Nehemiah, a Jewish man, was the cupbearer for King Artaxerxes, of Persia. He heard from friends about the ruins of the Temple and the wall around it being torn down and in a mess so he, “…sat down and WEPT, and MOURNED for MANY DAYS; I was FASTING and PRAYING before the God of heaven. And I said: “I pray, LORD God, please let Your ear be ATTENTIVE and Your eyes OPEN, that YOU MAY HEAR the prayer of Your servant which I pray, day and night, and CONFESS the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned.” (Neh. 1:4-6)
Just imagine if we were to have a LOVE FOR THE WORK OF THE LORD and weep and mourn for many days, about the condition of our world today. Then we were too fast and pray knowing that God would see and be attentive to our prayers.
The king wanted to know why I looked sad, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers’ tombs, lies waste, and its gates are burned with fire?” Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven. And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, I ask that you send me to Judah, that I may rebuild it.” So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time to build. Furthermore I said, “If it pleases the king, let letters be given to me for the governors of the region, and a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king’s forest, that he must give me timber to make beams for the gates of the citadel which pertains to the temple, for the city wall, and for the house that I will occupy.” And the king granted them to me according to the good hand of my God upon me.” (Neh. 2:3-8)
Here is what happened in Nehemiah’s day. The wall rebuilding was paid for by King Artaxerxes, the length of the wall was 2.5 miles, the average height is 39.37 feet and the average thickness is 8.2 feet. The walls contain 34 watchtowers and seven main gates open for traffic, with two minor gates. This amazing wall was COMPLETED MIRACULOUSLY IN JUST 52 DAYS.
-Bill Stockham