The Decision To Build The Walls

The Decision To Build The Walls

Nehemiah 2:17-18 NKJV

[17] Then I said to them, “You see the distress that we are in, how Jerusalem lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.” [18] And I told them of the hand of my God which had been good upon me, and also of the king’s words that he had spoken to me. So they said, “Let us rise up and build.” Then they set their hands to this good work.

     The wall of Jerusalem was meant to act as protection to  the city and the temple. Today, a relic of the wall remain in Jerusalem, called the Western Wall. It still serves as a pilgrimage site for both Christians and Jews. That wall is a tangible reminder that what we are reading in the Bible are not fairy tsles.

     The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has this in its resource Library. " Over the course of the long and tumultuous history of the Holy City, Jerusalem has been conquered, destroyed, and rebuilt nine times by some of the greatest empires that ever existed, including the Babylonians who destroyed the First Temple and the Romans who destroyed the Second Temple. During these wars, as well as the Bar Kochba Revolt against the Roman Empire and the Maccabees’ war against the Greek Empire, Jewish soldiers fought for the sacred stones of their Holy Temple until their last breaths". The Western Wall is the closest they can get to the site of the old temple 

       The wall was a powerful symbol of Jewish national identity and connection to the land of Israel. It represented the enduring ties between the Jewish people and their homeland, even in periods of hardship and exile. Now it was time to rebuild it. Read Nehemiah's words again: "let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer be a reproach.”  It didn't take a eulogy to mobilize the people. How do your people respond in times of emergency? Their response is an indication of their readiness to work. May God give us men like this....men focused to bring forth results, in Jesus Name. Good morning.