gem too poor to polish in itself
Is ground to brighten others.”—P. J. Bailey.
“Do your work, and I shall know you. Do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself.”—Emerson.
“The body is not one member, but many” (1Co_12:4-27).
“Clouds when full pour down, and the presses overflow, and the aromatical trees sweat out their precious and sovereign oils; and every learned scribe must bring out his treasure for the Church’s behoof and benefit.”—John Trapp.
PRIESTHOOD
Neh_3:1. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep gate; they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, unto the tower of Hananeel
INTRODUCTION.—Priest and king amongst the most terrible words in language. War, oppression, rapine have come at their call.
1. Elevation is dangerous. Separateness from sympathies and ways of common men a misfortune. Men easily enslave those whom they see to be lower than themselves.
2. Privilege and responsibility are co-extensive. Shepherd feeds and guards flock. King lives for subjects. Priest must think, speak, and act for his follows. Noblesse oblige. What is true priesthood?
I. A true priest identifies himself with men. Institution and consecration (Exodus 28, 29). Interpretation (Heb.).
1. Called from amongst men (Heb_5:1).
2. Offers gifts and sacrifices (Neh_3:1).
3. Compassionates weakness and ignorance (Neh_3:2).
4. Comes between men and God. (a) To present intercessions. (b) To reveal God’s will.
A priesthood is necessary. “You tell me, my seeptical friend, that religion is the contrivance of the priest. How came the priest into being? What gave him his power?”—Channing. [See illustration below, “Christian worship.”]
Priest’s dress, robes, &c. stand for a NEEDED and SUPPOSED sanctity. If not sacred, all the worse for the priest. Must come to his work from a higher ground. Of the people, but above the people. More thoughtful, not less saintly. MANHOOD first, PRIESTHOOD afterwards.
II. A true priest identifies thought with life. The wall-building was Nehemiah’s THOUGHT. Eliashib and his brothers helped to make it REALITY.
Priest makes God’s thoughts man’s life. “Be ye holy” (Lev_11:44; 1Pe_1:15), God’s thought. How to become holy, priest’s life-work. A sinless and sorrowless world, God’s thought. How to approximate to this a priest’s work. Obedience to Divine laws, God’s purpose; enunciations of these and incitements to keep them, priest’s work.
1. Harmonizes ideal and actual.
2. Harmonizes thought and practice.
3. Harmonizes inclination and conscience.
III. A true priest identifies the lower with the higher, the common with the sacred, earth with heaven. Priests “sanctified the wall;” built near the temple. God’s house and city wall both SACRED. Sanctity is relative or real. The temple; the temple utensils. Churches (e. g. Corinth) with unholy members in them are sanctified or holy relatively. Only individual believers really sanctified. Broad distinctions between sacred and secular not well. Sabbath sacred; make all days. God’s house is sacred; so is your own. Bible sacred; read nothing impure.
Illustrations:—Christian worship. “There have been those who have sought to disparage worship by representing it as an arbitrary, unnatural service, a human contrivance, an invention for selfish ends. I will meet the objection by a few remarks drawn from history. There have been, indeed, periods of history in which the influence of the religious principle seems to have been overwhelmed; but in this it agrees with other great principles of our nature, which in certain stages of the race disappear. There are certain conditions of society in which the desire of knowledge seems almost extinct among men, and they abandon themselves for centuries to brutish ignorance. There are communities in which the natural desire of reaching a better lot gives not a sign of its existence, and society remains stationary for ages. There are some in which even the parental affection is so far dead that the new-born child is cast into the stream or exposed to the storm. So the religious principle is in some periods hardly to be discerned; but it is never lost. No principle is more universally manifested. In the darkest ages there are some recognitions of a superior Power. Man feels that there is a Being above himself, and he clothes that Being in what to his rude conceptions is great and venerable. In countries where architecture was unknown men chose the solemn wood or the mountain-top for worship; and when this art appeared its monuments were temples to God. Before the invention of letters hymns were composed to the Divinity, and music, we have reason to think, was the offspring of religion. Music in its infancy was the breathing of man’s fears, wants, hopes, thanks, praises to an unseen power. You tell me, my sceptical friend, that religion is the contrivance of the priest. How came the priest into being? What gave him his power? Why was it that the ancient legislator professed to receive his laws from the gods? The fact is a striking one, that the earliest guides and leaders of the human race looked to the heavens for security and strength to earthly institutions, that they were compelled to speak to men in a higher name than man’s. Religion was an earlier bond and a deeper foundation of society than government. It was the root of civilization. It bus founded the mightiest empires; and yet men question whether religion be an element, a principle of human nature!
“In the earliest ages, before the dawn of science, man recognized an immediate interference of the Divinity in whatever powerfully struck his senses.… Every unusual event was a miracle, a prodigv, a promise of good or a menace of evil from heaven.… The heavens, the earth, the plant, the human frame, now that they are explored by science, speak of God as they never did before. His handwriting is brought out where former ages saw but a blank.… The profoundest of all human wants is the want of God. Mind, spirit must tend to its source. It cannot find happiness but in the perfect Mind, the infinite Spirit. Worship has survived all revolutions. Corrupted dishonoured, opposed, it yet lives. It is immortal as its object, immortal as the soul from which it ascends.”—W. E. Channing, D.D.
The origin of the Christian clergy. “Amongst the gifts which our blessed Lord gave to mankind during his life on earth, the Christian ministry as we now possess it was not one of them. The twelve apostles whom he chose had no successors like them. The seventy disciples also, who went forth at the Lord’s command to preach the gospel, they, too, were soon buried in their graves, but no order of the same kind, or of the same number, came in their stead.
“Yet there was another sense in which the Christian ministry was the gift of their Divine Master, and it was that which St. Paul so well expresses: ‘When he ascended up on high he gave gifts unto men. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers.’ Now what was it that was meant by this statement—this very pointed statement—that it was only after his ascension, after his withdrawal from earth, that he gave those gifts to men, and amongst those gifts were the various offices, of which the two last named contained the germ of all the future clergy of Christendom? What was meant was surely this, that not in his earthly life, not in his direct communication with man, not as a part of the original manifestation of Christianity, but as the result of the complex influences which were showered down to the earth after its Founder had left, as part of the vast machinery of Christian civilization, created by the spirit of Christ for filling up the void of his absence, were the various gifts and professions of Christian forms, and amongst these were the great vocation, the sacred profession of the Christian ministry. Look at the gradual growth of the Christian ministry. In no single instance did the order of clergy now resemble what it was in the first century or even the second. The deacons of every existing Church were very different from the seven deacons of the apostolic age. The presbyters of every Church were either in themselves or in their relations to their brethren very different to the presbyters of the first or second century. Take the bishops; in many important respects they differed essentially from those who bore that title seventeen hundred years ago. They all varied in each age and country, according to the varieties of the age and country; according to the civil constitutions under which they lived; according to the geographical area; according to the climates and customs of cast, west, north, and south; in regard to their election, whether by breathing, by popular election, by internal election, by ministerial election, by ordination, by sacred relics, by the elevation of hands, by the imposition of hands; spheres more or less limited, a humble country village, a vast town population, or a province as large as a kingdom. These variations were not a condemnation, but a justification rather, of their existence. They showed that the order of the Christian clergy, instead of remaining a stiff and useless relic of the past, had grown with the growth and varied with the variations of Christian society. This, therefore, was at once the Divine and the human origin of the Christian ministry; Divine, because it belonged to and formed an important link in the inevitable growth of all Christian communities, of Christian aspirations, and of Christian sympathies; human, because it arose out of and was subject to the necessities and vicissitudes of human passions and human infirmities, and in so far as it was of a permanent and Divine character, having a pledge of an immortal existence so long as Christian society exists; in so far as it was of human character, needing to accommodate itself to the want of each successive age, and needing the support, the sympathy, and the favour of all the other elements of social intercourse by which it was surrounded.”—Dean Stanley.
MINISTERIAL ADAPTABILITY
Neh_3:1. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up, &c.
I. The priests sharing the interests and toils of common manhood. A minister’s power lies not in that in which he differs from others, but in that in which he is like them—“brotherhood.” He shares their weaknesses. He knows headache and heartache, weariness and worry, trouble and temptation; and just in proportion as he is a man will his ministry be sometimes powerful and sometimes powerless. At times he will wish himself in the most distant seat in the Church; at other times speech will be like the upliftings of angels, and the declaration of the gospel as admission into the paradise of God. A white tie, a black coat, and conventional manners do not make a minister; let him come and say, “Brethren, I am as ye are.”
II. The priests an example to the people. The high priest and his subordinates were the first to build. Then common people tied on their aprons and took trowel in hand.
There must be leaders; then there will be followers. Simon Peter said, “I go a fishing.” The rest say unto him, “We also go with thee” (John 21). The rank and file will ride into any valley of death if the officers say, “Comrades, come on.” When he “putteth forth his own sheep he goeth before them” (Joh_10:4).
III. Sacredness of work depends not on its nature, but on its purpose and spirit. “They sanctified” a common wall. They were toiling for hearth and home, for the city of their fathers and the temple of their God. Our work in the world not important; the spirit in which we do it the main consideration. A mother who represents Christ to her children, who becomes to them their idea of what God must be, is as sacredly engaged as some woman of genius whose fame fills a hemisphere. The blood and bones of the man who digs out the foundation are as necessary as the architect’s skill. In building Solomon’s temple the noise and dust of cutting and polishing the stones were confined to the quarry; in the temple all was calm.
In this world of striving and unattainment, of sin and sorrow, we do not see the plan. That is in the mind of the great Architect. Out of confusion he will educe order. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it” (Ecc_9:10).
Illustration:—“Man, it is not thy works, which are all mortal, infinitely little, and the greatest no greater than the least, but only the spirit thou workest in, that can have worth or continuance.”—Carlyle.
SYSTEM AND DETAIL IN WORK
Neh_3:2-3. And next unto Eliashib builded the men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zuccar the son of Imri. But the fish gate did the sons of Hassennah build, who also laid, the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.
“We live not to ourselves, our work is life;
In bright and ceaseless labour as a star
Which shineth unto all worlds but itself.”
Then life is A VOCATION. “I beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called” (Eph_4:1). “Your calling” (Eph_4:4). “Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called” (1Co_7:20). In modern phrase, a man’s trade or profession is his calling. This gives work dignity. Labourer, carpenter, mason, sailor, surgeon, preacher, schoolmaster, newspaper editor, thou art called. A hand not thine own placed thee where thou art. Every man’s work should have a Pentecost. Manual labour is honourable. It must be redeemed from a spurious disregard. Indolence is degrading; dishonesty is ruinous; honest toil need fear no shame.
“None of us liveth to himself” (Rom_14:7). Then life is A MINISTRY. This redeems it from selfishness. “My servants” (Joh_18:36). “Let a man so account of us as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God” (1Co_4:1). Not Paul, Peter, and Apollos only. Judgment-day decisions turn on this—“Inasmuch as ye have done,” or, “Inasmuch as ye did not to the brethren” (Matthew 25). Ban or blessing each man carries in himself. Influence is conscious, direct, and intentional; then it is occasional, and often fails. Influence is unconscious, indirect, and streams on, like light from the heavens; then it is constant and all-pervasive. Life is more solemn than death. A man’s daily work is not only religious, it is his religion. There he fights and conquers, or fights and falls. Well for him if he
“be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labour and to wait.”
On the work of life let Nehemiah and his noble band teach us somewhat.
I. A great work can only be planned by a great mind. Many saw the desolations of the city; some wept over them. Nehemiah only had a vocation and talents to “build the old wastes and repair the desolations of many generations” (Isa_61:4). An equality is impossible. In any circle of twelve there will be a Peter to lead. These are Kings by Divine right. The laureate’s wreath is only green on the brows of him who utters nothing base. Nehemiahs have comprehensive minds, like some insects that put out “feelers” on all sides. Insight is a dangerous gift, hence granted only to the elect ones. Nehemiah rebuilds Jerusalem; Augustine governs a period; Wesley organizes a society; Shakespeare Shakespearizes a language:—they are “born to command.”
II. A great work can only be carried out by division of labour. Nehemiah’s organizing brain needed the hands of the men of Jericho. Farmer requires ploughman, horsekeeper, diggers, and delvers. Architect, clerk of works, mason, carpenter, stone-cutter, hod-man. Writer, an amanuensis, a printer, binder, bookseller. How long it would take one man to make a pin; by dividing the work they are counted by millions. Miner, sailor, soldier hazard their lives for the general good. One goes abroad, another stays at home; this man works with the hand, that with the brain; the husband rules without, the wife rules within; all obeying the same law, the needs be that into the world’s mill each one casts some corn.
III. A great work can only be accomplished by attention to details. “Bars and locks.” Gates and doors without bars and locks useless. “There must be detail in every great work. It is an element of effectiveness which no reach of plan, no enthusiasm of purpose, can dispense with. Thus, if a man conceives the idea of becoming eminent in learning, but cannot toil through the million of little drudgeries necessary to carry him on, his learning will be soon told. Or, if a man undertakes to become rich, but despises the small and gradual advances by which wealth is ordinarily accumulated, his expectations will, of course, be the sum of his riches. Accurate and careful detail, the minding of common occasions and small things, combined with general scope and vigour, is the secret of all the efficiency and success in the world.”—Bushnell.
1. Young man carving out his fortunes. “By little and little.” “Take care of the pence,” &c. Trifling delinquencies; white lies are the unlocked gates through which “seven spirits worse” than these enter. Regard to minor courtesies, use of spare moments, buying up opportunities, lead on to honour always, to fortune sometimes.
2. Church work. Sunday schools, mission bands, tract distributors, missionary collectors are needed. Churchwardens, sidesmen, deacons, stewards, let each fill his place and attend to the duty specially allotted him. Hast thou a contracted sphere? Thou mayest fill it better. Is thy work humble? It is not of necessity mean.
“Forth in thy name, O Lord, I go,
My daily labour to pursue;
Thee, only thee, resolved to know
In all I think, or speak, or do.”
IV. A great work brings out special adaptations. The men of Jericho built the wall. But the fish gate with its locks and bars did the sons of Hassenaah build.
The disciples of Christ. Prophecy-reading Philip finds prophecy-reading Nathaniel (Joh_1:43-51). Peter speaks and acts impetuously, and dies courageously (John 21). John, with a piercing insight, writes the angelic Gospel, and waits to see and war against rising error (John 21; Epistles of John; Revelation).
Does the hero mould the age, or the age mould the hero? Partly both.
In the Church “every man hath his proper gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that” (1Co_7:7). The eloquent Apollos expounds the Scriptures; the deft-handed Dorcas clothes the naked; the man of wealth sustains the charities; the strong minister to weakness; the wise enlighten the ignorant. “There is a different colour of beauty in different stones that are all of them precious. One man may be burnishing to the sparkle of the diamond, while another is deepening to the glow of the ruby. For this reason there are such different temperaments in Christian character and varying circumstances in Christian life, that the foundations of the wall of the city may be garnished with all manner of precious stones. Each Christian has his own place and lustre in that temple, and therefore there is no ground to disparage our neighbour, and none to despair of ourselves, if we are both in the hand of Christ.”—Ker.
V. A great work must have regard to practical utility. The fish gate as necessary as the repairing of temple wall. Began at the temple, but did not stop there. What is it for? to be asked of every man’s work. Does it begin and end in itself. True work should brighten somebody’s dark life, cast out the stones from the rugged road along which some brother’s stumbling feet must go, expel some one of the legion of demons that possess men.
VI. A great work must be inspired by a lofty purpose. Nehemiah and his fellows were rebuilding the city of David (Neh_3:15). Milton chose ‘Paradise Lost,’ and aimed to justify the ways of God to men. The painters find the sufferings of Christ an inexhaustible subject. A great religious reformer desired to spread holiness throughout the land. Man, art thou moved by a lofty motive inspired by God’s good Spirit to take unto thee thy office in the world and Church?
VII. A great work must look on to the future. It must have in it the element of permanence. They were rebuilding the chosen city—the city of the future, as they fondly hoped.
CONCLUSION.—In heaven “they have no rest day nor night” (Rev_4:8). Two worlds, but only one law. Here from grace to grace, there from glory to glory. Here “faithful in that which is least” (Luk_16:10), there “ruler over many things” (Mat_25:23). The first word is, Be faithful; and the second, Be faithful; and the third, Be faithful.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Neh_3:3. “If a man would stand on figures and allegories, this gate may well signify Christ, who made his apostles and preachers fishers of men, who by him brought and daily bring them into this spiritual Jerusalem; for he is only the door whereby all must enter into the Lord’s city. These men, like good builders, leave nothing undone that might fortify that gate; for they set on not only the doors, but also bolts and locks. So must God’s Church be made strong by laws, discipline, and authority, that ravening lions and filthy-swine rush not in and disquiet or devour God’s people; and the wholesome doctrine must be confirmed with strong arguments and reasons against false teachers.”—Pilkington.
Working for the unknown future. “An old tattered volume found among his father’s books, Bunny’s ‘Resolutions,’ aroused Richard Baxter to concern; and Sibb’s ‘Braised Reed’ led him to the Saviour. From Baxter’s pen proceeded ‘The Call to the Unconverted,’ which, in addition to its most extensive circulation elsewhere, was given by a beggar at the door where Philip Doddridge lived. It was the voice of God to the youthful reader, who became the author of ‘The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul’—a book which gave the first impression to William Wilberforce. He became the author of ‘A Practical View of Christianity,’ which was blessed to the conversion of Leigh Richmond, a successful minister, and author of ‘The Dairyman’s Daughter’ and ‘Young Cottager,’ little works that have had many seals in souls won to God. The ‘Practical View’ was also instrumental in the saving change of Dr. Chalmers, whose works are world-wide, and whose labours were so eminently owned for the revival of religion in the ministry and people of Scotland.”—Dr. Steel.
RIVAL CLASSES
Neh_3:5. And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord
The rivalry of classes in all history.
1. Use of this ricalry. The mutual suspicion and watchfulness of classes serves to put all on their best behaviour; one is as a goad to the other for exertion in industry and excellence.
2. Abuse of this rivalry. All the hatreds and bigotries and wars of mankind.
I. Rival classes.
1. A noble peasantry. “The Tekoites.”
(1) Simplicity. Lowly life is favourable to simplicity of aim and endeavour. Among the poor you find the most faithful servants; among the poor the Church finds her most diligent workers. Men who have been grinding at the tread-mill of hard labour all the week are the men who work the wheels of Christian service on a Sunday. Among the “better people” of religious communions “the labourers are few.”
(2) Devotion. Steady adherence to great principles is more often found amongst the poor. There is something in the saying about ignorance being the mother of devotion. Not in the cynical sense. But those who see only the hard realities of life are often capable of deep attachment to friends and to God and to a great cause, while the dilettante “feels no interest” in anything human or Divine. Enthusiasm is a popular quality.
2. An effeminate aristocracy.
(1) Selfishness. Not confined to one class, but in its hardest manifestations to be found among the gay and worldly, who have multiplied their natural wants by a thousand artificial needs. To expect a burst of noble-hearted, generous enthusiasm from the frozen circle of worldly society is to look for grapes on thorns and figs from the thistle-stalk. [Of course in all this contrast we are only keeping in mind the really worldly circle, and are not forgetting the fact that in Jerusalem’s rebuilding and in the reconstructions of English history the noble have nobly stood to the front.]
(2) Pride. Beautiful is the way in which modern society is returning in many respects to humility in regard to practical things. A Prince of Wales sends his boys to the routine of a sailor apprenticeship; a Duke of Argyle sends his son to a house of business; a gentleman’s son doffs his neat coat and stoops down, hammer in hand, in the engineer’s yard. In this there is a more hopeful sight than when the proud nobles of Jerusalem disdained the rough work which the God-inspired Nehemiah designed.
II. Rival views.
1. Popular desire for reform.
(1) Politically. Trace course of national history. Instance the case of the Corn Laws, with its mechanic poet Ebenezer Elliott.
(2) Ecclesiastically. Nothing is so fatal to a Church as for the people to let Church government alone and leave it to professional men. The sheep are for the sake of the shepherd in farming; but Christ’s shepherds are for the sake of the flock. In our Lord’s time “the common people heard him gladly” (Mar_12:37); but it was asked as an incredible thing, “Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?” (Joh_7:48). The Reformation was a reply to the people, who groaned by reason of the afflictions wherewith the taskmasters afflicted them.
(3) Theologically. The popular sentiment is the curb of theological opinion. What men, as men, think and feel are the governor-halls of the great logic-engine of systematic theology. The mother’s heart in the theologian adjusts his harsh, cold views of God.
2. Reform cried down by the nobles. The doctrine of standing still is only preached by the few who find the place comfortable; the “noble discontent” which spurs on the needy and oppressed is the animation of all reform in State or Church.
“Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey.
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied.”
Goldsmith’s ‘Deserted Village.’
Application.
1. Beware of luxurious aspirations. Think not merely of the pleasures of greatness, but of its enervating perils.
2. Remember that the duties of individual manhood and the sources of happiness in the individual character remain the same under all changes of costume and title. A man is never more or less than a servant of the great Taskmaster, and a fellow-labourer with others in the ruined city of Mansoul.
3. Beware of indolence and pride, and do thy task for God and man.
ILLUSTRATIONS
A life of idleness. “And who art thou that braggest of thy life of idleness; complacently showest thy bright gilt equipages, sumptuous cushions, appliances for folding of the hands to mere sleep? Looking up, looking down, around, behind, or before, discernest thou, if it be not in May-fair alone, any idle hero, saint, god, or even devil? Not a vestige of one. In the heavens, in the earth, in the waters under the earth is none like unto thee. Thou art an original figure in this creation, a denizen in Mayfair alone, in this extraordinary century or half-century alone! One monster there is in the world—the idle man.”—Carlyle.
Rich and poor. “Let not the rich misread the signs of the times, or mistake their brethren; they have less and less respect for titles and riches, for vestments and ecclesiastical pretensions; but they have a real respect for superior knowledge and superior goodness; they listen like children to those whom they believe to know a subject better than themselves. Let those who know it say whether there is not something inexpressibly touching and even humbling in the large, hearty, manly English reverence and love which the working-men show towards those who love and serve them truly, and save them from themselves and from doing wrong. Alas! we have been very ready to preach submission. For three long centuries we have taught submission to the powers that be, as if that were the only text in Scripture bearing on the relations between the ruler and the ruled. Rarely have we dared to demand of the powers that be Justice; of the wealthy man and the titled duties. We have produced folios of slavish flattery upon the Divine right of power. Shame on us! we have not denounced the wrongs done to weakness, and yet for one text in the Bible which requires submission and patience from the poor, you will find a hundred which denounce the vices of the rich; in the writings of the noble old Jewish prophets, that, and almost that only; that in the Old Testament, with a deep roll of words that sound like Sinai thunders; and that in the New Testament in words less impassioned and more calmly terrible from the apostles and their Master; and woe to us, in the great day of God, if we have been the sycophants of the rich instead of the redressers of the poor man’s wrongs.”—F. W. Robertson.
What the poor have done. “Thomas Cranfield, a tailor, established a prayer-meeting among the brickmakers in Kingsland, which was held every morning at five o’clock. He established schools at Rotherhithe, Tottenham, Kent Street, Southwark, the Mint, Garden Row, St. George’s, Rosemary Lane, and Kennington. John pounds, a Portsmouth cobbler, was the founder of ragged schools. Harlan Page consecrated letter-writing to the highest end—the salvation of souls.”—Dr. Steel.
Handicraft. “It is not a mean thing to labour with the hand. There is a dignity in every duty, and especially in this. Since the Carpenter of Nazareth toiled at his bench and made tools for Galilean peasants, labour has had a dignity, and artisans an elevation, and workshops a consecration. After this, the lantern-making of King Æropus, the ship-building of the Czar Peter, or the watch making of the Emperor Charles V., could do little to exalt it.”—Dr. Steel.
“Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.”
Gray’s Elegy.
THE OLD GATE
Neh_3:6. Moreover the old gate repaired Jehoiada, &c.
Memory needs to be awakened. Forgetting may be impossible, but we cannot always recollect.
Illustration:—“I am convinced that the dread book of account which the Scriptures speak of is, in fact, the mind itself of each individual. Of this at least I feel assured, that there is no such thing as forgetting possible to the mind; a thousand accidents may and will interpose a veil between our present consciousness and the secret inscriptions on the mind; accidents of the same sort will also rend away this veil; but alike, whether veiled or unveiled, the inscription remains for ever, just as the stars seem to withdraw before the common light of day, whereas, in fact, we all know that it is the light which is drawn over them as a veil, and that they are waiting to be revealed when the obscuring daylight shall have withdrawn.”—De Quincey.
I. The old gate brought up memories of the PAST. The past is valuable. God does not work instantaneously. Instance the seasons. Jewish law that the land should rest (Leviticus 25). Our fathers made the roads, built the churches, founded schools, started commerce. Art, science, mechanical inventions are improvements. We build upon the past as on a bed of rock. “Custom passes into law from precedent to precedent.” Civilization does not grow up in a night, like Jonah’s gourd. Eight and wrong are as old as the creation.
Illustration:—“Every master has found his materials collected. What an economy of power! and what a compensation for the shortness of life! All is done to his hand. The world has brought him thus far on his way. The human race has gone out before him, sunk the hills, filled the hollows, and bridged the rivers. Men, nations, poets, artisans, women, all have worked for him, and he enters into their labours.”—Emerson.
II. The old gate was an incentive to exertion in the PRESENT. Our fathers’ gate. Patriotism fired their blood.
III. The old gate was a dumb prophet of the FUTURE. The builders were gone, but their work abode. So would theirs. So will ours.
Application.
1. Work, for Heaven so wills.
2. Work, under the recollection that you are treading in the steps of the true nobility of the past.
3. Work, because the day is passing.
4. Work, and eternity shall reward you.
THE BROAD WALL
Neh_3:8. The broad wall
Around Jerusalem in her days of splendour there was a broad wall, her defence and glory. Jerusalem is a type of the Church.
A broad wall suggests SEPARATION, SECURITY, and ENJOYMENT.
I. Separation.
1. Every Christian should be more scrupulous than other men in his dealings.
2. By his pleasures the Christian should be distinguished.
3. In everything that affects the Christian; e. g. home business; going in and coming out; staying a night in a friend’s house.
4. Most conspicuously in the spirit of his mind.
The wall should be VERY BROAD.
1. There should be a broad distinction between you Christians and unconverted people.
2. Our Lord Christ had a broad wall between him and the ungodly.
3. A broad wall is abundantly good for yourselves.
4. You will do more good to the world thereby.
II. Safety.
1. The Christian is surrounded by the broad wall of God’s power.
2. By the broad wall of God’s love.
3. By the broad wall of God’s law and justice.
4. By the broad wall of God’s immutability.
5. By the broad wall of God’s electing love.
6. By the broad wall of God’s redeeming love.
7. The work of the Holy Spirit is a broad wall.
8. Every doctrine of grace is a broad wall.
9. The honour of Christ is a broad wall.
III. Enjoyment. On the walls of Nineveh and Babylon men drove, walked, chatted at sunset. Broad walls at York.
1. Rest.
2. Communion,
3. Prospects and outlook. The godless!—Spurgeon, abridged.
FAMILY ZEAL
Neh_3:12. Shallum repaired—he and his daughters
Women building stone walls. Perhaps they were heiresses or rich widows, who undertook to defray the expense of a portion of the wall. Perhaps! perhaps not. In crises women have donned armour—why may not these have wrought at the wall? When men have shown the white feather, women have turned bold. “Women’s rights.” The story of women’s wrongs has not yet been told. Woman’s influence a practical, ever-pressing question.
I. Notable women.
1. Within the circle of Biblical story. “In redemption’s history we have Sarah’s faith, Ruth’s devotion, Abigail’s humility, Shunammite’s hospitality, Esther’s patriotism, penitence of her anointing Christ, Canaanite’s importunity, Mary of Bethany’s love, Lydia’s confidence, Dorcas’ benevolence, Phoebe’s kindness, Priscilla’s courage, Tryphena and Tryphosa’s diligence, and Persis’ affection—honoured of God.”—Van Doren.
Most books of the Bible canonize women. Genesis, Eve, Rebekah, Rachel. Exodus, Miriam. Judges, Jephthah’s daughter and the poetess Deborah. Solomon sings the praises of a good woman; and the Gospels of Jesus contain Marys, Martha, and the unnamed who ministered to him. The Epistles teach women their duties, and reveal the depth of their influence and the width of their power.
2. In history. The mother of the Gracchi; the mother of the Wesleys; the mother of St. Augustine; the mother of George Washington. Martyred women; songstresses. Elizabeth Fry, who never forgot the mother in the philanthropist. Madame Guyon, whose faith she thus expressed:
“To me remains nor place nor time,—
My country is in every clime;
I can be calm and free from care
On any shore, since God is there.”
Countess of Huntingdon; Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; and time would fail us to tell of “the nameless,” whose records are on high.
II. Woman’s influence.
1. For evil. Jezebel; Solomon’s wives; devotees of fashion; women who spend their all at the gin-palace, and leave their children in dirt and destitution. A man must toil without; a woman must guard within.
2. For good.
Application.
1. Influence is not measurable by its circumference. May be no larger than a house, no wider than a workshop.
2. Every mother should be a missionary to her children. She may save her husband (1Co_7:16). She has her children before teachers and ministers can influence them. To them she should represent God’s care and Christ’s mind, not by her words only, but in her life. Nothing can supersede the religion of the hearth.
Illustrations:—“One third more females church-members than males.”—Edwards.
“The commonest and the least remembered of all great-little heroisms is the heroism of an average mother. Ah, when I think of that last broad fact I gather hope again for poor humanity, and this dark world looks bright, this diseased world looks wholesome to me once more, because, whatever it is or is not full of, it is at least full of mothers.” Charles Kingsley.
“Be good, sweet maid, and let who can be clever;
Do lovely things, not dream them, all day long;
And so make life, death, and that vast for ever
One grand, sweet song.”
Charles Kingsley to his niece.
HIGH MEN AT LOWLY TASKS
Neh_3:13-19. The valley gate repaired Hanun, &c.
The fusion of classes. Ordinarily society builds a broad wall betwixt class and class. But in the presence of a common danger, or under the inspiration of a common resolve, men break down all barriers, and stand side by side. Too often “the kings of the earth and the rulers take counsel together against the cause of the Lord” (Psalms 2); but the word of God standeth for ever. “Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship.… Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and queens thy nursing mothers” (Isaiah 49).
I. The differences and unities of the race. We make too much of distinctions; e. g. rich and poor, learned and ignorant, toilers and thinkers, manufacturers and hands, up-town and down town, West-end and East-end. One God created us, one cross redeems us, one Spirit inspires us; the same book teaches us, similar demons tempt us, similar sorrows confront us, a common grave awaits us, the same heaven is open to us. Society rings itself round. The aristocracy of birth says of the aristocracy of money, “Only a merchant.” Better that emperor’s wife who often said to her husband, “Remember what you were, and what you now are, and then you will be always thankful to God.”
II. Historical illustrations. The Romans called rulers “fathers of their country.” The Greeks styled them “shepherds of their people.” Most revolutions in Church and State have ranged high and low side by side. Paul was aided by “Erastus, the city chamberlain” (Rom_16:23), “and they of Cæsar’s household (Php_4:22). The Reformation “was indebted to the Elector Frederick. Lord Cobham’s castle afforded shelter to Lollard preachers. England owes a debt of gratitude to “Albert the Good” for his devotion to science and art, and whatever would ameliorate the people’s conditions.
III. Practical purport.
1. With honour comes responsibility. May I not do what I will with mine own? No; thou art only a steward. Hast thou wealth? The poor shall never cease out of the land; they are lawful claimants on thy sympathy. Hast thou wisdom? Teach the ignorant, guide the perplexed. Art thou elevated? Stoop to those who are low, lift down a helping hand to those who have stumbled and fallen.
“Heaven does with us as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves; for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, ’twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch’d
But to fine issues; nor Nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor—
Both thanks and use.”
2. Be not deceived by appearances. Not what a man hath, but what a man is, determines his worth. It is the cause, not the suffering, makes the martyr. The motive decides the action. Pierce beneath the surface, plant thy foot on the rock of reality.
3. Gather courage and patience from the thought of the future. Look unto Jesus, who for the joy that was set before him endured, &c. (Heb_12:2). Remember Moses (Heb_11:26). Whose names were in the foundations of the city of vision? Not the leaders only (Peter, James, and John), but “the twelve apostles” (Rev_21:14). “The Holy Ghost hath registered unto us the names and diligence of the builders of this earthly city Jerusalem, by the pen of his faithful servant Nehemiah, for our comfort; and to teach us that much more he hath registered the names of the builders of the spiritual Jerusalem in the book of life, where no devil can scrape them out, but shall be the dear children of the Lord God, defended by him from all ill. Let us therefore cast away this slothful sluggishness wherein we have lain so long, rise up quickly, work lustily, spit on our hands and take good hold, that we fall not back again from our Lord God. It is more honour to be a workman in this house than to live the easiest life that the world can give.”—Pilkington.
DAVID THE NATIONAL HERO
Neh_3:15. The city of David. Neh_3:16. The sepulchres of David
They were working on sacred ground. Hence their enthusiasm. Effort must have inspiration. This city David conquered; he beautified it; here he reigned; here he sleeps. They did not stay to shape such thoughts as these. They were instincts. Patriotism lives not by bread only, but by sentiments, by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of good king and wise teacher in the ages past. Theme, DAVID’S LIFE-WORK the basis of national hero-worship.
I. Preparing for a throne. “He that is born is listed; life is war.” “The foundation of David’s character is a firm, unshaken trust in Jehovah, a bright and most spiritual view of creation and the government of the world, a sensitive awe of the Holy One of Israel, a striving ever to be true to him, and a strong desire to return after errors and transgressions.”—Ewald. Psa_78:70 tells how David was God’s elected king. The prophet Samuel shaped the character of the period. His work was long developing. Takes months for common seed to grow. Samuel cast seed into God’s world-field; David and Solomon put in the sickle and reaped. What of that? Sower and reaper equally indispensable (Joh_4:36-38). David had a creative faculty—he was the poet of song. We have “the book of the chronicles” of King David; we have, too, the books of psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs he sang and wrote. Saul’s FATAL DAY not the day of the battle of Gilboa, but the day of the battle with Amalek; not the day when Saul died, but the day when Saul disobeyed, led to David’s election and anointing. The story is told in the Book of Samuel (1Sa_1:16). Eliab is rejected. The height of a man’s stature and the beauty of his countenance shall not henceforth be signs infallible that God has endowed that man with kingly qualities. God-elected shall be God-endowed. That day David anointed, but God’s hand had been upon him in the pastures of Bethlehem. There he thought out, if he did not write, Psalms 23. There he discerned a presence which beset him behind and before (Psalms 139). To him the heavens declared God. How perfect God’s law was, and what God’s fear meant, he was being taught by the order of God in nature; how guilty and feeble he was, he was being taught by the voice of God in his own conscience (Psalms 19). David’s God was a living, ever-present, helping God (Psalms 27). From the sheepfolds David came to encounter Goliath. From the sheepfolds he was summoned to be harp-player to King Saul. He was anointed, but not enthroned. He must learn to wait. God never extemporizes. “Soon ripe, soon rot.” Moses eighty years of preparation. Elijah a full-grown man before he appears in sacred history. Jesus Christ eighteen quiet, uneventful years after seeing the holy city, and afterwards forty days in wilderness. The harvest of God in human souls ripens slowly. As David thought of his great work, and felt himself a child with a giant’s task, he said, “O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength” (Psalms 8). He recollected the storms he had witnessed as he watched the sheep when he wrote Psalms 29. But after the longest night the morning breaks. David was called to the court as harp-player to King Saul. Saul’s servants described David to the king as “a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, that is cunning in playing” (1Sa_16:18). David was an artist, as we now speak. In Eastern lands shepherd-life and songs have always gone together. The elected king is harpist to the enthroned king. How slowly David ascended the steps to the throne. We, who look back, see some reasons why ascent was gradual. In the pastures he had time to think; in the court he had opportunity to observe. David’s harp quieted Saul’s excitement (1Sa_16:23); David’s harp helped him to compose his Psalms for the song-life of the Church universal. His chequered life fore-shadowed in Saul’s court. To-day the king’s bosom friend, to-morrow the butt for the king’s javelin. The love of David and Jonathan the one bright and beautiful thing. Purer and more constant friendship was never known. With his escape from Saul’s court began—
II. The work and warfare of David’s life.
1. As a freebooter.
2. As king.
1. As a freebooter. Cave of Adullam (1Sa_22:1-2). Wild wilderness life. Hunted by Saul (1Sa_23:25-29; 1Sa_24:8-22). Saul’s hope failed him in the hour of need, and he fell on Gilboa’s fatal field.
2. David was king. First over Judah, then over all Israel. David’s reign was one of creation; Solomon’s was one of consolidation. A brilliant reign of a great and good man; but, like all things human, not without fault (2 Samuel 11; 1 Chronicles 21). The fifty-first Psalm the cry of this kingly penitent. But did “the free spirit” ever come back again as in the earlier days? However, Carlyle’s words are both wise and charitable. “Who is called ‘the man after God’s own heart’? David, the Hebrew king, had fallen into sins enough—blackest crimes—there was no want of sin; and therefore the unbelievers sneer, and ask, ‘Is this your man according to God’s heart?’ The sneer, I must say, seems to me but a shallow one. What are faults, what are the outward details of a life, if the inner secret of it, the remorse, temptations, the often-baffled, never-ended struggle of it be forgotten? David’s life and history, as written for us in those Psalms of his, I consider to be the truest emblem ever given us of a man’s moral progress and warfare here below. All earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful struggle of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often baffled, sore baffled, driven as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never ended, ever with tears, repentance, true, unconquerable purpose begun anew.” He died full of age and honours, and his sepulchre Nehemiah looked upon with reverence, Peter the apostle spoke of with exultation, and to it the feet of countless thousands of weary pilgrims have been directed.
ILLUSTRATIONS
A true man.—“Every true man is a cause, a country, and an age; requires infinite spaces and numbers and time fully to accomplish his design; and posterity seem to follow his steps as a train of clients. A man Cæsar is born, and for ages after we have a Roman empire. An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man: as monachism of the hermit Antony; the Reformation, of Luther; Quakerism, of Fox; Methodism, of Wesley; Abolition, of Clarkson. Scipio, Milton called ‘the height of Rome;’ and all history resolves itself very easily into the biography of a few stout and earnest persons.”—Emerson.
Sepulchres.—“Next to the wells of Syria, the most authentic memorials of past times are the sepulchres, and partly for the same reason. The tombs of ancient Greece and Rome lined the public roads with funeral pillars or towers. Grassy graves and marble monuments fill the church-yards and churches of Christian Europe. But the sepulchres of Palestine were like the habitations of its earliest inhabitants, hewn out of the living limestone rock, and therefore indestructible as the rock itself. In this respect they resembled, though on a smaller scale, the tombs of Upper Egypt; and as there the traveller of the nineteenth century is confronted with the names and records of men who lived thousands of years ago, so also in the excavations of the valleys which surround or approach Shiloh, Shechem, Bethel, and Jerusalem he knows that he sees what were the last resting-places of the generations contemporary with Joshua, Samuel, and David. And the example of Egypt shows that the identification of these sepulchres even with their individual occupants is not so improbable as might be otherwise supposed. If the graves of Rameses and Osirei can still be ascertained, there is nothing improbable in the thought that the tombs of the patriarchs may have survived the lapse of twenty or thirty centuries. The rocky cave on Mount Hor must be at least the spot believed by Josephus to mark the grave of Aaron. The tomb of Joseph must be near one of the two monuments pointed out as such in the opening of the vale of Shechem. The sepulchre which is called the tomb of Rachel exactly agrees with the spot described as ‘a little way’ from Bethlehem. The tomb of David, which was known with certainty at the time of the Christian era, may perhaps still be found under the mosque which bears his name in the modern Zion. Above all, the cave of Machpelah is concealed, beyond all reasonable doubt, by the mosque at Hebron. But, with these exceptions, we must rest satisfied rather with the general than the particular interest of the tombs of Palestine.”—Stanley’s ‘Sinai and Palestine.’
THE WORKMEN’S DAY-BOOK
Neh_3:20-32. After him Baruch the son of Zabbai, &c.
I. Every man is carefully credited with his own tasks and achievements. Rulers, priests, slaves (Nethinims), men, women (Neh_3:12). Nobody is forgotten. The humblest not passed by in contemptuous silence.
II. Special honour is accorded special work. Levites and priests began at the temple, but did not stop there (Neh_3:22; Neh_3:28). Zabbai, who earnestly repaired a second piece, having completed his task did not fold his arms, but went with open eyes and willing hands to seek another task. The goldsmiths and the temple traders came down to the wall not to inspect, but labour (Neh_3:31-32).
III. Regard is had to the men of practical wisdom. Benjamin and others built over against their house (Neh_3:23; Neh_3:28-29). Meshullam built over against his chamber (Neh_3:30). Perhaps he was a lodger, (a) They were men of practical sense. Work was near at hand; why go abroad? “There are many Christians who can never find a place large enough to do their duty. Some Churches seem to feel that if anything is to be done some great operation must be started. They cannot even repent without concert and a general ado.”—Bushnell. (b) These men found here an inspiration for effort—the defence of home. With practical enthusiasm, Hananiah and others built “another piece.” All cannot keep the same pace, but all can build.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. “The Son of man shall come … and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Mat_16:27). “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life” (Rev_2:10).
ADDENDA TO CHAPTER 3
TOPOGRAPHY OF THE BOOK OF NEHEMIAH
THE only description of the ancient city of Jerusalem which exists in the Nehemiah, and although it is hardly sufficiently distinct to enable us to settle Bible so extensive in form as to enable us to follow it as a topographical description is that found in the Book of all the moot points, it contains such valuable indications that it is well worthy of the most attentive examination. The easiest way to arrive at any correct conclusion regarding it, is to take first the description of the dedication of the walls in ch. 12 (31–40), and, drawing such a diagram as this, we easily get at the main features of the old wall at least.
The order of procession was that the princes of Judah went up upon the wall at some point as nearly as possible opposite to the temple, and one half of them turning to the right went towards the dung gate, “and at the fountain gate, which was over against them” (or, in other words, on the opposite or temple side of the city), “went up by the stairs of the city of David at the going up of the wall, above the house of David, even unto the water gate eastward.” The water gate, therefore, was one of the southern gates of the temple, and the stairs that led up to it are here identified with those of the city of David, and consequently with Zion.
The other party turned to the left, or northwards, and passed from beyond the tower of the furnaces even “unto the broad wall,” and passing the gate of Ephraim, the old gate, the fish gate, the towers of Hananeel and Meah, to the sheep gate, “stood still in the prison gate,” as the other party had in the water gate. “So stood the two companies of them that gave thanks in the house of God.”
If from this we turn to the third chapter, which gives a description of the repairs of the wall, we have no difficulty in identifying all the places mentioned in the first sixteen verses with those enumerated in the twelfth chapter. The repairs began at the sheep gate on the north side, and in immediate proximity with the temple, and all the places named in the dedication are again named, but in the reverse order, till we come to the tower of the furnaces, which, if not identical with the tower in the citadel, so often mistaken for the Hippicus, must at least have stood very near to it. Mention is then made, but now in the direct order of the dedication, of “the valley gate,” the “dung gate,” the “fountain gate;” and lastly, the “stairs that go down from the city of David.” Between these last two places we find mention made of the pool of Siloah and the king’s garden, so that we have long passed the so-called sepulchre of David on the modern Zion, and are in the immediate proximity of the temple; most probably in the valley between the city of David and the city of Jerusalem. What follows is most important (Neh_3:16): “After him repaired Nehemiah the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half part of Bethzur, unto the place over against the sepulchres of David, and to the pool that was made, and unto the house of the mighty.” This passage, when taken with the context, seems in itself quite sufficient to set at rest the question of the position of the city of David, of the sepulchres of the kings, and consequently of Zion, all which could not be mentioned after Siloah if placed where modern tradition has located them.
If the chapter ended with the sixteenth verse there would be no difficulty in determining the sites mentioned above, but unfortunately we have, according to this view, retraced our steps very nearly to the point from which we started, and have got through only half the places enumerated. Two hypotheses may be suggested to account for this difficulty: the one, that there was then, as in the time of Josephus, a second wall, and that the remaining names refer to it; the other, that the first sixteen verses refer to the walls of Jerusalem, and the remaining sixteen to those of the city of David. An attentive consideration of the subject renders it almost certain that the latter is the true explanation of the case. In the enumeration of the places repaired, in the last part of the chapter, we have two which we know, from the description of the dedication, really belonged to the temple. The prison court (Neh_3:25), which must have been connected with the prison gate, and, as shown by the order of the dedication, to have been on the north side of the temple, is here also connected with the king’s high house; all this clearly referring, as shown above, to the castle of David, which originally occupied the site of the Turris Antonia. We have on the opposite side the “water gate,” mentioned in the next verse to Ophel, and consequently as clearly identified with the southern gate of the temple. We have also the horse gate, that by which Athaliah was taken out of the temple (2Ki_11:16; 2Ch_23:15), which Josephus states led to the Kedron, and which is here mentioned as connected with the priests’ houses, and probably, therefore, a part of the temple. Mention is also made of the house of Eliashib the high priest, and of the eastern gate, probably that of the temple. In fact, no place is mentioned in these last verses which cannot be more or less directly identified with the localities on the temple hill, and not one which can be located in Jerusalem. The whole of the city of David, however, was so completely rebuilt and remodelled by Herod that there are no local indications to assist us in ascertaining whether the order of description of the places mentioned after Neh_3:16 proceeds along the northern face, and round by Ophel, and up behind the temple back to the sheep gate; or whether, after crossing the causeway to the armoury and prison, it does not proceed along the western face of the temple to Ophel in the south, and then, along the eastern face, back along the northern, to the place from which the description started. The latter seems the more probable hypothesis, but the determination of the point is not of very great consequence. It is enough to know that the description in the first sixteen verses applies to Jerusalem, and in the last sixteen to Zion, or the city of David, as this is sufficient to explain almost all the difficult passages in the Old Testament which refer to the ancient topography of the city.—Fergusson in Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary.’
MODERN JERUSALEM
The first sight of Jerusalem as seen from the south, the first moment when from the ridge of hills which divide the valley of Rephaim from the valley of Bethlehem one sees the white line crowning the horizon, and knows that it is Jerusalem, is a moment never to be forgotten. But there is nothing in the view itself to excite your feelings. Nor is there even when the Mount of Olives heaves in sight, nor when “the horses’ hoofs ring on the stones of the streets of Jerusalem.” Nor is there in the surrounding outline of hills on the distant horizon. Nebi-Samuel is indeed a high and distinguished point, and Ramah and Gibeah both stand out, but they and all the rest in some degree partake of that featureless character which belongs to all the hills of Judæa.
In one respect no one need quarrel with this first aspect of Jerusalem. So far as localities have any concern with religion, it is well to feel that Christianity, even in its first origin, was nurtured in no romantic scenery; that the discourses in the walks to and from Bethany, and in earlier times the psalms and prophecies of David and Isaiah, were not, as in Greece, the offspring of oracular cliffs and grottos, but the simple outpouring of souls which thought of nothing but God and man. It is not, however, inconsistent with this view to add, that though not romantic, though at first sight bare and prosaic in the extreme, there does at last grow up about Jerusalem a beauty as poetical as that which hangs over Athens and Rome. First, it is in the highest degree venerable. Modern houses it is true there are; the interiors of the streets are modern. The old city itself (and I felt a constant satisfaction in the thought) lies buried twenty, thirty, forty feet below these wretched shops and receptacles for Anglo-Oriental conveniences. But still, as you look at it from any commanding point, within or without the walls, you are struck by the gray ruinous masses of which it is made up; it is the ruin, in fact, of the old Jerusalem on which you look—the stones, the columns; the very soil on which you tread is the accumulation of nearly three thousand years. And as with the city, so it is with the view of the country round it. There is, as I have said, no beauty of form or outline, but there is nothing to disturb the thought of the hoary age of those ancient hills; and the interest of the past, even to the hardest mind, will in spite of themselves invest them with a glory of their own.
The view of the Moab mountains is constantly intermingled with the views of Jerusalem itself. From almost every point there was visible that long purple wall, rising out of its unfathomable depths, to us even more interesting than to the old Jebusites or Israelites. They knew the tribes who lived there; they had once dwelt there themselves. But to the inhabitants of modern Jerusalem, of whom comparatively few have ever visited the other side of the Jordan, it is the end of the world; and to them, to us, these mountains have almost the effect of a distant view of the sea; the hues constantly changing, this or that precipitous rock coming out clear in the morning or evening shade—there the form of what may possibly be Pisgah, dimly shadowed out by surrounding valleys; here the point of Kerak, the capital of Moab and fortress of the Crusaders—and then at times all wrapt in deep haze, the mountains overhanging the valley of the shadow of death, and all the more striking from their contrast with the gray or green colours of the hills, and streets, and walls through which you catch the glimpse of them. Next there are the ravines of the city. This is its great charm. The Dean of St. Paul’s once observed to me that he thought Luxembourg must be like Jerusalem in situation. And so to a certain extent it is. I do not mean that the ravines of Jerusalem are so deep and abrupt as those of Luxembourg, but there is the same contrast between the baldness of the level approach, the walls of the city appearing on the edge of the table-land, and then the two great ravines of Hinnom and Jehoshaphat opening between you and the city; and again the two lesser ravines, rival claimants to the name of Tyropœon, intersecting the city itself. In this respect I never saw a town so situated, for here it is not merely the fortress, but the city, which is thus surrounded and entangled with natural fosses; and this when seen from the walls, especially from the walls on the northern side, and when combined with the light and shade of evening, gives the whole place a variety of colour and of level fully sufficient to relieve the monotony which else it would share with other Eastern cities. And, thirdly, it must be remembered that there is one approach which is really grand, namely, from Jericho and Bethany. It is the approach by which the army of Pompey advanced,—the first European army that ever confronted it,—and it is the approach of the triumphal entry of the gospels. Probably the first impression of every one coming from the north, the west, and the south may be summed up in the simple expression used by one of the modern travellers, “I am strangely affected, but greatly disappointed.” But no human being could be disappointed who first saw Jerusalem from the east. The beauty consists in this, that you then burst at once on the two great ravines which cut the city off from the surrounding table-land, and that then only you have a complete view of the mosque of Omar. The other buildings of Jerusalem which emerge from the mass of gray ruin and white stones are few, and for the most part unattractive. The white mass of the Armenian convent on the south, and the dome of the mosque of David; the castle, with Herod’s tower on the south-west corner; the two domes, black and white, which surmount the Holy Sepulchre and the Basilica of Constantine; the green corn-field which covers the ruins of the palace of the Knights of St. John; the long yellow mass of the Latin convent at the northwest corner, and the gray tower of the mosque of the Dervishes on the traditional site of the palace of Herod Antipas, in the north-east corner; these are the only objects which break from various points the sloping or level lines of the city of the Crusaders and Saracens. But none of these is enough to elevate its character. What, however, these fail to effect is in one instant effected by a glance at the mosque of Omar. From whatever point that graceful dome with its beautiful precinct emerges to view, it at once dignifies the whole city. And when from Olivet, or from the governor’s house, or from the north-east wall, you see the platform on which it stands, it is a scene hardly to be surpassed. A dome graceful as that of St. Peter’s, though of course on a far smaller scale, rising from an elaborately-finished circular edifice; this edifice raised on a square marble platform rising on the highest ridge of a green slope, which descends from it north, south, and east to the walls surrounding the whole enclosure; platform and enclosure diversified by lesser domes and fountains, by cypresses, and olives, and planes, and palms; the whole as secluded and quiet as the interior of some college or cathedral garden, only enlivened by the white figures of veiled women stealing like ghosts up and down the green slope, or by the turbaned heads bowed low in the various niches for prayer.—this is the mosque of Omar, the Haram es-Sherîf, “the noble sanctuary;” the second most sacred spot in the Mahometan world—that is, the next after Mecca; the second most beautiful mosque—that is, the next after Cordova. I, for one, felt almost disposed to console myself for the exclusion by the additional interest which the sight derives from the knowledge that no European foot, except by stealth or favour, had ever trodden within these precincts since the Crusaders were driven out, and that their deep seclusion was as real as it appeared. It needed no sight of the daggers of the black Dervishes who stand at the gates to tell you that the mosque was undisturbed and inviolably sacred.—Dean Stanley.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. The ruins which need repair. Most of us…
Neh 3:28
I. The ruins which need repair. Most of us have got so familiarised with the evils that stare us in the face every time we go out upon the pavements, that we have come to think of them as being inseparable from our modern life, like the noise of a carriage wheel from its rotation. The beginning of Nehemiah’s work of repair was that sad midnight ride round the ruined walls. So there is a solemn obligation laid on Christian people to acquaint themselves with the awful facts, and then to meditate on them, till sacred, Christlike compassion, pressing against the floodgates of the heart, flings them open, and lets out a stream of helpful pity and saving deeds.
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II. The ruin is to be repaired mainly by the old Gospel of Jesus Christ. If you get His love into a man’s heart, that will produce new tastes and new inclinations, which will reform, and sweeten, and purify faster than anything else does.
III. This remedy is to be applied by the individual action of Christian men and women on the people nearest them. (1) If you are a Christian man, you have in your possession the thing which will cure the world’s woe, and possession involves responsibility. (2) If we have found anything in Jesus Christ which has been peace and rest to ourselves, Christ has thereby called us to this work. (3) The possession of His love gives the commission; ay, and it gives the power. All can preach who can say, "We have found the Christ."
A. Maclaren, A Year’s Ministry, 1st series, p. 111.
References: Neh 3:28.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 547. Neh 3:30.—Homiletic Magazine; vol. xi., p. 17.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v28
Nehemiah
‘OVER AGAINST HIS HOUSE’
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Neh 3:28.
The condition of our great cities has lately been forced upon public attention, and all kinds of men have been offering their panaceas. I am not about to enter upon that discussion, but I am glad to seize the opportunity of saying one or two things which I think very much need to be said to individual Christian people about their duty in the matter. ‘Every man over against his house’ is the principle I desire to commend to you as going a long way to solve the problem of how to sweeten the foul life of our modern cities.
The story from which my text is taken does not need to detain us long. Nehemiah and his little band of exiles have come back to a ruined Jerusalem. Their first care is to provide for their safety, and the first step is to know the exact extent of their defencelessness. So we have the account of Nehemiah’s midnight ride amongst the ruins of the broken walls. And then we read of the co-operation of all classes in the work of reconstruction. ‘Many hands made light work.’ Men and women, priests and nobles, goldsmiths, apothecaries, merchants, all seized trowel or spade, and wheeled and piled. One man puts up a long length of wall, another can only manage a little bit; another undertakes the locks, bolts, and bars for the gates. Roughly and hastily the work is done. The result, of course, is very unlike the stately structures of Solomon’s or of Herod’s time, but it is enough for shelter. We can imagine the sigh of relief with which the workers looked upon the completed circle of their rude fortifications.
The principle of division of labour in our text is repeated several times in this list of the builders. It was a natural one; a man would work all the better when he saw his own roof mutely appealing to be defended, and thought of the dear ones that were there. But I take these words mainly as suggesting some thoughts applicable to the duties of Christian people in view of the spiritual wants of our great cities.
I. I need not do more than say a word or two about the ruins which need repair. If I dwell rather upon the dark side than on the bright side of city life I shall not be understood, as forgetting that the very causes which intensify the evil of a great city quicken the good-the friction of multitudes and the impetus thereby given to all kinds of mental activity. Here amongst us there is much that is admirable and noble-much public spirit, much wise and benevolent expenditure of thought and toil for the general good, much conjoint action by men of different parties, earnest antagonism and earnest co-operation, and a free, bracing intellectual atmosphere, which stimulates activity. All that is true, though, on the other hand, it is not good to live always within hearing of the clatter of machinery and the strife of tongues; and the wisdom that is born of solitary meditation and quiet thought is less frequently met with in cities than is the cleverness that is born of intercourse with men, and newspaper reading.
But there is a tragic other side to all that, which mostly we make up our minds to say little about and to forget. The indifference which has made that ignorance possible, and has in its turn been fed by the ignorance, is in some respects a more shocking phenomenon than the vicious life which it has allowed to rot and to reek unheeded.
Most of us have got so familiarised with the evils that stare us in the face every time we go out upon the pavements, that we have come to think of them as being inseparable from our modern life, like the noise of a carriage wheel from its rotation. And is it so then? Is it indeed inevitable that within a stone’s throw of our churches and chapels there should be thousands of men and women that have never been inside a place of worship since they were christened; and have no more religion than a horse? Must it be that the shining structure of our modern society, like an old Mexican temple, must be built upon a layer of living men, flung in for a foundation? Can it not be helped that there should be streets in our cities into which it is unfit for a decent woman to go by day alone, and unsafe for a brave man to venture after nightfall? Must men and women huddle together in dens where decency is as impossible as it is for swine in a sty? Is it an indispensable part of our material progress and wonderful civilisation that vice and crime and utter irreligion and hopeless squalor should go with it? Can all that bilge water really not be pumped out of the ship? If it be so, then I venture to say that, to a very large extent, progress is a delusion, and that the simple life of agricultural communities is better than this unwholesome aggregation of men.
The beginning of Nehemiah’s work of repair was that sad midnight ride round the ruined walls. So there is a solemn obligation laid on Christian people to acquaint themselves with the awful facts, and then to meditate on them, till sacred, Christ-like compassion, pressing against the flood-gates of the heart, flings them open, and lets out a stream of helpful pity and saving deeds.
II. So much for my first point. My second is-the ruin is to be repaired mainly by the old Gospel of Jesus Christ. Far be it from me to pit remedies against each other. The causes are complicated, and the cure must be as manifold as the causes. For my own part I believe that, in regard to the condition of the lowest of our outcast population, drink and lust have done it almost all, and that for all but an infinitesimal portion of it, intemperance is directly or indirectly the cause. That has to be fought by the distinct preaching of abstinence, and by the invoking of legislative restrictions upon the traffic. Wretched homes have to be dealt with by sanitary reform, which may require municipal and parliamentary action. Domestic discomfort has to be dealt with by teaching wives the principles of domestic economy. The gracious influence of art and music, pictures and window-gardening, and the like, will lend their aid to soften and refine. Coffee taverns, baths and wash-houses, workmen’s clubs, and many other agencies are doing real and good work. I for one say, ‘God speed to them all,’ and willingly help them so far as I can.
But, as a Christian man, I believe that I know a thing that if lodged in a man’s heart will do pretty nearly all which they aspire to do; and whilst I rejoice in the multiplied agencies for social elevation, I believe that I shall best serve my generation, and I believe that ninety-nine out of a hundred of you will do so too, by trying to get men to love and fear Jesus Christ the Saviour. If you can get His love into a man’s heart, that will produce new tastes and new inclinations, which will reform, and sweeten, and purify faster than anything else does.
They tell us that Nonconformist ministers are never seen in the slums; well, that is a libel! But I should like to ask why it is that the Roman Catholic priest is seen there more than the Nonconformist minister? Because the one man’s congregation is there, and the other man’s is not-which, being translated into other words, is this: the religion of Jesus Christ mostly keeps people out of the slums, and certainly it will take a man out of them if once it gets into his heart, more certainly and quickly than anything else will.
So, dear friends! if we have in our hearts and in our hands this great message of God’s love, we have in our possession the germ out of which all things that are lovely and of good report will grow. It will purify, elevate, and sweeten society, because it will make individuals pure and strong, and homes holy and happy. We do not need to draw comparisons between this and other means of reparation, and still less to feel any antagonism to them or the benevolent men who work them; but we should fix it in our minds that the principles of Christ’s Gospel adhered to by individuals, and therefore by communities, would have rendered such a condition of things impossible, and that the true repair of the ruin wrought by evil and ignorance, in the single soul, in the family, the city, the nation, the world, is to be found in building anew on the One Foundation which God has laid, even Jesus Christ, the Living Stone, whose pure life passes into all that are grounded and founded on Him.
III. Lastly, this remedy is to be applied by the individual action of Christian men and women on the people nearest them.
‘The priests repaired every one over against his house.’ We are always tempted, in the face of large disasters, to look for heroic and large remedies, and to invoke corporate action of some sort, which is a great deal easier for most of us than the personal effort that is required. When a great scandal and danger like this of the condition of the lower layers of our civic population is presented before men, for one man that says, ‘What can I do?’ there are twenty who say, ‘Somebody should do something. Government should do something. The Corporation should do something. This, that, or the other aggregate of men should do something.’ And the individual calmly and comfortably slips his neck out of the collar and leaves it on the shoulders of these abstractions.
As I have said, there are plenty of things that need to be done by these somebodies. But what they do {they will be a long time in doing it}, when they do get to work will only touch the fringe of the question, and the substance and the centre of it you can set to work upon this very day if you like, and not wait for anybody either to set you the example or to show you the way.
If you want to do people good you can; but you must pay the price for it. That price is personal sacrifice and effort. The example of Jesus Christ is the all-instructive one in the case. People talk about Him being their Pattern, but they often forget that whatever more there was in Christ’s Cross and Passion there was this in it:-the exemplification for all time of the one law by which any reformation can be wrought on men-that a sympathising man shall give himself to do it, and that by personal influence alone men will be drawn and won from out of the darkness and filth. A loving heart and a sympathetic word, the exhibition of a Christian life and conduct, the fact of going down into the midst of evil and trying to lift men out of it, are the old-fashioned and only magnets by which men are drawn to purer and higher life. That is God’s way of saving the world-by the action of single souls on single souls. Masses of men can neither save nor be saved. Not in groups, but one by one, particle by particle, soul by soul, Christ draws men to Himself, and He does His work in the world through single souls on fire with His love, and tender with pity learned of Him.
So, dear friends! do not think that any organisation, any corporate activity, any substitution of vicarious service, will solve the problem. It will not. There is only one way of doing it, the old way that we must tread if we are going to do anything for God and our fellows: ‘The priests repaired every one over against his house.’
Let me briefly point out some very plain and obvious things which bear upon this matter of individual action. Let me remind you that if you are a Christian man you have in your possession the thing which will cure the world’s woe, and possession involves responsibility. What would you think of a man that had a specific for some pestilence that was raging in a city, and was contented to keep it for his own use, or at most for his family’s use, when his brethren were dying by the thousand, and their corpses polluting the air? And what shall we say of men and women who call themselves Christians, who have some faith in that great Lord and His mighty sacrifice; who know that the men they meet with every day of their lives are dying for want of it, and who yet themselves do absolutely nothing to spread His name, and to heal men’s hurts? What shall we say? God forbid that we should say they are not Christians! but God forbid that anybody should flatter them with the notion that they are anything but most inconsistent Christians!
Still further, need I remind you that if we have found anything in Jesus Christ which has been peace and rest for ourselves, Christ has thereby called us to this work? He has found and saved us, not only for our own personal good. That, of course, is the prime purpose of our salvation, but not its exclusive purpose. He has saved us, too, in order that the Word may be spread through us to those beyond. ‘The Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal until the whole was leavened,’ and every little bit of the dough, as it received into itself the leaven, and was transformed, became a medium for transmitting the transformation to the next particle beyond it and so the whole was at last permeated by the power. We get the grace for ourselves that we may pass it on; and as the Apostle says: ‘God hath shined into our hearts that we might give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.’
And you can do it, you Christian men and women, every one of you, and preach Him to somebody. The possession of His love gives the commission; ay! and it gives the power. There is nothing so mighty as the confession of personal experience. Do not you think that when that first of Christian converts, and first of Christian preachers went to his brother, all full of what he had discovered, his simple saying, ‘We have found the Messias,’ was a better sermon than a far more elaborate proclamation would have been? My brother! if you have found Him, you can say so; and if you can say so, and your character and your life confirm the words of your lips, you will have done more to spread His name than much eloquence and many an orator. All can preach who can say, ‘We have found the Christ.’
The last word I have to say is this: there is no other body that can do it but you. They say:-’What an awful thing it is that there are no churches or chapels in these outcast districts!’ If there were they would be what the churches and chapels are now-half empty. Bricks and mortar built up into ecclesiastical forms are not the way to evangelise this or any other country. It is a very easy thing to build churches and chapels. It is not such an easy thing-I believe it is an impossible thing {and that the sooner the Christian church gives up the attempt the better}-to get the godless classes into any church or chapel. Conducted on the principles upon which churches and chapels must needs at present be conducted, they are for another class altogether; and we had better recognise it, because then we shall feel that no multiplication of buildings like this in which we now are, for instance, is any direct contribution to the evangelisation of the waste spots of the country, except in so far as from a centre like this there ought to go out much influence which will originate direct missionary action in places and fashions adapted to the outlying community.
Professional work is not what we want. Any man, be he minister, clergyman, Bible-reader, city missionary, who goes among our godless population with the suspicion of pay about him is the weaker for that. What is needed besides is that ladies and gentlemen that are a little higher up in the social scale than these poor creatures, should go to them themselves; and excavate and work. Preach, if you like, in the technical sense; have meetings, I suppose, necessarily; but the personal contact is the thing, the familiar talk, the simple exhibition of a loving Christian heart, and the unconventional proclamation in free conversation of the broad message of the love of God in Jesus Christ. Why, if all the people in this chapel who can do that would do it, and keep on doing it, who can tell what an influence would come from some hundreds of new workers for Christ? And why should the existence of a church in which the workers are as numerous as the Christians be an Utopian dream? It is simply the dream that perhaps a church might be conceived to exist, all the members of which had found out their plainest, most imperative duty, and were really trying to do it.
No carelessness, no indolence, no plea of timidity or business shift the obligation from your shoulders if you are a Christian. It is your business, and no paid agents can represent you. You cannot buy yourselves substitutes in Christ’s army, as they used to do in the militia, by a guinea subscription. We are thankful for the money, because there are kinds of work to be done that unpaid effort will not do. But men ask for your money; Jesus Christ asks for yourself, for your work, and will not let you off as having done your duty because you have paid your subscription. No doubt there are some of you who, from various circumstances, cannot yourselves do work amongst the masses of the outcast population. Well, but you have got people by your side whom you can help. The question which I wish to ask of my Christian brethren and sisters now is this: Is there a man, woman, or child living to whom you ever spoke a word about Jesus Christ? Is there? If not, do not you think it is time that you began?
There are people in your houses, people that sit by you in your counting-house, on your college benches, who work by your side in mill or factory or warehouse, who cross your path in a hundred ways, and God has given them to you that you may bring them to Him. Do you set yourself, dear brother, to work and try to bring them. Oh! if you lived nearer Jesus Christ you would catch the sacred fire from Him; and like a bit of cold iron lying beside a magnet, touching Him, you would yourselves become magnetic and draw men out of their evil and up to God.
Let me commend to you the old pattern: ‘The priests repaired every one over against his house’; and beseech you to take the trowel and spade, or anything that comes handiest, and build, in the bit nearest you, some living stones on the true Foundation.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Particulars respecting the Rebuilding
Particulars respecting the Rebuilding
1. Then, etc.] For the purposes of repair the wall was parcelled out between a number of working parties consisting of various important families, the inhabitants of certain towns, and different professional and trading bodies. The description of the several sections of the wall begins near the Temple at the sheep-gate, through which the flocks used to be driven for sacrifice. The writer's purpose in enumerating all who undertook to rebuild these sections is to put on record the names of those who devoted their labour and their substance to restoring the city which protected Jehovah's sanctuary, and to challenge the emulation of later generations.
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5. Their Lord] better, 'their lord,' i.e. Nehemiah.
7. Unto the, etc.] RV 'which appertained to the,' etc. Part of Mizpah was under the direct control of the Persian officer who governed the region W. of the Euphrates, whilst part was under Jewish rule (Neh_3:15).
8. The son of one of the apothecaries] better, 'one of the perfumers.' They fortified] RM 'they left,' meaning that the builders at this point left the fortifications untouched because they were in good repair, or that they departed in their reconstruction from the existing ground-plan.
9. Of the half part] RV 'of half the district,' the ruler of the other half being the Shallum of Neh_3:12.
11. The other piece] RV 'another portion': and so in Neh_3:19-20, Neh_3:21, Neh_3:24, Neh_3:27, Neh_3:30.
14. Part of] RV 'the district of: and so in Neh_3:15-16, Neh_3:17, Neh_3:18.
15. The pool of Siloah] i.e. the pool of Siloam. The stairs] These were steps leading to the pool, perhaps from the Temple hill: cp. Neh_12:37.
16. The sepulchres of David] i.e. the tombs of David's descendants and successors: cp. 2Ch_32:33; These were near the Temple (Eze_43:7-8), probably NW. of the city. The pool that was made] perhaps the pool alluded to in 2Ki_20:20. The house of the mighty] perhaps the barracks of the soldiery.
17. In his part] RV 'for (i.e. representing) his district' (of Keilah).
19. The armoury] the site of 'the house of the forest of Lebanon' (1Ki_10:17, 1Ki_10:21; Isa_22:8).
22. The plain] better, 'The Plain,' the specific name of part of the Jordan valley (Gen_13:10).
23. After him.. After him] RV 'After them.. After them.'
26. Moreover] RV 'now,' the v. being parenthetical. Ophel] the southern extremity of the Temple hill. The water gate] leading to the spring of Gihon in the gorge of the Kidron.
28. The horse gate] This, like the 'water gate,' faced eastward (Jer_31:40).
31. The goldsmith's son] better, 'a member of the body of goldsmiths.' And of the merchants] better, 'and (after him repaired) the merchants.'
32. The sheep gate] The circuit of the walls ended with the original starting-point (Neh_3:11).
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 26, 27 sheep The sheep for sacrifice were brought in here.…
sheep The sheep for sacrifice were brought in here. (See Scofield "Joh 5:2").
tower The towers appear to have been on either side the sheep gate.
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 1. The builders of the sheep gate (Neh 3:1-2)
CHAPTER 3
1. The builders of the sheep gate (Neh 3:1-2)
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2. The builders of the fish gate (Neh 3:3-5)
3. The repairers of the old gate (Neh 3:6-12)
4. The repairers of the valley gate (Neh 3:13)
5. The repairers of the dung gate (Neh 3:14)
6. The repairers of the gate of the fountain (Neh 3:15-25)
7. The repairers of the water gate (Neh 3:26-27)
8. The repairers of the horse gate (Neh 3:28)
9. The builders of the east gate and the Gate Miphkad (Neh 3:29-32)
Neh. 3:1-2. The work is begun at once. We shall not point out the location of these different gates, nor study the topography of Jerusalem in the days of Nehemiah, as others have done. There are most helpful, spiritual lessons to be learned from the building of the wall and the repairing of the gates. A wall is for protection and to keep out what does not belong in the city. In Ezra’s work we saw the restoration of the true place of worship. The wall surrounding the place where the people gathered once more in the true worship of Jehovah typifies the guarding of that place of privilege and blessing. A wall of separation is needed to keep out that which is undesirable and which would hinder and mar the true worship. (Even in connection with the millennial temple a wall is mentioned, “to make a separation between the sanctuary and the profane place” Eze 42:20.) Even so a church, an assembly, composed of true believers who gather together in that worthy Name, and unto that Name, must be protected from the world and all which dishonors Christ, or that which is contrary to sound doctrine, must be excluded. This is the true New Testament principle in connection with the true Church, foreshadowed in the building of the wall surrounding the place where the Lord had set His Name.
The third chapter is a remarkable one. We see the people of God at work building and repairing, every one doing the work in a certain place. Here is the record of the names, where and how they labored. God keeps such a record of all His servants and their labors. When all His people appear before the judgment seat of Christ this book will be opened “and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labor” (1Co 3:8).
Ten gates are mentioned in this chapter. In chapter 8:16 we read of “the gate of Ephraim” and in chapter 12:39 of “the prison gate.” If we add these two to the ten mentioned in this chapter we have twelve gates (Rev 21:12). The first gate at which the work started is the sheep gate. Through this gate the sacrificial animals were led to the altar, the constant witness to the fact that “without the shedding of blood there is no remission” and the types of Him who was “led as a lamb to the slaughter.” The sheep gate at which the work started is typical of the blessed work of the Lamb of God, He who bore our sins in His body on the tree, the offering of His spotless, holy body by which we are sanctified. The lesson here is that the person and work of Christ is the starting point of a true restoration, and that the cross of Christ, the work of God’s Son has accomplished, must be guarded above everything else. At the close of this chapter this sheep-gate is mentioned once more. After making the circuit of all the gates, we are led back to this first gate. It is with this great truth, the gospel of Christ, that all repairing of the inroads of the world and the flesh, must start and terminate. This gate suggests Him who said, “I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (Joh 10:9). There is no other gate which leads to life and into God’s presence.
Eliashib (God will restore) the high priest, with his brethren, builded the sheep gate, sanctified it and set it up. It was priestly work. The tower of Meah and the tower of Hananeel are mentioned. Meah means “a hundred” and it reminds us of the parable in which our Lord mentions the man who had a hundred sheep. Hananeel means “to whom God is gracious.” Significant names. There is no doubt that this sheep gate is the same one mentioned in Joh 5:2, which affords still another application. The men of Jericho, once under the curse, but now in the place of nearness and blessing, toiled next to the high priest. What grace this reveals! Zaccur (well remembered) the son of Imri (the towering one) also was there.
Neh. 3:3-5. Next was the fish gate. This was separated from the sheep gate by the portion of the wall which the men of Jericho and Zaccur repaired. Outside of that gate may have been a fish market, or it may have been the gate through which the fishermen passed to catch fish. It reminds us of the words of our Lord, “Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men” (Mar 1:17). After we have passed through the sheep gate we must go through the fish gate, to catch fish, to be soul-winners. In this way, leading others to Christ, bringing sinners to a knowledge of the Saviour, the Church is built up. Hassenaah (lifted up) was the builder there. Then Meremoth (strong), Meshullam (repaying a friend) and Zadok (just) repaired next to the fish gate. “And next unto them the Tekoites repaired; but their nobles did not put their necks to the work of their Lord.” The prophet Amos was a Tekoite who had prophesied many years before, a simple herdman and gatherer of sycamore figs. He was chosen of the Lord, and here other humble instruments of Tekoa, used in doing the work, are immortalized in this record. Their nobles were slackers. They had no interest in the work of their Lord. And so there are such who do not work for the Lord, and in that coming day will suffer loss, though they are saved.
Neh. 3:6-12. The next gate is the old gate. This gate was probably the same which elsewhere is called “the corner gate” (2Ki 14:13; Jer 31:38). Jehoiada (“the Lord knows”) and Meshullam repaired this gate. This gate may also remind us of Him “whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting,” who is the cornerstone, upon whom all rests. Next repaired Melatiah, the Gibeonite, and Jadon, the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and Mizpah. The Gibeonites, on account of their deception by which they had obtained a covenant of peace with Israel in Joshua’s day, had been made “hewers of wood and drawers of water.” Here we behold some of them participating in the great work. Of the others we mention Rephaiah, who was a wealthy man, who did not hire a substitute, but labored with his own hands, toiling with the rest. Shallum, the son of Halohesh, was another man of power and wealth; he and his daughters repaired like the rest. What a sight it must have been when these zealous men cleared away the debris and repaired the gates, and among them the daughters of Shallum!
Neh 3:13. The valley gate was repaired by Hanun (gracious) and the inhabitants of Zanoah (broken). The valley typifies the low place, humility. How needed this is in service for God, for “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”
Neh 3:14. The dung gate was repaired by Malchiah, and he was the ruler of Beth-haccerem (the place of the vineyard). This gate was used to carry out the refuse and filth from the city. This gate reminds of the exhortations that God’s people must cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and the spirit “for God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness” (1Th 4:7).
Neh 3:15-25. The gate of the fountain was next to the dung gate. The fountain, ever flowing, is a blessed type of the Holy Spirit, who indwells the believer and is in him, the well of living water springing up, like a fountain, into everlasting life (Joh 4:14). It is suggestive that the fountain gate came after the dung gate. If a believer cleanses himself from that which defiles, the Spirit of God will be unhindered, filling the believer and using him as a vessel meet for the Master’s use. Shallun (recompense) the son of Colhozeh (wholly seer) the ruler of Mizpah (watchtower) repaired and built that gate. And these names fit in beautifully with the Spirit of God as the fountain of life and power. We cannot mention all the names which follow. (A good concordance like Strong’s or Young’s gives most of the Hebrew proper names in a reliable translation. We suggest the study of the names of those who repaired as interesting and helpful.) Nor do we know anything whatever of the individual history of those zealous Israelites, who reconstructed and restored the wall and gates of Jerusalem. God knows each one and has preserved their names, though unknown by the world, in His Word. Surely “the memory of the just is blessed” (Pro 10:7) and some day they, with us and all His servants, will receive the reward.
Neh 3:26-27. The water gate is mentioned and the Nethinim, who were servants and dwelt in Ophel (the high place) are connected with this gate. This gate suggests the Word of God so frequently spoken of under the symbol of water (Joh 3:5; Joh 13:1-16; Eph 5:26; Psa 119:136). It is very interesting to notice that while the servants are mentioned in connection with the water gate, it does not say that they repaired the gate. The Word of God needs no building up or improving; it builds up those who bow to its blessed authority.
Neh 3:28. The horse gate (2Ki 11:6; Jer 31:40) suggests warfare and victory. In a world of evil the people of God wage a warfare. We wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with the wicked spirits. Paul speaks of the believer as a soldier of Christ. Victory is on our side, though the forces of evil may threaten on all sides.
Neh 3:29-32. The east gate was repaired and kept by Shemaiah, the son of Shechaniah. From Ezekiel’s prophecy we learn that the Shekina glory left from the east gate, and that when the glory returns to dwell once more in the temple, the great millennial temple of Ezekiel’s vision, the glory of the Lord will enter through the east gate. The east gate faces the rising sun. It suggests the coming of the Lord for His people. And here the two names fit in beautifully. Shemaiah means “heard of the Lord”; even so He will hear His people and some day will answer their prayer for His coming. Shechaniah means “habitation of the Lord.” We shall be with Him.
The Miphkad gate was repaired by Malchiah (the Lord is King) the goldsmith’s son. Miphkad means “the appointed place” or “a place of visitation.” It was probably the gate in which the judges sat to settle disputes and controversies. It suggests the judgment seat of Christ.
Thus we learn that the wall surrounding and protecting the gathered people suggests the cross as the starting point; service; Christ as Lord; humility; cleansing from defilement; filling with the Spirit; the Word of God and its power; warfare and victory; the coming of the Lord and the judgment seat of Christ.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1, 20 The Walls of the Lower City
The Walls of the Lower City
v. 1. Then Eliashib, the high priest, the grandson of Jeshua, who had returned with Zerubbabel, rose up with his brethren, the priests, and they builded the Sheep Gate, close to the Temple, probably on the northeastern side of the city, where the sheep for the sacrifices were driven in. They sanctified it, with certain religious ceremonies, and set up the doors of it; even unto the tower of Meah they sanctified it, which, apparently, was a hundred cubits from the gate, unto the tower of Hananeel, the next tower over toward the Fish Gate.
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v. 2. And next unto him builded the men of Jericho. And next to them builded Zaccur, the son of Imri, who may, according to the Hebrew, have been the leader of the men of Jericho.
v. 3. But the Fish Gate, east of the present Damascus Gate in the north wall, did the sons of Hassenaah build, rather the sons, that is, the inhabitants of Senaah, apparently a city near Jericho, who also laid the beams thereof, the crosspieces over the entrance, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, either sockets or clamps, and the bars thereof, which were fitted into the sockets to secure the gate on the inside.
v. 4. And next unto them repaired Meremoth, the son of Urijah, the son of Koz, rather, of the family of Hakkoz. And next unto them repaired Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, the son of Meshezabeel. And next unto them repaired Zadok, the son of Baana.
v. 5. And next unto them the Tekoites, from the little town of Tekoa, near Bethlehem, repaired; but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord, they refused to take part in the rebuilding of the wall.
v. 6. Moreover, the old gate repaired Jehoiada, the son of Paseah, and Meshullam, the son of Besodeiah, this gate being apparently in the center of the north wall; they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof and the locks thereof and the bars thereof.
v. 7. And next unto them repaired Meletiah the Gibeonite, that is, of Gibea, and Jadon the Meronothite, probably hailing from a suburb of Mizpah, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, unto the throne of the governor on this side the river, Mizpah apparently being the seat of the Persian governor west of Jordan.
v. 8. Next unto him repaired Uzziel, the son of Hathaiah, of the goldsmiths, for the tradespeople had organizations of their own and worked together. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah, the son of one of the apothecaries, makers of spices, ointments, and perfumes, and they fortified Jerusalem unto the broad wall, the double wall extending from the Gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, the one that had been broken down by Joash of Israel, but afterward rebuilt by Uzziah of Judah.
v. 9. And next unto them repaired Rephaiah, the son of Hur, the ruler of the half-part of Jerusalem, of half its circuit, which was a governmental term.
v. 10. And next unto them repaired Iedaiah, the son ’of Harumaph, even over against his house. And next unto him repaired Hattush, the son of Hashabniah.
v. 11. Malchijah, the son of Harim, and Hashub, the son of Pahath-moab, repaired the other piece, a second section assigned to them in addition to that mentioned in verse 23, and the tower of the furnaces, the extreme northeastern tower of the citadel, near the Jaffa Gate.
v. 12. And next unto him repaired Shallum, the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half-part of Jerusalem, of the second circuit, he and his daughters, the zeal of these women being mentioned as a commendable example.
v. 13. The Valley Gate repaired Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and a thousand cubits on the wall unto the Dung Gate, at the southern extremity of Zion, where the rubbish was taken out to be burned outside the walls.
v. 14. But the Dung Gate repaired Malchiah, the son of Rechab, the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem, of the circuit of Bethulia, near Tekoa; he built it and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.
v. 15. But the Gate of the Fountain, near the Pool of Siloam, repaired Shallum, the son of Colhozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah, of the circuit of Mizpah; for this was under the jurisdiction of a different man than the city itself; he built it and covered it, laying the cross-beams as in the case of the other gates, and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and the wall of the Pool of Siloah by the king’s garden, the royal park being watered from this pool, which received its water through a subterranean channel tunneled from the west side of the Kidron Valley, under the lower ridge of Ophel, which ran south of the Temple area, and unto the stairs that go down from the City of David, an inclined road leading down from the upper city.
v. 16. After him repaired Nehemiah, the son of Azbuk, the ruler of the half-part of Beth-zur, of this circuit, which was north of Hebron, unto the place over against the sepulchers of David, the tombs of the kings, and to the pool that was made, presumably the present Fountain of the Virgin, and unto the house of the mighty, where the cliffs of Zion arose.
v. 17. After him repaired the Levites, Rehum, the son of Ban. Next unto him repaired Hashabiah, the ruler of the half-part of Keilah, over the half-circuit of this name, in his part.
v. 18. After him repaired their brethren, Bavai, the son of Henadad, the ruler of the half-part of Keilah, the second circuit named after this town.
v. 19. And next to him repaired Ezer, the son of Jeshua, the ruler of Mizpah, another piece, in addition to that mentioned in verse 7, over against the going up to the armory at the turning of the wall, an angle where the Temple wall connected with the city wall. In the building of the Church of Christ all believers, young and old, men and women, each one according to his gifts and strength, should place himself in the service of the Lord.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 6, 8, 11, 13, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 25, 28, 31 Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his…
Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brother priests
"Then Eliashib the high priest came forward with his brothers, the priests"
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Eliashib ... Zaccur son of Imri
These are the names of men. (See: How to Translate Names)
Tower of the Hundred
"Tower of the 100" (See: Numbers)
Tower of Hananel
This is the name of a tower. It is likely named after a man named "Hananel." (See: How to Translate Names)
men of Jericho
This means that the men were from Jericho. AT: "men from Jericho" (See: Possession)
translationWords
high priest
brother
priest
ewe
gate
consecrate
Jericho
works
son
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16, 24, 25, 28 3:1-32 This summary of the people who rebuilt the…
3:1-32 This summary of the people who rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem moves in a circle around the city, starting at the northeast corner and moving west, then south, east, and north.
3:1-5 The rebuilding of the walls and gates around the northern section of the city was divided into eight work groups.
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3:1 Eliashib the high priest, the grandson of Jeshua (12:10), led the priests in working on the northern wall around the Temple. • The Sheep Gate was where the people brought in their sheep on their way to sacrifice at the Temple. • The Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel were two major military towers along the northern wall (12:39; Jer 31:38; Zech 14:10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.