"Thy servants think upon her stones, and it pitieth them to see her in
the dust."--_Ps. 102:14._
THERE was a good Jew named Nehemiah, whom the King of Persia had made
his cup-bearer. One day one of the Jews came from Jerusalem, and told
Nehemiah how sad all was at their home, the city that once had been so
beautiful. There was a little bit of the Temple built up, but all the
streets were heaps of ruins, and only a house or two here and there
built up; and the robber tribes round were always breaking in and doing
mischief.
Nehemiah wept, and prayed to God for his people; and when he went in
to wait on the king and queen, he still looked so sad, that they asked
him what was the matter. Then he told them that he had just heard that
his dear home, where his fathers' tombs were, was lying waste, and that
the cruel enemies were always doing harm; and he begged the king to let
him go home and try to help them.
[Illustration: NEHEMIAH ARMETH THE LABORERS--Neh. 4:16,17.]
So the king gave him leave, but set him a time to come back; and
Nehemiah went all the long way to Jerusalem. It was quite as bad as he
had heard. The houses were all down, only here and there one standing;
and when he went out on his ass at night to view the ruins, there was a
heap of stones where a gate should be, and a hole where a wall should
be.
So Nehemiah stirred up all the Jews, and they set to work to build the
wall to keep out the robbers. Then the enemies laughed at them, and
said a fox could break down all they built; and when they went on,
people used to come and attack them, so that they had to work with
swords ready to fight, and always on the watch to come to help if they
heard a trumpet blown. But they kept on, and the wall was built and the
gates set up; and they were safe once more from enemies coming in among
them.