IN Nehemiah’s days “the wall of Jerusalem was broken down, and the gates thereof (were) burned with fire” (Neh. 1:33And they said unto me, The remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach: the wall of Jerusalem also is broken down, and the gates thereof are burned with fire. (Nehemiah 1:3)), when he, stirred up to the work by the Lord, appealed to his brethren, “Come, and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem.” (ch. 2:17) Not only was the city in ruins, and around it were numerous enemies, but, far more dangerous, within it were sympathizers with the enemy, for “there were many in Judah sworn unto” (ch. 6:17, 18) them.
Thus the work to which God had called Nehemiah was one requiring peculiar patience and courage, and that strong spirit which refuses to temporize with God’s enemies, whoever and wherever they may be. Patience was needed for the building of the wall, which went on slowly at first. The wall was the protection of Jerusalem, and the sight of it filled the enemy with both scorn and anger. “What do these feeble Jews?” they cried, “Will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? “And when a true-hearted Christian sets to work to speak up for the truth of God he brings ridicule down upon his head―therefore the work needs patience.
But when the enemies heard that the walls were made up, “then they were very wroth, and conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it.” Then Nehemiah and his co-workers made their prayer to God, and set a watch, and thus they built; “everyone with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon.”
Now this is the attitude which should characterize the true Christian in this our day, when the walls of the Church of God are in ruins, and when “there is much rubbish” hindering the work of God being carried on. He must be a builder-up of the souls of men in the truth, an untiring servant in positive good, but he must have his weapon in his hand also, for the enemies of God press on from every side.
But Nehemiah’s worst foes were the Jews who sympathized with Jehovah’s enemies; and in our day it is the professing Christian who makes light of the authority of God’s word, that is the most to be dreaded foe of the Christian faith. And that the number of these is increasing none can doubt, and it is these of all others who weaken the hands of the true builder for God. Let the earnest Christian reader read very earnestly the book of Nehemiah, and let him hold his weapon in one hand as his other is engaged in building, and let him never compromise his God’s glory by an alliance with God’s enemies. We need a more robust character of practical Christianity, more firmness for God, and decision of heart not to ally ourselves with any who make light of God’s word.