Now the city was large and spacious, but there were few people in it, and the houses had not yet been rebuilt. – Nehemiah 7:4

Today’s Scripture Reading (July 21, 2014): Nehemiah 7

Detroit is the foremost example of urban decline. While a number of North American cities reached their population peak in the 1950’s along with Detroit, the decline that the Michigan city has suffered since that time has been extensive. In 1950, the population in Detroit was 1,850,000. In 2013, the population had dropped by over a million people to 701,000. The result has been that the city is plagued with high crime and often struggles to offer even basic services. Almost half of the properties in the city have tax bills that currently remain unpaid. Whole city blocks in Detroit lay vacant or only have one or two residents – and in late 2013 Detroit became the largest city to ever file for bankruptcy.

But the unanswered question would seem to be where does Detroit go from here? City planners are working at plans to consolidate residents into populated areas so that the expenses of providing for basic services can be handled in an economical manner. But the bottom line is that for Detroit to truly recover, there needs to be a plan for growth and a way to revitalize the business community. A revitalization of Detroit’s corporate identity would bring with it a reduction in the unemployment rate of the city and as well as the repopulation of the vacant areas. And this in turn would make a serious reduction in the city’s skyrocketing crime rate. And on paper it seems to be so easy, but the unfortunate reality is that a solution to the problem of Detroit’s decline is anything but simple. And a true solution can only begin with an understanding of where Detroit stands right now.

Jerusalem was vacant. The exiles that came up with Zerubbabel numbered over 42,000. And many more had returned home with Ezra. But the reality of the situation is that it seemed most of the returnees had decided to settle in the smaller towns and rural areas of Judah. The problem was that Jerusalem was in such bad shape that there was no reason for people to return to the capital city. It was imply easier to resettle somewhere else than it was to rebuild Jerusalem - and so Jerusalem remained a desolate and empty space.

Nehemiah hoped that he rebuilding that had started in the city would begin to attract more people into the city. Specifically, the walls were now complete providing increased security for the city residents, but Nehemiah also knew that was only one of the puzzle pieces. The rebuilding of Jerusalem was not quite as simple as rebuilding then walls. Decline still had the urban city in its grip with only a few families inhabiting the space inside of the walls. In order for more people to inhabit the city, the houses would have to be rebuilt – but before that could happen Nehemiah would have to evaluate exactly who was living in the city and where it was that Jerusalem stood right now.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nehemiah 8