Rebuilding the Wall

Reading the book of Nehemiah recently, I wondered why there is so much detail about the people who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem given in chapter 3.

Sometimes, there are individual names given along with family names:

Nehemiah 3:6 (NASB): “Now Jeoiada the son of Paseah and Meshullam the son of Besodeiah…”

Sometimes, groups of people are listed rather than individuals.

Nehemiah 3:2a (NASB): “And next to him the men of Jericho built.”

Sometimes their work is described in general terms.

Nehemiah 3:4 (NASB): “Next to them Meremoth the son of Uriah the son of Hakkoz made repairs.”

Sometimes, God notes those who did not work.

Nehemiah 3:5 (NASB): Moreover, next to him the Tekoites made repairs, but their nobles did not support the work of their masters.

Sometimes their work is described in detail:

Nehemiah 3:15 (NASB): “Shallum the son of Colhozeh, the official of the district of Mizpah, repaired the Fountain Gate. He built it, made a roof for it, and installed its doors with its bolts and its bars and the wall of the Pool of Shelah at the king’s garden as far as the steps that descend from the city of David.”

Sometimes there is additional biographical information given:

Nehemiah 3:12 (NASB) “Next to him Shallum the son of Hallohesh, the official of half the district of Jerusalem, made repairs, he and his daughters.”

Here we learn that Shallum was an official and that his daughters also took part in the rebuilding! In other verses, we learn that some of the rebuilders were performers or goldsmiths or merchants. Many were city officials. Many of the rebuilders worked on the section of the wall that was directly in front of their house. Some worked on the section within their jurisdiction as officials.

So why all these details? I don’t know all the reasons why God supplied so much detail in this account, but it certainly reflects the importance of the work. It also shows how God recognized the labor of individuals and groups in this work.

In reading this account, I thought about the great diversity in the Body of Christ written about in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, and other places. I thought about how each individual Christian saint has a function or functions given to them by God, and how each is needed. Just as Joiada and Meshullam repaired the Ancient Gate, not the Fountain Gate, so each person in the Body of Christ is given their own role or function, and not another’s. All are needed. What a blessed reality.

Romans 12:4-5 (NASB)

For just as we have many parts in one body and all the body’s parts do not have the same function,

so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually parts of one another.