Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: RESTORATION (12/03/20)
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TITLE: THE WALL | Previous Challenge Entry
By Graham Keet
12/09/20 -
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Young Mordecai, Nehemiah’s shofar bearer, turned to his leader. “They seem pretty serious, are we going to stop the construction? Must I summon the other workers?”
Nehemiah was silent for a long time, his eyes closed, then he looked up, “Yes, summon everyone together, the Lord has spoken to me—we carry on. He will protect us from all evil.”
The wall around Jerusalem had been converted to heaps of rubble by the Babylonians when they sacked the city and took most of the inhabitants into captivity in Babylon. After many years Persian King Artaxerxes released Nehemiah to rebuild the wall, but some of the local leaders, who were enemies of the Jews, had used the crumbling walls and gates as free passage to plunder the city whenever they liked. Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem were the foremost opponents of the wall being restored.
Various Jewish family groups were responsible for rebuilding sections of the wall and its gates. Mordecai had summoned the working groups to meet at a predetermined location. Nehemiah stood on a raised platform and addressed them. “I had a visit this morning from our three friends who warned me to stop the rebuilding program, or else… But I have come before the Lord and asked Him what we must do, and His answer was clear.”
“Do we carry on?” the question came from Reuben son of Manasseh, head of the eastern block.
“Yes, we carry on, but we will take precautions. The Lord has made it known to me that Sanballat and his cronies are merely bullies; they will plunder us until we show that we are prepared to resist them, so we will do the following. Every able bodied man will work with his sword on his hip—we will be ready to defend our city against these criminals. If our enemies approach, Mordecai will sound his shofar with a coded call which will be repeated around the wall. This will be the signal for everyone to hasten to the place of danger and form a combined wall of defense. The Lord will not allow us to be harmed. We will complete this job in record time. Go now, and fear not, for the Lord is with us.”
At ten the next morning Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem were sighted approaching the Sheep Gate along with about fifty armed guards. Immediately Nehemiah ordered Mordecai to summon the workers to that location. As the enemy approached, the armed workers started arriving and soon about two hundred men had taken up position on the partially completed walls and before the gate, their hands on the hilt of their swords.
“What’s this, Nehemiah?” shouted Sanballat, looking with disbelief at the armed men confronting him. “Have you lost faith in your God and now resort to violence against us? Is this what you learned in Babylon?”
“There is a time for peace and a time for war,” replied Nehemiah quoting from Ecclesiastes. “We offer you peace, but as you can see, we are fully prepared to defend ourselves. Your days of pillaging us are over. We will trade with you on equal terms, but you will leave your swords and other armaments at the gate. From now on its our city and our rules.”
A loud cheer rose from the defenders as they raised their swords in the air and stamped their feet on the ground. Sanballat turned his mount and with a final “This is not over” galloped away, his allies and their men following him.
Nehemiah turned to the workers. “Carry on with the work, the Lord has told me this will be the end of Sanballat and his cronies. They have no stomach for a fight. We will complete the wall in record time.”
The wall was completed in fifty-two days without further interference from the enemies of the Jews. A huge celebration was held to dedicate the wall to the Lord. For a time the faith of the nation was at a high point as they realized that no enemy can withstand the Lord their God.
(Based on the book of Nehemiah)
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