The Makers and Teachers of Judaism / From the Fall of Jerusalem to the Death of Herod the Great

by Charles Foster Kent

Section C. NEHEMIAH'S WORK IN REBUILDING THE WALLS OF JERUSALEM

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:1-3] Now in the month of Chislev [November-December, 446 B.C.], I was in Shushan the royal palace, when Hanani, one of my kinsmen came, together with certain men from Judah, and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who were left from the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem. And they said to me, The survivors who are left from the captivity there in the provinces are in great misfortune and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates have been destroyed by fire.

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:4-11b] Now when I heard these statements I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days; and I fasted and made supplication before the God of heaven, and I said, 'I beseech thee, O Jehovah, the God of heaven, the great and terrible God, who keepeth the covenant and showeth kindness to them who love and keep his commands; let thine ears now be attentive and thine eyes open, to hear the supplication of thy servant, which I am now making before thee, day and night, for the Israelites thy servants, while I confess the sins of the Israelites, which we have sinned against thee, as I also and my father's house have sinned. We have dealt very wickedly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances, which thou didst command thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word which thou didst command thy servant Moses, saying, "If ye trespass I will scatter you abroad among the peoples; but if ye return to me, and keep my commands and do them, then, though your outcasts were at the ends of the earth, yet will I gather them thence and will bring them to the place that I have chosen, there to cause my name to dwell." Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power and by thy strong hand. O Lord, I beseech thee, let thine ear be attentive to the supplication of thy servant, and to the supplications of thy servants, who delight to fear thy name; and give success to thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.

[Sidenote: Neh. 1:11c-2:8] Now I was cupbearer to the king. And it came to pass in the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of Artaxerxes the king, when I had charge of the wine, that I took up the wine and gave it to the king, and I had not beforetime been sad. And the king said to me, 'Why is your countenance sad, since you are not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart.' Then I was greatly afraid, and I said to the king, 'Let the king live forever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchres, lies in ruins, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?' And then the king said to me, 'For what do you make request? So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, 'If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight, that you would send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchres, that I may rebuild it.' And the king said to me (and the queen was also sitting by him), 'For how long will your journey be? And when will you return?' Then it pleased the king to send me; for I set him a time. Moreover I said to the king, 'If it please the king, let official letters be given me to the governors of the province beyond the River, that they may let me pass through until I come to Judah, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's park, that he may give me the timber to make beams for the gates of the castle, which belongs to the temple, and for the wall of the city, and for the house that I shall enter. And the king granted me this, according to the hand of my God which kindly cared for me.

[Sidenote: Neh. 2:9-16] Then I came to the governors of the province beyond the River, and gave them the king's official letters. Now the king had sent with me military officers and horsemen. And when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, heard of it, it troubled them exceedingly, that one had come to seek the welfare of the Israelites. So I came to Jerusalem and was there three days. And I arose in the night, together with a few of my followers, and I told no man what my God had put into my heart to do for Jerusalem, neither was there any beast with me, except the beast upon which I rode. And I went out by night through the Valley Gate, toward the Dragon's Well and to the Dung Gate, and investigated carefully the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and where its gates had been destroyed by fire. Then I went on to the Fountain Gate and to the King's Pool, but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then I went up in the night by the Brook Kidron and investigated carefully the wall; then I turned back and entered by the Valley Gate, and so returned. And the rulers did not know where I went or what I did, neither had I as yet told it to the Jews nor to the priests nor to the nobles nor to the rulers nor to the rest who did the work.

[Sidenote: Neh. 2:17-20] Then I said to them, 'You see the bad condition in which we are, how Jerusalem lies in ruins and its gates are destroyed by fire. Come and let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, that we be no more an object of reproach.' And I told them of the hand of my God, which had kindly cared for me, as also of the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, 'Let us rise up and build.' So they strengthened their hands for the good work. But when Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite slave, and Geshem the Arabian heard it, they jeered at us and despised us, and said, 'What is this thing that you are doing? Will you rebel against the king?' Then I answered and said to them, 'The God of heaven, he will give us success, for we his servants will proceed to build; but you shall have no portion nor right nor memorial in Jerusalem.'

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:1, 2] Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his kinsmen the priests and built the Sheep Gate; they laid its beams and set up the doors, even to the Tower of the Hundred, and to the Tower of Hananel. And next to him the men of Jericho built. And next to them Zaccur the son of Imri built.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:3-5] And the Fish Gate the sons of Hassenaah built; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Meremoth and Meshullam and Zadok and the Tekoites repaired the wall; but their nobles did not bend their necks in the service of their lord.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:6-12] And the Old Gate Joida repaired; they laid its beams, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars. And next to them Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, the men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, which belongs to the jurisdiction of the governor of the province beyond the River, repaired. Next to him Uzziel, one of the goldsmiths, repaired. And next to him Hananiah, one of those who prepare sweet ointments, repaired. And they fortified Jerusalem even to the broad wall. And next to them Rephaiah, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, repaired. And next to them Jedaiah repaired opposite his house. And next to him Hattush and Malchijah and Hasshub repaired another section, even to the Tower of the Furnaces. And next to him Shallum, the ruler of half the district of Jerusalem, together with its dependencies, repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:13, 14] The Valley Gate Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired; they built it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and also built a thousand cubits of the wall to the Dung Gate. And the Dung Gate Malchijah, the ruler of the district of Beth-haccherem, together with his sons, repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:15-27] And the Fountain Gate Shallun, the ruler of the district of Mizpah, repaired; and he built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars, and he also built the wall of the Pool of Siloam by the King's Garden, even to the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him Nehemiah, the ruler of half the district of Bethzur, repaired to the place opposite the Sepulchres of David, even to the pool that was made and to the House of the Warriors. After him Rehum the son of Bani repaired. Next to him Hashabiah, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired for his district. After him their kinsmen Bennui, the ruler of half the district of Keilah, repaired. And next to him Ezer, the ruler of Mizpah, repaired another section opposite the ascent to the armory at the bend in the wall. After him Baruch repaired from the bend in the wall to the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest. After him Meremoth repaired another section, from the entrance to the house of Eliashib even to the end of the house of Eliashib. And after him the priests, the men of the Plain of the Jordan, repaired. After them Benjamin and Hasshub repaired opposite their house. After them Azariah repaired beside his own house. After him Binnui repaired another section, from the house of Azariah to the bend in the wall and to the corner. After him Palal repaired opposite the bend and the upper tower that stands out from the royal palace of the king, which is toward the court of the guard. After him Pedaiah repaired, to the place opposite the Water Gate toward the east and the tower that stands out. After him the Tekoites repaired another section, opposite the great tower that stands out and to the wall of Ophel. And the temple servants dwelt in Ophel.

[Sidenote: Neh. 3:28-32]

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house. After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shechaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. After him Hananiah the son of Shelemiah and Hanum the sixth son of Zalaph repaired another section. After him Meshullam the son of Berschiah repaired opposite his chamber. After him Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths, repaired as far as the house of the temple servants and of the merchants, opposite the Gate of the Watch Tower and to the ascent of the corner. And between the ascent of the corner and the Sheep Gate the goldsmiths and the merchants repaired.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:1-5] Now when Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, his anger was aroused and he was very indignant, and mocked the Jews. And he spoke before his kinsmen and the army of Samaria and said, 'What are these feeble Jews doing? Will they leave it to God? Will they sacrifice? Will they complete it in a day? Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish, although they are burned? Now Tobiah the Ammonite was with him, and he said, 'Even that which they are building, if a fox should go up on it, he would break down their stone wall!' Hear, O our God—for we are despised—and turn back their reproach upon their own head and give them up as an object of spoil in a land of captivity, and cover not their iniquity and let not their sin be blotted out from thy sight, for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:6-8] So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height, for the people were eager to work. But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians and the Ammonites and the Ashdodites, heard that the restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was progressing, so that the breaches began to be stopped, they were very angry. And they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to produce a panic therein.

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:9-14] But we made supplication to our God, and set a watch as a protection against them day and night. Then the Judean community said, 'The strength of the burden-bearers is broken, for there is much rubbish; so that we shall not be able to rebuild the wall. And our adversaries have said, "They shall neither know nor see, until we come into their midst and slay them and bring the work to a standstill."' And it came to pass that when the Jews who dwelt by them came, they said to us ten times, 'From all the places where they dwell they will come up against us.' Therefore I stationed in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the protected places, I set there the people by their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And when I saw their fear, I rose up and said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, 'Be not afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and terrible, and fight for your kinsmen, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.'

[Sidenote: Neh. 4:15-23] And when our enemies heard that their plan was known to us and God had brought it to nought, we all of us returned to the wall, each to his own work. And from that time on, while half of my servants were engaged in the work, half of them held the lances, the shields, the bows, and the coats of mail; and the rulers stood behind all the house of Judah. Those who built the wall and those who bore burdens were also armed, each with one of his hands engaged in the work, and with the other was ready to grasp his spear; and each of the builders had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he who sounded the trumpet was by me. And I said to the nobles and to the rulers and to the rest of the people, 'The work is great and extensive, and we are separated upon the wall far from each other. In whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, gather there to us; our God will fight for us.' So we were active in the work, while half of them held the lances from the gray of morning until the stars came out. Also I said at that time to the people, Let each man with his servant lodge in Jerusalem, that they may be a guard to us by night and may labor by day. So neither I, nor my kinsmen, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who accompanied me, not one of us took off our clothes, each had his spear in his hand.

[Sidenote: Neh. 6:1-9] Now when it was reported to Sanballat and to Tobiah and to Geshem the Arabian and to the rest of our enemies, that I had rebuilt the wall and that there was no breach was left in it—though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, 'Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.' But they planned to do me injury. So I sent messengers to them, saying, 'I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down; why should the work cease, while I leave it and come down to you?' And they sent to me in this way four times, and I gave them the same answer. Then Sanballat sent his servant to me in the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand, in which was written, 'It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu confirms it, that you and the Jews plan to rebel, and that this is the reason you are building the wall, and that you would be their king, and that you also have appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, "There is a king in Judah." And now it will be reported to the king to this effect. Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together.' Then I sent to him, saying, 'No such things have been done as you say, but you have devised them in your own mind.' For they all would have made us afraid, thinking, 'Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it may not be done.' But now, O God, strengthen thou my hands.

[Sidenote: Neh. 6:10-14] And when I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up at home, he said, 'Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they are coming to slay you in the night; yes, in the night they are coming to slay you!' And I said, 'Should such a man as I flee? And how could anyone like me

[Sidenote: Neh. 6:15, 16] So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days. And when all our enemies heard, all the surrounding nations feared and fell in their own esteem, for they perceived that this work had been done by our God.

[Sidenote: Neh. 6:17-19] Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and those of Tobiah came to them. For many in Judah had taken oath to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam, the son of Berechiah, as wife. Also they praised his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. Then Tobiah sent letters to make me afraid.

[Sidenote: Neh. 7:1-3] Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the porters and the singers and the Levites had been appointed, I placed my brother Hanani and Hananiah the commander of the castle in charge of Jerusalem; for he was a faithful man, and more God-fearing than many. And I said to them, 'Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot; and while watchmen are still on guard, let them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint watches consisting of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, every one in his watch and each opposite his own house.'

[Sidenote: Neh. 7:4, 5a] Now the city was wide and large; but there were few people in it, and the households were not large. Therefore my God put it into my mind to gather together the nobles and the rulers and the people.

[Sidenote: Neh. 12: 31, 32, 37-40] Then I had the rulers of Judah take their position upon the wall, and I appointed two great companies that gave thanks, and the first went to the right hand upon the wall toward the Dung Gate. And behind them went Hoshaiah and half of the nobles of Judah. And by the Fountain Gate, they went straight up the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the Water Gate on the east. And the other company of those who gave thanks went to the left, and I after them, with the half of the nobles of the people, upon the wall, above the Tower of the Furnaces, even to the broad wall, and above the Gate of Ephraim and by the Old Gate and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, even to the Sheep Gate; and they stood in the Gate of the Guard. So the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God took their position, and I, and the half of the rulers with me.

I. Nehemiah's Memoirs. Fortunately the author of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah has quoted at length in the opening chapters of Nehemiah from the personal memoirs of the noble patriot through whose activity the walls of Jerusalem were restored. They are the best historical records in the Old Testament and they shed clear, contemporary light upon this most important period in the evolution of Judaism. The narrative is straightforward and vivid. It lights up the otherwise dark period that precedes Nehemiah and enables the historian to bridge with assurance the century that intervened before the apocryphal book of I Maccabees throws its light upon the course of Israel's troubled history. The detailed description of the rebuilding of the walls in Nehemiah 3 is probably from the Chronicler, but it reveals an intimate acquaintance with the topography and the later history of Judah's capital.

II. Nehemiah's Response to the Call to Service. The presence of a deputation from Jerusalem (including Nehemiah's kinsman Hanani) in the distant Persian capital of Susa was not a mere accident. Nehemah's response to their appeal and the epoch-making movement which he inaugurated reveal the presence of an impelling force. Probably back of all this movement was the work of the great prophet who speaks in Isaiah 40-66. In all that Nehemiah did that influence may be seen. In the fervent and patriotic prayer that he uttered on learning of conditions in Jerusalem he used the term servant or servants of Jehovah eight times in six short verses. It also echoes the phraseology and thought of the II Isaiah.

The king under whom Nehemiah served was evidently Artaxerxes I. In Nehemiah 12:10-11 the Chronicler states that Eliashib, the high priest in the days of Nehemiah, was the grandson of Joshua, who shared in the rebuilding of the temple in 520 B.C. Eliashib was also the great-grandfather of Jaddua, who was high priest in Jerusalem in 332 B.C., when Alexander conquered Palestine. References in the recently discovered Elephantine letters, as well as in the history of Josephus, confirm the conclusion that Nehemiah set out upon his expedition in the spring of 445 B.C. Like all those who ministered personally to the Persian kings, he was probably a eunuch and still a young man. The true piety which is revealed in his prayer, the courage shown by his daring to appear with sad face in the presence of the absolute tyrant who ruled the Eastern world, and his tact in winning the king's consent to his departure indicate that he was a man of rare energy and ability. Artaxerxes I was famous for his susceptibility to the influence of court favorites. The queen referred to in 1:6 was probably the queen-mother Amestris, who exercised commanding authority in the Persian court. Without the royal consent and the resources and authority granted him, Nehemiah could hardly have accomplished the large task which he undertook. The arduous journey of fifteen hundred miles over mountains and barren deserts was enough to daunt a man reared in the luxury of an Oriental court, but Nehemiah was inspired by an ideal of service which recognized no obstacles.

III. Obstacles that Confronted Him. The high-priestly rulers do not appear to have welcomed Nehemiah with enthusiasm. Some of them, at least, later sought to undermine his work. It is not difficult to infer the reason for their apathy. Intrenched wealth and authority are usually conservative, especially if conscious that their position is easily assailable. As the sequel proved, these leaders of the community were simply intent upon self-aggrandizement, even at the expense of the dependent members of the community. A revolutionizing work like that proposed by Nehemiah was certain to affect their vested interests and to reveal their cruel selfishness. Certain of their families had also intermarried with neighboring chieftains; and they were quite content with the existing conditions. A second obstacle was the opposition of the hostile peoples who surrounded the little Judean community. On the east the Ammonites had apparently pressed in and occupied the ancient Hebrew territory as far as the Jordan. Tobiah, the Ammonite, who figures prominently in Nehemiah's narrative, was probably one of their local chiefs. Gashmu, the Arabian, represented the half-civilized Bedouin tribes that had invaded the territory of Judea from the south and east during the period of weakness following the destruction of Jerusalem. Possibly he belonged to the Edomites who then held Hebron and all of the southern part of Judea. Nehemiah also refers to the descendents of Israel's ancient foes, the Philistines, living in the city of Ashdod. On the north the superior resources of Samaria had asserted themselves, and these survivors of the ancient Israelites who lived among the hills of Ephraim had grown into a powerful nation that overshadowed the struggling Judean community. These northerners, however, still worshipped at Jerusalem and were closely allied with the Jews. At their head was Sanballat, the Horonite, who probably came from Bethhoron, in southwestern Samaria. Each of these peoples inherited the feeling of hostility with which their fathers had regarded the people of Judah, and looked with suspicion upon any movement to re-establish Jerusalem's former strength and prestige. Furthermore, the men of the Judean community itself lacked courage and training. With inefficient helpers and with opponents within and without the community, Nehemiah's task seemed well-nigh impossible. That he succeeded in the face of all these obstacles in rebuilding the walls in the incredibly short period of fifty-two days is only explained by his superlative skill, devotion, and energy.

IV. Nehemiah's Plan of Work. Fortunately Nehemiah possessed resources as well as tact. He quickly disarmed the opposition and won at least the nominal support of the leaders by entertaining one hundred and fifty of them as his guests. Thus he was able to place them under personal obligation to him, to keep them under close surveillance, and to command their co-operation. In the second place he appealed to them and to the people by means of eloquent addresses which reveal his enthusiasm and devotion. Furthermore, he did not depend upon the reports of others, but personally studied the situation. His secret mid-night ride down through the Valley Gate to the southwest of Jerusalem and thence eastward along the Hinnom Valley to the point where it joins the Kidron, and from there up the valley, gave him most accurate information regarding conditions. In most cases the ancient foundations of the city walls still remained. The first need was to remove the rubbish and where stones had fallen to replace them. The towers required certain timbers, which were cut probably from the royal domains to the south of the city. Nehemiah enlisted all members of the community both within and without Jerusalem. He organized them under their local leaders and set them to the task in which each was most interested. Thus the heads of the different villages, the elders of the leading families, the guilds of workmen, and even the priests, were all put to work and inspired by the spirit of natural rivalry as well as common loyalty. Nehemiah himself with his immediate followers directed the work, and instituted a strict military rule which secured both efficiency and protection.

V. The Restored Walls. In the light of recent excavations at Jerusalem it is possible to follow Nehemiah's work in detail. In the destruction of the walls by the Chaldeans the city had suffered most on the north where it was nearly level and protected by no descending valleys. Just north of the temple area a little valley ran up from the Kidron, leaving but a narrow neck of land connected directly with the plateau on the north. Here two great towers were restored that probably occupied the site of the later Roman tower of Antonia. Thence the wall ran westward across the upper Tyropoean Valley, which was here comparatively level. Numerous bands of workmen were assigned to this part of the work. The gate of the old wall was probably identical with the corner gate at the northwestern end of the city. The Ephraim Gate a little further to the southwest apparently corresponded to the modern Joppa Gate. From this point a broad wall ran to the western side of the city where the hill descended rapidly into the Valley of Hinnom, making its defence easy. At the southwestern end of the city stood the Tower of the Furnaces and the Valley Gate of which the foundations have recently been laid bare. The gate itself was narrow, being only eight feet wide, but the wall was here nine feet in thickness. The eighteen hundred or two thousand feet of wall along the Valley of Hinnom was evidently practically intact, for its repair was Intrusted to but one group of workmen. Across the southern end of the Tyropoean Valley the ground was almost level, so that a strong wall was required. Excavations have shown that it was twenty feet thick at its base and supported by six strong buttresses. The Fountain Gate, through which ran the main street down the Tyropoean Valley out into the valley of the Kidron, was the chief southern gate of the city. It was nine feet wide and defended by a tower about forty-five feet square. Portions of this ancient thoroughfare, with its stones, worn smooth by the feet of the inhabitants of the ancient city, have here been uncovered. Just above the Pool of Siloam, which was within the city walls, was the King's Garden.

Thence the Hill of Ophel ascended rapidly making necessary the stairs mentioned in Nehemiah 3. The wall on the southeast was readily repaired, for it ran along the sloping western side of the Kidron Valley. The Water Gate probably led down to the Virgin's Fount, and the Horse Gate further to the north opened directly from the Kidron Valley to the public buildings that occupied the site of Solomon's palace immediately to the south of the temple. It is the space to-day occupied by the southern end of the temple area, which was thus extended in the days of Herod. Opposite the northeastern end of the temple area the wall curved westward until it reached the great towers that guarded the northern end of the city.

VI. Completion and Dedication of the Walls. Under the inspiration of Nehemiah's leadership, and as a result of the constant fear of attack, the building of the walls proceeded rapidly and without interruption. To the threats of hostile foes Nehemiah paid little heed. Trained in the Persian court, he saw at once their murderous purpose when they requested a conference in southwestern Samaria on the border of the Plain of Ono. Through the treacherous prophets in the Judean community they sought to play upon his fears and to lead him to compromise himself by taking refuge in the sacred precincts of the temple, but his courage, as well as his high respect for the sanctuary, delivered him from the plot. The cry that he was himself aspiring to the kingship and that his acts were treason against Persia did not daunt him, and when, in response to their malicious reports, the order finally came from the Persian king to cease working, the walls were already rebuilt.

Apparently Nehemiah's original leave of absence was for but a short period. His kinsman Hanani, who had headed the original deputation to Susa, and a certain Hananiah were by him placed in charge of the city. To protect it against sudden attack its gates were closed at night and not opened until the middle of the following forenoon. Effective measures were also instituted to increase its population. When the work of rebuilding the walls was complete, Nehemiah arranged for their public dedication. Starting from the Valley Gate on the southwestern side of the city, one half of the nobles and the people marched along the southern and eastern wall, while Nehemiah with the other half of the people proceeded along the western and northern wall. Finally meeting on the northern side of the temple area, the two companies blended their voices in thanksgiving to Jehovah who at last had made it possible for them to worship him in his sanctuary secure from attack.

Nehemiah had reorganized the Judean community, rebuilt their walls, and inspired them with a new sense of self-respect; thus he made possible that genuine revival of the Judean state that took place during the succeeding centuries. He, like Ezekiel, Haggai, Zechariah, and the II Isaiah, was indeed one of the makers of Judaism. Ben Sira with true insight declared (49:13):

The memorial of Nehemiah is great,
Who raised up for us the walls that were fallen,
And set up the gates and bars,
And raised up our homes again.