It was made under very discouraging circumstances. The city was in
ruins, the walls were in heaps, and there were only a few restored
captives to labour for their restoration. Now, in what spirit did these
feeble Jews rise to their work?
(1) They all worked together.
There was just such an united and harmonious action as we long to witness
in the Church of God. It is an old proverb that “union is strength.” In
this case the whole wall was portioned out and all classes united. First
came the High Priest and his brethren, next the men of Jericho, soon
followed by the carpenters, the goldsmiths, and the apothecaries. Then
came the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, followed by Shallum and his
daughters; further on we read of Baruch, who set an example to the whole
company, for he _earnestly_ repaired the portion entrusted to his care,
till at length the circuit was complete.
(2) They worked with a will.
There is such a thing as work without a will. There is the dull, lazy
work of the idle man, and the mechanical work of those who take no
interest in what they are about. Just as in religion, there is the
languid performance of a routine as different as possible to the real
wrestling with God in faith. There is no soul in it, and who can wonder
if there is no result? In this case there was rapid result, and they
built the wall, and the reason is given, “for the people had a mind to
work.” {51} An important lesson this for every Christian effort.
(3) They made real sacrifices for their work. It must have been a sore
inconvenience to these men to leave their own occupations and to labour
on the wall; but they laboured night and day till the wall rose from its
ruins. Oh, that we had more of this spirit in the Church of God! Would
that we knew better how to give to Him so as to pinch ourselves; to give
our time, our money, our painstaking, our real self-denying work, in
order to glorify God, and show that we live not unto ourselves, but unto
Him that died for us and rose again.