Article November 19, 1984 Issue

Take refuge behind the wall

EDMONDE L. ST. JOHN

Nehemiah made just such a move. After the walls of Jerusalem were half rebuilt, Sanballat and Tobiah banded together with other common enemies of the city in an effort to hinder the building.

However, Nehemiah, confident that God had appointed him to carry out the task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, made a strategic move. As the Revised Standard Version translates the difficult Hebrew text: "In the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in open places, I stationed the people according to their families, with their swords, their spears, and their bows."Neh. 4:13.

One Bible commentary suggests that the workmen were sent to "cleared places" within the wall so that they could continue the work in safety. The Interpreter's Bible (Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 1951–1957), III, 702 . When it was evident that the enemies realized their efforts had failed, Nehemiah sent the people back to higher places on the wall to continue—and ultimately complete—the fortification.

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