Download 14435U END OF YEAR STUDY - 1984 NEHEMIAH

1
14435U
END OF YEAR STUDY - 1984
NEHEMIAH - LET US RISE UP AND BUILD
Speaker:
Bro. J. Martin
Study #2:
Reviving the stones out of the heaps of rubbish
Reading:
Nehemiah 3 and 4
My beloved brethren and sisters and our dear young people.
We last left Nehemiah, b&s, making that nocturnal inspection of the wall of Jerusalem,
as in the dead of night, he rode upon that animal along the southern walls in the
southeastern corner of the valley of Hinnom, and dismounting from his ass he then
made his way up by foot, up the Kidron valley, picking his way over heaps of rubbish.
He didn't make that trip, b&s, for any romantic reason, he was a very diligent man and
extremely practical and he was trying to devise some way, some formula by which they
would build those walls. How would you go about it? And that was the reason he kept it
secret because he wanted to make sense, first of all, what were the possibilities? and
one might wonder in your mind, b&s, what alternatives he had as he pondered about
how to go about that work, what would they do? how would they tackle that work?
And on the following day it would seem, that he called the people together and he had
made up his mind, and it didn't take him long, b&s, to tell them his plan. It was very
simple! He'd thought about it and he'd come up with this plan, it was going to be a 'rush'
job. And you can well and truly imagine the reaction of the people when he outlined his
dramatic plan; (now we've turned this on for you again, I realize that none of you can
probably read the detail on this map here, but it's not intended for that reason, b&s, it's
just for a general idea of the outline of those walls, and we'll use it from time to time).
Now imagine now for the purpose of our discussion this evening, that I'm Nehemiah and
I'm going to tell you about the plan! Well, now, this is what we're going to do! See that
wall, here's the plan. That wall, b&s, in length measured something like 3 miles; 3 miles,
and the plan is to get up and rush around and get it up as quickly as we can! That's the
plan! You can imagine there were lots of objections to that; imagine people saying to
Nehemiah, 'well, yes, but you're going to give us breaks!' Oh, no, said Nehemiah, there
wouldn't be any need for breaks because we're going to work around the whole length
of that wall at once'. What a plan that was! You know, it was a brilliant scheme when
you come to think of it, b&s, but it had, what would seem ... problems attached to it; they
were after all said and done a feeble lot according to the estimation of their enemies,
and of course, in anyone's estimation they were a cynical lot!
2
When you've got a people who are very feeble in numbers and with no, of course,
mechanization or any great modern weaponry which would have been at the disposal of
the Persians or the Egyptians, you don't break down your lines of communication, you
keep together. That's what you would do under normal circumstances. But we're going
to work on that wall, all of us at once around the whole length of it. That means they're
going to be stretched out, now you look at chapter 4, at the end of chapter 4 that was
read out for us, in verse 19 we read there, 'And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers,
and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large (or as the RSV puts it 'great
and widely spread, and we are separated on the wall, far from one another'). That, b&s,
was presenting an enormous problem, but it also presents a challenge to every brother
and sister. Now imagine that we were building that wall, 3 miles of it, and we're going to
do it all at once and we're going to be separated one from the other, far spread. That
means that every brother and sister, is going to be somewhere exposed to himself or
herself and is going to be actively engaged in the Word of God, as nobody was going to
breathe down their necks and make it easy. That's what it meant! And you know, b&s,
that was a brilliantly conceived plan in many, many ways, and it would be a wonderful
thing if the ecclesias today rose up and built, but people spread out and the work went
on of looking after the sick right through the spectrum of preaching the gospel to the
stranger and all the other activities in between; and it went forth with a great surge and
people were engaged in every facet of ecclesial life at all times. It would mean that
every brother and sister would be separated one from the other who seemed to be
working in the truth on their own, and yet in concert with those who laboured shoulder to
shoulder. That was a brilliantly conceived plan.
But it had it's difficulties! In order to execute that plan, Nehemiah found that he had at
his disposal 42 groups of workers. 42 groups of workers! So the ecclesia naturally
almost divided itself up into 42 groups, now what's so wonderful about that? Well, just
this, as I mentioned before, from the going forth of the commandment to restore and
build Jerusalem was the date from which God would adjust the first advent of His
Messiah. And you know, b&s, that Matthew records that from Abraham to Christ was 42
generations. I don't think that's just a coincidence; there were shadows here, wonderful
shadows and they were stretching forth to the greater Nehemiah and the more
wonderful Jerusalem, weren't they? But any way, they finished those walls, b&s, 3 miles
of them in 52 days, so we read in chapter 6 and verse 15, 52 days, that's not a bad
effort, that's not a bad effort at all. You know, it's been our practice in recent months to
be going past to a certain area down there toward Peckham, where council workers
have been building a retaining wall where a part then comes to the road, they cut
through a bit of a hill and left a ridge on the side, and the council workers have been
building that wall, b&s, from here to the wall over there in about 52 months; but that wall
was up in 52 days! and it had to be built so that no man could get over it in a hurry. It
had to be a protective wall! Now you think about that! That was a mighty effort and it
was accomplished under extremely difficult circumstances.
Now let's just look at the circumstances! That wall, b&s, had been destroyed in the fifth
month of the year by Nebuchadnezzar and they finished it in the fifth month of the year;
3
there was an incentive to get it done, wasn't there? It had been destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar now there was an incentive to rush that job; there was an incentive
and an urgency about it, and they were in positive danger everywhere. And you can
imagine as the enemies gathered around, and as I said, the enemies described in the
record are the army of Samaria (whom I don't think would frighten the Russians) but
that's how the Word of God describes it, the army of Samaria. And so there were people
milling up around the wall, and most of their weaponry was verbal assaults, they were
hurdling these verbal darts at the people, and you can imagine brethren and sisters,
stretching out and getting away from their brethren and sisters a bit, and they're all on
their own now, and there they're going to face the enemy while they build. And you
know, it's a very, very powerful thing to think about that! but there were great difficulties,
b&s, it was summertime!
It's very hot in Judaea in the summertime and very dry. Furthermore, don't just let those
things go over your head, just think about it, because you'll have people complaining
later on about the suffocating heat in this place. Think about that, it's summertime.
Summer's been good to us at this point of history, it wouldn't have been so good over
there! It was summertime and on top of that, it was harvest time (we don't have any
problem with that because farmers do that for us; they store it in the silos and we buy
the bread a little bit later, and there's no concern).But, b&s, it was a very great concern
to them; there were no secondary concerns, and when the Word of God talks about
harvest, it's talking about coastal economy, it was the middle of gathering in that
economy, bear that in mind. Nehemiah chapter 5 and verse 3 reveals that there was a
drought, which made harvest even more imperative, b&s, there was a drought! Chapter
5 and verse 18 says the people are being exploited, the poor people were paying very
high mortgages upon their houses, as a matter of fact, we know what they were paying,
they were paying 12 percent interest per annum, that's what they were paying on their
houses. Not only that, b&s, the people that built those walls didn't all live in Jerusalem,
the majority came from a long way away, as far away as Jericho. They'd come from the
western coast of the land, north to Gibeon, down south to Keilah, and they travelled in
every day for that work, and when they got there, you listen to this! when they got there
they worked from dawn until you could pick out the first stars in the evening, a good 12
hours and when night fell, they were called in turn for guard duty. Not a bad effort, not a
bad effort at all under extremely difficult circumstances!
Why did God, b&s, allow those circumstances to exist? Why didn't He smooth all their
stones? why wasn't it a better time of the season? why wasn't the harvest already over?
and all the garners full? why didn't He let the enemy go get lost some where? why didn't
he let them work an 8 hour day? with 17-1/2% loaning for holidays and long service
leave? and bonus and overtime rate, time and a half, and double time, and triple time
for Sundays? Why didn't He do that? Because in chapter 6, we read there, and this is
the real reason that it all happened like that, in verse 15, 'So the wall was finished in the
twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. And it came to pass, that
when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these
things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work
was wrought of God', that's why, b&s, all those difficulties existed, and that's why it's
4
very difficult for us today, to try and get people to see that our work is wrought of God.
There was an interesting comparison in a Christadelphian magazine that I read just
recently; a report of the world, as they saw the Christadelphians. And back in the early
days of the brotherhood when bro. Roberts was the editor of the Christadelphian, a
report appeared about the Christadelphians in which they were described as a people
who came almost entirely from the working class and that there existed in that
brotherhood, few if any of the professional men of this world. And they were
distinguished, it said, from their contemporaries by a singular disposition towards the
things of the scriptures and by a hardiness and an aptitude for work, that distinguished
them from the general population'. THAT'S WHAT THEY SAID ABOUT THE PEOPLE
IN THE DAYS OF BRO. ROBERTS! and the same article in another report and quoted
in John Wilson's book of Christadelphia of Recent Days in which he said, 'that socially
and commercially the Christadelphians were no different from the general run of the
population'. But in the days of Robert Roberts, we look back and it's clear to us, that that
work was wrought of God. That's when all the difficulties existed, if they hadn't existed,
that would never had been said.
So when our lot falls to do the work of the truth, and everything seems to hinder our
task, and things go wrong when we think they ought to go right because we're doing
God's work, let us ever remember, b&s, that God's strength is made perfect in
weakness; and if we're going to labour in the heat of the summer, in the middle of our
business activities, covering great distances on behalf of the truth, or extending our
energies if we don't travel on behalf of the truth, and if we find that people ridicule us
and all sorts of things, let us determine that we're going to finish that work, so that we
can turn around and say to those people, 'well, you saw the difficulties, didn't you? yes!
well, that work was wrought of God! When Nehemiah looked at his 42 working groups,
b&s, I don't think he'd be very inspired. Chapter 3, of course, very interestingly
describes those working groups. Have a look at them!
In my bible, b&s, apart from the marginal markings, I have put little blocks in the margin
where I've got room and in them I list little interesting features that are in these chapters.
I've got this one listed with all the people's occupations and above it I've put a caption
which I think is very apt: and the caption is this, YE SEE YOUR CALLING, BRETHREN
(you have to abbreviate like that because you can't write the full quotation) and it goes
on and says, 'that not many mighty, not many noble, not many wise are called, but God
has chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the things that are wise'. When
you look at the builders upon that wall, who constructed a wall 3 miles long, sufficiently
high to keep out that army in 52 days, it was an incredible feat. But look who
performed it! In verse 1 there was a priest involved in this work, they don't generally do
that sort of thing. We find in verse 8, men who were called the 'apothecaries' who were
involved in this work, they only were used to working with perfumes, I hardly think, b&s,
they would have been used to the smell which surrounded them on that wall; apart from
the dust and the rubble, the perspiration of their own bodies, they had Geshem lurking
in the background. They wouldn't have been having very good senses; it wasn't what
they were used to, but they were involved in that work. In verses 9 and 14 you have
people who are called 'rulers', provincial rulers they were, like your mayors and your
5
councilmen, who control certain sections of the city, but they were not below in helping
out with the work, b&s.
In verse 17 we find out that there were Levites working there; they generally were
giving their time to the Word of God and expounding it; but they've got to be involved in
it. Back in verse 12, we have family groups, some groups were formed when families
got together, and they decided they'd build a section of the wall. We find in verse 8 that
they were goldsmiths and jewellers, who worked with delicate instruments, b&s, keen of
eye and clever of hand. What were they engraving? what did they use? the old blunt
chisel and a big sledge hammer and the heavy rock with the jagged edges! So they
worked there nonetheless, we'd called them 'lily whites' but out they were in the blazing
Syrian sun and they were working their fingers to the bone for the cause of Jerusalem.
Goldsmiths! In verse 14 there were Rechabites working there, Rechabites were not
really of the seed of Israel natural, b&s, but they were according to Jeremiah, of the
seed of Israel spiritual more than any Jew on that wall, because they were descendants
of Jethro and Moses preached the gospel to his son, Hobab, who left Sinai with Moses
on the basis that God would do him just as good as He would do Israel. He accepted
the commonwealth of Israel, he became an Israelite indeed and his descendants
through the ages, b&s, remained separate from Israel for the rest of their existence, and
they're known as the Kenites and then as the Rechabites; and Jeremiah, in the last
days of Judah's commonwealth brought the whole nation up and said to them, 'look at
this people here; they weren't born of the seed of Abraham, and here we come to the
end of Judah's commonwealth, as far as those days were concerned, and he said
they're more reliable than any one else in this place'. They helped build that wall, they
were wonderful people.
Verse 7, There were Gibeonites there, b&s, they were converted Gentiles; they were
the ones who came to Joshua and made themselves out as men from a far journey and
who procured a resolve from Joshua not to kill them; still there, still working away in the
cause of the truth. In verse 22, there were groups from certain districts involved in the
work. Men of the plain they're called, more specifically, men of the circle, and the circle
referred to is a Hebrew word that is peculiarly applied to the whole region roundabout
Jordan. In the New Testament where it specifies roundabout Jordan would be equal to
the men of the plain in that expression. So down there, roundabout Jordan, down there
in the hot Golan valley in the low plains of Jordan, there was a group that formed
together and came up each day, from 1300 feet below sea level to 2,500 feet above, a
distance of about 20 miles every day. Where on earth did they get the energy and time
to do any work? but they came until Nehemiah devised another way and had them stop
in Jerusalem. The last verse tells us there were merchants involved in the work too, and
they gave up their prestigious occupations that they might contribute to the work of the
truth.
And I suppose in all the other negatives aspects of Nehemiah's book, b&s, at least this
evening we have before us, a very wonderful public inspiration to be involved in the
work of the truth. I suppose somewhere in that list, we can find people comparable to
ourselves; we can labour in the truth's service, we might be involved in big business, we
6
might be merchants; we might be involved in more delicate occupations, we could be
like the jewellers. We could be, b&s, Levites, given over to the study of the Word but
when it comes to other work that needs to be done urgently, we've got to do our part
practically along with everyone else. It doesn't matter what occupation you're in, we've
got to come to the work, whether we live in Jerusalem or travel far, we've got to go; and
everyone is needed, 'for the work is great and spread and we are separated one from
the other'. And everyone had to pull their weight, that's the great lesson.
Now let's have a look at how they built that wall. First of all, we see in chapter 3 and
verse 1, of course, the one that lead the way is the one that should lead the way,
Eliashib, the high priest; El will restore' (475) is what Eliashib means, b&s, and the story
is that it was fitting for this man to lead the people, as I said, he was meant to lead the
people, he was the high priest; he really should have been where Nehemiah was in all
the book, but he wasn't. But he did lead the way! he was the grandson of Joshua (not
Joshua the son of Nun back in the days of Moses, he would have been a ripe old age if
he was) not that Joshua, b&s, but the Joshua that came back with Zerubbabel, you
know, Joshua the high priest. He would have looked back at his grandfather and he
would have seen his grandfather and he would have known that Zechariah the prophet
had painted a picture of his grandfather. Zechariah had painted a word picture of his
grandfather and saw his grandfather standing amongst the rubble of Jerusalem with
grime and dirt all over him. With filthy garments as it is described in Zechariah's
prophecy, which we say is the symbol of mortality or whatever it is; forget about what
it's a symbol of, b&s, the fact of the matter was, the high priest of that day was not
distinguished with any other worker on that wall, or in the building of the temple as it
was then.
If you had gone up to the temple then, and if you saw all these workers working
together, and the dust swirling around them and sticking to their bodies with their
perspiration, and you drew their attention, and they all stood up and looked at you, you
wouldn't know who the high priest was; that was the grandfather of Eliashib. He had a
wonderful tradition to follow, b&s, he could look back to a pioneer who didn't shirk his
responsibilities when it came to the time to build that temple, even though he was a man
who usually went about in garments of glory and beauty. So he had plenty of tradition
to follow, plenty of inspiration and examples and he set his mind to it, and started the
work, and significantly, he started with the Sheep Gate. As you'll see up there (well,
maybe you won't) but it's the northern wall, the Sheep Gate, so the work starts here on
the northern wall by the Sheep Gate. It was so called because it was through that gate
that they normally took the sacrifices that were made upon the altar. Significantly
therefore, the high priest starts at the Sheep Gate, because preeminently it was a work
of sacrifice; and when you make a sacrifice, b&s, make a 'SAC-rifice'; you know, a
SAC-rifice, give up something until it's finished. Give up your time and your energy and
do it until it's ... because if you don't then you can't even begin to work for God. That's
where they started! that's where we all start when we come into the truth, we give up
until it's served and if people aren't prepared to do that, we're not to get involved at all,
that's for sure.
7
So they started and they got around to the Tower of Hananeel which they say is the
northern most of the wall is the Tower of Hananeel, El has been gracious (2606), El has
been gracious and you know, b&s,(you don't have to turn all these references up) but in
Jeremiah 31 and verse 38, Jeremiah describes the city of God, and he mentions the
Tower of Hananeel first; he starts there and he describes that city right around the
circumference right around to the Horse Gate. He says it all will be rebuilt to the glory of
Yahweh, and he started with the Tower of Hananeel, why? because El is gracious, and
El, of course, is that title of God which sees Him, b&s, as the all mighty and the all
powerful! And He's certainly going to be gracious to these people, because they're
going to do a lot of work, and they need power and they need strength.
And verse 2 says, 'next unto him built the men of Jericho'. Now while they were
separated one from the other and spread around that wall in a thin line of resistance to
the enemy, they were nonetheless, b&s, next to each other. As a matter of fact, the
Hebrew has it, 'at his hand' (3027); so as the high priest built with his group of priests,
so was next to him at his hand, the men of Jericho, an unbroken line of workers. An
unbroken line of workers! we're going to have a look at them, some of them not all of
them. For example, we come down to verse 4 and we read about a man who's called
Meshullam, half way through that verse we read, 'And next unto them repaired
Meshullam the son of Berechiah'; now we'll make some comments on these people,
b&s, but we've got no one in particular in mind in the audience when we talk about
these people, but we really have everybody in mind. You'll find yourself in these
characters, and we're all building the wall today and trying to keep out the enemies, and
there are plenty of enemies. And we're trying to protect our families, so here was a man
who was very dedicated to building that wall; his name means 'a friend' (4918) he was a
real friend, and he was so enthusiastic that when he built his part of the wall, he wasn't
content with that, b&s, and if we come over to verse 30 and we find that he built another
piece. We read in verse 30 halfway through the verse, 'After him repaired Meshullam
the son of Berechiah over against his chamber'.
So here is a man who contributed to the work of the truth in the northern wall and later
on he came around and contributed to the southern wall because it was near to his own
house. He was a man therefore who worked for the ecclesia and for his family, he was a
friend, he was a real friend! But he had a problem, and there are a lot of friends (I'm not
talking about interested friends, I'm talking about brethren and sisters) there are a lot of
friends with a friendly disposition that have a problem like Meshullam; he couldn't see
through Tobiah, he had a real problem! You know, b&s, he allowed his daughter to
marry the son of Tobiah, and in those days, young people didn't go tripping off from
home and make their own choices; I'm not suggesting we return to the patriarchal
system of picking wives or husbands for our children, but I'm pointing out the facts of
life, that in those days, that's what they did! So he thought he would cook up a marriage
with the son of Tobiah by picking their own partner. But this friend, who had so seriously
and busily built up two sections of the wall to plug the gap to keep the enemy out, let
him in the back door. And not only so, b&s, but such is the disposition of this
Meshullam, that Tobiah ingratiated himself upon him to such an extent, that he went
around trying to tell people that Tobiah was a good fellow! You'll find that, b&s, a little
8
later on in the book of Nehemiah at chapter 6: it's interesting to look at this, these are
people who built walls to keep others out!
In chapter 6 we read in verses 18 and 19, 'For there were many in Judah sworn unto
him (that is unto Tobiah), because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of
Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah.
Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah
sent letters to put me in fear'. I want you to notice, b&s, in verse 19, they never recorded
the good deeds of Tobiah TO NEHEMIAH; doesn't say that, it says they reported his
good deeds before me. You say, what's the difference? there's a big difference,
because the Hebrew has us to understand, b&s, that's it's not so much people going up
to Nehemiah and saying Tobiah's a good chap, oh no, they said it in his presence so
he'd hear it!
And you can picture the scene! of this poor Meshullam (and I don't believe, b&s, that we
need to infer that Meshullam necessarily changed character, I don't believe he did!) he
was a big hearted and wide hearted man, he was an enthusiastic man. I'll tell you how
good he was, b&s, the brightest student of the bible alive at that time was Ezra, there
was none superior to him, and this man stood on the platform with Nehemiah with 13
others of the 14 men chosen to stand with the illustrious Ezra, and he was one of them.
A leading brother in the ecclesia, a friend, enthusiastic builder of the wall, and now his
daughter is married to this fellow and he's going around talking about Tobiah. And he
sees Nehemiah walking past, and he wouldn't tell Nehemiah that Tobiah was a good
chap, but he'd raise his voice in the conversation, and as Nehemiah walked past his
shadow, 'You know, Tobiah's a lovely chap, he does a lot of good work; look, I've seen
him do some wonderful things'. And you know, b&s, I believe he did those things, I
believe he did do good works to be seen of men, and I believe that Meshullam was as
sincere and as clear as the noonday sun. And therein lies the tragedy of his life, and
therein, b&s, lay the quality and excellence of Nehemiah's character; for he had to bear
the brunt of all that! and he was alone in the world, the only one who could see the real
issues of life, and everyone else was taken in. What a tragedy that was! There are
Meshullams all over this world, Jehoshaphat, b&s, wonderful man of whose shoes I am
not worthy to unloose, nevertheless, look what he did. He fortified Gibeon, he fortified
Michmash, he fortified all the cities to the north of Jerusalem and he plugged all the
holes against Jezebel, raised fortresses, aimed his spears to the north of him to keep
him out, and then went and married his son to the daughter of Jezebel, exactly like this
man had done! because he felt he could do some good, oh dear, oh dear!
Six miserable years of Athaliah's reign, b&s, saw one little trembling child behind a
curtain alive; and the streets of Jerusalem flowing with the royal blue blood of the house
of David.
And poor Meshullam, the builder of two sections of the wall to keep the enemy back,
has got Johanan in his family, son of 'the goodness of Yahweh', the biggest hypocrite
that Nehemiah ever laid his eyes on. You see, b&s, there are dangers everywhere and
the things we think will keep people out and our children safe, are not bricks and mortar,
but the perception of wise and able men who know what is best, for our ecclesias and
9
for their own families, and who use their heads as much as they use their hearts. And
this poor Meshullam obviously didn't do that! There are great lessons on this wall, b&s!
If you come back to verse 5 of chapter 3, you find the Tekoites are there. We read, 'And
next unto them the Tekoites repaired'. Tekoa, b&s, was south of Jerusalem just a few
miles more towards Bethlehem; it's nestled in the hills of Judaea, as a matter of fact, it
was on top of one of the hills, and the vision from Tekoa north and south was only
succeeded by other mountains, and you could see clearly for miles in either direction. It
actually was on the heights of the wilderness of Judaea, around about the region in
which John the Baptist preached, and Tekoa means 'trumpet' (8620); it was from that
region that Amos the herdsman came, to sound his trumpet for the northern kingdoms
to which he didn't belong; but his trumpet voice carried up there from the heights of
Tekoa. They came, b&s, to trumpet their support for the work with Nehemiah, but the
royals didn't come; it says 'but their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord'.
And very interestingly, the word of God in this place, uses for 'Lord' the word 'adon',
which is abused a great deal in this section, 'adon' = 'ruler'. So there were people down
in Tekoa who didn't think they had a ruler, because they were rulers themselves. And
there are people like that you know, who are their own men, and the last thing they're
going to do, is what they're told, because you if do what you're told, then you truly
acknowledge that one is superior, you don't ever do that, you must do something
different because you're your own man. So they didn't put their necks to the work, you
see, the very expression shows what their problem was, they didn't want to be
humiliated, by being seen working on that miserable wall of Jerusalem; why, they were
a bit above that, b&s. And although their people went, the people went, they themselves
should have been examples, instead they stayed at home. Imagine what would happen
when the people came back; imagine how they would be low in the estimation of the
people, especially as the work proceeded, maybe during the course of the work, they
may have thought their rulers were right at various times, when it seemed impossible for
the work to finish; but when that work was finished b&s, I can well and truly imagine,
that there was a new set of rules in Tekoa, because they would have been totally
discredited by not associating with that Word. So the Tekoites were there!
As it says also in verse 7, that we have the Gibeonites, who were Gentile converts. And
we come down to an interesting verse in verse 12, and it says, 'And next unto him
repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his
daughters'. He and his daughters, now you say, that's interesting, but it's more
interesting than you think, b&s. So here's a little family group of a man who obviously
didn't have any sons, and his whole family is daughters, and of course, it doesn't
necessarily imply that either, that they were his immediate daughters. The words in the
Hebrew are very, very general: he could have had a whole lot of relations and they're all
girls! interesting isn't it? to see that, girls go out and put their shoulders to the wheel,
when hardly, the men couldn't do it, but these girls go and do it. Look, b&s, you can't
see the details on this map but you can see this, look how they're all packed up to do
the eastern wall. That's the eastern wall and there's Babylon over there, look at them all
packed in there! You see, the eastern wall, of course, was on the same side as the
Kidron, of all of the walls to be built, it was, of course, really the least important point of
10
defence, because it went from the valley of Kidron to the valley of Hinnom. Everybody
wants to work on that side of the wall, why? because the house of David is there, the
great Fountain Gate is there, the ascent to the holy places is there; how about the
western wall? Shallum and his daughters, how are they going to protect the section
they're building? 2/3rds of that wall built by girls, 2/3rds of the western wall, look at it!
built by girls! on the part of the city, b&s, that geographically was the most vulnerable
part of all, the second most vulnerable compared with the north, but certainly one of the
most vulnerable parts of that city was the western wall, built 2/3rds by a group of girls.
That's interesting! we don't want, b&s, to add to the process of women's liberation, but
an observation needs to be made at this stage, that there are in this world, ecclesias
who if it wasn't for the womenfolk, I don't know where they'd be. They're not necessarily
residing in this city, but I have been in places where the sisters definitely take their
places as far as the word of God is concerned, they know their position, they owe
subordination to the brethren and their husbands, to the best of their ability, but work
they must, or there would be no work done. And much of the wall of Jerusalem around
this world today, b&s, is built by daughters of Zion. I believe, it is a magnificent, a
magnificent exhortation, to see that wall, and see people packed up building
everywhere else, and right down on that wall is a man and his daughters, 2/3rds of that
western wall, what an incredible exhortation that is! What a wonderful thing to see that
man going forth, every morning with his daughters to build that wall, it's an inspiration!
Verse 14 speaks about the Dung Gate, now who'd want to build the Dung Gate? not
that at this stage, of course, that there was any physical contamination, but there would
have been a stigma attached to that part of the wall, b&s. The Dung Gate, of course, is
down here right at the conjunction of the valleys of Kidron and Hinnom, in the
southeastern corner, they sort of join there, and then it dips down further and further as
it swings to the left and down to Jericho making it's torturous way through the hills of
Judaea. But who'd want to work down there at the Dung Gate? Well, a fellow by the
name of Malchiah worked there, whose name means 'Yahweh is King' (4441), that's
what his name means. But he wasn't too high and mighty with a name like that, b&s, to
repair the Dung Gate, and he was a son of Rechab. He was the son of Rechab; he was
one of that group of people that before the Babylonian captivity, was singled out as an
outstanding group of people in the nation, who refused to sow crops, build houses,
and drink wine, because they believed they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth,
and they were waiting for the kingdom of God. And they came to Jeremiah when he
called them forth as examples, and they apologized to him for living in Jerusalem. They
said, 'we've got to live in the city at the moment because, of course, we're besieged by
enemies, but if things were different we wouldn't be here! They apologized, b&s, for the
comforts they had at that time, and the comfort was being in a besieged city for which
they made apologies. And you can see what I mean, when I tell you that Malchiah, he
wasn't too proud to work on the Dung Gate, he was from a right, royal group, from the
group called the Rechabites.
And we come on down that wall, b&s, and we come to verse 14, we see there that men
were building: the ruler of part of Beth-haccerem, the house of the vineyard (1021). He
11
set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof'. And in verse 15, the
Fountain Gate, that wonderful gate that we mentioned last evening, when Nehemiah
came to that gate, and he descended from his ass and walked up the steps to the
house of David to the source of water inside; and of course, a very important part of the
wall because in verse 16, it mentions the sepulchers of David. And you know, b&s, how
wonderful it is when you think about this, that when Nehemiah stood before the king of
Persia, and he made his appeal for his leave to go to the city of Jerusalem and help his
people, he made mention of the sepulchers of his fathers. And it's not without
significance that the man who was engaged in that work in verse 16 was called
Nehemiah 'the consolation of Yahweh' (5166). Not our Nehemiah, but a man bearing his
own name, as it were, working with his heart, in the very place, of course, where the
heart of Nehemiah was, in the sepulchers of his fathers.
We find in verse 25, b&s, there was a man working repairing what is called the court of
the prison, at the end of that verse. The court of the prison. And you can imagine
Nehemiah as he went around that wall, as he went around that wall with a man with a
trumpet with him, and they walked together around the wall urging the people on,
inspiring the people, exhorting the people; you can imagine him coming to this section
of the court of the prison and telling them the significance of what this place was. What
was significant about that? Well, they took Jeremiah there, when that city was in tact,
they threw him in the court of the prison, and one of the most wonderful prophecies of
Jeremiah was issued from that place, b&s. And he said from that prison, 'the day will
come, he said, when this place will be thrown down and all the walls will be broken
down; but he said, Yahweh will rebuild these walls'. There they were in the court of the
prison, although the voice of the prophet was still echoing out from the cell, telling them
that part of his words had already been fulfilled, the very, very decimation of the walls
testified to the fact that it was pulled down, but now it's being rebuilt. And that prophecy
was made from the depths of the soul in the depths of hell. Wonderful, b&s, were the
lessons on that wall, wonderful lessons.
Verse 26, 'the Nethinims were there'. The word means 'dedicated' (5411), who are
they? Well, they were the people that David had gathered together, they were the
people who assisted in the temple service. They were Gentile proselytes, b&s, who
were brought into the truth, and because they were brought into the truth, and they
came in, in all humility as second grade citizens, they were given the job as expressed
in Joshua, 'as hewers of wood and drawers of water. And where were they working?
why, the Water Gate, where else! They took their place, didn't they? and the hewers of
wood and drawers of water were working on the Water Gate.
And so the wall went on and on, until we come down to verse 32, and we read that it
eventually came to the Sheep Gate. You know, I miss one out, sorry I missed him out
because he's got an interesting character. Let's go back a bit to verse 20, let's talk about
Baruch for awhile, look what it says about him! It says, 'Baruch the son of Zabbai
earnestly repaired'; earnestly repaired it says, 'the other piece, from the turning of the
wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest'. That's interesting, you know
it says this one repairs this and this one repairs that, and after him repairs this one; but
12
of Baruch it says, 'he earnestly repaired'. Now here's another class in the ecclesia,
Baruch, his name means 'zeal' (1263) that's what his name means and he was blessed
of Yahweh, b&s, he was blessed of Yahweh, and his name means 'zealously', and his
name also means 'blessing'; so he's blessed of Yahweh for his zeal, and Rotherham
says 'he zealously repaired' and he's one of those brethren that when you see him go to
work, he's always whistling and humming tunes of Zion. 'How are you, brother, follow in,
sister, how are you, brother, let's get started with the work, great day, isn't it?' Have you
ever seen that type, b&s, they're all over the work, that type; you don't try and compete
with them, but they're absolutely precious! They earnestly repair the wall!
I've got two brethren in my mind as I speak to you now, and every time I think of Baruch
they then come into my mind. They're on the right and left of me in this world, as far as
this world's geography is concerned, and they're separated from us by thousands of
miles of water, but every time I go to these countries, or hear from those countries,
these two brethren, everything is great on the tomorrow, there are no problems! And
both of them work in extremely difficult circumstances; one of them works in
circumstances that would kill you and I, but with him there are no problems in life!
everything is going to be great tomorrow, we're going to have a wonderful day, it's a
marvellous thing we're doing; and when you're up in the morning you can never beat
them, they're up before you and when you're going to bed at night, they're still running
around as if they'd just got up. They are incredible people, they earnestly repaired that
wall! And do you know what happens? Such was the earnestness and zeal of Baruch in
his working, that the working of his hands had carried him up to the door of the house of
the high priest. You know those expressions are not just flipped in for nothing, b&s, he
worked to the very door of the house of the high priest, and men like that one day will
finally go to the door of the kingdom of God, and they will see in that door, the great
High Priest of their profession, Jesus Christ, and He will highly compensate those men
for their positive thinking and their cheerful disposition; the way in which they cannot be
deterred, the way in which they rush around with enthusiasm and strength and power
and joy and happiness; those men are absolutely priceless in the truth; men like Baruch!
Now there are the walls! 10 of them are mentioned when we get to the Sheep Gate
finally in verse 32, and so the wall is mentioned right around. As the wall goes up, of
course, there is also the opposition in chapter 4, 'But it came to pass, that when
Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth' (2734),('greatly enraged' as the
Hebrew has it). You know, here is a man, b&s, who's making a claim to be a citizen of
Zion, along with Tobiah who we read in verse 3, that Tobiah was by him or along side of
him, and here's the two of them together and they're greatly enraged! What for?
because somebody's building the walls of Jerusalem, the city of peace. Somebody's
upset because the ecclesia is going to settle down to a little peace; the walls are going
to get joined; problems, b&s, are going to be kept out, and along with those problems
are going to be these two chaps, because for all the good deeds that have been
reported, Nehemiah knows that whatever they do in life, whatever they say in life,
whatever they think in life, is dominated by one, by one motive alone, that they were
grieved that a man would come to seek the welfare of the children of Israel! And
whatever Nehemiah was told, he kept that right in front of his mind, he knew, b&s, that
that's what they were after and he kept them at bay. And because they knew that, they
13
were greatly enraged!
In verse 2 it says, 'He (Sanballat) spake before his brethren', at this point he wasn't
open in opposition, he always shouted behind someone else, and he always spake
behind Nehemiah's back, and he spoke to his brethren, the army of Samaria, (which is a
joke really) because they couldn't do anything, b&s, and they had all sorts of problems.
And he tries to encourage them and he says, 'what do these feeble Jews? will they
fortify themselves?' Now, if you just look in the margin you'll see that there's an
alternative for that, Hebrew says 'leave to themselves', which indicates some difficulty in
the translation. Rotherham has a footnote on that in which he says, 'Sanballat says, will
the people let them alone?' in other words, Sanballat was saying to these people, the
army of Samaria, and as the army of Samaria stood watching their work, dying to stop it
but finding it very difficult to do because they haven't got the stomach, b&s. Oh,
Sanballat says, ah, look, others will come in, others will make a protest!
You know, we've seen this with our very eyes, haven't we? We've seen the Jews build
the Commonwealth of Israel as we know it today; we've seen the feeble army of
Samaria in the Arab army, and we've seen them watch the Jews with great indignation,
and they would love to destroy Jerusalem as the Jews have it, love to break down the
barriers, but they've never been able to, b&s, but they're always telling each other that
the United Nations we come to their help, others would just disappear; but the army of
Samaria isn't good enough! But others will come to their help; but others didn't come to
their help. And he says, 'will they sacrifice?', will they sacrifice? he says, will they ever
get to a point where they can get their services going again? B&S, what a fool he was!
You know, here's a man who says he's a brother, who ran around and said he had a
claim because he's related to Abraham through Lot, and he's saying, 'will they
sacrifice?' The fool! look what they're doing? Look what they're doing, don't worry about
sheep being burnt upon an altar, b&s, or bullocks wafting to heaven, never mind about
blood running around by the gallon, never mind about that, we're going to sacrifice! A
man and his daughters slugging it out in the Syrian sun, never mind about sacrifice, look
what they're doing? You see, he had no idea of what constituted true sacrifice, 'will they
make an end in a day?' he said. An end in a day, will they finish up in a day? he knew,
b&s, he knew, didn't he? he could see what Nehemiah was up to; he expected them all
to come out, bunched up together in a tight little knot and start building a little piece of
the wall. But here he sees them all at once all around and the wall going up just like
that, the total circumference! He says, he's going to finish in one day! sort of like a joke,
but it was a horrid joke because that wall was going up like lightning, and it would have
fallen, b&s, on very poor ears, that joke!
And then he says, 'will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which is
destroyed'? That word 'revive' is the Hebrew word 'chayah' (2421) which means 'to
live'; Rotherham has it, 'we're going to bring it to life', b&s, God is able of these stones
to raise up children unto Abraham, that's what John the Baptist told the class like
Sanballat, 'can God revive stones into life?' You know, in the world today, stones that
are erected is symbol of that which has a divine origin, because there is no other life in
it. A stone is selected to symbolize God Himself; God is a Rock! And the Lord Jesus
Christ used to strive as that true foundation stone. Why would He select a stone?
14
because it has no life as such in it, b&s, but you crack a stone open and I'll tell you what
it's got, it's got character; and men polished them for their character, men split them and
polish them and display them for their brilliance in their character, but they might not
have any life in them as we know it! And this fellow, Sanballat, 'can they make those
stones live?' The answer is 'yes they can', and we, b&s, are built up as lively stones and
we've got no life in us as far as eternal life is concerned, we're dead men. But, pray
God, that when we're opened up we may have character, and in that, b&s, there is real
life! True, that living stones will come forth, and they ought to have known that, but of
course, they had not such a spiritual mind!
Tobiah added his part in verse 3, he's next to Sanballat; this is the man they're running
around saying, 'he's a wonderful brother, he does a lot of good work for the truth, we
really should be kind to him, he doesn't mean to be evil, he really has good motives;
he's a wonderful man is Tobiah, we ought to have more respect for him'. Here he is in
his true character, b&s, when he's not seen by the ecclesia, talking to his own kind; 'Ah,
he says, 'the fox would break that wall down!' Yes, a fox might break that wall down, of
course, it was only an exaggerated figure of a little jackal animal that runs around, it
couldn't break any wall, b&s, but it was meant to be a big joke. You see, it was meant to
revive the flagging spirits in the army of Samaria, but you see, he didn't understand that
Zechariah the prophet had said earlier, before there ever was a wall built, before ever a
stone was put in the wall, Zechariah the prophet had said that, 'Yahweh would be a wall
of fire around Jerusalem', and this jackal would attempt to knock that wall over, b&s, he
would be a rogue. A wall of fire around Jerusalem, he didn't know that, but Nehemiah
knew that; what was Nehemiah's answer to all this, b&s?
Verse 4, he knew what was going on, he had his intelligence organization, (it's
mentioned later on, by the way, he had a first class intelligence organization) he knew
everything they were saying, and he said to God in verse 4, 'Hear, O our God; for we
are despised', a wonderful prayer, b&s, a really great prayer, 'listen to them, God, we
are despised', and he threw himself upon his God, 'and turn their reproach upon their
own head, and give them up for a prey in the land of captivity. Cover not their iniquity,
and let not their sin be blotted out from before Thee'; what a prayer, b&s. We all admire
Nehemiah, not one of us would ever pass dispersion at him, we wouldn't dare; because
he's a monumental figure in the Word of God, but just listen again to that prayer. 'Hear,
O our God, for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give
them for a prey in the land of captivity: And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin
be blotted out from before Thee'.
That's a pretty drastic prayer, b&s, I think it would have to be a pretty drastic situation
for that sort of prayer ever to come forth from our lips, wouldn't it? I think, b&s, I'd break
out in a cold sweat to pray like that; I might pray like that against the beasts of this earth
in the form of Roman Catholicism, of the brutality of Russia, of all those people who
perpetrate those unspeakable crimes upon humanity; I might say that about them, but
this is said of one who claims the above, of whom others said was full of good deeds,
and Nehemiah says, 'drag him off into captivity and fling him like a prey before the wild
beasts, and never cover his iniquity'. That's a very drastic prayer, my word it is, and it
15
could only come forth from the lips of one who was thoroughly convinced of what they
were like! You read it in the privacy of your home and imagine you were standing in the
audience when that prayer was said, imagine the shutter you'd get with that prayer, they
would shutter to hear those words! but read it again in the privacy of your home, that's
the man, b&s, that we come here during the course of this weekend, to admire and
respect; and we do! because he could see men for what they were!
And what made that prayer? What was it? because he said in the end of verse 5, 'for
they have provoked Thee to anger before the builders'. Now you know what he did,
don't you? he had a very simple fervent mind had Nehemiah, you see, he was like the
Lord Jesus Christ. 'He that isn't against us is for us!' and the converse is true, b&s,
there's no middle ground in the truth; Nehemiah reads it like this, there's a wall there to
be built, that wall represents the safety of Jerusalem. Now Nehemiah had such a simple
view of the truth as this, that if you were working on that wall, you were a friend, and if
you weren't, you were an enemy! It was as simple as that! he says, 'they have provoked
Thee to anger before the builders'. That's a marvellous way to think, b&s, you look at
people and you say, 'well, I'm not a judge of all the earth; we're told not to judge our
brethren', but in the other sense, we're told to make an assessment, that we might
involve others in the work that we can put our confidence and trust in. You can't do that
with everybody; how can you adjudicate? you don't go and say, this brother's good
because everyone says he's a wonderful brother. Who do you go to for help? You go to
someone who is actually doing something; he's either on the wall or he's not! that's how
Nehemiah saw it, 'they provoke Thee before the builders!' That's how he saw it, b&s! In
1 Corinthians 3 (to which we won't turn to now) the apostle Paul thought exactly the
same, he said there were certain classes of people in the truth, two classes mainly,
builders and destroyers, all the builders will be saved, the good builder, the medium
class builder, and the very poor builder; those that built with gold and silver, wood, hay
and stubble, they will all be in the kingdom of God, every single one of them. Why?
because they built something! and the only class that won't be in the kingdom are the
rich boys. Paul saw exactly the same as Nehemiah, 'he that destroys the temple of God,
he said, God will destroy', it's as simple as that, b&s!
So we built the wall, he says in verse 6, 'so we built the wall, and all the wall was joined
together', so they actually joined the whole wall all around, 'unto the half thereof', by
which it doesn't mean, b&s, that they joined the wall half way around; but here's what it
means, the whole wall got joined together halfway up, half its height (2677 + 2673) you
imagine, it wasn't a question of going around and joining, was it? it was just a question
of building where it stood, because really in a certain way, the wall was never anything
else but joined around, in the sense that it was being built where they stood, but now it's
been built half way round, joined together.
And as it went up the enemies became depressed, and as it went up the builders
became more and more inspired, because the end of verse 6 says, 'the wall was joined
unto the half thereof or half the height thereof; for the people had a mind to work'.
People had a mind to work, you know, the word 'mind' there, b&s, is a word in the
Hebrew which means 'the centre part' (3820); the people had in their centre part an
16
inspiration to work. Rotherham in his translation in his footnote says, the word is
understood as 'the heart', the centre part of your body. The people's heart was in their
work, they worked heartily to the Lord as Paul puts it in Colossians 3 and verse 23;
they didn't start that way, b&s, but you see, success breeds success. Let's launch out
on an ecclesial campaign, some people moan and groan and say, 'oh, no, not again!'
They're like those outside who don't want to do anything, it's a bore to them because it
means that they're going to be put under pressure and to give up their own time, and
they don't want to do that; but there are others that do, and when they get going and
you put on your first lecture and you get the heart of a few interested friends, and
maybe two of those people or one of them will stop back for a discussion for a couple of
hours, and people are thrilled and because it's been done and there's some success,
the effort rolls towards a glorious conclusion, 'wonderful to see that success!' And
success breeds success, b&s, and that's what we have here, when the people's hearts
became involved, they saw some practical reality before them.
But, of course, as that work proceeded in verse 7, there was a conspiracy now to get
them. So Sanballat tried to widen his influence and to get more and more people
involved: you've got Sanballat and Tobiah, the Arabians, the Ammonites, and now
they've got a few of the Philistines, they've gone down and got some Ashdodites. The
Ashdodites, one of the chief cities of the Philistines is now involved, so the Philistines
are going to come up and do something before them, but Nehemiah was undisturbed,
b&s. They conspired together it says in verse 8 (you read Psalm 83, how all the
enemies of Israel conspired together) but it comes to nothing; and who are they going to
fight? why it says in verse 8, 'they came to fight against Jerusalem'. JERUSALEM, see
how Nehemiah in his personal diary writes it down, he doesn't say they came to fight
against the people, he said they came to fight against Jerusalem. That's a wonderful
way to think, b&s, look, fancy walking around the world in the midst of all the enemies
and saying, 'anybody who attacks me, attacks Jerusalem' and Zechariah was right,
that's the apple of God's eye. Wow! look at what they see, they came to fight against
Jerusalem, that was the conviction of that man's mind; it wasn't his ecclesia or anything
else, it was Jerusalem. And let anybody hinder the work of Jerusalem!
And how did they fight against it? Well, they certainly didn't show any great physical
strength, did they? At the end of verse 8 it says, 'they came to hinder it', you know, b&s,
though they may have been a very feeble army, the army of Samaria, they did exercise
a very powerful weapon, because do you know what that word means? It's a word that
indicates a certain way in which they can hinder the work of Jerusalem (6213, 8442) it
can be done; not from the point of view of breaching gulfs, but by affecting these people
because the word means 'to confuse', and that's one of the most powerful weapons to
destroy the spirit of any ecclesia. Let me give you a little illustration! You're going along
in ecclesial life, you've a wonderful study class, very clear insight into bible prophecy
and following the lines of the pioneers, and everybody's looking for the coming of Christ
and looking for the same things, and everyone talks one to another about the current
affairs and keeps a buoyant spirit in the ecclesia, until some educated idiot comes along
in the truth, with all sorts of titles attached to his name with his brilliant education and
says, 'how can you be sure?' How do you really know? there are other points of view!',
17
and the poor folk; 'not many mighty and not many wise in this world are confused'. That,
b&s, is not just a political point, it is one of the stark, tragic facts of ecclesial life, the one
who breaks cornerstones with our faith, is looking for the coming of the day of God,
when the heavens being on fire, and the Lord will come with all His holy angels, and in
that day there shall be one Lord. One of the great cornerstones of our faith, b&s, is 'to
see the times and seasons, brethren, of which I've got no need to tell you', said the
apostle, that's one of the great cornerstones of our faith; you confuse us and you see
whether the walls of your ecclesia go up or whether they go down; I'll tell you, b&s, I
don't say this on the basis of any theory, we've seen that with our own eyes so many
times it wouldn't bother us, but anytime you find an ecclesia confused, the work is poor.
And that's what it is, and so they want to know if it would work? feeble army is one thing,
they'd exercise whatever weapons they could, what do you do against weapons like
that? What is the antidote for weapons of confusion?
Verse 9, 'Nevertheless, we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch', that's what
you do. Two things, b&s, not one without the other, two, because they go hand in glove
one with the other; we make a prayer and we watch or in the words of the Lord Jesus
Christ, 'watch and pray'. Or in the words of Peter, 'watch unto prayer' so wherever you
go in the word of God you find them coupled together. Prayer alone, b&s, will avail
nothing unless we couple that with an activity based upon our faith in God; so he prayed
to God a lot! That's what he did, and he overcame all difficulties; that's how you
overcome all those difficulties, but you know, they were having a telling effect, they were
now beginning to feel the strain, in verse 10 of chapter 4, 'And Judah said' Judah said,
(notice that phrase, b&s, Judah, of course, was a political term covering all the people
who made up the builders. So why is this word 'Judah' there in this place? because
Judah you see, was the leader of the tribe. Judah who's name means 'praise of Yahweh
(3063) really was a lion of the tribe of Judah. He it was that said we'll never be able to
overcome the feeble army of Samaria; but now Judah is saying, 'the strength of the
bearers of burdens is decayed' or as RSV has it, 'the strength of the burden-bearers is
failing, and there is much rubbish', and you know, brethren, you see how they can get
him confused. Sanballat had said, 'will they revive the stones out of heap of rubbish?', of
course, there were rumors spreading around, people were coming up to the wall, you
couldn't distinguish between who was an Israelite and who was a Samaritan, they were
mingling together and they were undermining the conscience of the people; Tobiah had
his friends everywhere, people thought he was a wonderful chap, and they were all
going in and saying to the Jews, 'oh, you're doing a wonderful job there, it's really great!
I don't know how you'll get through all that rubbish, oh, LOOK AT THAT RUBBISH!
What rubbish? Look at it, piles of it, look at it! How do you do it? Oh, I'd break my leg in
all that rubbish!' And you can see what happens, so Judah, the lion of the tribe of Judah
says, 'it's a lot of rubbish to walk over everyday and you can see what's happening;
That's the word, they're having a little test to find out where they are. And you see, you
would go on, b&s, we see what was happening here!
And so we find in verse ll, 'And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see,
till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease'.
And so you see, people are spreading rumors, so you would find a group of workers
18
working on the wall and a fellow would saunter up mingling with them as they did,
mingled freely and socially as some of them did; they hadn't yet showed an open hand,
many of them, and they'd saunter up and start talking to a group of workers, and they'd
get their friendship and their conversation going, and then they'd threaten them! And
they'd say, 'Look, I'd be careful, if I were you, not everyone likes what's going on around
here; you might think it's a good thing, but not everybody thinks it's a good thing. We've
got ... and we can build barriers between us and the rest of the world; we don't believe
we're anti-social, it's not a good thing to do. You know, people might come here and
break your arm for doing that!' They're probably part of it, b&s, and they'd leave them
with a threat, and they'd say to them, 'How do you know who's with you on this wall,
you're all spread around, you could have a Samaritan next to you, for all you know!' And
the next thing, the people are all jittery, well, who is this man? where are they? the
Tekoites were coming up and they weren't a familiar people, the people of Jericho are
coming up, they were coming from Gibeon, they were coming from everywhere, who
knows who's who?
Not only that, they had other problems! In verse 12 it says, 'And it came to pass, that
when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places
whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you'. In that verse, the italics at the end
indicates, b&s, that it's been translated with a bit of difficulty. But Rotherham puts it like
this, 'That it came to pass when the Jews dwelling near them came in, they said unto us
ten times, From all places whither ye shall turn they will be upon us'. So what was
happening was, that in the morning as the sun was rising, all the workers would come
in, the men of Jericho pouring in from the country, and as they came in, there were
these fellows walking alongside of them saying, 'oh look, you're in all sorts of trouble!
Look, when you engage in that work, we've got a plan, and we're going to jump in from
every direction and you won't know which way we're going to come, ten times! Look,
you'll be that confused'! And they're all jittery, and as they came into the city, they kept
spreading rumors, and said 'ah, look, it's not that easy, you know, we're going to be in
trouble; they're going to jump out at us and we won't know where they are! and before
you knew where they are, b&s, electrified, it was running through the city! Do you know
how Nehemiah solved the problem? He got all the groups that were coming into the
country and he said, 'I've got news for you! you're not going home tonight, you're
sleeping here! You see, he took practical measures to put a stop to that, b&s. We've got
brethren and sisters going to the Baptist church, that's what the article said in the
Christadelphian, we haven't got it at Enfield, or if we have, I'd be horrified to know! But
have we got them? Do we have people socializing with the world? have we got people
whose hearts are divided? b&s, are they spreading rumors in the ecclesias? that
anything in the cause we're going to have problems because this one or that one is
going to jump out of the bush somewhere? Better they sleep in the ecclesial hall than go
to their house! then they won't be saying those things; Nehemiah said, 'you're not going
home tonight, you're sleeping here!' and they did; that problem was solved quick
smart-they had no contact, they had no problem.
What did Nehemiah do for all this? Verse 13, 'Therefore set I in the lower places behind
the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families', now those
19
two expressions put together, b&s, mean this, that although the wall was joined
together, it was only half high. There was certain places that wall being half high, where
the ground dips away, there would still be a fair gap up to defend. So Nehemiah thought
that he would put an end to all this nonsense of everyone getting jittery and saying
different things, he said , I'm going to put an end to this!' So he looked on the wall and
said, 'well, there's a vulnerable spot, there's a vulnerable spot there, and so on, so he
called over a man and said I've got another job for you, you're not working here, you're
going to work over there with your wife and with your children. Oh, I can't work there,
there's a gap there, well, that's up to you, I bet there was complete silence. You see,
b&s, wonderful, isn't it? If you go to Israel today, (we went to the Lebanese border, I'm
going back a few years now, this was when we were there in 1969, we went to the
Lebanese border) on the other side of the border in Lebanon, for 12 miles back to Tyre,
it was no-man's land, when we were in Lebanon they wouldn't let us past Tyre, the
border was another 12 miles down further, but Israel, the guard took you up and said I'll
introduce you to the Lebanese guard, and he did! I walked around the corner of the
brow of the hill in the road, and there was a Lebanese guard and he introduced me to
him, and he spoke religion. And I said to the guard, 'how did he get this way, way up
here? He said, 'look around, and he pointed way down the slope to the south, to a little
farmhouse with the smoke curling out of the chimney, he said, down there is a man and
his wife and his children (and these are almost his exact words) 'he said if you would go
into his kitchen and open his cupboard there would be sugar, butter, milk , bread and a
gun. He said, over the border is no man's land, and they're fighting for nothing, but you
go and try and take that land off that man and molest his family. If you do it, you'll die!
That man wouldn't want that rogue running through his family today, would he, b&s?
he'd want them to feel confidence in him; and Nehemiah instilled confidence in his
people.
How did they react? Verse 14 he said, 'I looked and rose up', and he said 'unto the
nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them:
remember Yahweh, great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your
daughters, your wives, and your houses'. Those are the words of Moses just before they
entered the Land. And then he said, in verse 15, 'And it came to pass, when our
enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought,
that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work'. You know, b&s, those
words at the end of verse 14, 'remember the LORD, which is great and terrible, and fight
for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses', are a
mixture of two sayings in the bible, that one I mention of Moses, as he stood on the
borders of the Land, and do you know where the other words are? They're the words of
Joab, when he took with him his brother Abishai, and they stood together, brothers, two
brothers, mighty brothers and Joab the man with nerves of steel, and they've got a
problem because at the north were the massing Syrians and to the south was another
army; and Joab looks his brother in the eye and says, 'Listen, if they're too much for
you, I'll come and help you, and if these are two much for me, you'll come and help me';
never a question that they might be too much for the both of them. You don't find Joab
with those sort of words in his lips, no jittery nerves here, b&s, and looking his brother in
the eye he said, 'let us fight for our city and for our people and for our God'. Do you
20
know who that brought? the Ammonite! and here's Nehemiah bring forth the words of
two prophets, and they are furious to see defeat, and the enemy surrounds the crowd,
the Ammonite! That would have set a few people thinking wouldn't it? that would have
inspired those that would have done havoc in the battle, wouldn't it? And they went
forward, didn't they? and completed that work.
So Nehemiah organized, he organized, b&s, his people into certain groups. In verse 16,
'It came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work,
and the other half of them held both the spear, the shields, and the bows, and
habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah'. Now do you see what
Nehemiah did, he said to this man, you have a part with your family where the wall can
be easily breached, you get in there and defended it. And he thought to himself, 'Now
look, I better be careful of what I'm going to do', because he's got servants all around
him; he needed them, b&s, they were his lines of communication but he's got to be very
careful. So he says, 'right, you fellows, half of you have to leave me, and half of you
have got to stand guard; so you leave me to myself, and he stood alone, and he would
have been the greatest marksman of them all! He didn't ask anyone to do that he wasn't
prepared to do himself, and he stood alone. And then he organized his builders, and
this was very organized; talk about a brain! he's a very practical man, some people
need two hands to build, so in verse 18, 'they put their swords by their sides' (so he had
them strap a sword to their side). Others were engaged in a work in which they could
use one of their hands with a tool, so he put a sword in their other hand. And he had a
group of people, b&s, who had swords in both hands; you know, it would have inspired
the people to see that, the maximum use was made of every brother and sister; some
people were engaged in a work to such an extent that you've got to let them off in
certain other works because they've got their hands full. There are others who have one
hand free, stick a sword in it and go and do something with that, and there are others,
b&s, who have got two hands free, give them two swords and let them stand there with
a spear or sword if necessary, everyone is armed to the teeth! The maximum amount is
got out of every brother and sister, that's how they did it in verses 16 to 18.
And of course, one of the most important pieces of equipment was the trumpet. And the
end of verse 18 says, 'And he that sounded the trumpet was by me'; ah, I bet he was by
him! you see, b&s, that trumpet was all important, there was only one trumpet, and the
fellow who is going to blow he's alongside me, he never gets out of my sight. That
wasn't only because Nehemiah was a man to sound an alarm, but I believe that
Nehemiah didn't want any man to sound an alarm too quick! and I'll tell you, it would
have to be a desperate situation before that trumpet ever got played, whereas, in the
hands of some jittery person who saw a shadow behind a bush, might blow that trumpet
and stop that work, b&s, it would have needed a gigantic situation to get Nehemiah to
blow the trumpet. And yet you know, they blew that trumpet every night, because when
you go back to Numbers chapter 10 (which we won't do now because we don't have the
time) but in Numbers chapter 10 when they made the silver trumpet, it says there that
they'd use it for various purposes; one of which was to call for help in times of need,
which they had now. And God said when they blew the trumpet in time of need, I WILL
REMEMBER YOU, and when on a very rare occasion when they got a bit of solitude,
21
the constant call of that trumpet rang out, 'remember me, O my God, for good; for all
that I've done for this people'. There was a trumpet sounded every night, they didn't
hear it, but God did! Remember them, I WILL REMEMBER THEM! whenever that
trumpet was blown.
They went on, in verse 20 he said, 'In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the
trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us', in other words, although
they were separated on the wall as verse 19 says, brethren when the time comes we'll
stand together, we won't be divided; if I blow the trumpet, get together! We don't want to
be divided, there are ecclesias everywhere, b&s, we stretch out our hands one to
another, we need each other today, and the day's going to come when the trumpet will
be blown, and the ecclesias will be called to come together. TO STAND FOR THE
THINGS OF GOD, that's what Nehemiah meant. 'So they laboured in the work' he said,
'from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared'.
In verse 22, he organized the people to sleep in Jerusalem, no longer would they go
home, and look what he says to them in verse 22, 'Likewise at the same time said I unto
the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they
may be a guard to us, and labour on the day'. So people weren't to go home, and they
would think that was good and they'd get an early night; oh yeah! well Nehemiah says,
the reason you're stopping at Jerusalem is, because I want you to work tomorrow, and
you can be on guard duty tonight! When do you sleep? well, b&s, let's say when
Nehemiah gets up; but nobody saw him sleep! Verse 23, 'So neither I, nor my brethren,
nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me (notice that, b&s, all those
that were loyal to Nehemiah, his little loyal corp of troops, not one of them put off their
clothes)' Now the AV says, 'saving that every one put them off for washing', but the
words in italics 'saving that' are not in the original and it doesn't means that they're
clothes. You see, b&s, the Hebrew says that what they did actually, they never took
their clothes off at all; and he says the only time we ever went off the wall was to get a
drink of water. Nehemiah considered the essentials of life, the essentials of life were
there for the definite purpose of the work of the truth ,and it was to get the wall built, and
unless you got a drink of water, you were involved in the work; and when you went for
water you took your weapon with you. You didn't go unguarded, so Nehemiah makes a
gracious decision, he's an easy boss, you can have time off for a drink of water! but that
rule, b&s, wasn't made for them only; 'I, my brethren, my servants, and the guard that
follows me', we get off the wall for a drink of water, and we don't undress for any. They
slept with me in their clothes and they arose in their clothes, that's the example that was
set, b&s, by Nehemiah's personal followers.
You know, it's beautiful, it is beautiful when you think of that little loyal group he had with
him. His own, and he expected of them, b&s, far more than he expected of others;
there's a magnificent touch, you know, in Paul's workings in that fearless group of
workers all over the world, he asked more of them than he asked of anybody; when he
got to Titus he said, 'Let OURS show a patttern of good works'. OURS, ours, who were
they? Aquila and Priscilla, Timothy, Peter, Apollos, Luke, Aristarchus, Epaphroditus,
and we could on and on. And you know, b&s, there are everywhere, people like that,
22
that don't ask people to do any more than what they do themselves. They're a wonderful
group of people, and you never see them with their spiritual armour down or their
spiritual clothing off! You never see them leave the work of the truth except for a glass
of cold water; they seem to be sleepless, tireless, indefeasible, absolutely and totally
dedicated to an ideal, single-minded, simpleminded, clear-headed, with a clear
definition in their minds of what's right and wrong, and the only issue in life that means
anything to them, is Jerusalem and the building up of the wall for that city. Those people
you'll never get off the wall, they might take a glass of water here and there, and that's
the only time you'll see them stop!
They're wonderful people, b&s, they're the soul of the ecclesia, and thanks be to God
that they're still here, and let us all earnestly endeavour to be amongst that group that
are OURS, of whom we ask more than we ask others, in the service of God Almighty.