Contents ▼▲
Front Matter The Story of a Beautiful Garden The First Baby in the World and His Brother The Great Ship That Saved Eight People The Tower That Was Never Finished The Story of a Long Journey How Abram's Choice Brought Blessing The Angel by the Well The Rain of Fire That Fell on a City The Boy Who Became an Archer How an Angel's Voice Saved a Boy's Life The Story of a Journey after a Wife How Jacob Stole His Brother's Blessing Jacob's Wonderful Dream A Midnight Wrestling Match The Rich Man's Son Who Was Sold as a Slave From the Prison to the Palace How Joseph's Dream Came True A Lost Brother Found From the Land of Famine to the Land of Plenty The Beautiful Baby Who Was Found in a River The Voice from the Burning Bush The River That Ran Blood The Night When a Nation Was Born How the Sea Became Dry Land and the Sky Rained Bre The Mountain That Smoked and Words That Were Spoke How Aaron Made a Golden Calf and What Became of It The Tent Where God Lived Among His People How They Worshipped God in the Tabernacle What Strong Drink Brought to Aaron's Sons The Scapegoat in the Wilderness The Cluster of Grapes from the Land of Canaan How the Long Journey of the Israelites Came to an What a Wise Man Learned from an Ass How Moses Looked upon the Promised Land The Story of Job The Story of a Scarlet Cord How the River Jordan Became Dry The Story of a Wedge of Gold How Joshua Conquered the Land of Canaan The Old Man Who Fought Against the Giants The Avenger of Blook and the Cities of Refuge The Story of an Altar Beside the River The Presnt That Ehud Brought to King Eglon How a Woman Won a Great Victory Gideon and His Brave Three Hundred Jephthah's Rash Promise and What Came from It The Strong Man: How He Lived and How He Died The Idol Temple at Dan and Its Priest How Ruth Gleaned in the Field of Boaz The Little Boy with a Linen Coat How the Idol Fell Down Before the Ark The Last of the Judges The Tall Man Who Was Chosen King How Saul Saved the Eyes of the Men of Jabesh The Brave Young Prince Saul's Great Sin and His Great Loss The Shepherd Boy of Bethlehem The Shepherd Boy's Fight with the Giant The Little Boy Looking for the Arrows Where David Found the Giant's Sword How David Spared Saul's Life The Last Days of King Saul The Shepherd Boy Becomes a King The Sound in the Treetops The Cripple at the King's Table The Prophet's Story of the Little Lamb David's Handsome Son and How He Stole the Kingdom Absalom in the Wood; David on the Throne The Angel with the Drawn Sword on Mount Moriah Solomon on This Father's Throne The Wise Young King The House of God on Mount Moriah The Last Days of Solomon's Reign The Breaking Up of a Great Kingdom The King Who Led Israel to Sin The Prophet Who Raised a Boy to Life The Prayer That Was Answered in Fire The Voice That Spoke to Elijah in the Mount The Wounded Prophet and His Story What Ahab Paid for His Vineyard The Arrow That Killed a King Elijah's Chariot of Fire A Spring Sweetened by Salt The Pot of Oil and the Pot of Poison The Little Boy at Shunem How a Little Girl Helped to Cure a Leper The Chariots of Fire around Elisha What the Lepers Found in the Camp Jehu, the Furious Driver of His Chariot Elisha and the Bow; Jonah and Nineveh How the Ten Tribes Were Lost The First Four Kings of Judah The Little Boy Who Was Crowned King Three Kings and a Great Prophet The Good King Hezekiah The Lost Book Found in the Temple The Last Four Kings of Judah and the Weeping Proph What Ezekiel Saw in the Valley The Jewish Captives in the Court of the King The Golden Image and the Fiery Furnace The Tree That Was Cut Down and Grew Again The Writing upon the Wall Daniel in the Den of Lions The Story of a Joyous Journey The New Temple on Mount Moriah The Beautiful Queen of Persia The Scribe Who Wrote the Old Testament The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem Ezra's Great Bible Class in Jerusalem The Angel by the Altar The Manger of Bethlehem The Star and the Wise Men The Boy in his Father's House The Prophet in the Wilderness Jesus in the Desert, and beside the River The Water Jars at the Wedding Feast The Stranger at the Well The Story of a Boy in Capernaum and a Riot A Net Full of Fishes The Leper and the Man Let Down through the Roof The Cripple at the Pool and the Withered Hand The Twelve Disciples and the Sermon on the Mount The Captain's Servant, the Widow's Son, and a Sinn Some Stories Jesus Told by the Sea "Peace, Be Still" The Little Girl Who Was Raised to Life A Dancing Girl and What Was Given Her The Feast beside the Sea and What Followed It The Answer to a Mother's Prayer The Glory of Jesus on the Mountain The Little Child in the Arms of Jesus At the Feast of Tabernacles The Man with Clay on His Face The Good Shepherd and the Good Samaritan Lazarus Raised to Life Some Parables in Perea The Poor Rich Man and the Rich Poor Man Jesus at Jericho Palm Sunday The Last Vistis of Jesus to the Temple The Parables on the Mount of Olives The Last Supper The Olive Orchard and the High Priests Hall The Crown of Thorns The Darkest Day of All the World The Brightest Day of All the World The Stranger on the Shore The Church of the First Days The Man at the Beautiful Gate The Right Way to Give, and the Wrong Way Stephen with the Shining Face The Man Reading in the Chariot The Voice That Spoke to Saul What Peter Saw by the Sea How the Iron Gate Was Opened The Earliest Missionaries The Song in the Prison Paul's Speech on the Hill Paul at Corinth Paul at Ephesus Paul's Last Journey to Jerusalem The Speech on the Stairs Two Years in Prison The Story That Paul Told to the King Paul in the Storm How Paul Came to Rome and How He Lived There The Throne of God The City of God

Story of the Bible Told for Young and Old - Jesse Hurlbut




The Nobleman Who Built the Wall of Jerusalem


While the good scribe Ezra was at work finding the books of the Bible, and copying them, and teaching them, another great man was helping God's people in another way. This man was Nehemiah. He was a nobleman of high rank at the court of the great King Artaxerxes. Artaxerxes reigned after Ahasuerus, of whom we read in the story of the beautiful Queen Esther (Story Fifteen).

Nehemiah was "the cup-bearer" to the king of Persia at Shushan. It was his office to take charge of all the wine that wads used at the king's table, to pour it out and hand the cup to the king. This was an important office, for he saw the king every day at his meals, and could speak with him, as very few of even the highest princes could speak. Then, too, the life of the king was in his hands, for if he were an enemy he could have allowed poison to be put into the wine to kill the king. So the cup-bearer was always a man whom the king could trust as his friend.

Nehemiah was a Jew, and, like all the Jews, felt a great love for Jerusalem. At one time a Jew named Hanani, and certain of his friends who had come from Jerusalem, visited Nehemiah. Nehemiah asked them, "How are the Jews in Jerusalem doing? How does the city look?"

And they answered, "The people who are living in the land of Judea are very poor, and are looked down upon by all around them. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire."

When Nehemiah heard this he was filled with sorrow for his city and his people. After the Jews left him he sat down for days, and would eat nothing. He fasted, and wept, and prayed. He said, "O Lord God of heaven, the great God, who keeps his promises to those who love him and do his will; hear, O Lord, my prayer for the people of Israel, thy servants. We have done very wickedly, O Lord, and because of our sins thou hast scattered us among the nations. Now, O Lord, give me grace this day in the sight of this man, the king of Persia, and may the king help me to do good and to help my people in the land of Israel."

A few days after this Nehemiah was standing beside the king's table, while the king and queen were seated at their meal. As he poured out the wine the king saw that his face was sad, which was not usual, for Nehemiah was of cheerful spirit, and generally showed a happy face. The king said to him, "Nehemiah, why do you look so sad? You do not seem to be sick. I am sure that there is something that gives you trouble. What is it? Tell me."

Then Nehemiah was afraid that the king might be displeased with him, but he said, "Let the king live for ever! Why should not my face be sad, when the city where my fathers are buried lies waste, with its walls broken down, and its gates burned with fire?"

The king said, "Do you wish to ask of me any favor? Tell me what I can do to help you."

Then Nehemiah lifted up a silent prayer to God, and said, "May it please the king, I would be glad if you would send me to Jerusalem, in the land of Judah, with an order to build the walls."

The king said, "How long will the journey be? And when will you come back?"

Nehemiah fixed upon a time, and told the king how long it would be, and he asked also that he might have letters to the men who ruled the different provinces through which he would pass, for them to give him a safe journey; and also a letter to the keeper of the king's forest, to give him wood for the beams of a house which he wished to build, and for repairing the Temple, and for building the wall. The king was kind to Nehemiah, and he gave him all that he asked.

Nehemiah the cup-bearer before the king and queen

NEHEMIAH THE CUP-BEARER BEFORE THE KING AND QUEEN


Nehemiah, with a company of horsemen and many friends, made the long journey of almost a thousand miles to Jerusalem. All the people were glad to have a visit from a man of such high rank, and the whole city rejoiced at his coming. But Nehemiah was distressed as he saw how poor and mean and helpless the city lay.

One night, without telling any of the men in the city his purpose, he rose up with a few of his friends, and by the light of the moon rode on his horse around the city. There he saw in how many places the walls were mere heaps of ruins, and gates were broken down and burned. He found great heaps of ashes, and piles of stone, so that in some places his horse could not walk over them. The next day he called together the rulers of the city and the chief priests, and he said to them, "You see how poor and helpless this city lies, without walls, or gates, and open to all its enemies. Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, so that no longer other people may look upon us with contempt." Then he told them how God had heard his prayer, and had made the king friendly, and had sent gifts to help them. Then the people and the rulers said, "Let us rise up and build the wall!" So at once they began the work. Each family in Jerusalem agreed to build a part of the wall. The high-priest said that he would build one of the gates, and the wall beside it to a certain tower. Some of the rich men built a long space, and others did very little, and some would do nothing. One man built just as much of the wall as would stand in front of his house, and no more, and another man only as much as fronted upon his own room. One man and his daughters hired workers to build; the goldsmiths built some, and so did the apothecaries, the men who sold medicines; and the merchants built a part. Almost all the men of the city, and some of the women, took part in the building, for the people had a mind to work.

Soon the news went abroad through Judea and the lands around, that the walls of Jerusalem were rising from their ruins. There were many who were far from pleased as they heard this, for they hated the Jews and their God, and they did not wish to see Jerusalem strong, as it had been of old. The leader of these enemies was a man named Sanballat, who came from Samaria, where all the people were jealous of the Jews.

"What are these feeble Jews doing?" said Sanballat. "Do they intend to make their city strong? Will they pile up stones out of the rubbish of the burned city?"

And his servant Tobiah was with him, saying, "Why, if a fox should go up, he could break down their little wall!"

The Arabians from the desert, and the Philistines from Ashdod on the plain, and the Ammonites from the east of Jordan, saw that if the wall should be built they could no more rob and plunder the city. They tried to form an army to come against the city and stop building. But Nehemiah prayed to God for help, and he chose watchmen who should go around the wall, and look out for the coming of the enemies. Half of Nehemiah's men worked on the wall, and the other half held the bows, and spears, and armor of the workers. And in some places a man would hold a spsear in one hand while he spread mortar with the other. At other places men worked with their swords hanging at one side, ready for the fight any moment.

Nehemiah rode on his horse around the wall, and his servant walked beside him with a trumpet. He said, "The work is large, and you are apart from each other. Whenever you hear the sound of the trumpet, leave your work, take your arms, and go to the place where it sounds; and there the Lord will fight for us."

But their enemies were not strong enough to fight the Jews; so Sanballat, and Tobiah, and another of their leaders named Geshem, sent a letter to Nehemiah, saying, "Come and meet us in one of the villages on the plain near the Great Sea, and let us talk over this matter."

Now Nehemiah knew that to go to this place and them come back again to Jerusalem would take more than a week; and he sent answer this, "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down; why should the work stop, while I leave it, to come down and talk with you?"

Over and over again they sent for Nehemiah, but he refused to come. Finally, Sanballat sent a letter, with this message:

"It is told among all the people, and Geshem says it is a fact, that you are building this city to rebel against the king of Persia, and to set up a kingdom of your own. Come now, and let us talk with you, or trouble may come to you."

Nehemiah wrote back, "You know very well, that there is no truth in all these stories. You have made them up yourselves."

Some of the Jews in the city were friendly to these enemies outside, and these men tried to frighten Nehemiah. One of them made believe that he was a prophet, and said to Nehemiah, "Go into the Temple and hide, for in the night your enemies will come to kill you!"

"Should such a man as I am run away and hide himself?" said Nehemiah. "No; I will not go."

So earnestly did the men of Judah work that in fifty-two days after the work was begun it was finished, and the gates were hung, and guards were placed within, so that no enemies might enter. Thus Jerusalem began to rise from its weakness and helplessness, and once more to be a strong city.