Nehemiah chapter 3 could be a really boring, meaningless chapter if you wanted. It literally is a list of who repaired what on the wall of Jerusalem. And yet in is something powerful. Look at this list.
- “next to Eliashib” (3:2)
- “next to them Zaccur” (3:2)
- “next to them Meremoth” (3:4)
- “next to them Zadok” (3:4)
- “beside them the Tekoites (3:5)
- “next to them the the repairs were done by Melatiah” (3:7)
- “next to him Hananiah” (3:8)
- “Next to them Rephaiah” (3:9)
- “Next to him Hattush” (3:10)
- “Beside him Shallum” (3:12)
- “After him Nehemiah” (3:16)
- “Next to him the Levites” (3:17)
- “Beside hm Hashabiah” (3:17)
- “After him their fellow Levites” (3:18)
- “Next to him Ezer son of Jeshua” (3:19)
- “After him Baruch” (3:20)
- “Beside him Meremoth” (3:21)
- “and next to him the priests” (3:22)
- “After them Benjamin and Hasshub” (3:23)
- “After him Binnui” (3:24)
- “Beside him Pedaiah” (3:25)
- “Next to him the Tekoites” (3:27)
- “After them Zadok” (3:29)
- “And beside him Shemaiah (3:29)
- “Next to him Hannaniah” (3:30)
- “After them Meshullam” (3:30)
- “Next to him Malchijah” (3:30)
How was this impossible work done? How was it finally accomplished after almost 100 years of feeling defeated at the enormity of the text? It was when every single person took responsibility to rebuild their section of the wall. Side by side. Brother by brother. Skilled and unskilled.
And these were not small walls. Or small stones. They were huge and formed a protective barrier. But everyone from perfumers (v. 8) to priests (v. 22), from goldsmiths (v 8) to girls (v. 12).
The only people who didn’t do anything were the nobles of the Tekoites. Their laziness as leaders is noted:
“Beside them the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not lift a finger to help their supervisors” (3:5).
When everyone shouldered the load and everyone stood side-by-side in their work, a miracle took place. In nearly 100 years of inaction thinking the task was impossible, they completed it in 52 days (Neh 6:15). Only 52 days!!! That’s extraordinary.
That’s the power of God behind something and people working together. Impossible circumstances become miracles.
