Nehemiah 3
At the time the city of Jerusalem was to be rebuilt, many of the Jewish people lived in villages outside, but they came to help with the needed work. There were rulers of the city and towns and their sons; priests, from the temple; merchants, and many others, but all were willing to help build up the broken walls and make new gates, each man or family working at a separate part.
There must have been much heavy work to do; new stones had to be lifted and cemented into the holes in the walls, and there were the great piles of the old ruins to carry away; the new gates to be made were not small like garden gates, but large and heavy, to fit into the entrances to the high walls, and the kicks and bars must be carefully made.
In those days, towers were also built on city walls; these were large enough for men to stay in to watch if all were well, or to fight from, if an enemy came, and some of those towers were also repaired at this time (vs. 11).
No one can now tell in just what part of the city all those gates and towers were, although some could still be found, if we could visit there, and if you read Nehemiah’s record you will find much of interest for us.
The high priest and his helpers built the sheep gate, which was where sheep were brought to be sold, and may have, been near the temple for sheep were used for sacrifices.
Other men built the wall from there, some building the parts near their own homes. No doubt some parts of walls needed much more work than other parts. They worked so hard to do this work quickly because of the enemies, and to complete while Nehemiah was with them. We learn later how soon the walls were finished. There, is one sad record made about some men who did not help in the work (See vs. 5).
Who helped their father repair one part of the wall? (See vs. 12).
How many cubits of the wall did the men of one village do? (A cubit is about 1 1/2 ft.) (See vs. 13).
See if you can find ten gates named in this chapter (vss. 1,3,6,13,1.4, 15, 26,28, 29,31).
ML 12/24/1939