Covenant Reformed News - June 2024

Covenant Reformed News
June 2024 • Volume XX, Issue 2

Nehemiah’s Night Ride

The Bible records several instances of people riding on animals, such as Abraham’s old servant bringing Rebekah on a camel as a bride for Isaac (Gen. 24), Solomon mounted on David’s mule on his way out of Jerusalem to his coronation by the Gihon spring (I Kings 1) and Christ’s triumphal entry into the holy city upon a colt, the foal of an ass, on Palm Sunday (Zech. 9:9; John 12:12-16).

However, only Nehemiah’s famous journey on a “beast” (Neh. 2:12, 14) around Jerusalem’s decaying walls took place at “night” (12, 13, 15). In order for the governor and his mount to see sufficiently, it must have been a relatively clear night and it may well have been nearer to a full moon than to a new moon.

Nehemiah’s journey started at the valley gate (13) on the west side of fifth-century BC Jerusalem and so slightly nearer the city’s southern end than its northern end. Since he “went out” by that gate (13), the governor rode around the outside of the perimeter walls, not the inside, before reentering by the valley gate (15).

What direction did he take? Nehemiah 2 mentions specifically three different gates or ports in this order: the valley gate (13), the dung gate (13) and the fountain gate (14). With the help of any decent Bible atlas, one can easily see that Nehemiah journeyed anticlockwise or counterclockwise.

But what was the purpose of his night ride? To answer this, we need only recall that Nehemiah’s central calling at this time was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Thus he was checking out their condition to see what needed to be done. Back in the citadel of Susa far to the east, Nehemiah had heard of their disrepair from his brother, Hanani, and some men of Judah (1:2-3). Especially now that he is in Jerusalem, the governor could have commissioned others to examine the perimeter wall and its gates, but he did not. Nehemiah needed to see it for himself so that he would possess first-hand knowledge.

How far did Nehemiah ride? Did he partially circumnavigate Jerusalem’s walls or did he make a full circuit? Given the governor’s purpose, the answer is the latter.

What were the results of his viewing or inspection (2:13, 15)? Nehemiah saw personally that Jerusalem’s defensive wall was mostly rubble. Charred wood was found where once sturdy gates had hung. The governor tells us that it was especially bad near the southern end of the western wall, for fallen masonry meant that “there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass” (14).

Not only did Nehemiah need personal knowledge of the condition of Jerusalem’s walls but he also needed to keep others from knowing what he was doing (both the Jews and their enemies), at least, for a time. Nehemiah 2 lays great emphasis on Nehemiah’s secrecy. The governor’s riding at “night” (12, 13, 15)—at a time when people were sleeping: “I arose in the night” (12)—was so that people would not see what he was doing and that it was he. Next time, DV, we will consider further Nehemiah’s “secrecy,” and its significance then and now. Rev. A. Stewart