SERIES O --- RETURN TO THE LAND --- LESSON 07

A TASK FOR ALL

THE WAY THE WALLS WERE BUILT

From Nehemiah 3

The following lists the various people who built sections of the wall of Jerusalem. Starting at the Sheep Gate, the list moves around the wall counter-clockwise, section by section. 1 -- Eliashib the high priest and his fellow priests - they rebuilt the Sheep Gate and its doors and consecrated it. They built also the wall as far as the Tower of the Hundred and the Tower of Hananel. 2 -- Men from Jericho - next section. 3 -- A group led by Zaccur son of Imri - next section. 4 -- Sons of Hassenaah - the Fish Gate, with its beams and doors, also the bolts and bars for the doors. 5 -- Meremoth son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz - next section. 6 -- Meshullam son of Berechiah and grandson of Meshezabel - next section. 7 -- Zadok son of Baana - next section. 8 -- Men from Tekoa - next section. [But their leaders thought they were too good to help with the work, so they didn’t.] 9 -- Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah - the Old Gate with its beams and its doors with locks and bars. 10 -- Melatiah the Gibeonite and Jadon the Meronothite, along with men from Gibeon and Mizpah - as far as the official seat of the governor of the province west of the Euphrates River. 11 -- Uzziel son of Harhaiah - although he was a goldsmith by trade, he helped rebuild the next section. 12 -- Hananiah, a perfumer - next section as far as the Broad Wall. 13 -- Rephaiah son of Hur, ruler of half of Jerusalem - next section. 14 -- Jedaiah son of Harumaph - next section in the area of his house. 15 -- Hattush son of Hashabneiah - next section. 16 - Malchijah son of Harm and Hasshub son of Pahathmoab - next section and also the Furnace Tower. 17 -- Shallum son of Hallohesh, ruler over the other half of Jerusalem - next section. 18 -- People from Zanoah under the leadership of Hanum - the Valley Gate, with its doors, bolts, and bars; also, a thousand cubits [about fifteen hundred feet or four hundred and sixty meters] of the next section as far as the Dung Gate. 19 -- Malchijah son of Rechab, ruler of the Beth-haccherem district - the Dung Gate, with its doors, bolts, and bars. 20 -- Shallum son of Colhozeh, ruler of the Mizpah district-the Fountain Gate with its roof, doors, locks, and bars. He also rebuilt the wall from the Pool of Siloam to the King’s Garden and the steps that descend from the City of David. 21 -- Nehemiah son of Azbuk, ruler over half of the Beth-zur district - the next section as far as the royal cemetery where the tomb of David and the artificial pool and the House of the Heroes are located. 22 -- Levites under Rehum son of Bani - next section. 23 -- Hashabiah, ruler of half of the district of Keilah - the next section. 24 -- Bavvai son of Henadad, ruler of the other half of the district of Keilah, along with men from the district - next section. 25 -- Ezer son of Yeshua, ruler of Mizpah - next section, across from the armoury where the wall angles. 26 -- Baruch son of Zabbai - next section, from the point where the wall angles to the doorway of Eliashib the high priest. 27 -- Meremoth son of Uriah and grandson of Hakkoz - next section from Eliashib’s doorway to the end of his home. 28 -- Priests from the plains outside the city - next section. 29 -- Benjamin and Hasshub - section in front of their house. 30 -- Azariah son of Maaseiah and grandson of Aaniah - next section in front of his house. 31 -- Binnui son of Henadad - next section from the house of Azariah to the point where the wall angles again and to the corner. 32 -- Palal son of Uzai - from the angle of the wall to the tower which projects from the king’s house by the court of the prison. 33 -- Pedaiah son of Parosh - next section. 34 -- Temple attendants who lived in Ophel - next section, as far as a point opposite the Water Gate and the tower that projects out. 35 -- The Tekoites - next section, from the high tower that projects out to Ophel. 36 -- The priests - section above the Horse Gate, each priest rebuilding in front of his own house. 37 -- Zadok son of Immer - section of wall next to his house. 38 -- Shemaiah son of Shecaniah, gatekeeper for the East Gate - next section. 39 -- Hananiah son of Shelemiah and Hanun the sixth son of Zalaph - next section. 40 -- Meshullam son of Berechiah - section in front of his house. 41 -- Malchijah, one of the goldsmiths - section as far as the house of the temple attendants and of the merchants, opposite the Muster Gate, and on to the upper room of the corner. 42 -- The goldsmiths and the merchants - section between the upper room of the corner and the Sheep Gate.

COMMENTARY

THE WALLS AND GATES OF JERUSALEM

Long before the birth of Jesus and continuing into the early sixteenth century AD., every city of any importance built stone walls around its outer limits to protect itself from attack. They were thick and high, usually with towers and walkways where sentries could keep guard. The walls still standing in the Old City of Jerusalem range from four to fourteen inches thick, and from thirty to fifty feet high. Time after time throughout history, this city’s walls have been built, destroyed and rebuilt, though not always in the same place. Jerusalem’s first walls were erected around 1800 B.C. When King David captured the city eight hundred years later, he made Jerusalem his capital and rebuilt the walls, extending the city northward. Hezekiah’s repairs, three hundred years after that, lasted until 586 B.C., when the Babylonians razed the city. Almost a century passed before Nehemiah surveyed the destruction of the walls in the secret of the night. The walls he then rebuilt lie many feet under those that stand today. Architects since Nehemiah include the Roman rulers Herod, Agrippa and Hadrian, the medieval Christian Crusaders from Europe and the Turkish king Suleiman the Magnificent in the sixteenth century. In ancient times, the walls were interrupted with bronze-plated gates. At sundown, the gates were closed and bolted with iron bars, not to be opened until sunrise. Any travelers who arrived after dark were carefully questioned by the sentries on duty throughout the night. Guards kept watch in towers over each gateway. Many of the gates mentioned by name in the Old Testament have been destroyed, along with their adjoining walls. A few were rebuilt in a place nearby the old and given the same name or, in some cases, an entirely new one. In Bible times, sunrise transformed the broad space directly inside each gate into a throng of activity. Merchants set up booths to sell their wares. People met and talked while children played nearby. In the long-ago past, prophets delivered speeches there; in the recent past, heralds proclaimed important news. Before modern times, friendless strangers and country people with no better lodging, wrapped their cloaks around them at the close of the day and slept for the night at the foot of the gate.