“Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.”
~ Nehemiah 3:20
Hi James and Ellen,
Have you ever pulled an Eliashib? An Eliashib will start out strong – with all kinds of enthusiasm, to complete a task. An Eliashib will end up being weak – copping out to self-interest, and not complete the task. Eliashib was the high priest in the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem when a new guy showed up in town. The new guy was a winetaster from the city of Susa. The guy’s name was Nehemiah. Nehemiah had returned to the land of his heritage – which was the land of Judah, from where he was living as an exile in Babylonia. Over 100 years before Nehemiah showed up on Eliashib’s ‘doorstep’ in the city of Jerusalem, God’s specially chosen guys and gals who Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army had taken to Babylonia in 597 B.C. as exiles had been emancipated by Cyrus – who was a Persia king, which allowed them to go back to the land of their heritage to join the remnant who Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian army had left there. Even though the temple of God had been rebuilt after one of God’s prophet spokesmen – who was Haggai, got on the city of Jerusalem’s leaders to do it, the walls that had once protected the guys, gals and kids who were living in the city of Jerusalem from enemy people group’s armies were still in the same shape that they were in after Babylonian’s army totally demolished them. Nehemiah was given permission by his boss – Artaxerxes, – who was another Persia king, to make the 800 or so mile trek from the city of Susa to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Your grandpaa thinks that when Nehemiah arrived in the city of Jerusalem, that Nehemiah immediately called a meeting of the city of Jerusalem’s key leaders – with Eliashib being among these guys, to explain to these city leaders why he had traveled from the city of Susa to the city of Jerusalem. Your grandpaa thinks that Nehemiah was a persuasive guy who had the ability to pull guys together to accomplish a task. One of the first things that Nehemiah did after he arrived in the city of Jerusalem and after he had connected with the city of Jerusalem’s key leaders was to eyeball what needed to be done to have the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem back to where they would once again be protecting the guys, gals and kids who were living in the city of Jerusalem. Once Nehemiah saw what needed to be done to rebuild the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem, your grandpaa thinks that he pooled ideas and thoughts of the city of Jerusalem’s key leaders so that these leaders would have an invested interest in wanting to proactively help in the rebuilding of the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem.
Nehemiah – in Nehemiah 3, records in his diary the plan that was put into play for the rebuilding pf the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Forty or so guys worked at rebuilding about 45 sections of the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. The walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem were rebuilt counterclockwise – beginning at the Sheep Gate. Ten gates were also rebuilt by these forty some guys. The names of the ten gates were the Sheep Gate, Fish Gate, Jeshaniah Gate, Valley Gate, Dung Gate, Fountain Gate, Water Gate, Horse Gate, Inspection Gate and East Gate. The Sheep Gate was located at the city of Jerusalem’s northeast corner. Eliashib – who was the high priest in the temple of God that was located in the city of Jerusalem, is the first guy who Nehemiah mentions in his Nehemiah Diary who worked on the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Eliashib – along with his fellow priests, took on proactively the rebuilding of the walls to the Tower of the Hundred and to the Tower of Hananel. Through Eliashib’s actions of being willing to get his hands ‘dirty’ – even though Eliashib was the resident high priest, Eliashib’s ‘stepping up to the plate’ very well may have sent a message to a number of other guys to also proactively take on rebuilding sections of walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Nehemiah also recorded in his Nehemiah Diary the names of the guys – and gals, who worked at rebuilding the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. The names of the guys – and gals, who worked on rebuilding the walls that had surrounded the city of Jerusalem included Levi tribal clan guys and gals, Shallum’s daughters, goldsmiths, a perfume-maker, a guard, temple servants and ordinary guys from various outlying communities. The house that Eliashib had lived in in the city of Jerusalem had been located on the walls that once surrounded the city of Jerusalem. Verse 20 says, “Next to him, Baruch son of Zabbai zealously repaired another section, from the angle to the entrance of the house of Eliashib the high priest.” The next verse states that Meremoth repaired the next section of wall – from Eliashib’s house to the end of his assigned section of wall to rebuild. Your grandpaa thinks that the reason why Eliashib was nowhere around when some guys started to work on rebuilding the wall on which his house had been located was because each section of the city of Jerusalem’s walls were rebuilt at the same time.
Eliashib would later align himself with an archenemy – Tobiah, who had not wanted the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem rebuilt by God’s specially chosen guys and gals. Eliashib went from doing what was right to do to doing what was wrong to do because he let guys influence him who were ‘dead set’ against the walls that had once surrounded the city of Jerusalem being rebuilt. When your grandpaa led a summer team of college age guys and gals who would spend over seven weeks in Bolivia or Guatemala, your grandpaa used Eliashib as example of a guy or gal being all excited about . . . but then after a short time wanting to go home because . . .
Nehemiah 3 (613)