Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah 11:1-2 (NIV)
Wendy and I built our house ten years ago. It’s hard to believe it was a decade ago. Not once in my life had I considered it something that I would do. I found the process both fascinating and challenging. Wendy and I have often spoken about the fact that she would absolutely do it again. She’d love to apply all of the things we learned and mistakes we made in creating a new space. I, on the other hand, would be perfectly content never to do it again. Building is a lot of work.
In all of the times I’ve read the story of Nehemiah, I tend to forget that when Nehemiah and the Hebrews rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem, they were building a wall around what was essentially a rubble heap. The Babylonians had utterly destroyed the city and Solomon’s Temple. Those who had resettled in the area mostly lived in outlying towns where they could survive raising crops and herds. Rebuilding the wall was the necessary Phase One project. With walls and gates in place, Jerusalem was relatively safe from enemy attack, but now the real work begins. Phase Two is making the city inhabitable and creating a community within the walls.
Today’s chapter begins with people casting lots to determine who would move inside the city walls and take up residence. They cast lots because it wasn’t something most people wanted to do. Living inside the city walls would be inconvenient, even dangerous.
Homes had to be made from the rubble. Not an easy task, nor a comfortable life while it was in process.
You were leaving the safety and security of fields and flocks (in which food was easily grown and raised) for plying a trade inside the city in a market that hadn’t been established and might not be stable.
Inside the city is where the Persian Empire’s officials, soldiers, and emissaries would be stationed (protected by the walls and gates), which meant that anyone living inside the city was under the watchful eye of the Empire, and perhaps its punitive authority.
The main activity inside the city was the Temple. Most of those living inside the City were priests and Levites in charge of the Temple’s system of sacrifices and offerings. Being a resident inside the city also meant you were under the constant religious scrutiny of the priests. There was greater pressure to follow the rules, make prescribed tithes and offerings, and maintain ritual purity than if you lived out in the fields where no one is watching.
And, while the city had walls and gates, it would be the first place that enemies would lay siege and attack. Living inside the City came with the dangers of that constant threat and the responsibility to assist with the city’s defensive needs of watchmen, guards, and gatekeepers.
I find it interesting that Nehemiah’s prescribed draft lottery to determine who would live inside the city was based on one in every ten families. The the Law of Moses, ten percent was always the prescribed amount of tithes God ask to bring as offerings to the Temple. In this case, the tithe being brought inside the city to the Temple were the people themselves. Sometimes what God requires is not my produce, but my presence.
In the early stages of our house being built, right after it was framed, Wendy and I invited our friends to come and bless it. On the concrete foundation, the wood studs and the plywood, we and our friends wrote blessings, prayers, and promises. The were many phases of building yet to be done. It would be months before the house was finished and we would move in.
In the quiet this morning, I’m reminded that Nehemiah and the Hebrews are at a similar place in their project. The walls are just the framing. There’s still a lot of hard work ahead. Sometimes, God needs people who simply have the faith and willingness to show up and do what needs to be done.
A good reminder on a Monday morning. Time to get to work!
If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.
