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 Finlayson, T. Carapbeii. 
 
 Nehetmah : his character and work : a pra 
 
 exDOSilion 
 
NEHEMIAH: 
 
 IIIS CHARACTER AND WORK 
 
 ^ i^ractical dE.ipo^itioiu 
 
 BV 
 
 T. CAMPBELL FINLAYSON, 
 
 author of 
 "the christian voyage," etc. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY, 
 
 56, Paternoster Row; 65, St. Pall's Ciilrciivaku ; 
 
 AND 164, PiCCAUlLLV. 
 
a be 6rfsbiun |)tfJis : 
 
 UNWIN BROTHERS, PRINTERS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON* 
 
;noo — . 
 
 
 ''>'/»/fr::'-ir.'.>t^'^ 
 
 /^ 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 I. THE BROKEN WALLS 
 IL THE PIOUS PATRIOT 
 in. THE MAN OP^ BUSINESS . 
 IV. RIDICULE CONFRONTED . 
 V. HONOURABLE MENTION . 
 VI. THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS . 
 VII. THE FRIEND OF THE POOR 
 VIII. STRATAGEM DEFEATED . 
 IX. THE CITY REPLENISHED . 
 X. THE FEAST OF GLADNESS 
 XL THE FAST AND THE COVENANT 
 XII. THE DEDICATION OF THE WALL 
 XIII. THE PERSISTENT REFORMER . 
 
 5 
 
 15 
 27 
 
 37 
 45 
 S3 
 67 
 83 
 
 99 
 
 109 
 
 125 
 141 
 151 
 
" Why hast Thou then broken down her hedges, so that all 
 hey which pass by the way do pluck her?" — Psalvi Ixxx. 12. 
 
 " lie that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is 
 broken down, and without walls." — Proverbs xxv. 28. 
 
I. 
 
 THE BROKEN WALLS. 
 
 Nchcmiah i. 1-3. 
 
 THE Book of Nchcmiah is, in greater 
 part at least, a "chapter of autobio- 
 graphy." Most of it is written in the first 
 person, and purports to come from the pen of 
 Nehemiah himself There is no reason to 
 doubt that he was the author of this portion 
 of the narrative ; and possibly he may have 
 also written those portions which look as if 
 they might have come from the hand of some 
 other chronicler. The book gives an account 
 of the work done by Nehemiah whilst he was 
 Governor of Jerusalem ; his reformation of 
 existing abuses ; the religious revival which, 
 
6 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 in conjunction with Ezra, he was instrumental 
 in effecting ; and, more especially, the great 
 work in which he was himself the prime 
 mov^er — the restoration of the broken walls of 
 the city. ' 
 
 A brief retrospective glance into Hebrew 
 history will enable us better to understand 
 the condition of affairs which now drew forth 
 the energies of Nehemiah. After Solomon 
 died, the nation, in consequence of the revolt 
 of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, was split 
 into two kingdoms — the kingdom of Israel, 
 with its capital Samaria ; and the kingdom 
 of Judah, with its capital Jerusalem. After 
 being governed by a succession of monarchs, 
 the kingdom of Israel was finally overthrown 
 by the Assyrians : Samaria was taken, and 
 Israel carried away into captivity. About 
 a century and a half later, a similar doom 
 befell the kingdom of Judah. The Baby- 
 lonians, who had meanwhile risen into 
 supremacy, came down upon Jerusalem, 
 overthrew its walls, burnt the Temple and 
 the other principal buildings of the city, and 
 carried away into exile the great bulk of the 
 
THE BROKEN WALLS. 7 
 
 Jewish people. Then, half a century later, 
 Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, and thus 
 Persia became, in turn, the mistress of the 
 world. The exiled Jews now found in Cyrus 
 a more lenient master : a royal decree was 
 issued permitting them to return to the 
 country of their fathers. About 42,000 Jews i 
 took advantage of this opportunity, and went 
 back to Jerusalem under Zerubbabel, who was 
 the representative and heir of the royal house 
 of Judah. Of course, Zerubbabel in Jerusalem 
 was simply a '' pasha," or governor, under the 
 Persian king ; but he and the returned Jews 
 set to work, and by-and-by, stimulated by 
 the prophets Haggai end Zechariah, they 
 succeeded in rebuilding the Temple. Fifty 
 years afterwards Ezra the priest came from 
 Babylon with another company of nearly 
 2,000 Jews, bringing with him a large free-will 
 offering of silver and gold for the enriching 
 and beautifying of the Temple ; and then, 
 about fourteen years after this coming of Ezra, 
 Nehemiah appears on the scene. 
 
 ' Some think tliat this was the number of luen, representing 
 a population (including women, children, and servants) of about 
 200,000. 
 
8 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 Let us, then, carry our thoughts back to 
 the year 445 B.C. — about ninety years after 
 the return of the first Jewish colony under 
 Zerubbabel. The whole of Palestine was 
 simply a province of the great Persian empire, 
 and the population of Palestine was now of 
 a strangely mixed character. In addition to 
 the Jews themselves, there were not only 
 descendants of the native races of the countr}-, 
 but also colonists from Assyria, Babylon, and 
 Persia, who had come into Palestine since the 
 Captivity. These heathen inhabitants of the 
 country had to some extent intermarried with 
 those Jews who had been left behind at the 
 time of the Captivity ; and they also were 
 subject to the Persian rule, and were governed 
 in their various districts by representatives 
 of the Persian monarch. One of the most 
 powerful sections of this heathen or half- 
 heathen population had its head-quarters in 
 Samaria. These Samaritans, who were partly 
 Israelitish in their origin and sympathies, had 
 at first offered to assist Zerubbabel in his 
 work of rebuilding the Temple ; but, on his 
 declining their proffered assistance, they had 
 
THE BROKEN WALLS. 9 
 
 become the most bitter rivals and enemies 
 of the returned Jewish colony. In common 
 with the neighbouring heathen populations, 
 they were now exceedingly jealous of the 
 restoration of Jerusalem ; and, as we shall 
 see, they threw all possible obstacles in the 
 way of Nehemiah, just as they had previously 
 attempted to hinder Zerubbabel. And wc 
 know that this antipathy between the Jews 
 and the mixed population of Samaria con- 
 tinued until the time of our Lord ; for we 
 read in the Gospel narrative that " the Jews 
 have no dealings with the Samaritans." 
 
 We are, therefore, to picture the little Jewish 
 colony — ninety years after the return from the 
 exile— as now occupying Jerusalem and the 
 immediate neighbourhood, and as surrounded 
 by these various heathen and half-heathen 
 tribes, more or less hostile. Although the 
 Temple had been rebuilt and beautified, yet 
 the walls and gates of the city were lying 
 desolate. Probably they had never been 
 repaired since the breaches made at the time 
 of the Babylonian conquest ; or if, during the 
 governorship of Zerubbabel, they had been in 
 
lo NEHEMIAH, 
 
 any measure rebuilt, the hostile Samaritans 
 and other tribes may have once more laid 
 them waste. In any case, Jerusalem was 
 practically an unfortified city, lying open to 
 the attacks of her neighbouring and vigilant 
 foes ; and this was the condition of affairs 
 which was now brought under the notice of 
 Nehemiah. 
 
 Nehemiah was at this time cup-bearer to 
 Artaxerxes, the king of Persia, and was 
 resident in the royal palace at Susa. This 
 post of " cup-bearer " seems to have been one 
 of considerable dignity and wealth ; and 
 Nehemiah seems to have been a favourite 
 with the monarch. Doubtless he must have 
 had some idea of the difficulties to which the 
 returned settlers were exposed in distant 
 Jerusalem, but probably he had never realized 
 their actual condition. Now, however, certain 
 Jews, who had perhaps been on a pilgrimage 
 to the Holy City, came to Susa ; and amongst 
 these Jews was his own " brother," or relative, 
 Hanani. Nehemiah takes this opportunity 
 of inquiring minutely into the circumstances 
 of the Jewish colony ; and he receives from 
 
THE BROKEN WALLS. ii 
 
 Hanani a vivid and grievous description of 
 the broken walls and burnt gates of Jerusalem, 
 and of the reproach and antagonism to which 
 its citizens were subjected. It was, indeed, 
 a sad and ignominious state of affairs. "A 
 city broken down, and without walls," was, 
 according to the Hebrew proverb, like " a 
 man that hath no rule over his own spirit." 
 Such a man lies open to the incursions of 
 evil. His lack of self-control exposes him 
 to the contempt of his neighbours, even of 
 those who take advantage of his weakness. 
 His soul cannot prosper until, by learning to 
 govern himself, he fortifies his nature against 
 the assaults of temptation. And similarly, 
 under the conditions of life in those old times, 
 no city could well be expected to prosper, so 
 long as it remained unwalled. When the 
 Hebrew prophet predicted the doom of Baby- 
 lon, the overthrow of her '* broad walls " and 
 her " high gates " was one of the prominent 
 features of his picture. An unfortified city* 
 provoked contempt and invited attack ; and 
 the feeling of insecurity which was thus en- 
 gendered tended both to weaken the ener- 
 
12 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 gles of its citizens, and to prevent the influx 
 of new inhabitants. For ninety years the 
 Jews had been strugghng on under this dis- 
 ability. But now Jerusalem was no longer 
 to lie waste. " The hour and the man " had 
 come. 
 
II. 
 
 TH£; PIOUS PftTI^IOT. 
 
" If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her 
 cunmr)g."—Psal>!i cxxxvii. 5. 
 
 "And when He was come near, He beheld the city, and wept 
 over it." — LuAc xix. 41. 
 
 " Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, 
 that they might be saved."— /?om<7MS x. i. 
 
II. 
 
 THE PIOUS PATRIOT. 
 
 N'choniah i. 4-II. 
 
 WHEN Nehemlah received from his 
 brother Hanani the painful intelli- 
 gence as to the actual condition of the Jewish 
 colony, his heart became heavy with sorrow. 
 He longed to do something for his fatherland. 
 With his practical sagacity he perceived that, 
 if the sad state of Jerusalem was to be 
 remedied at all, it must be by some one who 
 had influence at the Persian court, and who 
 could go, empowered by the king's authority, 
 to carry on and complete the restoration of 
 the city and the settlement of the colony. 
 Why, then, should not he himself be the 
 man ? And so he prays earnestly to God ; 
 
1 6 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 and, meanwhile, he watches for an oppor- 
 tunity of asking the king to grant him leave 
 of absence and authority to repair the forti- 
 fications of Jerusalem. 
 
 Here, then, two features of Nehemiah's 
 character come at once into view— his piety 
 and his patriotism. 
 
 That he was a man of piety appears from 
 the manner in which he received the intelli- 
 gence from Judah. The sad news drove him 
 to fasting and prayer, and deepened within 
 him the feeling of penitence on account of his 
 own sins and the sins of his countrymen. He 
 humbled himself before God. He recognized 
 in the present condition of his people the 
 chastising hand of the Most High. He calls 
 to recollection the Divine threatenings of 
 which he had read in the history of Moses, 
 and he confesses that Israel had deserved the 
 execution of those threatenings. But he also 
 calls to recollection the promise of Jehovah 
 that, if the Israelites would only turn unto 
 Him, and do His commandments, He would 
 crather them out of the nations, and bring 
 them again to their fatherland. And so this 
 
THE no us PA TRIO T. 1 7 
 
 man, who was no priest by vocation, ventures, 
 nevertheless, in the true priestly spirit, to 
 intercede with God on behalf of his country- 
 men. Identifying himself thoroughly with 
 his people, he confesses his own sins, and the 
 sins of his father's house, and the sins of 
 Israel. He thus recognizes the sanctity of 
 the laws which they had all been violating, 
 and acknowledges the righteousness of the 
 Divine dealings in vindication of those laws. 
 Then he casts himself upon the covenant- 
 keeping God, and appeals to the Divine 
 mercy and faithfulness on behalf of his 
 afflicted countrymen. And, thinking of the 
 project which he himself has in view, he prays 
 that God would grant him favour in the sight 
 of Artaxerxes. Nehemiah was not troubled 
 with any of our modern difficulties on the 
 subject of prayer. It never occurred to him 
 to doubt whether there was any use in asking 
 God to prosper his plans. He was about to 
 request Artaxerxes to aid him in his project ; 
 and he believed that, if the king of Persia 
 could render him needful help, much more 
 could the King of kings bless and prosper 
 
 2 
 
1 8 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 his enterprise. And so, with childlike sin^- 
 plicity, he lays his desires before God ; and, 
 believing that God has His own hidden ways 
 of influencing the minds and wills of men, he 
 earnestly asks that he may receive favour in 
 the sight of the king. 
 
 Now, this simple, genuine piety is all the 
 more remarkable when we consider that 
 Nehemiah was a courtier in a heathen palace. 
 He had probably been born and bred in the 
 land of exile ; and, although he was doubt- 
 less trained with more or less strictness in 
 the religion of his fathers, yet we know only 
 too well how the lessons of piety which are 
 learnt in childhood may - fade before the 
 temptations of later years. Moreover, the 
 splendours and luxuries of court-life are not 
 commonly supposed to furnish the best soil 
 for the growth of godliness ; and the atmo- 
 sphere, especially of a heathen palace, must 
 have been laden with corrupting influences of 
 worldliness and vice. Nehemiah must surely 
 have resisted many a temptation in that 
 Persian court, or his piety would not have so 
 preserved its vitality as to manifest itself in 
 
THE PIOUS PATRIOT, 19 
 
 this r[istin<,r and penitence, and earnest, child- 
 like pra\'cr. 
 
 Then, again, his /crZ/vW/V/;/ is as conspicuous 
 as his piety. Although probably he had 
 never looked upon Jerusalem, yet no sooner 
 docs he realize the actual condition of his 
 far-distant countrymen, than his heart is filled 
 with profound sorrow and with an earnest 
 longing to proceed at once to their'help. He 
 had doubtless read in the sacred books con- 
 cerning the earlier glories of his people, and 
 probably he was familiar with snatches of 
 psalm and prophecy which told of the former 
 grandeur of Jerusalem, and the lofty destiny 
 of Israel. And so his heart yearned towards 
 his fatherland. Splendid as was the Susa 
 palace, the holy city towards which he turned 
 in his devotions was dearer to his heart ; and 
 he longed to be the means of restoring her 
 battered walls and gates, and giving back to 
 her some touch of her former greatness. He 
 was willing, moreover, to make no little sacri- 
 fice in the cause of patriotism. Even in 
 asking the king for leave of absence on such 
 a mission, he was probably risking the royal 
 
20 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 displeasure. No one could well predict how 
 an Oriental despot would be likely to regard 
 such a request. All might depend on the 
 whim or caprice of the moment. That 
 Nehemiah should wish to exchange Susa for 
 Jerusalem — that he should desire to quit, 
 even for a time, the sunlight of the royal 
 presence which was condescending to shine 
 upon him — might possibly be viewed as an 
 insult. The very fact that he was a favourite 
 might only increase the royal irritation. A 
 tyrant likes his pets to appreciate their privi- 
 leges ; and Nehemiah, by asking for leave of 
 absence, might only lose the royal favour and 
 be deposed from his office. Then, again, 
 even if his request should be granted, he 
 would have to sacrifice, for a time, all the 
 luxury and ease of his present position ; he 
 would have to subject himself to toil and 
 danger ; he would have to face the arduous 
 journey between Susa and Jerusalem ; and 
 then, after arriving in the city of his fathers, 
 he would have to confront the hostility of the 
 surrounding tribes, and might even have to 
 exchange the courtier's robes for the soldier's 
 
THE no us PA TRIO T. 2 1 
 
 armour. But all these sacrifices Nehemiah 
 was prepared to make in the cause of patriot- 
 ism. His court-life had not enervated his 
 spirit. We are naturally reminded of Moses, ^ 
 who, amid all the splendours of the Egyp- 
 tian palace, longed to deliver his oppressed 
 brethren, and " chose rather to suffer affliction 
 with the people of God " than to be " called 
 the son of Pharaoh's daughter." Nehemiah, 
 it may be, had often read that old story with 
 the thrill of admiration and the glow of 
 national pride ; and possibly it may have 
 helped to keep alive within him, amid all the 
 influences of the Persian court, the fervours 
 of a faithful and enthusiastic patriotism. 
 
 An intelligent and manly piety does not 
 destroy or despise any of the natural affec- 
 tions. There is, indeed, a " pietism " which 
 makes light of the tics of home and kindred, 
 which disparages patriotism, as if it were in- 
 consistent with the universal love inspired by 
 the Gospel, or which even ventures to taboo 
 politics as a worldly region which a spiritual 
 man ought rather to avoid. Let us beware of 
 this false spirituality. The world of natural 
 
2 2 NE HE MI A FT. 
 
 human relationships is God's world, and not 
 the devil's ; and if the devil has intruded 
 into it, there is all the more need that it 
 should be occupied by the earnest soldiers of 
 God. Pietism may say, " Never mind the 
 condition of the walls of Jerusalem : souls 
 are the grand concern." But, in point of fact, 
 the condition of walls may sometimes affect 
 the condition of souls. Things external often 
 stand in subtle relation to things spiritual. 
 The body influences the mind ; and the out- 
 ward conditions of national existence may 
 stand in the closest connection with the reli- 
 gious life of a people. Besides, it is natural 
 that we should love our own country with a 
 special affection ; and a true religion does not 
 destroy but consecrates all natural attach- 
 ments. We may learn from Nehemiah that 
 piety is not incompatible with a practical in- 
 terest in the prosperity of our country ; and 
 a Greater than Nehemiah has shown us, 
 when He wept over doomed Jerusalem, that 
 the loftiest spiritualit;^ may co-exist with the 
 intensest patriotism. ' Our young men ought 
 to be taught that it is their duty, as well as 
 
THE PIOUS PATRIOT. 23 
 
 their privilege, to interest themselves in the 
 affairs of their country, and to qualify them- 
 selves for taking an intelligent share in the 
 obligations of citizenship. 
 
 On the other hand, there are many poli- 
 ticians who are no patriots ; and there is also 
 a patriotism in which there is no godliness. 
 There are men who take the keenest interest 
 in politics, merely because it furnishes an 
 arena for the exercise of their faculties, the 
 display of their talents, and the furtherance 
 of their ambitions. And there are also true 
 patriots — real lovers of their country — who 
 yet never recognize the hand of God in 
 national history, who never think of praying 
 to God in connection with their plans, or of 
 submitting their political projects and methods 
 to the test of His will. Now, if a man's 
 patriotism is his only religion, this is doubt- 
 less better than that his '' god " should be his 
 " belly," and that he should " glory in his 
 shame." But still, this patriotism in which 
 there is no regard for God is fraught with 
 danger. For the grand and prime demand 
 on every one of us is that we be the servants 
 
24 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 of the Most High, the soldiers of Christ, the 
 loyal subjects of the Divine kingdom. And 
 then it is our bounden duty to serve God in 
 and through all our natural pursuits, affec- 
 tions, and relationships, and, amongst other 
 things, to bring all our political theories, aims, 
 and methods into the light of Christ and of 
 His Spirit. We want, both in the Church 
 and in the commonwealth, men and women 
 in whom, as in Nehemiah of old, piety and 
 patriotism are blended and intertwined. 
 
III. 
 
 THE |vlftr( OF BUSIK£;SS. 
 
"The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way." — 
 Proz'crbs xiv. 8. 
 
 " Then he that had received the five talents went and traded 
 with the same, and made them other five talents." — Matthno 
 XXV. 1 6. 
 
III. 
 
 THE MAN OF BUSINESS, 
 
 Nehcntiah ii. i-i8. 
 
 THREE months elapsed before Nehemiah 
 ventured to bring before the king the 
 new-born desire of his heart. When we con- 
 sider his enthusiastic interest in the city of 
 his fathers, this delay can only be explained 
 on one ground ; he was prudently waiting the 
 right time for action. \Vc cannot, of course, 
 say what were all the reasons that prompted 
 delay ; but perhaps we may conjecture that 
 he was waiting for a favourable opportunity 
 to lay his request before Artaxerxes. It is 
 clear that he was far from being confident as 
 to the issue of his appeal to the king. This 
 is manifest from his repeated prayer to God 
 to errant him favour in the king's sight, and 
 
28 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 also from the fact that, when Artaxerxes 
 questioned him as to the cause of his un- 
 wonted sadness, he was, as he himself tells us, 
 " sore afraid." Nehemiah well knew the man 
 with whom he had to deal ; and therefore it 
 is probable that, during those three months, 
 he was watching for his opportunity. The 
 critical moment comes at last : and, when he 
 is questioned as to the reason of his grief, he 
 answers with so much courtesy and tact that 
 the king grants him leave of absence for a 
 given time, in order to repair the walls of 
 Jerusalem. Finding the monarch in this 
 favourable mood, Nehemiah, forecasting his 
 necessities, like a prudent man of business, 
 asks for letters to the governors of the various 
 provinces through which he would have to 
 pass on his way to Judah, and also a letter 
 empowering him to obtain from " the keeper 
 of the king's forest " in Palestine as much 
 timber as he might require for his projected 
 enterprise. All this Artaxerxes grants ; and, 
 constituting his cupbearer temporary "Pasha" 
 of Jerusalem, he sends him on his journey 
 with a military escort. 
 
THE MAN OF BUSINESS. 29 
 
 The practical sagacity of Nehemiah is 
 further manifested by his conduct on his 
 arrival at Jerusalem. He does not at once 
 blurt out the purpose of his mission. Quietly 
 he rests for three days. Before revealing his 
 object to the nobles or to the authorities of 
 the city, he must first see with his own eyes 
 the actual condition of the city walls, that he 
 may discover what is necessary and what is 
 practicable. And so, taking only a few men 
 with him, he goes out in secret, at dead of 
 night, that he may survey, probably by moon- 
 light, the walls and gates of Jerusalem. 
 Then, having matured his plans and deter- 
 mined on his course of action, he at length 
 lays the matter before the people. Nor does 
 he speak to them words of mere authority. 
 He does not say to them, " The king has sent 
 me to command you to do this." He speaks 
 words of encouragement and stimulus. He 
 falls back, not on the royal authority, but on 
 the royal favour. He tells them of the kind- 
 ness of Artaxerxes, and traces it to the good 
 hand of God. He calls upon them to make 
 a grand voluntary effort to wipe away the 
 
30 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 reproach of Jerusalem. And the people 
 responded to his call. Hitherto they had 
 not had the heart to face such an enterprise. 
 But now that the needful leader has come, they 
 rouse themiselves to action. And often what 
 people are waiting for is simply a leader — a 
 man of energy, courage, and hopefulness, who 
 can stimulate their zeal by the contagion of 
 his own, and who, at the same time, has 
 practical ability to marshal their powers and 
 to organize and direct their resources. 
 
 Such a man was Nehemiah. His strong 
 practical sagacity is manifest throughout the 
 whole record of his work in Jerusalem. And 
 in his case this business ability was blended 
 with enthusiasm. It is by such men — men 
 combining practical sagacity \vith noble 
 impulse — that the best work of the world is 
 done. Sometimes we find men of enthusi- 
 astic zeal or true piety, who have little or no 
 business faculty, who are deficient in powers 
 of observation and management, who lack the 
 tough energy of perseverance, who perhaps 
 scorn tact and prudence, and who have little 
 capability of adapting means to ends. Such 
 
THE MAN OF BUSINESS. 31 
 
 men arc apt to become either crotchety or 
 fanatical ; they waste both time and strength 
 on impracticable schemes ; they may have 
 noble aims, but they seek to carry them out by 
 unwise methods ; they damage the cause which 
 they have at heart by their own blundering ; 
 they isolate themselves from those with whom 
 they ought to work, and alienate those whom 
 they ought to conciliate; they grow impatient 
 of their imperfect instruments and agents ; 
 and, failing to realize the best conceivable, 
 they become careless as to realizing the best 
 practicable. And, on the other hand, we find 
 men of shrewd sagacity and business ability, 
 of keen observation and ready tact, who lack 
 all the higher inspiration of noble and gene- 
 rous impulse; who are deficient in imagination, 
 affection, and piety ; who have no real enthu- 
 siasm even in their business ; and who carry 
 on their practical work with the successful 
 persistency of a cold, clever, and calculating 
 selfishness. A man of this type might have 
 gone to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, if he 
 had been well paid for the work, and if he had 
 received money with which to hire the labour 
 
32 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 of the builders ; but he would never have 
 gone, like Nehemlah, impelled by the fervours 
 of a pious patriotism, nor could he have 
 roused the people, as Nehemiah did, to volun- 
 tary effort and sacrifice. 
 
 The practical business faculty is a gift of 
 no mean order ; but, like all other gifts, it 
 ou":ht to be devoted to the service of God. 
 If a man possesses energy, persistency, tact, 
 quickness in forecasting necessities and results, 
 skill in adapting means to ends, he ought not 
 to regard these powers as mere instruments 
 for the promotion of his own selfish objects. 
 These faculties are part of himself, and he is 
 himself called to live as a servant of God. 
 If any of his business schemes or business 
 methods, however shrewd or skilful they may 
 be, cannot stand the gaze of Christ, then it is 
 at once his wisdom and his duty to renounce 
 them. A man ought both to make his money 
 and to spend his money as in the sight of 
 Christ. For we must all appear before His 
 judgment-seat, and then all trickery and all 
 meanness will be utterly ashamed in His pre- 
 sence. The man of business ought to re- 
 
THE MAN OF BUSINESS. 33 
 
 member that he is trading; with the " talents" 
 of the Heavenly Master. He oiic,4it there- 
 fore to cultivate a generous enthusiasm for 
 righteousness, and to remember that what is 
 reckoned as " profit " in the earthly ledger 
 may perchance be written down as *' loss " in 
 the Divine " book of remembrance." Then, 
 again, the exclusive development of mere 
 business faculty is attended with the utmost 
 danger. It is, indeed, a faculty for which we 
 may well thank God ; but there are other 
 powers of our nature — some of them higher 
 and more important — which ought also to be 
 exercised. The whole spiritual side of our 
 being, looking out on God, on righteousness, 
 and on eternity, calls for cultivation. Nor 
 ought we to neglect the affections and emotions 
 of the heart. Even the culture of the imagi- 
 nation is not to be despised ; it furnishes a 
 healthy counterpoise where the practical 
 faculty is keen and strong. If there be no 
 exercise of the imagination, no deepening of 
 the affections, no quickening of the con- 
 science and the spiritual nature, then a man's 
 practical sagacity may only tend to make him 
 
 3 
 
34 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 a hard-headed and hard-hearted worldling. 
 His tact will be constantly degenerating into 
 mere manoeuvre, finesse, and deceit. His 
 power of managing men will lead him to deal 
 with them as tools. He may thus " get on " 
 in the world, as some people count getting on ; 
 he may perhaps gather wealth, and leave it 
 behind him to his heirs. But his own nature 
 will deteriorate; it will become narrow, stunted, 
 and impoverished, and he will never do any 
 of the best kind of work in the world, either 
 for God or for mankind. By all means let a 
 man cultivate practical sagacity ; but let him 
 take care to consecrate it to God, and to 
 make it the handmaid of aims that shall be 
 worthy of his spiritual nature. We want 
 neither fanatics nor worldlings, neither un- 
 practical dreamers nor mere selfish tacticians ; 
 we want men who, like Nehemiah, are open 
 to the promptings of generous impulse and 
 pure enthusiasm, and at the same time can 
 carry out their projects with wise foresight, 
 patient energy, and prudent self-control. 
 
IV. 
 
 T^ID1C0J^£; coKfi^ont£;d, 
 
"We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and 
 derision to them that are round about us." — Psalm Ixxix. 4. 
 
 "Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He 
 suffered. He threatened not ; but committed Himself to Him 
 that judgeth righteously." — i Peter ii. 23. 
 
IV. 
 RIDICULE CONFRONTED, 
 
 Nehcniiah ii. 19, 20. 
 
 WE have already seen that the Jewish 
 colony which had returned from the 
 exile, and which was settled in Jerusalem and 
 the immediate neighbourhood, was surrounded 
 on all sides by a heathen and half-heathen 
 population, more or less hostile. These various 
 tribes — the Samaritans and others — although 
 subject, in common with the Jews, to the 
 Persian sway, were jegjpus of the growing 
 power of the returned settlers, and were 
 united in their desire and endeavour to 
 hinder the restoration of Jerusalem. Nehe- 
 miah mentions three of the principal leaders 
 of these hostile tribes. Sanballat was prob- 
 ably a man of great influence among the 
 
38 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 Samaritans. He is here called the " Horo- 
 nite," a designation derived doubtless from 
 either the Upper or Lower Beth-horon, both 
 of which were now Samaritan towns. Tobiah 
 is called " the servant," probably as being an 
 official, amongst the Ammonites, of the 
 Persian king. And Geshem the Arabian, or, 
 as he is elsewhere called, Gashmu, was no 
 doubt the chieftain of some Arab tribe dwell- 
 ing in South Palestine. When these three 
 men heard that Nehemiah had come and was 
 stirring up the people to rebuild the walls of 
 Jerusalem, they laughed the project to scorn, 
 and said in bitter irony, " What is this thing 
 that ye do .^ Will ye rebel against the king ? " 
 They thus mocked at the very idea of the 
 Jews being able to re-fortify their city. And 
 aftenvards we read that, even when the work 
 had been actually begun, they still poured out 
 the vials of their contempt on the builders. 
 " What are these feeble Jews doing ? Will 
 they do this work all by themselves t Will 
 they finish it to-day t Will they accomplish 
 it by sacrificing to their God ) Will they 
 revive the stones out of the heaps of rubbish 
 
RIDICULE CONFRONTED. 39 
 
 which are burned ? Even that which they 
 build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down 
 their stone wall ! " But all this ridicule Nehe- 
 miah calmly confronted. He believed he was 
 engaged in a good work. " The God of 
 heaven, He will prosper us." And if God 
 was on his side, he could well afford to de- 
 spise the mockery of his foes. 
 
 There are some natures — and these by no 
 means the most ignoble — that are peculiarly 
 sensitive to ridicule. They are apt to be- 
 come ashamed of convictions or of actions 
 which are subjected to mockery, and then 
 afterwards they are ashamed of their shame. 
 They could meet a blow better than a sneer, 
 and would rather be persecuted than despised. 
 But if we are working in any way for Christ 
 and His kingdom, if we are striving' to pro- 
 mote the cause of righteousness and truth, let 
 us learn from Nehemiah to confront mockery 
 with calmness. If we hold certain views on 
 political or religious questions, let us, indeed, 
 make sure that we are holding them on good 
 grounds ; but let us not give them up, or be 
 ashamed of them, merely because we may be 
 
40 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 sneered at as being " behind the age." There 
 is an intellectual self-conceit which shelters 
 its own ignorance behind the authority of 
 great names, and all but exhausts its own 
 shallow powers in flippant sarcasm and clever 
 scorn. Or, again, if we take an interest in 
 Christian missions, or try to teach a few chil- 
 dren in a Sunday-school, or aim at lifting 
 some of our companions into a more thought- 
 ful life, let us not give up our endeavours 
 merely because some Sanballat or Tobiah 
 may jeer at us. If our work is one which the 
 God of heaven is likely to smile upon and 
 prosper, we can afford to despise all this 
 foolish scorn. If, indeed, ridicule should at 
 any time reveal to us some weak point in our 
 enterprises or methods, let us be wise enough 
 " to learn even from an enemy." But of one 
 thing we may be sure, that the man who 
 mocks at Christian endeavour is generally a 
 shallow and foolish person. It takes no great 
 amount either of intellect or energy to " sit in 
 the chair of the scorner," and sneer at men 
 who are working or striving to work in the 
 cause of God and of humanity. 
 
RIDICULE CONFRONTED, 41 
 
 Or, again, if we are seeking to build up our 
 own character into true godliness, let us learn 
 to confront all ridicule with calmness. Every 
 man's soul ought to be as a holy city in which 
 the Spirit of God may dwell. It is a city 
 which needs to be well fortified against our 
 spiritual foes. And if, through our own sin- 
 ful weakness or evil habits, breaches have 
 been made in the walls, it is our wisdom and 
 duty to strive, by God's blessing, to build 
 them up again. We ought to watch ourselves 
 at the weak points of our character, and try 
 to fortify them, so that they may present a 
 stronger front against temptation. Now, if a 
 young man is thus bent on living a religious 
 life, if he is resolutely chaste in speech and 
 conduct, if he is respectful and affectionate 
 towards his father and mother, if he is reve- 
 rent and thoughtful in his treatment of sacred 
 subjects, then let him not be ashamed when 
 he is sneered at as " goody " by those who 
 think it manly to tell impure stories, and to 
 speak slightingly of their parents, and to 
 talk flippantly on the most sacred realities. 
 Let them fling about their epithets as they 
 
42 NE HE MI AH. 
 
 will. There can be no highest manliness 
 where there is no godliness. Keep a good 
 conscience and a pure heart, and " the God of 
 heaven will prosper you." " Add to your 
 faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; and 
 to knowledge temperance ; and to temper- 
 ance patience ; and to patience godliness ; 
 and to godliness brotherly kindness ; and to 
 brotherly kindness charity." Thus adding 
 stone to stone, seek, in spite of all mockery, 
 to fortify your soul against temptations, and 
 to build up your character into solidity and 
 strength. 
 
V. 
 
 H0K0UF(ftBi,£; >i£;r(TioK. 
 
"A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." — 
 Proverbs xxii. i. 
 
 " Help those women which laboured with me in the Gospel, 
 with Clement also, and with other my fellow-labourers, whose 
 names are in the book of life." — Phtlippians iv. 3. 
 
V. 
 
 HONOURABLE MENTION, 
 
 Neheniiah iii. 
 
 THIS chapter contains a catalogue of the 
 leading citizens and families that came 
 to the help of Nehemiah, and specifies the 
 portions of the city walls and the various 
 gates which they severally undertook to re- 
 pair. The account begins and also ends with 
 *' the sheep-gate ; " and the builders are fre- 
 quently spoken of as working " next " to each 
 other ; from which we may probably infer 
 that the description covers the entire circuit 
 of the walls, and specifies, in their order, those 
 portions which needed restoration. It was 
 natural that the Pasha should thus make 
 " honourable mention " of those who ca^me to 
 
46 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 the front, and threw their energies into this 
 patriotic work. Nehemiah was doubtless 
 anxious to hand down to posterity the names 
 of all who were leaders in the movement ; he 
 did not wish to take to himself the whole 
 credit of the work ; we may be sure that he 
 wrote down this register of names with both 
 pleasure and pride. 
 
 We find that priests, rulers, merchants, and 
 tradesmen all took a share in this enterprise ; 
 and, where the work of the Lord is concerned, 
 it is only becoming that there should be this 
 unity of spirit and division of labour. Often, 
 in our modern Christian Churches, too much 
 1 is left to the ministers of religion ; and some- 
 times one man is expected to do a work 
 which ought to be shared by a whole congre- 
 gation. The merchant and tradesman will 
 sometimes plead the engrossing claims of 
 business or the pressure of " bad times " as 
 a reason for holding aloof from the varied 
 efforts of Christian benevolence ; and it is to 
 be feared also that some of our modern aris- 
 tocrats are prevented by the haughty and 
 foolish pride of rank from throwing their 
 energies and influence into the activities of 
 
HONOURABLE MENTION. 47 
 
 the Christian Church. It was doubtless not 
 without a touch of scorn that, when Nehemiah 
 in the course of his catalogue, comes to men- 
 tion the repairs done by the Tekoites, he adds 
 that " their nobles put not their necks to the ■ 
 work of their Lord." We can conceive how 
 their apathy would rouse the indignation of 
 the patriot, and that he might find a certain 
 satisfaction, after the work was done, in thus 
 placing these nobles in a historic pillory ! 
 
 More pleasant is it to find mention made 
 of the " daughters " of Shallum as rendering 
 their assistance in the patriotic enterprise. 
 The zeal of these women may have stimulated 
 not a few of the men to more active en- 
 deavours ; and the fact that their father 
 Shallum was a " ruler " may have lent ad- 
 ditional weight to the influence of their 
 example. The patriotism of women has 
 played no insignificant part in the history of 
 nations. Miriam and Deborah are types of 
 noble womanhood. The Spartan mother fired 
 her son with a loftier courage as she sent him 
 forth to do battle for his country. CAnd, what- 
 ever may be said as to the propriety of ex- 
 cluding wonien from the turbulent region of 
 
48 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 practical politics, few will venture to deny 
 that it is a healthy sign when the women of 
 a country take an intelligent and enthusiastic 
 interest in the national prosperity. Most 
 healthful also is it for any Christian Church 
 when its women throw themselves with zeal 
 into enterprises of Christian benevolence. 
 St. Paul speaks of "those women which 
 laboured with him in the Gospel ; " and there 
 are many departments of Christian activity in 
 which women can fulfil a mission and wield 
 an influence peculiarly their own. 
 
 One other point in Nehemiah's catalogue is 
 worthy of a passing notice. He mentions 
 concerning several of the builders, that they 
 repaired those portions of the wall which were 
 " over against " their dwellings. These men 
 undertook the duty which came most readily 
 to hand as lying at their own doors. Would 
 it not be well for some of us nowadays, when 
 1 we are asking ourselves what work we can do 
 for Christ, to look near home } How much 
 stronger the Christian Jerusalem would be- 
 come if the head of every Christian family 
 were striving to strengthen the religious life 
 of his own household, and if every Christian 
 
HONOURABLE MENTION. 49 
 
 congregation were seeking to exert a spiritual 
 influence in its own neighbourhood ! It is, 
 indeed, our duty to render what help we can 
 to the cause of Foreign Missions ; but per- 
 chance there maybe also a still nearer obliga- 
 tion to " build over against our own house." 
 
 To us Nehemiah's catalogue of the builders 
 may now seem to be little more than a dry 
 register of names. But it is not difficult to 
 imagine how interesting it may have been for 
 generations after it was written. As Jerusalem 
 began to grow again in power and splendour, 
 men would scan with eager interest the list of 
 those who had engaged in such a brave and 
 self-denying work. We can imagine how, 
 centuries later, the eye of some young boy 
 might kindle with pride and enthusiasm when 
 he read here, in one of the sacred books, the 
 name of some ancestor of his own, who had 
 nobly borne his part in building up the walls 
 of Jerusalem. It is a grand thing to come of 
 a patriotic or godly lineage. To be able to 
 look back to ancestors who have laboured 
 zealously and faithfully in the service of God 
 and of humanity, must be an inspiration to 
 
 4 
 
50 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 any soul that is unspoilt by vice or worldli- 
 ness. If any Christian has the opportunity 
 of transmitting a name that shall be honoured 
 in the annals of his country, let him not despise 
 it; for the duties of patriotism and the labours 
 of practical statesmanship furnish one of the 
 best spheres in which he can serve the 
 Heavenly King. But even if our sphere 
 should be only an obscure one, let us seek so 
 to fill it, in reverence for God and in love to 
 man, that some who survive us, and especially 
 our children — if we have any — may remember 
 us as those who " had a mind " to render help 
 in the cause of Christ, and not as those who 
 refused to " put their necks to the work of the 
 Lord." Our names may appear in no record 
 or register of earthly fame, and may soon die 
 out of the memories of men ; but " a book of 
 remembrance is written before the Lord ; " 
 and " if any man's work " which he builds on 
 the one foundation "abides," he "shall receive 
 a reward." God has His own list of the 
 famous obscure — the " unknown and yet well 
 known " — whose " names are written," with 
 honourable mention, in "the Lamb's book 
 of life." 
 
VI. 
 
 the; S01hDI£;p(-buii<d£;i^S. 
 
" But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon," — 
 I Corinthians iii. lo. 
 
 "But ye, beloved, buildin.j^ up yourselves on your most holy 
 faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of 
 God,"- — Judc 20, 21, 
 
 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation." — 
 Matthcio xxvi. 41, 
 
 " Put on the whole armour of God," — Ephesians vi. 11. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. 
 
 NcJicniiah iv, 
 
 WHEN Sanballat and the other enemies 
 of Jerusalem saw that " tlie feeble 
 Jews " at whom they had sneered were ac- 
 tually prosecuting their task with unexpected 
 rapidity and vigour, they were no longer con- 
 tent to use the weapons of ridicule. The 
 various hostile tribes entered into a conspiracy 
 to come and fight together against the city 
 whose restoration aroused their jealousy. 
 They threatened a sudden and secret assault ; 
 and we may well believe that thcyiititended 
 to execute their Uireat. But Nehemiah was 
 too brave to be daunted by their antagonism, 
 and too wary to give them the opportunity they 
 
54 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 sought. He prayed to God, and set a watch 
 against them day and night. He had also 
 to contend with faint-hearted friends, as well 
 as resolute foes. Some of those who were 
 engaged in the work being doubtless alarmed 
 by the rumours of attack, began to complain 
 of the magnitude and burden of the task ; 
 there was " too much rubbish ; " their strength 
 was failing them ; they did not see how they 
 could any longer carry on the work ! It would 
 seem, too, that some of the Jews outside of 
 Jerusalem, who lived in the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood of the hostile tribes, used to come 
 into the city trembling in their shoes, and 
 bringing with them rumours of approaching 
 danger. But the brave and pious spirit of 
 Nehemiah proved adequate to the emergencies 
 of the crisis. He appears to have sustained 
 his own soul by constant prayer. He en- 
 couraged and exhorted the people both to 
 bravery and faith : " Be not ye afraid of them : 
 remember the Lord, which is great and ter- 
 rible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, 
 and your daughters, your wives, and your 
 houses." His prudence also was conspicuous. 
 
THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. 55 
 
 He turned all his workers into soldiers. His 
 faith in a Higher Power did not lead him to 
 relax his vigilance. He was determined that 
 the enemy should not come upon them un- 
 awares. Half of his own personal retinue 
 continued at the work of building ; the other 
 half held the weapons of warfare. Then, with 
 regard to the people generally who were en- 
 gaged in the work, every burden-bearer and 
 every builder was an armed man, working 
 either with a weapon in one hand or with a 
 sword girded by his side. As for Nehemiah 
 himself, he was now both architect and g ener al. 
 A trumpeter was constantly with him, so that, 
 as the builders were scattered all over the 
 wall, they might at any moment be sum- 
 moned, if necessary, into one compact phalanx. 
 Orders, moreover, were issued that all the 
 labourers should stay over-night within the 
 city itself, so that its defence might be the 
 more secure. Nehemiah and his own body- 
 guard even slept in their clothes, ready to 
 spring up, if necessary, at dead of night, and 
 head the army of soldier-builders. This com- 
 bination of prayerfulness and prudence, of 
 
56 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 faith and vigilance, reminds us of our own 
 V Cromwell, who was also not unlike Nehemiah 
 in his self-denying patriotism, his resolute 
 courage, his organizing faculty, and the zeal 
 which led him to identify the enemies of the 
 Commonwealth with the " enemies of the 
 Lord." 
 
 Now, although we are not bound to regard 
 Nehemiah as by any means a perfect man, 
 yet surely we may consider this blending of 
 faith, courage, and prudence as worthy both 
 of admiration and imitation. There can be 
 no doubt that these three elements are to 
 be found in the highest types of character. 
 Wherever there is a marked deficiency in any 
 one of the three, the character loses both in 
 symmetry and in power. 
 
 Sometim.es we find a brave man who lacks 
 both faith and prudence. In this case his 
 courage is very apt to degenerate into a foolish 
 bravado ; and possibly he may do more harm 
 than good by his unwise daring. Such cour- 
 age, too, is often more dependent on a vigo- 
 rous physique than the man himself knows. 
 Animal courage, indeed, is by no means to 
 
THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. 57 
 
 be despised. A vigorous body, full of sound 
 nerves, strong muscles, and healthy blood, is a 
 thing to be desired, and, if possible, to be culti- 
 vated. There are emergencies in life when a 
 fund of animal courage may be most valuable 
 to a man in helping him to do his duty, and 
 in enabling him to render efficient service to 
 others. Weak nerves may sometimes go far 
 to paralyze the external action of the most 
 devoted love. A man cannot have too strong 
 and healthy a body, if only he has something 
 higher and better besides. But a courage 
 which is chiefly due to animal spirits and 
 athletic vigour is apt to disappear when the 
 physical frame loses its elasticity. There is 
 man}' a man proud of his own " pluck," as he 
 calls it, who would be simply astounded at the 
 effect produced upon his spirit by some forms 
 of illness. Such courage, moreover, when it 
 is backed by no higher bravery, is of little 
 value in the resistance of temptation. There 
 are men brave enough to face a garotter in 
 the dark, who have not the courage needed 
 to bear an insult with meekness, or to rebuke 
 the ribaldry of an ungodly companion. The 
 
58 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 scourge and terror of the Philistines may be- 
 come a mere plaything in the lap of Delilah. 
 The duellist braves death because he has not 
 the courage to brave society. Whereas there 
 is many a feeble woman of vivid imagination 
 and constitutional timidity, who becomes 
 bravely calm and strongly resolute in some 
 terrible crisis of temptation, because she is 
 upheld by a moral courage which lifts her 
 above the tyranny of fear. 
 
 Again : when prudence is the marked feature 
 of a character that is deficient in both faith 
 and courage, it is apt to degenerate into selfish 
 cunning and calculating cowardice. When a 
 man has no confidence either in himself or in 
 God, his shrewdness may lead him into the 
 very depths of baseness. When he is reduced 
 to one weapon — and that his own ingenuity — 
 he may be strongly tempted to use it as a 
 daeeer in the dark. The brave will scorn 
 methods of action which the timid, if unprin- 
 cipled, may welcome. The false weight and 
 measure, the commercial trick, the fraudulent 
 bankruptcy, the unscrupulous falsehood, the 
 diplomatic manoeuvring of selfish ambition, 
 
THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. 59 
 
 the trap laid for the unsuspecting confidence 
 of friendship — these are the resort of the men 
 who unite the cunning of the serpent and 
 the rapacity of the hawk with the heart of 
 the hare. In the absence of all faith, a timid, 
 selfish shrewdness is even more dangerous 
 than an impetuous and imprudent courage. 
 
 But even when courage and prudence are 
 found united, the character is still sadly de- 
 fective, if there be no spiritual faith. A man 
 who begins and carries on his enterprises 
 without humility or prayer, who never recog- 
 nizes a Higher Power on whom he is depend- 
 ent for strength, and skill, and success, is apt 
 to fall into an unbecoming and dangerous 
 self-sufficiency. We all like to see a modest 
 dignity — a self-reliance which springs from 
 the humble consciousness of God's gifts and 
 God's protection. But a proud self-confi- 
 dence is utterly unbecoming in any mortal, 
 and is sure, sooner or later, to meet with a 
 downfall. There arc emergencies in life 
 which are apt to crush a man who is unsus- 
 tained by trust in God ; and a spiritual faith 
 will conquer temptations which mere pru- 
 
6o NEHEMIAH. 
 
 dencc or couras^e cannot overcome. Peter 
 had courage enough to venture out on the 
 water ; but he had not faith enough to keep 
 him from sinking. By natural temperament 
 he was a brave man ; and so vivid was his 
 consciousness of personal courage, that he felt 
 sure he could never forsake his Master ; but 
 when the emergency came at last, his self- 
 confidence met with a terrible fall. It was 
 when his faith in the risen Lord added 
 spiritual courage to his natural bravery that 
 he became indeed a " man of rockT Then 
 the rugged fisherman who had braved many 
 a storm on the Galilean lake became a "fisher 
 of men," bold enough to face tempests of 
 trial and hurricanes of persecution. 
 
 On the other hand, faith without prudence 
 may degenerate into fanaticism, or into a 
 '' quietism " which cultivates the passive to 
 the neglect of the active virtues. There are 
 Christian men who would not at all approve of 
 a farmer's expecting a harvest through " the 
 prayer of faith " without sowing his seed or 
 tilling his soil, but who, nevertheless, where 
 religious or benevolent enterprise is con- 
 
THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. 61 
 
 ccrncd, seem to think that faith and prayer 
 may dispense with the counsels and methods 
 of ordinary prudence. Now, I would not 
 deny that, in our religious work, we arc apt to 
 rely too much on human sagacity and organi- 
 zation, and to look too little to the blessing 
 and the Spirit of God. But this is no reason 
 why we should rush to the opposite extreme, 
 and say that, where the walls of Jerusalem 
 are concerned, we have sim.ply to build on in 
 faith and prayer, and need take no measures 
 as against the foe. Where is this fanaticism 
 to stop ? If we may dispense with the sword, 
 why not also with the trowel ? If God Is to 
 work a miracle to save us from the enemy, 
 why should He not also work a miracle to 
 rebuild the walls themselves 1 Nav, if we 
 are to show our faith in God by ignoring 
 all natural means and methods, and simply 
 praying to Him for His blessing, why 
 should we not show our faith by simply 
 trusting Him without ever praying at all } 
 But surely faith does not mean the abnega- 
 tion of our rational faculties. We have 
 simply no right to cast ourselves down from 
 
62 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 the pinnacle, merely to prove that we trust 
 our Father. Nor does God promise that, in 
 answer to the prayer of faith, He will save us 
 from the consequences of our own impru- 
 dence. When He summons us to work or to 
 fight for Him, He summons us also to trust 
 in Him for protection and maintenance ; for 
 He does not expect us to " go a warfare at 
 our own charges." But He does expect that 
 we shall not throw away either trowel, or 
 sword, or shield. 
 
 Then, too, in relation to our own personal 
 conduct in ordinary life, and in relation to the 
 upbuilding of our own character into solidity 
 and strength, we need courage and prudence 
 as well as faith. It has, indeed, been con- 
 tended by some, and even formulated into a 
 kind of doctrine, that, if we would attain to a 
 higher holiness, we must simply consecrate 
 ourselves to God, and abide in the attitude of 
 faith towards Christ. They tell us that our 
 own efforts and struggles against temptation 
 are all a mistake; that the true way to sancti- 
 fication is through " the rest of faith," and 
 that we ought simply to trust in Christ to 
 
THE SOLDIER-BUILDERS. (^z 
 
 keep us from sin. Now, doubtless there is an 
 clement of truth in this teaching. It is quite 
 true that wc may carry on the conflict against 
 evil too much in our own strength. It is 
 quite true that prayer will often bring us a 
 victory which mere struggle of itself cannot 
 win. It is also true that, by keeping near to 
 Christ in the spirit of our mind, we are lifted 
 on to a plane of thought and feeling which 
 puts us beyond the pressure of some forms of 
 temptation. But is there no spiritual effort 
 involved in earnest prayer 1 Is there no con- 
 flict implied in maintaining the attitude of 
 faith towards Christ, and of fellowship with 
 His Spirit, and of consecration to His will .'' 
 Or, again, is the Holy Spirit given us simply 
 that we may lie passive under His influences .'* 
 Is He not given in order to stir up our souls 
 to energetic activity, to quicken our aspira- 
 tions, and to energize our wills in the direc- 
 tion of goodness and virtue } If all we have 
 to do is simply to trust in Christ to keep us 
 from sin, why does Christ Himself exhort us 
 to " watch " as well as to "pray.-*" Why are 
 we summoned to " put on the whole armour 
 
64 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 of God" — to " resist the devil " — to be " vigi- 
 lant" — to "walk circumspectly" — to "work out 
 our own salvation with fear and trembling, for 
 it is God that Vv^orketh in us ? " Yes : here 
 we have the two sides of the truth. God is 
 working in us ; but He is working in us to 
 stir us up to all holy energy. We are to trust, 
 but we are also to build ; and we are to build 
 in our armour, ready for the foe. Faith, 
 courage, prudence ; we need all three, both 
 in Christian life and in Christian enterprise. 
 Let us therefore " pray and set a watch," and 
 then work on, with trowel in hand, and with 
 the sword girded by our side ! 
 
VII. 
 
 THE FK'EKD of the pooh 
 
" Thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily 
 gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten Me, 
 saith the Lord God." — Ezekicl xxii. 12. 
 
 " Blessed is he that considereth the poor." — Psalm xli. i. 
 

 VII. 
 T//E FRIEND OF THE POOR. 
 
 NcheniiaJi \. 
 
 WE now come to another feature of 
 Nehemiah's character — his tender 
 and unselfish generosity. It appears that 
 whilst the building of the wall was going 
 forward, a complaint was laid before him by 
 the poorer members of the communit}% It 
 is probable enough that the poorer families 
 who had returned from the exile had never 
 been able to make an independent position 
 for themselves. They were living in " hard 
 times." There appears to have been a dearth 
 of corn. The imperial taxes seem to have 
 been heavy. And perhaps the work to which 
 Nchemiah had summoned them, and which 
 
6S NEHEMIAH, 
 
 had taken away many from their ordinary 
 employments, had still further drained their 
 resources. In consequence of all this, a 
 gigantic system of money-lending and pawn- 
 broking had sprung up in the community. 
 The poor had been compelled to borrow money 
 from the wealthy, both to buy corn for their 
 families and to pay " the king's tribute." For 
 this money the rich were charging interest at 
 the rate of '' one -hundredth," i.e., probably 
 one-hundredth /^r month, or twelve per cent, 
 per annum. Then, in order to obtain these 
 loans, many of the poor had been obliged to 
 pawn their property, to " mortgage their houses, 
 lands, and vineyards," so that until they re- 
 paid the money they were prevented from 
 reaping any harvest on their own fields. 
 Hence some of them had been under the 
 necessity of even selling their sons and 
 daughters, as slaves, to their wealthy neigh- 
 bours. All this produced a misery which at 
 length became utterly intolerable. The poor 
 felt that an unbrotherly and unjust advantage 
 was being taken of their poverty. They re- 
 garded it as a crying shame that they should 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 69 
 
 be compelled to sell their children to their 
 " brethren ; " and yet they saw no prospect 
 of bein^^ able to escape from the sad straits 
 to which their necessities had driven them. 
 Their misery at length found vent in an 
 outcry, loud and deep, against the usury and 
 oppression of the nobles. 
 
 Now Nehemiah, as we have seen, was a 
 business man — a man of great energy and 
 prudence ; and it would not have been strange 
 if he had postponed the consideration of the 
 complaints thus brought before him. lie 
 might naturally enough. have been afraid lest, 
 by now finding fault with the nobles and 
 rulers, he should alienate them from himself, 
 and thus hinder the completion of his great 
 enterprise. And so he might have said to 
 these poor people, " You see that my hands 
 are full of work ; I cannot attend to this 
 matter now ; — one thing at a time. No doubt 
 you have a grievance, but let us get the walls 
 finished first, and then I will see what can be 
 done." It is thus that many men of business 
 act in daily life. Their very energy leads 
 them to brush aside everything that threatens 
 
70 NE HEM I AH, 
 
 to interfere with their present work. They 
 cannot bear interruptions, and are so eagerly 
 bent on reaching their end that they cannot 
 pause to do good on their way. 
 
 But Nehemiah was more than a mere man 
 of business ; he was a man with a tender heart. 
 The cry of the poor awoke his pity for their 
 sufferings, and aroused his indignation against 
 the usurers. The bravest hearts are often the 
 tenderest, and Nehemiah could not bear to 
 think that all this misery should continue 
 when there was so much wealth in the com- 
 munity. He may even have felt that the 
 condition of the citizens was now a matter 
 of more pressing importance than the condi- 
 tion of the city walls. These rich nobles and 
 money-lenders, moreover, were violating the 
 laws written in the sacred books. The law 
 forbade the Israelite to take any usury or in- 
 terest from his poorer brethren. The Book 
 of Exodus contains the command, "If thou 
 lend money to any of My people that is poor 
 by thee, thou shalt not be to him as an usurer, 
 neither shalt thou lay upon him usury." The 
 law also forbade the buying and selling of 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR, ji 
 
 Jews as bondslaves. " If thy brother that 
 dwelleth by thee be waxen poor, and be sold 
 unto thee; thou shalt not compel him to serve 
 as a bondservant : but as an hired servant, 
 and as a sojourner, he shall be with thee, and 
 shall serve thee unto the year of jubilee." 
 The Hebrew legislation was very careful of 
 the rights and welfare of the poor ; and many 
 of its statutes might be studied with advan- 
 tage by some modern Christians. The limi- 
 tations of pawnbroking, for example, were 
 very significant. " No man shall take the 
 nether or the upper millstone to pledge : for 
 he taketh a man's life to pledge." And again : 
 "If the man be poor, thou shalt not sleep 
 with his pledge : in any case thou shalt 
 deliver him the pledge again when the sun 
 goeth down, that he may sleep in his own 
 raiment, and bless thee." Nehemiah felt that 
 the wealthy nobles were violating both the 
 letter and the spirit of these old laws. They 
 were not dealing with their poor countrymen 
 as with " brethren." They were rather en- 
 riching themselves out of their neighbour's 
 poverty. They were exacting interest — they 
 
72 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 were reaping the harvests of those fields which 
 they held in pawn ; they were even taking 
 the children of their debtors into bondage. 
 Nehemiah was, we are told, " very angry." 
 
 But, though very angry, he nevertheless 
 " consulted with himself" Even righteous 
 indignation is often too precipitate in its ex- 
 pression, and vents itself in a fuming and 
 storming which does little or no good. But 
 the fervid feeling of Nehemiah was blended 
 with practical wisdom. He took counsel with 
 himself as to what was best to be done. He 
 came to the conclusion that these grievances 
 of the poor must at once be redressed. He 
 resolved to make an appeal to the consciences 
 and better feelings of the wealthy. And so, 
 calling a public assembly, he rebuked them 
 for their ungenerous and unbrotherly conduct. 
 He reminded them that their behaviour was 
 such as might even bring upon them the 
 reproach of the heathen. He appealed to 
 them to leave off exacting interest for the 
 moneys which they had lent to the poor, and 
 also to restore the houses and lands and 
 vineyards which they held in pledge. All 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 73 
 
 this being said in public assembly, the nobles 
 had an opportunity of openly vindicating 
 their conduct. But they held their peace. 
 They had no justification to offer. Their con- 
 sciences seem to have been stirred ; for they 
 agreed to forego all interest, and to restore at 
 once the pledges which they held. Then 
 Nehemiah, calling in the priests, bound all 
 the creditors by a solemn oath, publicly ad- 
 ministered, to fulfil this promise. Thus a load 
 was lifted from off the hearts of the poor ; 
 and we may well believe that a load was also 
 lifted from off the consciences of the wealthy. 
 " All the congregation," we are told, " praised 
 the Lord." 
 
 Here, then, we have another evidence of 
 the remarkable personal influence of Nehe- 
 miah. There must have been a healthv con- 
 tagion about the character of a man who 
 could thus evoke and restore to the com- 
 munity the sense of brotherhood. What is 
 the explanation of the influence by \\'hich he 
 thus moved the nobles 1 One secret of it 
 lies close at hand ; he could point them to 
 his own example. He was not asking them 
 
74 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 to do anything more than he was doing 
 himself. He reminded them how he and 
 others in the land of exile had " redeemed 
 their brethren who had been sold unto the 
 heathen." He reminded them how he him- 
 self had lent money and corn to the poor, 
 and that he did not intend to take any 
 interest. The life, too, which he was living 
 amongst them as Pasha of Jerusalem was 
 itself a rebuke to their niggardliness. The 
 governors who had been before him — Zerub- 
 babel and the rest — had always drawn their 
 official allowance from the community. But 
 Nehemiah, in consideration of the heavy 
 burdens which were pressing upon the people, 
 had never drawn the allowance to which he 
 was legally entitled. Nor had he ever by his 
 loans acquired mortgages of land. He had 
 also given the services of his own personal 
 retinue to the work of rebuilding the walls, 
 and had charged nothing for their labour. 
 Moreover, as Pasha, he had kept " open 
 table " daily for as many as one hundred and 
 fifty guests, and all at his own expense. As 
 he had merely obtained leave of absence 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 75 
 
 from the Persian court, he probably still held 
 the post of cupbearer ; and this doubtless 
 enabled him to make these personal sacri- 
 fices. But the fact that he did make them 
 was one element in the power of the appeal 
 which he now addressed with such success to 
 the nobles. He had a right to speak to 
 them. His generosity rebuked their selfish- 
 ness. 
 
 And here again Nehemiah is well worthy 
 of our imitation. Consideration for the rights, 
 and compassion for the struggles, of the poor 
 ought to be characteristic features of every 
 Christian. Christ has brought home to our 
 hearts and consciences a sense of human 
 brotherhood, and has taught us by His own 
 example to recognize the claims of poverty 
 and suffering. I envy not the man who can 
 trade on the miseries of the poor, who can 
 deliberately make capital out of the extremity 
 of a neighbour, who lends money at exor- 
 bitant interest to some struggling fellow- 
 creature, and who increases his demands in 
 proportion to the desperation of his victim — 
 such a man is a human vampire ! If you 
 
76 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 lend money in the way of business to those 
 who trade with it, you are entitled to a 
 reasonable interest on your loan. But surely, 
 if a struggling brother comes to you in his 
 need, and asks you for temporary help in a 
 present difficulty, then, if you can afford to 
 lend him money at all, and if you feel that 
 you can really help him by doing so, the very 
 least you ought to do is to lend it to him 
 without interest. Invest your money, if you 
 will, in bank or railway shares, and look for 
 your dividends ; but take care never to enrich 
 yourself out of the despairing struggles of the 
 poor. And yet there is a divine way of enrich- 
 ing yourself out of the poor. " He that giveth 
 to the poor lendeth to the Lord." " Charge 
 them that are rich in this world, that they be 
 rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing 
 to communicate ; laying up in store for them- 
 selves a good foundation against the time to 
 come." We are not, indeed, saved by works ; 
 nevertheless those who are saved by faith will 
 receive a reward of grace " according to their 
 deeds." And, not to speak of "the time to 
 come," there is a present wealth accruing to 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 77 
 
 those who show generosity and kindness. Every 
 deed of loving sympathy enriches the heart 
 of the doer of it ; his nature becomes wider 
 and deeper because of it. The less he thinks 
 of himself, the more does his soul profit by 
 his benevolence. There is, moreover, the joy 
 of doing good, the happiness of seeing others 
 happ\^ or even of lightening the burden that 
 rests on the worn and weary. Is there no 
 " interest " in that ? There is many a rich 
 man whose soul is simply impoverished by 
 his own avarice or by his own self-indulgence. 
 He may understand the pleasures of the 
 table, or the pleasures of an elegant house, 
 or the pleasures of a high dividend ; but he 
 has yet to learn the luxury of a generous 
 beneficence that causes the widow's heart to 
 sing for joy. He may pride himself on his 
 shrewd investments ; but, in neglecting the 
 poor and the struggling, he is missing the 
 Divine investment which would bring him a 
 most blessed " usury." 
 
 But not only did Nehemiah manifest a 
 tender and practical sympathy with the suf- 
 ferings of the poor ; he also made generous 
 
78 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 sacrifices for the welfare of Jerusalem — fore- 
 going his allowance as governor, and devoting 
 his own means to the patriotic enterprise 
 which had brought him from Persia. We 
 need more men of this stamp in the modern 
 Church. Our "Jerusalem" is the kingdom 
 of Christ. If we are in any wise loyal to the 
 Lord Jesus, we ought to do what we can to 
 fortify the Christian Zion, and to make it 
 more influential for good in the world. We 
 want more of the patriotism of the Christian 
 Church, more willingness to make personal 
 sacrifices in the cause of religion. There is 
 something far wrong when men calling them- 
 selves Christians will spend large sums of 
 money on the furnishing and decoration of 
 their own houses, on their gardens, their 
 dinner-parties, and their fashionable amuse- 
 ments, and then, whenever they are called 
 upon to subscribe to home or foreign 
 missions, will ask themselves how little they 
 can give to the kingdom of Christ. No 
 doubt a man's first and religious duty is to 
 " provide " honestly for himself and " his own 
 house." But when it comes to be a question 
 
THE FRIEND OF THE POOR. 79 
 
 of superfluity, of costly luxury, not to say 
 ostentation, a man may well pause and ask 
 himself whether what he is spending in the 
 cause of religion and benevolence bears any 
 reasonable proportion to what he is spending 
 on and in his own house. 
 
 We have all need to arouse ourselves to a 
 recognition of our stewardship. It is not 
 only our money for which we are responsible 
 to Christ. Nothing that we have is abso- 
 lutely "our own." Our time, our physical 
 strength, our mental faculties, our personal 
 influence, are " talents " entrusted to our 
 keeping by the Great Master, and ought to 
 be employed as under His eye. It is not the 
 rich only who can help the needy. It is not 
 the rich only who can aid in building up the 
 Christian Jerusalem. The poor are often the 
 best friends of the poor, and in many ways 
 can show tenderness and sympathy. Many 
 of the noblest workers, too, in the Christian 
 Church, have been men of few^ possessions, 
 but of loving devotion. We can all covet and 
 cultivate a spirit like that of Nchemiah. If a 
 man has a mean, hard, selfish, churlish heart, 
 
8o ' NEHEMIAH, 
 
 then, whether he have much or Httle of this 
 world's goods, he is poor indeed ; and his 
 poverty will be revealed, one day, to his own 
 soul. But, just in proportion as we have a 
 large, generous, godly, tender spirit, we are 
 truly " rich " — rich in the very best wealth 
 that even God can give. 
 
VIII. 
 
"Go ye, and tell that fox, BehoM, I cast out devils, and I do 
 cures to-day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall be per- 
 fected." — Z,///^^ xiii. 32. 
 
 " Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves : 
 be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves." — 
 Miit.'hctu X. 16. 
 
■.^ijy,^-^ 
 
 VIII. 
 STJ^A TA GEM DEFEA TED, 
 
 Ncheviiah vi, 
 
 WE have seen how the tribes which were 
 hostile to Jerusalem banded them- 
 selves together to oppose Nehemiah in his 
 pious and patriotic work. We have also seen 
 how he confronted their ridicule, and how he 
 met their threats of war. We are now to see 
 how they tried stratagem, and how he defeated 
 all their manoeuvring. 
 
 Their first manoeuvre was to propose a con- 
 ference. They sent messengers to Nehemiah, 
 saying, " Come, let us meet together in some 
 one of the villages in the plain of Ono." Ono 
 probably lay between Jerusalem and Sama- 
 ria. The proposal, therefore, was that they 
 
84 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 should meet half - way, and take counsel 
 together as to the relations which were 
 thenceforth to subsist between Jerusalem and 
 the neighbouring tribes. But Nehemiah 
 detected " mischief." Probably their real 
 object was to capture, or perhaps even to 
 assassinate him. Four times they proposed 
 this conference; and four times Nehemiah 
 refused. He sent messengers to say, " I am 
 doing a great work, and I cannot leave it 
 to come down to you." 
 
 The second manoeuvre was a deeper one. 
 Sanballat sends a servant with an open letter 
 (which any one might read), telling Nehemiah 
 that certain rumours were afloat regarding 
 him — that it is " commonly reported " among 
 the surrounding tribes that he intends to 
 make himself king of Judah, and that this is 
 the reason why he is rebuilding the city walls. 
 To give him some idea of the importance of 
 the rumour, Sanballat further informs him 
 that " Gashmu, the Arabian " — a man of somiC 
 influence — is spreading it, and reminds him 
 that it is sure to reach the ears of Artaxerxes. 
 Woulcl it not therefore be better for Nehemiah 
 
STRA TA GEM DEFEA TED. 85 
 
 to come and take counsel with them, so as 
 to clear his character from all such aspersions? 
 But Nehemiah sees through this stratagem 
 also. He can afford to overlook such slanders. 
 Indeed, he tells Sanballat that he does not 
 believe that any such reports are generally 
 current : " Thou feignest them out of thine 
 own heart." 
 
 The third manoeuvre was the deepest of all. 
 Sanballat and Tobiah now make an appeal 
 to the piety of Nehemiah. They hire a false 
 prophet, named Shemaiah, who professes to 
 speak in the name of the Lord, and who tells 
 Nehemiah that his enemies will come and 
 kill him unless he takes refuge in the Temple 
 and shuts himself up therein. The object 
 of this stratagem was either to terrify Nehe- 
 miah from his post as superintendent o{ the 
 builders, or perhaps to lower him in the eyes 
 of the people by getting him to desecrate the 
 holy place. But here again they were un- 
 successful. Nehemiah's \Q.xy piety was his 
 safeguard. He would not desecrate the 
 Temple of God. He could not believe that 
 this Shemaiah was a true prophet. He " per- 
 
S6 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 celved that God had not sent him." And 
 so he continued to carry on the work with 
 vigour and courage ; and ere long Jerusalem 
 was once more a city fortified against her 
 foes. 
 
 Now, from all this we may learn the lesson 
 that a true and sincrle aim is the best safe- 
 guard against the wiles and seductions that 
 would lead us out of the path of duty. 
 Nehemiah had one thing in view ; he had no 
 by-views of his own to serve; he had no 
 selfish ambitions to promote. To fortify 
 Jerusalem was his one object ; and this 
 simplicity of aim fortified himself against the 
 machinations of his enemies. He would 
 allow nothing to draw him aside from the 
 completion of his enterprise. 
 
 Similar stratagems have often been tried 
 in order to prevent some patriot or reformer 
 from accomplishing the work on which his 
 heart is set. Sometimes the attempt is made 
 to distract his attention to minor matters, or 
 to divert his energies into minor controversy, 
 or, by friendly overtures and social blandish- 
 ments, to weaken his purpose and draw him 
 
STRA TA GEM DEFEA TED. 87 
 
 into compromise. In all ages worldly states- 
 men have tried such manoeuvres with earnest 
 souls: "Come down, and meet us in the 
 plain of Ono!" Then, when this fails, they 
 try slander ; they set some false rumour afloat, 
 and represent it as being more current than 
 it is ; they quote some '' Gashmu " — some 
 man of note and influence— as their authority 
 for the slander ; they represent the reformer 
 as being actuated by selfish ambition or hare- 
 brained vanity— as seeking anything but the 
 welfare of his country and the progress of 
 truth and justice. And then, when this also 
 fails, perhaps they begin to speak in the name 
 of religion, to assign religious reasons why 
 he should desist from his work, to call his 
 doctrines heresies and his reforms sacrilege, 
 and to predict personal calamity if he shall 
 persist in his endeavours. Well is it for any 
 country when the true patriot or reformer 
 is, like Nehemiah, proof against all such 
 manoeuvres, when his very simplicity of aim 
 and purity of motive enable him to hold on 
 to his purpose with tenacity of grasp, when 
 he refuses to be distracted by minor contro- 
 
88 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 versies or social blandishments, when he goes 
 on his way in spite of malignant slander, and 
 when he feels that the real sacrilege would lie 
 in giving up his duty and taking refuge in 
 religion as an asylum for his cowardice. 
 
 But it is not only great statesmen or patriots 
 who are thus tried by the stratagems of their 
 opponents. Every earnest man, however 
 humble his sphere, who is seeking to do some 
 work for God, or who is striving to build up 
 his own character into moral and spiritual 
 robustness, is liable to be seduced from the 
 path of duty. The Scripture speaks of " the 
 wiles of the devil," the " devices " of Satan. 
 Evil often presents itself to the soul in subtle 
 disguises. The stealthy cunning of the serpent 
 remains a fitting emblem of temptation. And 
 seduction is often far more dangerous than 
 persecution. The downright, straightforward 
 antagonism of persecution often rouses a soul 
 to manly and heroic resistance ; but when the 
 tempter begins to manoeuvre, then the same 
 soul may possibly fall into the snare. 
 ^ Here, for example, is a young man who is 
 seeking to live the Christian life. Daily he 
 
STRA TA GEM DEFEA TED. 89 
 
 prays to God for grace and strength. He is 
 striving to build up habits which shall be 
 as fortifications of Christian character. And 
 some bad men who are looking on — it may be 
 in the same warehouse or workshop — cannot 
 bear to see his character strengthening under 
 their very eyes. His virtues are a tacit rebuke 
 to their own vices. They therefore resolve — 
 for there are such devils in human shape — 
 to ruin him, if they can. They will try to 
 make him such an one as themselves, or worse. 
 Perhaps they feel that mere ridicule would be 
 unavailing. Perhaps they feel that all open 
 antagonism would only lead him to separate 
 himself the more from their influence, and to 
 pursue the more earnestly his own course of 
 action. And so they try stratagem. " Come 
 and meet us in the plain of Ono ! " They do 
 not ask him to give up his virtuous life. They 
 do not say to him, " Come with us and serve 
 the devil ! " No ; but, " Come and meet us, 
 and talk over matters. What harm in that } 
 Why so puritanical ? Come, and let us have 
 a jolly night together ! " They know that, if 
 they can only get him into their companion- 
 
90 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 ship, they will have some chance of stopping 
 all his building of virtuous character. And, 
 alas ! there is many a man who began his 
 career with good motives and desires, but who 
 can trace back his downward course to its 
 first step when he went down into " the plain 
 of Ono," to hold parley and keep company 
 with the enemies of godliness. 
 
 But, even if a man should resist all such 
 overtures of the ungodly, he is not safe from 
 their wiles. Perhaps they will next try 
 slander, and contrive that the slander shall 
 reach his own ears. Perhaps they may say 
 concerning him, " Ah ! we know his game — 
 the canting Methodist ! He is not by any 
 means so good as he seems. He has his own 
 ends in view. Just ask ' Gashmu ' what he 
 thinks of him ! He knows him well. Get 
 him to give you his private opinion of the 
 man ! " 
 
 And all this they will say, in the hope that, 
 when these rumours reach his own ears, he 
 may be led to live what they call a " freer " 
 life, in order to rebut this accusation of Phari- 
 saism and hypocrisy. They think, perhaps. 
 
SmA TA GEM DEFEA TED. 9 1 
 
 that he may even join then* company, in 
 order to give the lie to such slanders ; or, if he 
 should still hold on his Christian course, they 
 have at any rate set afloat such rumours as 
 may tend to lessen his influence or injure his 
 interests. 
 
 Here, again, our grand safeguard is a true 
 and single aim. If we are simply bent on serv- 
 ing God and doing the right, we shall not be 
 so likely to leave the path of duty, merely to 
 guard our own reputation. Good name and 
 influence are indeed worth preserving ; we are 
 not to be indifferent to slander, or always to 
 pass it by without notice : but we may be sure 
 that all reputation and influence are too dearly 
 bought at the cost of violating our own con- 
 science. Kill Gashmu's slander, if you can, 
 and if it is worth the trouble ; but if, in order 
 to kill his slander, you are tempted to lower 
 the tone and habits of your life, then hold on 
 your Christian course, and let Gashmu prate 
 as he will ! 
 
 But even then we are not safe from the wiles 
 of the devil. The most seductive temptation 
 of all to a godly man is when Satan comes as 
 
92 NE HE MI AH. 
 
 a " false prophet," or in the guise of " an angel 
 of light." The false prophet who was hired by 
 Sanballat would fain have persuaded Nehe- 
 miah that God wished him to desist from his 
 work and to shut himself up in the Temple, 
 
 This is the very masterpiece of the enemy — 
 to get us to do evil in the name of religion ; to 
 make us think that it is our duty to give up 
 our duty; to persuade us that zeal is fanaticism, 
 that earnestness is bigotry, that a watchful 
 temperance is a morbid asceticism, that a con- 
 scientious integrity is a foolish scrupulosity, 
 that purity is prudery, that cowardice is pru- 
 dence ; or, on the other hand, to persuade us 
 that our intolerant bigotry is a true zeal for 
 God, that our Pharisaic asceticism is a higher 
 life, that our reasonable prudence is an un- 
 believing timidity. " The devil can cite Scrip- 
 ture for his purpose." He seeks to draw men 
 aside from the true service of God, by pervert- 
 ing even their religious instincts, and diverting 
 their religious motives into a false channel. 
 Some of the heresies which have sprung up in 
 the Christian Church show us how men may 
 be tempted to " turn the grace of God into 
 
STRATAGEM DEFEATED. 93 
 
 lascivioiisncss," and to wander from the path 
 of allotted duty under high-sounding pretexts, 
 and in the very name of religion. It is here 
 especially that we need the safeguard of a true 
 and single aim. We need an eye to detect 
 the false prophet. We need power to unmask 
 the angel of darkness. And there can be no 
 doubt that the grand " Ithuriel's spear " is 
 purity of motive — a simple, single desire to 
 do God's will, to build up our own character 
 in real goodness, and to build up His cause 
 and kingdom on the earth. 
 
 We know how, when a greater than Nehe- 
 miah came to lay the foundations of a new 
 and spiritual Jerusalem, He too had to meet 
 the wiles of the enemy. Thrice did Satan 
 come to Jesus with his seductive whisper ; 
 and thrice did the pure simplicity of Jesus 
 unmask his stratagem. And here also an 
 appeal was made to religious motives. "Prove 
 your trust in God by casting yourself down 
 from the pinnacle ! " " You wish to rule as 
 Messiah over the whole earth ; only pay me a 
 little homage, and you may have all the king- 
 doms of the world, to do with them as you 
 
94 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 please ! " But Jesus, bent simply on doing 
 His Father's will, and on laying the founda- 
 tions of a true Kingdom of God, met all this 
 manoeuvring with his simple, childlike " It is 
 written." So, too, when some of the Pharisees 
 came and said to Him, "Get Thee hence, for 
 Herod desireth to kill Thee," Jesus at once 
 penetrated their trick. They simply sought 
 to stop His work in Galilee. They did not 
 really believe that Herod wished to kill Him. 
 Either they simply invented the report them- 
 selves, or (as is perhaps more probable) they 
 were acting in concert with Herod, who may 
 have shared their desire to frighten Jesus out 
 of the district. 
 
 But Jesus knew that He was safe from the 
 hands of Herod. The conscience of the weak 
 and sensual Tetrarch was already sufficiently 
 haunted by the memory of the murdered Bap- 
 tist. Jesus would complete the work which 
 He was now doing in spite of these tricks of 
 intimidation. " Go ye, and tell that fox, 'Be- 
 hold, I cast out devils, and I do cures to- 
 day and to-morrow, and the third day I shall 
 be perfected." 
 
STRA TA GEM DEFEA TED. 95 
 
 It was true, indeed, that His special work 
 in Galilee would soon be done ; He was 
 already journeying towards Jerusalem : but 
 they are to understand that He will not alter 
 His plans of action, or quit their neighbour- 
 hood one hour sooner, because of their cun- 
 ning manoeuvres. 
 
 Now, surely, in all this our Lord has " left 
 us an example, that we should follow His 
 steps." It is when we are trying to serve God 
 arid Mammon, when we have one eye on our 
 duty and the other on our own selfish inclina- 
 tion, that we are most liable to be led astray 
 by the wiles of seduction or intimidation. 
 Even when men " do evil that good may 
 come," it is often because they are more bent 
 on their own success in well-doing, than on 
 simply promoting and accomplishing the will 
 of God. They cannot bear the thought of 
 being thwarted in their projects, or they are 
 unwilling that the honour of achievement 
 should pass out of their own hands. They 
 forget that it is better nobly to fail than basely 
 to succeed. A pure and simple regard for 
 what God wishes them to do would lead them 
 
96 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 to consider methods as well as ends — the wea- 
 pons they wield, as well as the victory they 
 seek. 
 
 Let us, therefore, remain ever true to con- 
 science ; and when conscience doubts and 
 hesitates, let us wait and ask God for light. 
 And that we may receive the heavenly light 
 when it comes to us, let us seek ever to keep 
 " the single eye ! " 
 
IX. 
 
 the; city i^£;pi^e;Kish£;d, 
 
"The streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing 
 in the streets thereof." — Zechariah viii, 5, 
 
 " It shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Ben- 
 jamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner- 
 gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's wine- 
 presses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more 
 utter destruction ; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited." — 
 Zecha?'iah xiv. 10, 11. 
 
IX. 
 
 THE CITY REPLENISHED. 
 
 Nehemiah vii., xi., xii. 1-26. 
 
 THE great work of rebuilding the walls of 
 Jerusalem having been at length com- 
 pleted, Nehemiah at once took further mea- 
 sures for promoting the security and prosperity 
 of the city. The circumstances of the time 
 were exceptional, and demanded exceptional 
 precautions. There was danger lest the very 
 success of the Jews in re-fortifying Jerusalem 
 might so irritate their jealous foes as to lead 
 to a united attack on the new fortifications. 
 Nehemiah therefore appointed as responsible 
 guardians of the city two men whom he could 
 thoroughly trust — his own brother Hanani, and 
 Hananiah, the ruler of the citadel, a faithful 
 
100 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 and God-fearing man. To these two men he 
 gave express orders regarding the opening 
 and shutting of the city gates, and the ap- 
 pointment of an adequate band of watchmen 
 who should guard the city both by day and by 
 night. Then, further, he adopted the import- 
 ant measure of replenishing Jerusalem with 
 inhabitants ; for, in comparison with the large 
 area which was now once more enclosed by 
 the walls, the number of citizens and of habit- 
 able houses was but small. He tells us that 
 *' God put it into mine heart to gather together 
 the nobles, and the rulers, and the people, that 
 they might be reckoned by genealogy." The 
 object of this census was doubtless to furnish 
 a basis for some practical method of increasing r^^ 
 the population of the metropolis. Meanwhile, 
 in the prosecution of his project, Nehemiah 
 found a register of the Jews who had originally 
 returned from the exile and settled in Judaea : 
 and here, in this seventh chapter, he copies 
 out this genealogical register as a document 
 of historic value. It is essentially the same 
 register as that which we find in the second 
 chapter of the Book of Ezra, although there 
 
THE CITY REPLENISHED, loi 
 
 are some variations which are probably due to 
 the errors of transcribers. We can well be- 
 lieve that this list of " Pilgrim Fathers " would 
 be scanned with interest by many succeeding 
 generations.! One point is worthy of our own 
 special notice. All those who came back 
 from the exile are here spoken of, generally, 
 as " the people," or " the children of Israel!' 
 At the head of the list stand twelve names, 
 which are probably to be regarded as pointing 
 to the twelve tribes of which the nation was 
 originally composed. We learn also from the 
 Book of Ezra that, when the rebuilt temple 
 was dedicated to God, a " sin-offering " was 
 presented for " all Israel, twelve he-goats, ac- 
 cording to the number of the tribes of Israel." 
 From all this it is evident that the returned 
 
 * It has, indeed, been contended that the register here given by 
 Nehemiah is really the census which was taken by himself, and 
 that it was afterwards inserted in the Book of Ezra out of its 
 chronological order. But surely such a confusion of documents 
 on the part of any chronicler is exceedingly improbable. More- 
 over, the register is described as enumerating the children of the 
 province "who came with Zenibbabel," etc. ; from which we 
 naturally infer that in what follows we have a list of ' ' them which 
 came up at the first." Of course, in this case, the " Nehemiah " 
 who is here mentioned (vii. 7) along with ZeruVjbabel as one of the 
 leaders of the returned exiles, is not the Nehemiah who writes 
 this book. 
 
102 NE HE MI AH. 
 
 colonists regarded themselves as representa- 
 tive, not merely of the kingdom of Judah, but 
 of the entire nation in its original unity. We 
 may also remark, in passing, that the " Ne- 
 thinim " who are mentioned in this register 
 were a body of servants who assisted the 
 Levites by discharging the more laborious 
 duties connected with the Temple ritual. 
 Their names appear to indicate that they 
 were not of Hebrew origin. Some of them 
 were probably descendants of the Gibeonites, 
 who are mentioned in the Book of Joshua as 
 having been made " hewers of wood and 
 drawers of water for the House of God." 
 Others of them were probably descendants of 
 those " whom David and the princes had ap- 
 pointed for the service of the Levites," i and 
 who were perhaps foreigners, captured in war. 
 Along with these Nethinim are mentioned "the 
 children of Solomon's slaves," who were doubt- 
 less also a body of bondsmen engaged in the 
 rougher work of the Levitical service. It is 
 a somewhat significant circumstance that so 
 many of these Temple-servants should have 
 
 ^ Ezra viii. 20. 
 
THE CITY REPLENISHED. 103 
 
 been willing to return from the land of exile 
 to their menial duties. 
 
 Passing on now to the eleventh chapter, we 
 there find an account of the manner in which 
 Nehemiah carried out his resolution to re- 
 plenish Jerusalem with inhabitants. Having 
 doubtless, according to his intention, taken a 
 census of the entire province, he now deter- 
 mined that one-tenth of the people dwelling 
 outside Jerusalem should take up their abode 
 within the city. We can easily understand 
 that, whilst Jerusalem had remained unforti- 
 fied, and therefore open to the incursions of 
 its enemies, it would not be an attractive or 
 popular place of residence. Even now, when 
 its walls were rebuilt, it was still the centre 
 of danger; and those who were comfortably 
 settled in the country districts might natu- 
 rally hesitate to transfer their homes to the 
 metropolis. The matter was therefore deter- 
 mined by casting lots ; and one in every ten 
 of the people was thus removed to the capital. 
 It appears, however, that some were patriotic 
 enough to "offer themselves willingly to dwell 
 in Jerusalem ; " and such volunteers received 
 
104 NE HE MI AH, 
 
 the praise and benediction of the whole com- 
 munity. 
 
 The eleventh chapter also contains a list of 
 " the chief of the province that dwelt in Jeru- 
 salem," after the city was thus replenished. 
 It further contains a list of the other towns 
 and villages of Judah and Benjamin, where 
 "the residue of> Israel dwelt." Then follows, at 
 the beginning of the twelfth chapter, a list of 
 the heads of the priestly and Levitical houses, 
 from the time of Zerubbabel down to "the 
 days of Nehemiah and Ezra." These various 
 lists are probably taken from the genealogical 
 census made by Nehemiah when he was 
 engaged in his project of repeopling the 
 capital. As for this project itself, it was alto- 
 gether worthy of his practical sagacity. The 
 restored walls of Jerusalem could not do 
 much to promote its security and welfare, so 
 long as it was inhabited by a mere handful of 
 people. Nehemiah doubtless felt that, under 
 God, the chief strength of the city lay, after 
 all, in its citizens, and that the prosperity of 
 the whole province would largely depend on 
 the prosperity of the metropolis. It was 
 
THE CITY REPLENISHED. 105 
 
 therefore a wise and statesman-like policy 
 to strengthen the internal as well as the ex- 
 ternal defences of Jerusalem, and to interest 
 the whole community in the permanent 
 welfare of the capital. It would be well if 
 some of our modern statesmen were to grasp 
 the principle of this policy, and open their 
 eyes to the fact that the chief wealth and 
 strength of any nation must ever lie, not in 
 massive fortifications or colossal armies, but 
 in the numbers, the character, the patriotism, 
 and the prosperity of its people. In the 
 Christian Church also we are apt to place 
 too much reliance on mere outward organiza- 
 tion, on forms of ecclesiastical government, on 
 special methods of Christian work and special 
 schemes of Christian enterprise, and on the 
 large sums of money which we can collect for 
 the building of sanctuaries or the cause of 
 missions. These things are all of great im- 
 portance in their own place; and we have 
 already seen that to disparage them is the 
 token of an unwise " pietism." Nevertheless 
 it remains true that the prosperity of the 
 Christian Church chiefly depends, not indeed 
 
io6 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 on the number of its nominal adherents, but 
 on the number of its genuine and loyal 
 citizens. Especially does its progress depend, 
 under God, on the number of those who 
 volunteer to occupy the posts of special 
 danger or of special usefulness. Even Chris- 
 tians who are unqualified for such posts, or 
 who shrink from making such sacrifices, will 
 ever be ready to "bless" those who "willingly 
 offer themselves " for the special work of the 
 Church. Behind all organization, and method, 
 and money, we want men — men of courage, 
 faith, and wisdom, able rightly to defend and 
 to propagate the truth — men devoted to the 
 welfare of Zion, and consecrated to the service 
 of her King. 
 
X. 
 
 TH£; F£;ftST OF QJ^ftDK£;SS. 
 
"To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto 
 them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment 
 of praise for the spirit of heaviness." — Isaiah Ixi. 3. 
 
 " Again I will build tliec, and thou shalt be built, O virgin of 
 Israel : thou shalt again be adorned with thy tabrcts, and 
 shalt go forth in the dances of them that make merry." — 
 Jeremiah xxxi. 4. 
 
 "Rejoice in the Lord aUvay : and again I say, Rejoice." — 
 Philippians iv. 4. 
 
X. 
 
 THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 
 
 Nchaniah viii. 
 
 EZRA now appears on the scene as 
 associated with Nehemiah. Ezra was 
 a priest who belonged to the order of the 
 " scribes " — a class of men who gave them- 
 selves to the study of the sacred books. It was 
 now about twenty years since he had come 
 from the land of exile, to beautify the Temple, 
 and re-invigorate the religious life of the new 
 colony. He had given himself with zeal to 
 the restoration of the Temple-worship, and to 
 the work of moral reformation. And now that 
 the people were rejoicing over the success- 
 ful completion of Nehemiah's enterprise, now 
 that the sight of their refortified city was 
 
no NEHEMIAH. 
 
 infusing into them new life and spirit, Ezra 
 saw an opportunity of giving a religious 
 direction to the common gladness, and of 
 associating their quickened energy and hope 
 with the thought of God. It was Jehovah, 
 the God of their fathers, who had crowned 
 their efforts with success, and who had anew 
 laid for them the foundations of national 
 prosperity. It was a fitting time to bethink 
 themselves of His laws, and to bring their 
 gladness into the light of His presence. And 
 in the desire thus to quicken the religious life 
 of the people, Ezra and Nehemiah were 
 united ; the priest and the layman were one. 
 
 It was now the seventh month, the festal 
 month of the Jewish year. The harvest had 
 been gathered in, and the agricultural popu- 
 lation were set free for their great annual 
 holiday. And so the people gathered them- 
 selves together into an open space before one 
 of the gates of Jerusalem — men, women, and 
 children — such children, at least, as were old 
 enough to understand the reading and exposi- 
 tion of the Scriptures. A pulpit of wood was 
 erected for Ezra, and, in the sight of all, he 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. iii 
 
 opened the book of the law of Moses, and 
 read aloud to the assembly. He was sur- 
 rounded by several priests and Levites, who 
 aided him in this work of reading and ex- 
 pounding the law. For hours the crowd 
 listened attentively to the words of the sacred 
 book, and to the explanations given by Ezra 
 and his associates. We are told that the 
 Levites "read distinctly, and gave the sense, 
 and caused the people to understand the 
 reading." It is to be feared that nowadays 
 there arc some Christians who, although they 
 almost worship the Bible, care little for an in- 
 telligent understanding of its contents. The 
 sacred Scriptures are useful to us in propor- 
 tion as they help us to worship God more 
 reverently, intelligently, and spiritually ; and 
 therefore we truly honour them by diligently 
 seeking to understand their real sense, and to 
 profit by their meaning. 
 
 The simple reading and explanation of the 
 Scriptures by Ezra and the Levites produced 
 a profound impression on the assembled 
 crowds. "All the people wept when they 
 heard the words of the law," Many of the 
 
112 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 laws and customs prescribed by Moses had 
 doubtless fallen into disuse ; and the people 
 felt that they had been neglecting their duty. 
 Many of the searching words of the old book 
 would reach their hearts and consciences, and 
 remind them how they had been forgetting 
 the God of their fathers. But Ezra and 
 Nehemiah checked the outburst of lamenta- 
 tion. They felt that, if the contrition of the 
 people should deepen into despondency and 
 gloom, their energies would be weakened ; 
 and so they reminded the multitudes that 
 they were assembled to keep a feast — not a 
 fast — and that it was their immediate duty 
 to rejoice with thankfulness in the presence 
 of Jehovah. " Go your way," said Nehemiah ; 
 "eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send 
 portions unto them for whom nothing is pre- 
 pared : . . . neither be ye sorry; for the joy of 
 the Lord is your strength." 
 
 The Jewish religion was of an eminently 
 festal character. Its " holy days " were many 
 of them " feast days." In this feature it pre- 
 sented a striking contrast to some of the pagan 
 religioas. The worshipper of Baal or Moloch 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 113 
 
 had his soul filled with dark, superstitious 
 terrors ; one of his main endeavours was to 
 bribe his god to refrain from injuring him. 
 Doubtless this superstitious fear had its re- 
 action at times in a wild and frenzied mirth ; 
 but this mirth was too often associated with 
 the most debasing sensuality. The Jew, on 
 the contrary, was taught to unite the ideas of 
 holiness and gladness, of festivity and worship. 
 He was not to cringe before God in terror. 
 Jehovah was the King of Israel ; and the 
 people were to rejoice in their Almighty 
 Protector. 
 
 Now, of all the Jewish festivals, that which 
 was held in the seventh month presented the 
 most joyous aspect. It was the Feast of 
 Tabernacles. It lasted for a week, and it had 
 both an agricultural and a historical reference. 
 Coming at the close of the agricultural year, 
 it was a kind of "harvest-home," when, the 
 hearts of the people being naturally filled with 
 gladness, they gave praise to the Bestower of 
 all their mercies. It had also, however, a 
 historical reference. It pointed back to the 
 time when the Israelites, in journeying from 
 
 8 
 
114 NE HE MI AH. 
 
 Egypt to Canaan, had dwelt in tents In the 
 wilderness. The object of this commemora- 
 tion was doubtless to cherish the feeling of 
 humble and thankful dependence upon God. 
 Men who attain to a position of wealth and 
 power are sometimes apt to forget '' the hole 
 from which they have been digged." In their 
 pride they begin to speak and act as if they 
 had never known difficulty or hardship. But 
 the Israelites, after they w^ere settled in the 
 walled towns and cities of Canaan, were not 
 to forget the sojourn in the wilderness. They 
 w^ere to commemorate the time when their 
 fathers lived in tabernacles ; and in order 
 to bring this past more vividly before their 
 minds, it was prescribed that, for a week, they 
 should themselves dwell in booths. It seems, 
 however, that after the days of Joshua thi.s 
 special feature of the Feast of Tabernacles had 
 fallen into disuse, or at any rate had not been 
 observed by the whole body of the people. 
 But now when, in the course of reading the 
 Scriptures, Ezra and the Levites came to this 
 prescription about the booths, the people were 
 filled with an enthusiastic desire to observe the 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 115 
 
 old law according to the letter. And so they 
 went forth and gathered branches of trees, and 
 made booths in the courts and on the flat 
 roofs of their houses, and in the courts of the 
 Temple and in other open spaces of the city ; 
 and the whole congregation sat under these 
 booths. It must have been a gay and festal 
 sight. " There was," we are told, " very great 
 gladness." And this gladness was associated 
 with the thought of God ; for every day 
 throughout the festival the sacred books were 
 read in the hearing of the people. This was 
 the kind of gladness 'which was likely to fortify 
 them for the defence of their refortified city, 
 inspiring them with a joyous sense of God's 
 presence and favour. As Nehemiah ]m.d said, 
 " the joy of the Lord " was their " strength." 
 
 Now, it is true that Christianity, as a 
 religion, has not quite this same aspect of 
 lightsome gladness and external mirth. The 
 Gospel of Christ, in deepening our nature 
 makes us capable of a profounder .sadness. 
 Our one religious feast — the Lord's Supper 
 — is the commemoration of a death. Our 
 faith looks back to the awful tragedy of the 
 
ii6 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 cross. Christ Himself was " the man of 
 sorrows and acquainted with grief;" and His 
 anguish was, in large measure, due to the 
 very perfection of His nature. .There is an 
 old proverb, " He that increaseth knowledge 
 increaseth sorrow ; " and the Gospel has in- 
 creased our knowledge both of God and of 
 man. We know more of God's feeling to- 
 wards sin and sinners ; and therefore we 
 realize more intensely the severities of His 
 holy love. We have also a wider outlook on 
 mankind than the Jev/ ever had ; we have a 
 sense of the brotherhood of the race, which 
 fills us with sadness when we think of the 
 miseries that oppress the world. Sin, too, is 
 a more terrible thing to human thought, since 
 Christ bore its burden, and condemned it by 
 His sacrifice. Our own past iniquities send 
 a pang to our hearts whenever we think of 
 them. We have, further, the highest ideal of 
 life set before us in the Gospel ; and we are 
 dissatisfied because we come so far short of it. 
 Then, in proportion, too, as we receive the. 
 Spirit of Christ, our sympathy with others 
 takes on a keener edge ; and this again in- 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 1 1 7 
 
 volves a keener grief. Indeed, the call to 
 follow the steps of Jesus includes a summons 
 to enter into " the fellowship of His suffer- 
 ings." Thus it ought never to be denied 
 that Christianity brings with it a sorrow 
 peculiarly its own. 
 
 But, on the other hand, it is just as true 
 that Christianity brings with it a peculiar joy. 
 Its religious gladness may be less jocund and 
 mirthful than that of Judaism ; it may be 
 calmer and less demonstrative ; but it is also 
 deeper, and less subject to the mere influence 
 of outward circumstance. God in Christ is 
 revealed to us as our Father in heaven. If we 
 have a keener sense of the guilt of sin, we 
 have also a firmer grasp of the Divine forgive- 
 ness. If we have a more intense realization 
 of the miseries of the world, we have also a 
 clearer view of the loving purpose and the 
 righteous will lying beneath and behind them 
 all. And if a deeper human sympathy in- 
 volves a keener grief, it also brings a higher 
 blessedness. Christian joy may exist in the 
 midst of sorrow ; and even when it is no 
 longer a conscious gladness, it may neverthe- 
 
ii8 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 less abide as a quiet peace in which lie latent 
 the germs of a holy ecstasy. Christ Himself, 
 the man of sorrows, spoke of " My peace " — 
 " My joy ; " and spoke also of imparting this 
 peace and joy to His disciples. " As sorrow- 
 ful, yet always rejoicing," was the keynote to 
 which Paul's life was set. Our feast of the 
 Supper commemorates a death ; but this very 
 death was our redemption ; and the blood 
 '' shed for the remission of sins " has its 
 emblem in the wine that " maketh glad the 
 heart of man." 
 
 Still, therefore, does it remain true that 
 " the joy of the Lord is our strength." Sorrow 
 has its own blessed and purifying ministries ; 
 but mere sorrow weakens ; and " the sorrow 
 of the world worketh death." Remorse 
 cripples and despair paralyzes the energies 
 of the soul. Sorrow, without faith, or hope, 
 or love, only tends to eat the heart out of a 
 man. But a pure joy is always an inspiration. 
 It refreshes and exhilarates the whole nature. 
 It helps to fortify the soul against the assaults 
 of the devil. See how the joy of a pure 
 human affection will often lift a young man 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 119 
 
 right out of the range of low, sensual tempta- 
 tions, and fire his soul with noble and worthy 
 ambitions. And if this be true even of the 
 joy of a human love, can we wonder that it 
 should be true of " the joy of the Lord," the 
 joy which springs from the realization of God's 
 protection and favour ? When a man is 
 plunged into gloomy despondency, when " a 
 web is woven across the sky," and he loses 
 sight of God, he may also lose heart to defend 
 the citadel of the soul. Despair will some- 
 times even play the traitor, and open the 
 gates to the enemy. Thus men often try to 
 drown care in dissipation, and give themselves 
 up to a recklessness which leads to spiritual 
 ruin. 
 
 Christian joy is even commanded as a 
 duty. " Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again 
 I say, Rejoice." If it were simply said to us, 
 " Rejoice ! " we might sometimes feel as if the 
 command were only a mockery. But " Re- 
 joice /;/ tJie Lord!'' this points us to the 
 secret ; this explains why joy can be spoken 
 of as a duty. We are not, indeed, forbidden 
 to weep ; we are only forbidden to " sorrow 
 
120 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 as those who have no hope." It is true that, 
 even here, natural temperament may modify 
 religious experience ; there are those who 
 are constitutionally prone to anxiety and 
 melancholy. But we have all an indirect 
 control over our own emotions. God is the 
 Father of us all — not merely of those who 
 are of a sanguine temperament. The Gos- 
 pel summons us to faith in Him ; and in 
 this faith lie the germs of a calm and holy 
 joy. Much depends, therefore, on the direc- 
 tion in which we turn our thoughts. There is 
 such a thing as nursing a morbid gloom. If 
 we keep brooding remorsefully over our past 
 sins, without laying hold of the pardon freely 
 offered to us in the Gospel ; if we keep our 
 eye fixed on our difficulties and troubles, and 
 never look up to the Father who can " make 
 them all work together for our good ; " if we 
 keep hanging about the charnel-house, think- 
 ing of bones and dust, and never lift our 
 thoughts to " the Father's house of many 
 mansions ; " if we keep brooding over the 
 miseries of the world, without any faith in 
 that Divine purpose which " runs through the 
 
THE FEAST OF GLADNESS. 121 
 
 ages," and which is seeking to lead on 
 humanity to a glorious future ; then, indeed, 
 there is no wonder that joy should be a 
 stranger to our hearts. Verily to a thoughtful 
 mind the outlook on the world and on the 
 future is a dull and dreary one, if there be 
 no faith in the living God ! But God has 
 revealed Himself to us in His own Son, just 
 that we might trust and love Him. It is 
 right to sorrow over our transgressions and 
 shortcomings ; but it is wrong to forget the 
 grace of God. It is natural to grieve over 
 our troubles, losses, bereavements ; but it is 
 unnatural to turn away from the sunshine 
 which God Himself sends us, and which falls 
 even upon the grave. And therefore it is our 
 duty to " rejoice in the Lord." This is the joy 
 which makes us strong in spirit — not a mere 
 light-hearted buoyancy of natural tempera- 
 ment — not a mere mirthful jollity which is as 
 " the crackling of thorns under a pot " — far 
 less an easy, " happy-go-lucky " indifference 
 to the sorrows of the world — but " the joy of 
 the Lord," the peace and gladness that spring 
 from a sense of His Fatherly righteousness 
 
122 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 and love. It is this that lifts us far above 
 many a temptation, and strengthens us to 
 defend the citadel of the soul. It is this, too, 
 that strengthens us for all the enterprises of 
 goodness. Every Christian worker can labour 
 on with more energy and patience when he 
 is rejoicing in the thought that it is God's 
 purpose to prosper the Christian Jerusalem, 
 and that it is His will " that all men should 
 be saved, and should come to the knowledge 
 of the truth." 
 
XI. 
 
 TUEi Fft$T AKD the, 
 COV£;MftKT. 
 
" In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the children 
 of Israel shall come, they and the children of Judah together, 
 going and weeping : they shall go, and seek the Lord their God. 
 They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, say- 
 ing. Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual 
 covenant that shall not be forgotten." — Jeremiah 1. 4, 5. 
 
 " Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep : let your laughter be 
 turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. Humble your- 
 selves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up." — James 
 iv. Q, 10. 
 
XL 
 
 THE FAST AND THE COVENANT. 
 
 A^ehcniiaJi ix., x. 
 
 ALTHOUGH Nehemiah and Ezra had 
 discouraged a despondency which might 
 only have proved enfeebling, they did not by 
 any means wish to dissipate that sorrow for 
 sin which the reading of the old law had 
 awakened. It was right that the people 
 should rejoice with thankfulness in the pre- 
 sence of God ; but it was also right that they 
 should humble themselves in penitence at His 
 footstool. And so, after the Feast came the 
 Fast. A solemn day of humiliation was ap- 
 pointed, on which the multitudes, clothed in 
 sackcloth, gathered themselves together, to 
 make a united and public confession of their 
 
126 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 sins, and to enter into a national covenant to 
 amend their ways. 
 
 The ninth chapter contains the prayer 
 which was offered to God on this occasion, in 
 the name of the assembled people. It begins 
 with adoration and thankful praise, and goes 
 on to recite the dealings of Jehovah with Israel 
 from the time when Abraham was called. It 
 confesses the frequency with which Israel had 
 rebelled against Jehovah, and acknowledges 
 the righteousness of those chastisements with 
 which He had visited their disobedience. It 
 recognizes the captivity as a deserved punish- 
 ment, and it justifies God even in relation to 
 their present subjection to the sway of Persia. 
 " Thou hast done right ; but we have done 
 wickedly." The prayer does not presume to 
 dictate or suggest to God how or when He is 
 to come to their rescue : but it lays before Him 
 their present subject and distressed condition, 
 and casts Israel upon His abiding love. 
 
 Nor is this all. There is not only a con- 
 fession of sin and supplication for mercy ; 
 there is also a vow of amendment. The people 
 through their leaders, enter into a solemn 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT 127 
 
 " covenant " with Jehovah. A formal docu- 
 ment was drawn up, in which they bound 
 themselves by a sacred oath to " walk in God's 
 law as it was given by Moses." The tenth 
 chapter records the names of those who signed 
 this document by affixing their " seals " to it. 
 At the head of the list stands the name of 
 Nehemiah"the Tirshatha;"i then follow the 
 names of those who represented the priesthood 
 and the nobility. And to this covenant, as 
 thus signed by their leaders, the community 
 in general agreed — men and women, and even 
 the young people who were old enough to 
 understand the matter, entering into a solemn 
 vow to "observe the commandments of the 
 Lord." More particularly, three points were 
 specified on which the community had been 
 remiss, and with regard to which they now 
 promised amendment. The first point related 
 to iiitciinarriagc tvitJi the JicatJicn. The old 
 law on this matter was very stringent ; and 
 
 » The etymology of this word Tirshatha is doubtful. Some 
 think that it means " cupl:)earcr." But more probably it was the 
 Persian official title of the Governor of Juda;a ; for it would seem 
 that this same designation is given to Zerubbabel " {Ezra ii. 63 ; 
 Nehcmiah vii. 65, 70). 
 
128 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 the purity of the Israelltlsh faith had been all 
 along endangered by these mixed marriages. 
 Latterly the people seem to have become even 
 more lax in this respect ; but now they pro- 
 mise that they will not give their daughters 
 unto the people of the land, nor take the 
 daughters of the heathen for their sons. The 
 second point related to Sabbatic observance. 
 They pledged themselves to a stricter regard 
 for the Sabbath day, vowing that, if any 
 of the people of the land brought wares or 
 victuals for sale on the Sabbath, they would 
 not buy from them on that day. They also 
 pledged themselves to a stricter regard for the 
 Sabbatic year, vowing to obey the law which 
 required them to let the ground lie unsown 
 every seventh year, and also to remit every 
 seventh year the debts that were owing to 
 them by their poorer brethren. The third 
 point related to the maintenance of tJie Temple 
 worship. It appears that those who had re- 
 turned from the exile had not shown, in this 
 matter, the zeal and self-denial which might 
 well have been expected from them. The 
 prophet Haggai had, during the governorship 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT 129 
 
 of Zcrubbabcl, spoken bitterly of those who 
 were dwclHng in their own " cieled houses," 
 and allowing the house of God to lie waste ; 
 and now this selfishness was reappearing in a 
 neglect of the Temple ritual. But here, in this 
 covenant, the people pledge themselves to a 
 careful maintenance of public worship ; they 
 charge themselves with an annual Temple tax 
 of one-third of a shekel ; they also promise to 
 contribute their " first-fruits " and " tithes " for 
 the support of the priests and Levites ; and 
 they enter into an arrangement to provide 
 wood in sufficient quantity for the fire which, 
 according to the old law, was to be kept con- 
 stantly " burning on the altar."' 
 
 Now here surely was a genuine "revival " — > 
 a quickening and deepening of the religious 
 life, which manifested itself not in a mere evan- 
 escent weeping, nor in a mere outburst of 
 emotional gladness, but in a deliberate, reso- 
 lute, and systematic amendment of conduct. 
 And, after all, this is the crucial test of any re- 
 
 ' The Jewish historian Joscphus incidentally mentions a festival 
 called Xylophoria ("wood-carrying"), which probably had its 
 origin in this provision of the " covenant," 
 
130 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 llgious revival — the extent to which it actually 
 purifies and reforms the lives of those who 
 come under its influence. You may point to 
 large crowds meeting together to hear the 
 Bible read and expounded, or to listen to the 
 oratory of some eloquent preacher ; you may 
 point to men and women weeping under the 
 singing of some beautiful hymn ; you may 
 point to multitudes who say that they have 
 found "peace with God," and that they are 
 glad with a new-born joy. And such emo- 
 tional results as these are not to be despised. 
 It is well that human nature can be thus 
 stirred ; and it may be well that men and 
 women should be made to feel, even for a 
 time, that there is a power in religion. But 
 after all, the grand question is, has all this 
 emotion led to any practical issue .'' Has 
 there been a genuine contrition for sin, and a 
 genuine resolve to live a better life 1 Has 
 there been any elevation of the character, or 
 at least any check given to deterioration and 
 degeneracy 1 Has the weeping been followed 
 by the inward vow } Has the peace with God 
 been followed by a desire to please God } 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT. 131 
 
 Has the admiration of the preacher's eloquence 
 been accompanied by a personal and practical 
 application of his messag;e ? It is the answer 
 which can be given to such questions as these 
 that determines the value of any revival. For 
 it may possibly be even dangerous to a man 
 to have his sensibilities heightened when his 
 conscience is never really touched, or to ima- 
 gine that he is converted when it is simply 
 his nerves that have been thrilled by the music 
 of a beautiful hymn, or the excitement of a 
 crowded audience. A true weeping for sin 
 and a true joy in the Lord arc evidenced by 
 an inward covenanting to do His will, and a 
 practical endeavour to amend the outward 
 conduct. 
 
 This is the kind of revival which, ever and 
 again, we all need. For we arc constantly 
 liable to fall below the level of our Christian 
 privileges. We are also apt to grow blind to 
 our own defects, and to under-estimatc the 
 extent of our own shortcomings. \Vc have 
 need to bring our lives into the light of God's 
 holy law, and into the light of the life of 
 Christ, that our consciences may be awakened 
 
132 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 to a truer and deeper penitence. And surely 
 we, like these Jews of old, have reason to 
 acknowledge that we have deserved God's 
 chastisements, and that we need His dis- 
 cipline. Would it not be well for us to con- 
 secrate ourselves afresh to His service, and 
 to cast ourselves anew on His mercy ? And, 
 if we were only to examine thoughtfully our 
 own characters and lives, should we not find 
 abundant scope for holy resolution and 
 practical amendment ? 
 
 Let us remember, too, that a repentance 
 which is the fruit of a true revival of the 
 religious life, naturally goes into details of .%** 
 conduct, confessing particular sins and fail- .V 
 ures, and resolving on special improvement. ^ 
 We have seen I how these " covenanters " of 
 Nehemiah's time specified three practical 
 reforms, which it was their promise and pur- 
 pose to carry out in their lives. And 
 although we are not Jews, yet it might be 
 well for us to examine ourselves even with 
 reference to the analogous points in our 
 Christian conduct. For many of the Jewish 
 prescriptions, v/hich are no longer binding 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT 133 
 
 upon us, were based on abiding principles 
 which have a permanent claim upon the 
 conscience. Thus the law against mixed 
 marriages was doubtless intended to guard 
 the purity of Israel's faith and of Israel's 
 testimony to the one living and true God, 
 and to preserve the Jews from lapsing into 
 the idolatries and immoralities of the heathen. 
 Now, is it not the case that for a Christian to 
 marry one who is ungodly is full of peril to 
 the spiritual life ? Is it not the case that, in 
 proportion to the depth of any revival of 
 religion in the Church, there will be a shrink- 
 ing from such marriages as these ? Let 
 parents examine themselves in this matter, 
 and ask themselves whether they would really 
 prefer that a daughter should marry a good 
 and godly man in humble life, than a mere 
 man of the world, however rich or however 
 brilliant. Ah ! men kneel before Him who 
 was once a carpenter in Nazareth, and then 
 rise from their knees to go away and prac- 
 tically "blaspheme the holy penury of the 
 Son of God ! " Then, again, although our 
 Christian Sunday is not hedged round by 
 
134 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 the same restrictions as the Jewish Sabbath, 
 yet it is given to us as a boon from God for 
 the recruiting of our nature, and as a means 
 of spiritual culture. May we not do well to 
 examine ourselves as to whether we are 
 making the best use of the day — whether 
 we are so employing its hours as to recruit 
 ourselves for God's service, and to be aided 
 in entering into His rest ? And then, too, 
 although we have no central Temple to sup- 
 port, yet we have our ordinances of public 
 worship ; we have our buildings for common 
 prayer ; we have our " Levites " who read 
 and expound the Scriptures ; and the Chris- 
 tians of to-day may well ask themselves 
 whether they are as faithful as they ought to 
 be in their personal attendance on the public 
 worship of God, and w^hether, according to 
 their ability, they bear their share in main- 
 taining the ordinances, the ministers, and the 
 missionaries of the Church. 
 
 It is in this spirit that we ought to take 
 ourselves to task, if w^e would reform our lives 
 in the light of God. True, the grand matter 
 is that our hearts be right with Him, that 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT. 135 
 
 there be a real spiritual life beating within us. 
 The prime necessity is that we should go to 
 our Father through Christ, who died for us, 
 and be reconciled to Him, and cast ourselves 
 in penitence and faith on His pardoning and 
 cleansing grace. If we have not done this, 
 all outward reforms of conduct may be but a 
 poor affair. God is looking for fruit, not for 
 mere sculpture. He wishes to see in our 
 lives those virtues which are the natural and 
 living outcome of a heart that is right with 
 Him. But, on the other hand, the root of the 
 matter may be in us, and yet there may be 
 need for culture. The fruit of a tree may 
 vary in amount and richness according to the 
 attention bestowed on its cultivation. If we 
 are sincerely penitent, let us seek to turn the 
 spirit of penitence to practical account. It 
 will not do merely to say, " We have sinned 
 times and ways without number;" or, "We 
 have done the things we ought not to have 
 done, and have left undone the things we 
 ought to have done." Perhaps it is some one 
 sin which is burdening the conscience most. 
 If so, we must confess that ; we must re- 
 
136 NEHEMIAH, 
 
 nounce tJuit ; we must resolve and struggle, 
 by the help of the Holy Spirit, to amend that. 
 We must make restitution where restitution 
 is possible ; and we must be on our guard 
 against the special temptation that is our 
 special danger. Thus, if we would make 
 spiritual progress, we must seek to direct the 
 spiritual life within us into channels of prac- 
 tical improvement. We must seek to bring 
 those higher motives which have power with- 
 in us into special contact with this and that 
 detail of our character and conduct. 
 
 Say, for example, that you are a husband. 
 How, then, are you treating your wife } Is 
 there no need for greater tenderness, for more 
 thoughtful consideration ? Remind yourself 
 of the lofty ideal of the Christian law of mar- 
 riage : " As Christ loved the Church, and 
 gave Himself for it." Have you no new 
 resolves to make here ? Or, again, as a 
 parent, what is your treatment of your chil- 
 dren ? Are you peevish, impatient, and pas- 
 sionate ? Are you winning their love .'* Are 
 you setting before them the example of a 
 sweet and godly life? Are you seeking to 
 
THE FAST AND THE COVENANT 137 
 
 train them with the tenderness and firmness 
 of an unselfish affection ? Have you no new 
 resolves to make here ? Or, again, as a son 
 or daughter, what is your treatment of your 
 parents ? Are you showing them a becom- 
 ing respect ? Are you obedient to their com- 
 mands, and considerate of their wishes ? Or, 
 if you have grown up, and they are growing 
 old, are you showing them those little atten- 
 tions of a reverent and tender sympathy 
 which are so precious to a parent's heart ? 
 Have }'ou no new^ resolves to make here ? 
 And so with all the other relationships of 
 life ; as brother or sister ; as master or ser- 
 vant ; as teacher or pupil ; as a man of busi- 
 ness, in your buying and selling ; as a citizen, 
 in your political action ; is there nothing to 
 amend ? Or, again, it may be that some evil 
 habit is creeping over you, that envy, or 
 jealousy, or irritability of temper is growing, 
 because you have not curbed it as you ought, 
 or that self-indulgence is leading you on, inch 
 by inch, in the direction of intemperance, or 
 that avarice is laying upon you its blighting 
 hand, or that you are beginning to neglect 
 
138 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 secret prayer. Oh ! whatever it may be that 
 specially needs watching or reformation, put 
 your finger on it in the sight of God. Let us 
 not indulge in mere generalities ; but, as these 
 Jews of old did, let us specify before God 
 what we know to be wrong, and, consecrating 
 ourselves afresh to the service of Christ, let 
 us define to our own souls what it is in our 
 character and conduct that we wish and 
 purpose, by God's grace, to amend. 
 
XII. 
 
 the; Df;DiCATioK OF the; 
 
" The Lord doth build up Jerusalem : He gathereth together 
 the outcasts of Israel. . . . Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem ; praise 
 thy God, O Zion. For He hath strengthened the bars of thy 
 gates ; He hath blessed thy children within ^thee." — Psalm 
 cxlvii. 2, 12, 13. 
 
 "In everything give thanks : for this is the will of God in 
 Christ Jesus concerning you." — i Thessalof/ians v. 18. 
 
XII. 
 THE DEDICATION OF THE WAIL. 
 
 Neheniiah xii. 27-47. 
 
 THE completion of Nehemiah's enterprise 
 was celebrated by a religious and festal 
 " dedication " of the city wall. It was felt to 
 be a fitting thing that there should be a public 
 service of thanksgiving to God for the favour 
 which He had thus shown to Jerusalem. 
 And this service of grateful and joyful praise 
 was accompanied by a ceremonial " purify- 
 ing " of " the people, and the gates, and the 
 wall," and a formal consecration to God of 
 the work which had been brought to a suc- 
 cessful issue. The priests and Lcvites and 
 singers of the community were all gathered 
 together, and, along with the princes of Judah, 
 
142 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 were formed Into a grand procession. This 
 procession was divided into two companies, 
 the one being headed by Ezra, and the other 
 closed by Nehemiah. These two companies 
 marched, it would seem, upon the wall itself, 
 and in opposite directions ; both doubtless 
 praising God, as they marched, with psalms and 
 instruments of music. Thus, between them, 
 they would probably make the entire circuit 
 of the wall ; and the twofold procession seems 
 to have been arranged in such a manner as 
 that both companies met at the Temple. 
 There they united together in their songs of 
 praise ; and, in the name of the assembled 
 multitudes, sacrifices were offered in the 
 House of the Lord. It was a great day for 
 Jerusalem. The gladness of the people was 
 exuberant. It was heightened by the thought 
 of the troubles through which they had passed, 
 bv the memory of their labours and their 
 vigils, by the victory which they had thus 
 won over their enemies, and by the hope that 
 brighter days were now in store for Jerusa- 
 lem. The very children, we are told, shared 
 in the gladness and excitement of the hour ; 
 
DEDICATION OF THE WALL. 143 
 
 and Nehcmiah adds, with a touch of triumph 
 in his picture, that " the joy of Jerusalem was 
 heard even afar off." 
 
 Now, may we not learn a lesson from this 
 simple and joyous piety of Nehemiah and 
 his countrymen ? Would it not be well if 
 there were more praise in our worship, more 
 gratitude in our religious life ? Do' we always 
 remember that " except the Lord build the 
 house, they labour in vain that build it ? " 
 When we have brought any of our projects to 
 a successful termination, are we careful to give 
 thanks to Him who has given us prosperity ? 
 Alas ! there are many men w^hose projects 
 are so base, and whose methods are so un- 
 worthy, that they dare not think of God in 
 connection with them at all, dare not ask 
 God's blessing upon them, dare not thank 
 Him when they are successful in their aims ! 
 The prime necessity, therefore, is that our en- 
 terprises and labours be of such a character 
 that we can bring them into the light of God, 
 and can dedicate their results to Him. Thus 
 the man of business, for example, ought to 
 see to it that he can ask the Divine blessing 
 
144 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 on his commercial projects and methods ; 
 and then, if he is in any wise prospered in 
 his labour, he ought not to forget to render 
 thanks to God. There are little Nebuchad- 
 nezzars in the world, as well as great — men 
 who strut about as if they would say — " Is 
 not this the Babylon which I have built, by 
 the might of my power, and for the honour 
 of my majesty ? " There is really little ex- 
 cuse for this folly. Such a man must have 
 lived long enough to know that " the race is 
 not always to the swift, nor the battle to the 
 strong." He must have known men who 
 began life with as much energy and practical 
 sagacity as himself, but who have been far 
 less prosperous. You may have been per- 
 severing and industrious, but who has given 
 you all your energy } Who has bestowed 
 upon you the health and strength without 
 which you could not have carried on your 
 labour } 
 
 Oh, recognize with joyful thankfulness the 
 Giver of all your mercies ; and if you have 
 had to contend with difficulties and trials, be 
 all the more thankful to Him who has en- 
 
DEDICATION OF THE WALL. 145 
 
 abled }'ou to conquer them ! Come with your 
 offering of praise to the Father in heaven » 
 and dedicate to Him the fruits of your toil. 
 Ask Him to direct you as to the best use 
 you can make of the prosperity which He 
 Himself has given you. For a man's suc- 
 cess may prove only a curse to him, if it 
 merely puffs him up with pride and vain-glory, 
 or hardens him in selfishness, or leads him to 
 forget his dependence on, and his responsi- 
 bility to, his Maker. 
 
 Then, again, as patriots, let us give thanks 
 to God for our national prosperity. We can 
 scarcely take up a map of the world, and look 
 at the size of our British islands, and then 
 think of the extent of British rule and in- 
 fluence, without feeling that, in a very marked 
 manner, the hand of God has been in our 
 history. And }'et how prone we are to 
 magnify the mere instruments of our national 
 greatness ! There used to be a way of speak- 
 ing about " the wooden walls of old Eng- 
 land," which savoured too much of what the 
 prophet Habakkuk calls a " burning of in- 
 cense to our own net." And still there is 
 
 10 
 
146 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 danger enough lest we make our national 
 prestige a kind of fetich. There is danger 
 also lest, in these days of marvellous pro- 
 gress in the sciences and the industrial arts, 
 we should fall into a kind of worship of mere 
 material forces. " Some trust in chariots and 
 horses ; " perhaps we have been trusting too 
 much in iron, and coal, and steam, and cotton 
 manufactures ! But what have we " that we 
 have not first received 1 " Let us recognize 
 the fact that the true prosperity of our coun- 
 try is dependent on the blessing of God, and 
 let us thankfully dedicate to Him the position 
 which He has given us among the nations. 
 Then shall we be more concerned that Britain 
 should have a world-wide reputation for liberty, 
 justice, and magnanimity, than for the invin- 
 cibility of her floating " walls." 
 
 In our religious life and work, also, let us 
 .thank God for our successes. He is the 
 great Worker in His own vineyard ; it is His 
 sunshine and air that produce the blossom 
 and the fruit. " Neither is he that planteth 
 anything, neither he that watereth, but God 
 that giveth the increase." It is our honour 
 
DEDICATION OF THE WAIL, 147 
 
 and privilege to be used by Him as conscious 
 and willing instruments in the rearing of that 
 spiritual city whose stones are living souls. 
 " The Lord doth build up Jerusalem." It is 
 He who endows His servants with those facul- 
 ties which qualify them to co-operate with 
 Him in this great work. It is He who gives 
 to the Truth its power over the heart : it is 
 He who by His Spirit makes His appeal to 
 the conscience. It is He who by His Provi- 
 dence opens new " doors " of usefulness, and 
 thwarts the antagonism of the enemies of His 
 kingdom. 
 
 And in the upbuilding also of our own cha- 
 racter it is God who gives us success. " By 
 the grace of God," said the Apostle, " I am 
 what I am." The Holy Spirit is the Author 
 of our sanctification ; not, indeed, as operating 
 upon us by any mechanical compulsion, but 
 as taking the initiative in all our good resolves 
 and endeavours. If, therefore, we have ac- 
 quired any measure of self-control, if we 
 have grown in humility, penitence, and holy 
 desire, if our souls have become in any wise 
 stronger to resist the assaults of temptation, 
 
148 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 let us thankfully acknowledge the grace which 
 has sheltered our weakness and inspired our 
 struggles ; and, dedicating to God that which 
 we are, let us press forward to that which we 
 ought to be. 
 
XIII. 
 
 TH£; P£;i^SlgT£^KT 
 
"Will a man rob God ? Yet ye have robbed Me. But ye say, 
 Wherein have we robbed Thee? In tithes and offerings." — 
 Malachl iii. 8. 
 
 ' ' I told you before, and foretell you, as if I were present, the 
 second time ; and being absent now I write to them which 
 heretofore have sinned, and to all other, that, if I come again, I 
 will not spare." — 2 Corinthians xiii. 2. 
 
XIII. 
 THE PERSISTENT REFORMER. 
 
 Nehoniah xiii. 
 
 AFTER completing the special work for 
 which he had obtained leave of absence, 
 Nehemiah returned to his post of cupbearer 
 at the Persian court. It would seem that his 
 absence had extended over twelve years, 
 which was probably a much longer period 
 than he had at first anticipated. We can 
 easily imagine that, after having spent twelve 
 such eventful years in Jerusalem, he would 
 thenceforth often turn a longing look from 
 the palace of Susa towards the city for which 
 he had so earnestly laboured. We can well 
 conceive that the luxury of the Persian court 
 may have even palled upon his taste, as his 
 
152 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 heart yearned towards his distant countrymen. 
 He must often have longed to know how it 
 fared with them, and whether they were 
 remaining faithful to the vows which they 
 had taken. Doubtless he would receive, from 
 time to time, intelligence as to the condition 
 of affairs in Judah ; and probably this in- 
 telligence was of such a character as to make 
 him eager to return and resume the work 
 of reformation. At any rate, he once more 
 obtained leave of absence from the Persian 
 king ; and no sooner does he find himself 
 again in Jerusalem, than he sets himself 
 vigorously, and even vehemently, to correct 
 those abuses which had again begun to mani- 
 fest themselves during his absence. 
 
 Nehemiah was not afraid to rebuke evil in 
 high quarters. We have already seen with 
 what bravery he had formerly denounced the 
 wealthy usurers who were oppressing their 
 poorer brethren. And now we find him 
 rectifying an abuse which had crept into the 
 temple by an arrangement of Eliashib the 
 high priest. It appears that Eliashib was 
 related by marriage to Tobiah the Ammonite 
 
THE PERSISTENT REFORMER. 153 
 
 and that he had given up to this Tobiah a 
 chamber in the Temple which had previously 
 been used as a storehouse for religious pur- 
 poses. This profanation of the sanctuary 
 was all the more gross, inasmuch as Tobiah 
 was a heathen, and was moreover one of 
 those chiefs who had been so bitterly opposed 
 to the welfare of Jerusalem. Nehemiah's 
 spirit was vexed by this conduct, and he soon 
 made short work of the scandal. Although 
 he was neither priest nor prophet, he cast 
 forth all the household stuff of Tobiah out of 
 the chamber, and commanded the room to be 
 purified and to be restored to its former uses. 
 The fervid zeal of this act reminds us of One 
 who, at a later day, came into " His Father's 
 house," and with the uplifted scourge of small 
 cords drove forth the hucksters and money- 
 changers from the sacred enclosure. 
 
 Then, again, Nehemiah found that the 
 people had already begun to relapse into 
 their former laxity with regard to the very 
 points on which they had promised amend- 
 ment. The vows of the covenant which had 
 been drawn up and signed by the leaders of 
 
154 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 the community were being violated. The 
 Levites were unsupported in their ministry ; 
 men were buying and selling in Jerusalem on 
 the Sabbath day ; and some of the Jews had 
 taken wives of the heathen, so that their own 
 children were even growing up in ignorance 
 of the Hebrew tongue. It is probably to this 
 period that we are to assign the Book of 
 Malachi. The utterances of the last of the 
 prophets seem to imply that the Temple and 
 the city v/alls had been rebuilt. The " bur- 
 den " of his message is directed mainly 
 against the slovenly manner in which the 
 Temple service was conducted, and also 
 against the scandal of intermarriage with 
 idolaters. He denounces the priests for 
 "polluting the altar" by sacrificing "lame 
 and sick " animals — offering to God what 
 they would not dare to offer to the Persian 
 " governor." He denounces the people for 
 withholding from "the storehouse" the 
 " tithes " which were necessary for the ade- 
 quate maintenance of the Temple ritual. He 
 pictures the " crying " and the " weeping," at 
 God's altar, of the divorced or despised wives 
 
THE PERSISTENT REFORMER. 155 
 
 whose husbands had married idolatrous 
 women. "The Lord hath been a witness 
 between thee and the wife of thy youth, 
 against whom thou hast dealt treacherously." 
 " The Lord, the God of Israel, saith that He 
 hateth putting away." The prophet also pre- 
 dicts that the Lord shall " suddenly come to 
 His Temple," to " purify the sons of Levi," 
 and to be a "swift witness" against those 
 that were "profaning His covenant." Thus 
 it would appear that Nehemiah was now 
 aided by Malachi, just as Zerubbabel had 
 been aided by Haggai and Zechariah. 
 
 It might, however, have been almost excus- 
 able if Nehemiah had now felt that the people 
 were simply incorrigible, and had given up as 
 hopeless all attempts at reformation. But, 
 with the resolute and indomitable persistency 
 of the true reformer, he once more set himself 
 to attack and rectify these recurring abuses. 
 He made fresh arrangements for the collec- 
 tion and distribution of the tithes ; he gave 
 orders that the gates of Jerusalem should be 
 shut during the Sabbath day ; and he treated 
 with a rough and even violent vehemence 
 
156 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 some of those who had intermarried with the 
 heathen. In all this he may possibly have 
 shown somewhat of the narrowness of the 
 " Puritan ; " but none the less may we admire 
 his sturdy courage, and the zeal for God 
 which led him to persist in his endeavours 
 to purify the religious and moral life of his 
 countrymen. There is danger, in these modern 
 days, lest, through fear of being " Puritanical," 
 we slip into a kind of gelatinous religion, 
 which has in it no backbone of moral vigour, 
 which escapes fanaticism, but also lacks ear- 
 nestness, which loses in depth what it gains 
 in breadth, which is more tolerant of vice than 
 of " narrowness," and which loses the tough 
 persistency and the energetic zeal necessary 
 for the work of reformation. A man may be 
 very " liberal in his views ; " but is he also in- 
 tense in his feelings ? He may pride himself 
 on not being a " Sabbatarian : " but is he 
 making the best use of the day of rest ? He 
 tells us that he does not believe in making 
 men moral by Acts of Parliament ; but is he 
 trying in any other way to make men moral } 
 He is not a bigoted sectarian ; but is he doing 
 
THE PERSISTENT REFORMER. 157 
 
 anything at all, cither for the denomination to 
 which he belongs or for the Church Universal? 
 He takes very charitable and tolerant vicv..^ of 
 human conduct ; but is he of any use in the 
 world ? Did he ever " save a soul from death ? " 
 Is he even watchful of the morals of his own 
 household ? Ah ! this is the great danger 
 of some of us nowadays — this so-called 
 " breadth," which lacks intensity, persistency, 
 and enthusiasm ! 
 
 We know nothing for certain of Nehemiah's 
 subsequent career. There are traditions which 
 say that he lived to a good old age, and that 
 he gathered together into one collection some 
 of the sacred writings of his nation. Certainly 
 the registers contained in his own book ap- 
 pear to indicate somewhat of the antiquarian 
 or historic faculty ; and we can well conceive 
 that this fragment of autobiography was 
 written when he was an old man. The ejacu- 
 lation which recurs more than once in the 
 course of his story, " Think upon me, my 
 God, for good, according to all that I have 
 done for this people!" — " Remember me, O my 
 
158 NEHEMIAH. 
 
 God, and wipe not out my good deeds that 
 I have done for the House of my God ! " is 
 just the kind of ejaculation — not, perhaps, 
 without a touch of self-complacency — which 
 we might expect from an old man who has 
 in his day " fought a good fight," and who is 
 looking back with a kind of honest pride on 
 his struggles and labours. His narrative closes 
 with the same prayer : " Remember me, O 
 my God, for good ! " Perhaps the shadows of 
 age were lengthening as he wrote these words ; 
 many of those who had been with him in his 
 prime had doubtless passed away. A new 
 generation may have sprung up, which had no 
 recollection of the rebuilding of the wall ; and 
 perhaps the old man may have even felt that 
 he was somewhat neglected amid the new 
 prosperity which he had done so much to 
 create. But he finds a certain satisfaction in 
 reviewing those stirring times in which he had 
 given himself so earnestly to the welfare of 
 Jerusalem ; he feels that his life has not been 
 a useless one ; and, whatever men may do 
 with his name after he is gone, he appeals to 
 God not to forget his pious and patriotic 
 
THE PERSISTENT REFORMER. 159 
 
 labours : " Remember me, O my God, for 
 
 good ! " 
 
 And surely, even if there be a touch of self- 
 complacency in this plaintive prayer, we may 
 well pardon it, when we recollect what kind 
 of man this Nehemiah had been. Doubtless 
 he had his faults ; it would have been strange 
 if he had not shown somewhat of the harsh 
 impetuosity, or somewhat of the self-conscious- 
 ness, that often characterize the ardent and 
 successful reformer. Nevertheless his excel- 
 lences were such that, even to this day, he 
 stands before us as a stimulating example of 
 earnest, prudent, and practical zeal in the 
 cause of God and of man. His name has not 
 been allowed to go down into oblivion. And 
 although he lived in what some may be pleased 
 to calU dark and narrow age, he was so faith- 
 ful to the light he had, that his career is a 
 practical rebuke to many of the enlightened 
 Christians of the present day. Especially is 
 he a model for men of practical business 
 ability. Layman though he was, he did a 
 noble work for Jerusalem which neither priest 
 nor prophet could havQ so well accomplished. 
 
i6o NEHEMIAH. 
 
 He shows us what wealth can do when wealth 
 is consecrated to the service of God. His life 
 rebukes the men who shut themselves up in 
 their own selfish money-getting or money- 
 hoarding, and never manifest any public spirit 
 on behalf either of their country or the Church 
 of God. He shows us, too, what may be done 
 in a community by even one man of practical 
 sagacity and energetic zeal — how such a man 
 can stir up others by his example and his in- 
 fluence, and can carry out his plans for the 
 common good, in spite of enemies without and 
 croakers within. Let us, then, take a practical 
 lesson from this patriot and reformer of the 
 olden time. Let us not shut ourselves up in 
 our own individual and domestic interests. 
 Let us extend our sympathies and efforts. 
 Let us see what we can do, according to the 
 special needs of our own time, to serve God 
 and man in our day and generation. 
 
 UNWIN BROTHER?;, THE GRE3HAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON. 
 
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