Neh 3:8-13 | KingComments | STEP | The next builders introduced to us are men whose professions we also know. Uzziel means ‘power of God’. He is a goldsmith. Hananiah means ‘Yahweh has favored’. He is a perfumer. A goldsmith works with the most precious metal and has to be accurate. A perfumer works with all kinds of oils and fragrant spices. A goldsmith decorates people and materials. A perfumer provides means of care for the body, making it smell good and also helping in healing sick parts of the body. From a spiritual point of view, such people are indispensable. They are the ‘fine’ workers, with an eye for detail. They are capable of decorating and caring for the members of the church. We recognize them in the shepherds and teachers. There is a piece of wall to which they don’t have to do anything. The Broad Wall has remained intact. This wall has defied all attacks. In the lives of believers or churches there can be weak spots as well as strong spots. Some truths are unknown. Then there must be upbuilding, education, or else the devil will use ignorance to penetrate. Other truths, on the other hand, are well known and one is well able to defend that truth against attacks ( ).

‏ Nehemiah 3:8-13

Uzziel and Hananiah

The next builders introduced to us are men whose professions we also know. Uzziel means ‘power of God’. He is a goldsmith. Hananiah means ‘Yahweh has favored’. He is a perfumer.

A goldsmith works with the most precious metal and has to be accurate. A perfumer works with all kinds of oils and fragrant spices. A goldsmith decorates people and materials. A perfumer provides means of care for the body, making it smell good and also helping in healing sick parts of the body.

From a spiritual point of view, such people are indispensable. They are the ‘fine’ workers, with an eye for detail. They are capable of decorating and caring for the members of the church. We recognize them in the shepherds and teachers.

There is a piece of wall to which they don’t have to do anything. The Broad Wall has remained intact. This wall has defied all attacks. In the lives of believers or churches there can be weak spots as well as strong spots. Some truths are unknown. Then there must be upbuilding, education, or else the devil will use ignorance to penetrate. Other truths, on the other hand, are well known and one is well able to defend that truth against attacks (1Thes 5:1-2).

Rephaiah

We come to Rephaiah, which means “Yahweh healed’. He occupies a prominent position. He is in charge of overseeing half of the area that belongs to Jerusalem. It is an area outside Jerusalem. He knows that area and will have known its dangers. This will have been an extra incentive for him to make Jerusalem a safe area.

Those who have special responsibilities outside the city of God and therefore know social life well will not withdraw from their part in the building of the wall. They know better than many others the dangers from social life that threaten the life in the city of God, the church.

Jedaiah – Hattush

Jedaiah

A special feature of Jedaiah is that he “repairs opposite his house”. This important characteristic is also found in Neh 3:23 ; 28 ; 29 ; 30. Repairing opposite his own house is about caring for his own family. Every father’s first concern should be to separate his family for God. Anyone who wants to be faithful personally will be aware of this. The blessing for the church of families dedicated to God cannot be overestimated. A church is as strong as the families of which it is made up.

The name Jedaiah means, among other things, ‘one that invokes the LORD’. Jedaiah is a worshiper. Prayer is the foundation on which he builds his house. Is the wall of our family prayer, or is prayer for our family in ruins? Shouldn’t repairs be started there?

Maybe we started the first years of marriage this way, but we no longer pray as husband and wife and as a family. Now there are often harsh and bitter words, there is an unpleasant atmosphere, the children no longer feel the security of the past. Perhaps the children have felt this for a long time and have become indifferent to spiritual things.

Then let us go back to the wall of prayer. Let us begin and end the day again by calling upon God. Maybe husband and wife should tell each other that they have not prayed together anymore. Then let them get down on their knees and find each other again before God.

Hattush

Hattush is just another one of those people whose of only mention is his father’s name. But he’s in God’s memorial book. It is written of him with indelible ink that he also contributed to the construction of the wall.

Malchijah and Hasshub – the Tower of Furnaces

Malchijah and Hasshub

Both men come from families who came with Zerubbabel from Babel (Ezra 2:6 ; 32). They repair a second part of the wall. Probably it does not mean that they have already done a first part, but that the wall is divided into several parts and that they are working on the second part.

Not everyone is called to start a work of the Lord. Some may be called to continue a work. One is no less than the other. In this example we see how much we complement each other. Not only are we doing a work together with others, but we are also ensuring the progress of a work that the Lord wants to uphold.

The Tower of Furnaces

It is not inconceivable that the Tower of Furnaces is located in the bakers’ street. That is the street from where Jeremiah gets one loaf of bread a day when he is in prison (Jer 37:21). In the tower are several furnaces where bread is baked for the city. It is a beautiful work to restore that tower.

It is important that there is a tower in the wall where food is prepared for the inhabitants of the city. This tower serves on the one hand as a lookout and thus speaks of vigilance in view of an approaching enemy. On the other hand, this tower speaks of food supply for the inhabitants of the city.

Shallum and His Daughters

His prominent position (cf. Neh 3:5) did not prevent Shallum from getting his hands dirty and taking part in the building of the wall. He is not only socially a colleague of Rephaiah (Neh 3:9), but also spiritually he has the same interest. He does not visit the parties with his colleague where good business can be done. They are not looking for better facilities in their own district. Together they are convinced that they serve their district best if they help to ensure the safety of the city of God.

A Christian who, as a highly educated official, is responsible for many disciplines, serves his business best if he is first and foremost committed to the city of God.

As a peculiarity, it is mentioned that his daughters also help to build the wall. This is the only time we read of women helping. Women have their own task in the building, which cannot be done by men. There are women who serve the Lord with their goods (Lk 8:2-3), who prophesy (Acts 21:9), who struggle in the gospel (Phil 4:2-3), who are servants of the church (Rom 16:1-2).

In addition to himself, Shallum does not consider his daughters too good to play their part in this heavy work. We do not read of anyone who is working together with his sons. The only time there is talk of someone working on the wall with his children is here.

There’s no indication of the age of these daughters. The impression is that they’re young women. There may be an application here. There are complaints here and there that there is not much youth. It is also not easy for a young believer to have no one in a local church in their own age group. For these daughters, however, the absence of other young people did not prevent them from helping their father with the building. If young people see their parents faithfully doing their part in rebuilding the wall around the city of God, they will join in.

If there is sincerity, the Lord will bless that faithfulness. It will attract others who also want to live with and for the Lord.

The Valley Gate – Hanun and the Inhabitants of Zanoah

The Valley Gate

We’re approaching the fourth gate, the Valley Gate. We have also looked at it before (Neh 2:13-15). That gate has also been destroyed and must be rebuilt.

Spiritually speaking, the Valley Gate speaks of humility, humiliation, humbleness. If we are going to boast, the Valley Gate will be destroyed. That happens when we start using the things God has given us to make ourselves important. That’s what the people of Jerusalem have done, that’s what the church is doing now. In the church in Laodicea we find the spirit of pride in full display (Rev 3:15-17). It is a representation of the spirit that is everywhere present in the church. The rebuilding of the Valley Gate can begin when we humble ourselves, both toward God and toward one another (1Pet 5:5-6).

The third gate, the Old Gate, is reminiscent of what is from the beginning (Neh 3:6). Rebuilding that gate is important. Equally important is that the rebuilding of the Valley Gate follows. If we think of God’s ideal (‘the Old Gate’), of how He wants the church to be, and we see how far we have deviated from that, it will bring us to the rebuilding of the Valley Gate. It will lead us to humble ourselves.

Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah

The Valley Gate is restored by Hanun, which means favored, and the inhabitants of Zanoah, which means rejected. In these names we find what is needed to restore the Valley Gate. We may be engaged in the awareness that we stand in the favor or grace of God (Rom 5:2). We are gifted or made pleasant in the Beloved (Eph 1:6).

When we realize something of the grace that has been given to us, there is no room for any boast of our own. We will not glory in our “arrogance”, which is called an evil boasting (Jam 4:16). We will not boast of our gifts while we are blind to the sin found in the church. That boasting is not good (1Cor 5:1 ; 6). On the contrary, there will be, besides the awareness of being gifted, also the awareness that everything of ourselves must be rejected by God. This does not only concern our sins and iniquities. We will see this for ourselves as well. But precisely all our righteous deeds “are like a filthy garment” (Isa 64:6).

These men are also building a large part of wall, no less than a thousand cubits. It is possible that the wall has not been torn down to the ground here and that more can be repaired in the same time than the time needed for other parts to be repaired from the ground.