Nehemiah 3:1-32

The *Jews build Jerusalem’s city wall again

Nehemiah

Robert Bryce and Robert Betts

Chapter 3

In this chapter, there are many names. The Bible does not mention most of these people elsewhere. Many of them were the leaders of families, but only a few were important in the local region. They were not builders and they had no special skills to do the work. But they realised that Nehemiah was right. And they were willing to work hard. They lived many centuries ago, but they did an important job for God. God cares about all sorts of people. And he is pleased when they serve him well.

Nehemiah was a good leader, but he could not build the walls alone. He needed many people to help him. He was pleased with their work. So he recorded their names and the jobs that they did.

These people deserved honour. Their families had returned to *Judah from *exile. They were God’s own people. And they worked hard to do God’s work. Nehemiah organised the work carefully. He gave each person responsibility for one section of the wall. And Nehemiah chose the sections carefully. For example, often the men repaired the section of wall that was nearest to their own houses.

v1 Eliashib the chief priest and the priests who were with him built the Sheep Gate. They made it holy for God and they put the doors in the gate. They repaired the wall as far as the *Tower called Meah and the *Tower called Hananeel. Then they made the wall holy for God. v2 The men from Jericho built the next part of the wall. And Zaccur, the son of Imri, built the next section.