Nehemiah 4:16-23 - Homiletics

Armed workers.

The enemies of the Jews, who meditated an attack upon them, finding that they were aware of their design and well prepared to receive them, withdrew their forces, and the work of restoring the wall went on again. Nehemiah, however, thought it necessary that the people should be prepared for resistance at any moment. He therefore kept half his own retinue always on guard, well armed, while the other half worked; he appointed that every labourer should work armed; those whose work permitted, holding a weapon in one hand while labouring with the other; the masons, whose work required both hands, having a sword by their side; he placed the rulers behind the people, to direct the work and, if need were, to lead the fight. He himself was everywhere, overlooking the workmen, and on the alert for the enemy; having a trumpeter by his side to summon all the people together to resist any assault that might be made. As an additional precaution, he ordered those of the people whose dwellings were elsewhere to lodge by night in the city; while he, his relatives, slaves, and other attendants, though compelled to sleep, never put off their clothes (unless the last very obscure words of the chapter state an exception) until all danger had passed.

The lessons from this paragraph for any Christian Church or society, and indeed for any community, are, the importance of—

1. Diligence in work, combined with readiness for contest. It is work that secures prosperity, but conflict may be necessary for the work's sake.

2. Thorough union.

3. Division of duties. Each taking what he is best fitted for, or is thought to be by those in authority.

4. Good organisation.

5. Good rulers.

6. Obedience to them.

7. Self-denial. In all—those highest in authority the most careful to practise it.