Day 303 Nehemiah Chapters 3 – 4

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads.

Working together
Day 303, Tuesday, June 10
Neh. Chapters 3 – 4
It would be very easy to skip over Chapter 3, but let me encourage you not to. It simply takes us on a tour of the wall, section by section, and says who is responsible for rebuilding it.
You don’t need to know either the landmarks or the names of people to get the message that this is a huge construction project that could easily be overwhelming, but it’s made manageable by dividing it into sections with different people or families or communities taking responsibility for each.
Some of the sections are as small as the width of a single house. Some sound like they’re substantial.
Some of the projects are taken on by individuals, others by families, others by merchants or priests or officials, and some by groups from other cities—just reading through it gives a sense of the diversity of the community and the breadth of support for this effort to make Jerusalem a great city once more.
The only reference to someone not taking part comes is verse 5: “The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors.”
This brief reference to nobles refusing to do the labor is interesting, because it suggests that elsewhere along the wall there were nobles who put their shoulders to the work.
In Chapter 4 when leaders of surrounding cities threaten the work, Nehemiah is not put off. “From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor.”
You get a picture of workman wearing their swords while working, ready to be the defenders of Jerusalem at any moment if needed.