Everyone does their part (well, amost)

Hey everyone.

If you remember back when I started writing about Nehemiah, I started with the idea that Nehemiah accomplished something in 52 days that had not been done in over 100 years.  He rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem that had lain in ruins for over a century.  The idea we were thinking about was this, "What did Nehemiah do, that I can do as I build my own ministry?" 

This next post comes out of Nehemiah 3 and at first glance can seem rather dull.  It is a long list of men and the section of the wall that they repaired.  But if we dig a little deeper we realize a few things here.  First, we see that Nehemiah did not have to rebuild the walls all by himself.  It would be too much work for any one man.  He inspired the city with his own faith and hard work to rebuild the walls, and they did it together.

We can see that people from all walks of life came and did their part.  The priests rebuilt the Sheep Gate. (3:1)  Men came from Jericho, Tekoa and the surrounding region to help.  Levites helped, as did goldsmiths and perfume-makers. (3:8)  Men who were not carpenters, never-the-less came and build a section of the wall.  Many other men are mentioned by name here without their profession being given, maybe they were just ordinary farmers.  Who knows? (Whatever their profession, they got their name in the Bible as a reward for their efforts.) The lesson here: one does not have to be an evangelist to do his part in building a ministry, one only needs faith and a willingness to work hard.

It would be wonderful to stop right there, but unfortunately there is a sad lesson in this chapter as well.  Neh. 3:5 says "The next section was repaired by the men of Tekoa, but their nobles would not put their shoulders to the work under their supervisors."  The Bible doesn't really say the motivation behind their refusal.  It just says that they would not work under their supervisors.  Perhaps they thought their nobility entitled them to be supervisors.  Many they were just lazy.  We can only speculate.  The sad lesson is that there were people who refused to be a part of this great work of God.  Sadder still, there always will be.  Let's hope, though, that like the rebuilding of the walls, that number will be small.

To end on a more positive note, the nobles of Tekoa may have refused to work, but the ordinary men of Tekoa were actually more "noble."  They rebuilt two sections of the wall, the only group mentioned to do so.  (3:5 and 3:27)

Tom