At the dedication of the wall of Jerusalem, the Levites were sought out from where they lived and were brought to Jerusalem to celebrate joyfully the dedication with songs of thanksgiving and with the music of cymbals, harps and lyres…When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall.
I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate…The second choir proceeded in the opposite direction. I followed them on top of the wall, together with half the people…
And on that day they offered great sacrifices, rejoicing because God had given them great joy. The women and children also rejoiced. The sound of rejoicing in Jerusalem could be heard far away.
(Nehemiah 12:27, 30-31, 38, 43)
Nehemiah got everyone together to rededicate the walls to God. And you’ve got to admit, the guy’s got some flash. He doesn’t just have a party inside the walls; he has the party on top of the walls! They would have been visible to all their enemies. You can bet Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem saw them marching around on the walls – the same walls about which Tobiah said, “if even a fox climbed up on it, he would break down their wall of stones!” (Nehemiah 4:3)
When your walls are up, and you are following the Lord, rejoice! Celebrate it! Don’t worry that Satan will see you dancing on your walls. To God be the glory. They are up by His grace and mercy. I’ve found that the longer my walls are up, the harder I’m willing to work to keep them up. When I mess up, my recovery time is shorter, because I know what I’m missing.
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In the last chapter of Nehemiah, we’ll see how the Israelites do when Nehemiah heads back to work to check back in with his boss.
