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About Jesus Steve Sweetman This Chapter - Chapter 3 Builders
Of The Wall (ch. 3:1 - 32)
This
chapter tells us who did the work and what part of the wall they worked
on. Nehemiah is like Ezra in
this respect. He provides
all the names of those who worked. We
need to realize that the temple, under Ezra has now been built.
If you read the book of Ezra, you'll note that there was a major
national revival among the Jews. This
revival made it somewhat easy for Nehemiah.
This is one reason why the Jews responded so quickly to
Nehemiah's vision of rebuilding the wall around Jerusalem. Without that national
revival, these walls might not have been built. Chapter
3 is actually a tour around the city of Jerusalem, starting at the Sheep Gate and ending at the Sheep Gate.
Verse
1 tells us that the priests put their hands to work.
This is a good example for the rest of the people.
It seems that so often our spiritual leaders don't do any
physical work, but not so in this case.
The priests worked on the sheep gate.
This is the gate where the sheep would come into the city for
sacrifices so it is fitting that they worked on this gate and that part
of the wall around it. Ironically
speaking, the Sheep Gate appears to be the most used gate that Jesus
entered through when He came to Jerusalem. This is interesting,
because Jesus was the Lamb of God. He
was one of the sacrifices that passed through this gate over the
centuries. In
verse 3 we see the Fish Gate. This
is where people brought fish
into the city. The fish came from the In
verses 4 and 5 we see more names of those who worked on the wall between
the Sheep and Fish Gate. It
is interesting to note that many nobles didn't desire to work on the
wall, but the ordinary people did. The
call went out for all, but not all participated.
The same is in the church today.
Some are willing to work, some aren't In
verses 6 through 12 we see more names mentioned.
On this portion of the wall, some nobles, or royals worked.
So not all nobles refused to work.
In
verse 6 we see the Jeshanah Gate. This
is also called the Old Gate because it's the oldest of the gates in the
wall. In
verse 12 we even see women working on the wall, something that was not
normally the case in those days. Women
did not do this kind of work, but this is the Lord's work, and women do
His work as well. In
verse 13 we see the Valley Gate. Most
of these gates led to a valley, but many scholars believed this gate led
to the Kydron
Verse
14 speaks of the Dung Gate. This
is the gate by which all the garbage left the city. In
verses 15 through 25 we see the Gate of the Fountain. There
were pools just inside these gates.
The pool of Siloam that we see in the gospels was here.
In
verse 26 we see the Water Gate. Water was brought into the city through
this gate. There was an
aqueduct that flowed into Jerusalem, but it did not provide enough water for the city, so water had to be
carried into Jerusalem
through this gate. In
verse 28 we see the Horse Gate. Horses
and riders would ride out of the city in battle when needed.
This was a gate to leave the city, not to enter the city. In
verse 29 we see the East Gate. Clearly
this gate faces the east. This
would be the first gate that would opened in the morning.
Watchmen on the wall would open and close all of these gates.
This is the gate the Jews say their Messiah will enter through at
the end of this age. In
verse 31 we see the Inspection Gate.
All non-citizens of Jerusalem
had to come through this gate and register, much like customs and
immigrations offices when you enter another country today. The armies
that left the city through the Horse Gate would return into the city
through the Inspection Gate. Now
in verse 32 we come back to the Sheep Gate.
We've just had a tour around the city of Jerusalem. You will note that most,
if not all these gates were used for specific things.
They were more than just a way to get in and out of the city;.
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