d
bar them. Also appoint watches consisting of the inhabitants of Jerusalem,
every one in his watch and each opposite his own house.'

[Sidenote: Neh. 7:4, 5a]
Now the city was wide and large; but there were few people in it, and the
households were not large. Therefore my God put it into my mind to gather
together the nobles and the rulers and the people.

[Sidenote: Neh. 12: 31, 32, 37-40]
Then I had the rulers of Judah take their position upon the wall, and I
appointed two great companies that gave thanks, and the first went to the
right hand upon the wall toward the Dung Gate. And behind them went
Hoshaiah and half of the nobles of Judah. And by the Fountain Gate, they
went straight up the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the
wall, above the house of David, even to the Water Gate on the east. And
the other company of those who gave thanks went to the left, and I after
them, with the half of the nobles of the people, upon the wall, above the
Tower of the Furnaces, even to the broad wall, and above the Gate of
Ephraim and by the Old Gate and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel
and the Tower of the Hundred, even to the Sheep Gate; and they stood in
the Gate of the Guard. So the two companies of those who gave thanks in
the house of God took their position, and I, and the half of the rulers
with me.

I. Nehemiah's Memoirs. Fortunately the author of the books of Ezra and
Nehemiah has quoted at length in the opening chapters of Nehemiah from the
personal memoirs of the noble patriot through whose activity the walls of
Jerusalem were restored. They are the best historical records in the Old
Testament and they shed clear, contemporary light upon this most important
period in the evolution of Judaism. The narrative is straightforward and
vivid. It lights up the otherwise dark period that precedes Nehemiah and
enables the historian to bridge with assurance the century that intervened
before the apocryphal book of I Maccabees throws its light upon the course
of Israel's troubled history. The detailed description of the rebuilding
of the walls in Nehemiah 3 is probably from the Chronicler, but it reveals
an intimate acquaintance with the topography and the later history of
Judah's capital.

II. Nehemiah's Response to the Call to Service. The presence of a
deputation from Jerusalem (including Nehemiah's kinsman Hanani) in
the distant Persian capital of Susa was not a mere accident. Nehemah's
response to t