Eliashib the high priest and his brethren built the sheep gate but there is one thing absent here which we find mentioned with the building of others; that is, locks and bars for the doors. We have seen in the past history of Israel that sometimes it was the king and sometimes those of the priesthood who were leaders in forsaking the Lord. Here it seems the priests had not been faithful, for later on we learn that Eliashib was allied to Tobiah the Ammonite, and his grandson had married the daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. They were not so much in earnest for the work of separation, so while he and his brethren professed to know that there was a separation between them and the nations around, they did not care to have this carried out too far. If one really desires to walk in the truth of God, he will have a place for the wall, and locks and bars.
After this we have mentioned the sons of Hassenah who built the fish gate; they “laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof.” The beams gave stability and the locks and bars made it secure against the efforts of the enemy to get in. In the New Testament fish are spoken of in connection with the gospel (Matt. 13:47, 48; Luke 5:1-11); and perhaps the mention of the fish gate here would remind us that in our going forth with the precious gospel of the grace of God to the world about us, we should be diligent to maintain that loyalty to Christ and to the truth He has called us to walk in. He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” as He tells us in John 14:6, and these three are never separated in Scripture.
When we come to the Tekoites we read that they repaired part of the wall and then later they “repaired another piece.” Evidently they were willing servants; “but their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord.” With Him there is no respect of persons. “Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted: but the rich, in that he is made low; because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.” James 1:9, 10. We are reminded of the words of the Lord Jesus: “How hard it is for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!” Mark 10:24. These nobles were not humble before the Lord. Their pride kept them from stooping low enough to engage in that lowly work for Him, and thus they lost the blessing and that reward He delights to give to those that serve Him. In 1 Cor. 1:26, 27, we read that “Not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: but God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise.” Still we can rejoice in that there have been and are some from the ranks of “the wise... the mighty... and the noble” who have sacrificed much and for whose labors and devotions to the Lord we can give thanks.
In the case of Nicodemus (John 3), no doubt it was his prominent position and his wealth, for he was a ruler of the Jews and a member of the Saedrin, that caused him to come to the Lord Jesus by night. Still it was a wonderful thing for Nicodemus that he even came by night. The Spirit of God had begun a work in his soul that was to bring him into the fullest blessing—a blessing he is enjoying now, and will enjoy through all eternity. May God grant it may be so with the reader also.
ML 07/05/1959