NEHEMIAH CHAPTER 3 – IMPLEMENTING THE PLAN

It was time to do the work. Previously the walls and gates of the city had been shattered and burned down, and without them, the inhabitants of Jerusalem were left defenseless. Therefore, under the leadership and coordination of Nehemiah, the Jews reconstructed the walls and gates with their assigned work location near their homes and business. Plus, when some completed their assignment, they went to helped others.

Willingly people of every status and occupation volunteered and worked side by side. There were priest, Levites, rulers, artisans, merchants, goldsmiths, apothecaries, commoners, women, and children. This included those that lived in Jerusalem and their countrymen who lived in the surrounding area.

The walls of the city encompassed ten gates whose names were: the sheep gate, the fish gate, the valley gate, the dung gate, the gate of the fountain, the water gate, the horse gate, the east gate, and the gate Miphkad. For an orderly fashion of work to be achieved the walls and gates were divided into sections and Eliashib, the high priest and his brethren were the first to start the wall reconstruction near the sheep gate which was close to the temple and when they were completed, they sanctified their area.

Finally, there was a group of nobles from Tekoa who refused to participate in the work; however, the work continued without them.

The gleaning points that I received from this chapter are:

1. Leaders are to be seen leading.
2. There will always be those who feel they are above others. They are unwilling to share in the work, but they want to receive the benefits of those that labored.
3. Everyone should have a specific place in which to work.
4. People are more committed to their task when it does not separate them from their family and livelihood.