From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah … Nehemiah 4:16

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 18, 2014): Nehemiah 4

It would seem that as soon as man learned how to fight, we also started to understand the importance of defensive structures that would keep us safe. Humans began building walls to stop an impending attack as soon as we started to gather together to live in communities. The city of Uruk, often believed to be the same city as Erech in Genesis  10 and the second city – after Babylon – to be planted by Nimrod the Warrior, is the earliest of the walled cities. Uruk reached the height of its culture and influence by around 4000 B.C.E and it is thought that the city was already walled at this time.

Defensive walls allowed for people to hunker down behind them for significant periods of time as long as the city had access to a source of fresh water and enough food to maintain the people of the city. As long as a city hid behind its walls, all that the attacking army could really do was wait it out, a method of attack known as a ‘siege.’ But maybe even more significantly. A walled city could close its gates at dusk and then be defended by a small group of men while the city slept. The wall provided a sense of peace and security to the people within the city. While a small group of men could terrorize open communities, they would have no ability to terrorize a walled city.

So it is not surprising that Nehemiah, as a provisional Governor, supported the rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. And the job probably went swiftly during the early stages. During the first part of the rebuilding, the walls did not look like they posed much of a threat. But as the rubble from the old walls began to be removed and the height of the new walls rose higher, the enemies of Jerusalem began to sense a problem. If the walls were allowed to be continued to be built, then the city of Jerusalem would become a secure a place, and possibly even a place where armies could be housed so that they could terrorize the enemies of Judah during the day and rest securely during the night. So the enemies of the city began to plan their attack on the walls and there builders.

And Nehemiah responded. At this point of the project he began to divide his forces. Some of the people needed to keep building the walls. The walls were the only thing that was going to provide future security for the city. But a portion of the men would have to be kept for the defense of the city while the builders built. It is possible that these men were simply servants of Nehemiah, but it is also possible that these defenders were the armed forces that Artaxerxes had sent with Nehemiah to keep him safe on his trip (there seems to be no indication of these professional troops being sent back home.) And behind them were the leaders of the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah seems to indicate that the support of the whole city was being demonstrated behind those who were providing the crucial service of constructing the walls.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 5