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

by Charles Foster Kent

[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.