III.

At Work.

'And between the going up of the corner unto the sheep-gate repaired the goldsmiths and the merchants.'-NEHEMIAH iii. 32.

WORDS have given place to deeds. The work has begun. The undertaking on which Nehemiah had set his heart is already in process of accomplishment. Plans are drawn; calculations made. Materials are at hand, largely supplied by the ruins themselves; or by Nehemiah's foresight and interest with the king. And now hundreds of hands are engaged in carrying out the patriotic task of rebuilding the wall and of restoring the gates of Jerusalem. It is a busy scene which the city thus presents. The chapter before us, from beginning to end, is taken up with an account of the work, and of the workers in connection with this enterprise. At the first glance it may seem as if there was little or nothing in it which need detain us; but on closer inspection several points of an interesting character appear, on which we may not unprofitably dwell.

I. In looking over this list of workers we are

struck with the fact that they are drawn from all classes of society. The text speaks of merchants and goldsmiths, and the context of priests, and rulers, and apothecaries, and Nethinim, or temple servants, and others; all combined in executing the project to which Nehemiah has incited them.

The priests took a prominent part in this work. The first name on the list here given is that of the high priest himself. Then Eliashib the high priest rose up with his brethren the priests, and they builded the sheep-gate.'

We fear that, as respects the high priest, what he did in this way was not a work of love. Some years afterwards, much to Nehemiah's regret, this same Eliashib acted a very unworthy and unpatriotic part; and we suspect it was more for the sake of appearances than from any real wish to promote the success of the enterprise, that he was found among the builders mentioned in this chapter. Either this was the case, or the falling away of Eliashib at a later period of his life was as great as it was deplorable. Under any circumstances it was much to be deplored. But for the time being we see him at the head of his order, labouring, apparently at least, with goodwill at this work of restoration. In the twenty-second verse the priests are again referred to as active in the cause.

It was quite right they should be, and for more than one reason.

'Ministers,' says a well-known commentator, 'should be first and foremost in every good work; their office obliges them to teach and quicken by their example as well as by their doctrine. If there be labour in it, who so fit as they to work? If danger, who so fit as they to venture ?'

There will be a general readiness, not unlikely, to subscribe to his teaching. Some, it may be, will endorse it who are prepared to do very little themselves, and to sacrifice scarcely any of their own time and money and inclination for the furtherance of a good cause. Of course it is a different thing when anybody else's duty is under review, and especially the priest's or minister's. It is surprising how well we can regulate other people's affairs. We can tell exactly what they ought to do. We often know our neighbours' duty much better than they know it themselves.

Again, it was quite right the priest should be active on this occasion, for it was owing in a great measure to their unfaithfulness-to the unfaithfulness, that is, of the priesthood prior to the time of the Babylonian captivity, that the city was laid in ruins. Numerous passages might be quoted setting forth the corruptness of the priestly order in the days preceding the captivity. In Jeremiah we read, 'The priests said not, Where is the Lord? and they that handle the law knew Me not; the pastors also transgressed against Me, and the

prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.' He says also, 'The pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the Lord therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.' In Ezekiel it is stated, 'Her priests have violated My law, and have profaned Mine holy things.' Zephaniah writes, 'Her prophets are light and treacherous persons: her priests have polluted the sanctuary, they have done violence to the law.'

The rulers, too, or princes of the house of Israel, took a leading part in repairing the wall, and, as in the case of the priests, it was proper they should; for their misconduct, their evil practices, had contributed greatly to bring about the downfall of the city. Micah associates them with the priests and prophets, as together responsible for the desolation that had overtaken them. 'Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity. They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest' (Micah iii. 9, 12). The priests and nobles, then, in the assistance

they rendered Nehemiah, as recorded in this chapter, were doing a work which the sins of their respective orders in bygone days had entailed upon them. It was a work of reparation, in a moral as well as in a material sense, in which they were engaged.

What a pleasing combination this must have appeared in the eyes of Nehemiah-this union of all classes high and low, and of all trades, so to speak, in the interest of Jerusalem. The advantages of co-operation were thus secured. And what were they in this particular case? The following may be named: By means of this combination the work was done quickly, simultaneously, and economically. I might add, and safely accomplished; but the consideration of this point may be reserved, as it will come up on another occasion, in a different form. By this combination, then, the work was expeditiously done. Many hands were here employed, and the work went on apace. Josephus will perhaps be cited against us. He makes it out that the work was a long time in hand, viz., two years and four months. If this view be correct, we must modify or withdraw the word 'expeditiously' just used. We are not disposed to do so. The testimony of a secular historian, as pointed out by Dr. Chalmers in his Essay on the 'Evidence and Authority of the Christian Revelation,' ought not to outweigh that of a sacred historian, even when of a corroborative kind, and surely ought not to be