Builders on the Wall
415
of the city of his fathers. Painful reflections filled the mind of the
Jewish patriot as with sorrow-stricken heart he gazed upon the ruined
defenses of his beloved Jerusalem. Memories of Israel’s past greatness
stood out in sharp contrast with the evidences of her humiliation.
In secrecy and silence Nehemiah completed his circuit of the walls.
“The rulers knew not whither I went,” he declares, “or what I did; nei-
ther had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles,
nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.” The remainder
of the night he spent in prayer; for he knew that the morning would
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call for earnest effort to arouse and unite his dispirited and divided
countrymen.
Nehemiah bore a royal commission requiring the inhabitants to
co-operate with him in rebuilding the walls of the city, but he did
not depend upon the exercise of authority. He sought rather to gain
the confidence and sympathy of the people, knowing that a union of
hearts as well as of hands was essential in the great work before him.
When on the morrow he called the people together he presented such
arguments as were calculated to arouse their dormant energies and
unite their scattered numbers.
Nehemiah’s hearers did not know, neither did he tell them, of his
midnight circuit of the night before. But the fact that he had made this
circuit contributed greatly to his success; for he was able to speak of the
condition of the city with an accuracy and a minuteness that astonished
his hearers. The impression made upon him as he had looked upon the
weakness and degradation of Jerusalem, gave earnestness and power
to his words.
Nehemiah presented before the people their reproach among the
heathen—their religion dishonored, their God blasphemed. He told
them that in a distant land he had heard of their affliction, that he
had entreated the favor of Heaven in their behalf, and that, as he was
praying, he had determined to ask permission from the king to come to
their assistance. He had asked God that the king might not only grant
this permission, but might also invest him with the authority and give
him the help needed for the work; and his prayer had been answered
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in such a way as to show that the plan was of the Lord.
All this he related, and then, having shown that he was sustained
by the combined authority of the God of Israel and the Persian king,