A job well done

The Fish Gate was rebuilt by the sons of Hassenaah. They laid its beams and put its doors and bolts and bars in place. Meremoth son of Uriah, the son of Hakkoz, repaired the next section. Next to him Meshullam son of Berekiah, the son of Meshezabel, made repairs, and next to him Zadok son of Baana also made repairs. The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors...

Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler of a half-district of Jerusalem, repaired the next section with the help of his daughters. Nehemiah 3:3-12

I don’t think anyone would claim that Nehemiah 3 is the most exciting chapter of the Bible. It runs to thirty-two verses, and a lot of it consists of names. But there is much that we can glean from it, especially when we are thinking about church life.

But first, a little background…

In the year 587 BC the biggest catastrophe ever to befall the people of Israel/Judah took place. The Babylonians, the super-power of the time, marched into Jerusalem, destroyed Solomon’s temple, razed the city to the ground and took a large number of the people into captivity in Babylon. (Read Psalm 137 if you want to get a feel for what this meant to the people.)

But, as is the way with mighty empires (watch out America, Russia, China!), it wasn’t long before Babylon also fell. In 539 the Persians became the dominant power under their king, Cyrus, and the following year he issued a history-changing decree: that Persia’s subject peoples should be allowed – indeed, encouraged – to return to their ancestral home-lands and rebuild their sacred cities, including such buildings as their temples. (Go to Ezra 1 to read about this.)

This included Israel! And while Cyrus, a pagan king, had reasons of his own for this policy, to the Israelites it was sheer, God-given miracle, wonderful beyond words.

In 538 the first returners made their way back “home”, and in 516, after a rather stop-start process (see the prophets Haggai and Zechariah), the temple was rebuilt.

But there was opposition from people round about, and life was a struggle. It was some fifty years (458) before God sent them a strong spiritual leader, the scribe Ezra, whose job it was to re-establish the religious life of the nation.

But - and this where we come to Nehemiah 3 - the walls of Jerusalem, broken down by the Babylonians, were still in a state of ruin. And, of course, no city in the ancient world could hope to last long without proper defenses.

Step forward Nehemiah!

Nehemiah was “cup-bearer” – as we might say, wine-steward - to King Artaxerxes, living in the Persian city of Susa. He gained permission from the king to head back to Jerusalem to supervise the rebuilding of the walls (445). He became Governor of Jerusalem.

So Nehemiah 3 (with all its names), and the following chapters, describe how this was achieved. How long did it take? Amazingly, a mere fifty-two days (Nehemiah 6:15). And how was such a stupendous task accomplished? Well, that’s what Chapter 3 tells us.

Three great themes stand out as we read these verses, and they are themes which also apply to the church today.

First, organization.

The wall was divided into some forty sections, and each was allocated to one particular group - perhaps people from the same town, or a family group, or groups of Levites and priests, even members of the same trades such as perfumers and goldsmiths (verse 8).

Now, this won’t have happened by chance! Some serious and thoughtful planning must have been done in advance, presumably by Nehemiah himself and other gifted men he gathered around himself.

And so it is in the church. We need gifted administrators, people (not, of course, necessarily men) who can size up a situation and work out a way of dealing with it. Never put “spiritual” gifts in opposition to “practical” gifts! Both are needed.

Second, co-operation.

It’s worth noticing how often the words “next to him” occur in this chapter; these people worked, almost literally, shoulder to shoulder.

And so, again, it is with the church. Happy is that church where members join with one another in different projects and ministries, supporting and encouraging one another.

My experience suggests that there are few better ways of getting to know fellow-Christians than to work with them. (And few better ways of growing in the Christian life either!) Sharing in a joint task can be richly rewarding.

Third, sheer hard work.

The work the people undertook started hard - and got harder. We read in chapter 4, for example, that a point was reached where, in order to ward off enemy attack, some of the workers carried a sword or spear as well as their tools. Sometimes, it seems, they didn’t even undress at night.

The point for us as churches is obvious; putting it crudely, the church is a labour camp, not a holiday centre, and if we are not prepared to roll up our sleeves, we really aren’t much use to God. (It’s worth reading another Bible chapter with a lot of names: Romans 16. How many times does Paul say of different individuals that they “worked hard” in the Lord?)

Once the walls of Jerusalem were back up, it must have given those people with the unknown names enormous satisfaction: a job well done.

That’s the essence of Nehemiah 3, to me at least. But there’s more as well, which I’ll have to come back to next time. Look out for a post called “Sweet and sour” …

Father, you have called me to be a labourer in your vineyard. Help me to serve you willingly, joyfully and sacrificially, so that the day will come when I stand before you and hear your voice, “Well done, good and faithful servant”. Amen.