Welcome back to another episode of NachDaily with Nechemiah perek 4. We continue with the narrative of Nechemiah’s rebuilding of the walls of Yerushalayim. This chapter goes into more detail about what happened in the midst of the building.

[May this segment be a merit for the aliyas neshamos of Raizel bas Moshe, Avraham Aharon ben Yisroel Yitzchok, and Refael ben Yehoshua Falek.]

When Sanballat, Toviah, the Arabs, Ammonites and Ashdodites heard that the Jews began construction of the walls of Yerushalayim, they began to conspire on how to stop the building. Nechemiah davened to Hashem and created a military strategy to defend themselves and build at the same time.

Notice how history repeats itself. Construction in Eretz Yisrael drove the surrounding peoples mad. Today a Jew builds a house in the Gush, and the whole world goes crazy. It’s something which makes no sense and defies logic. There are so many places in the world where atrocities occur on a daily basis, but when it comes to building in Eretz Yisrael the whole world becomes obsessed with trying to shut it down.

From here we can see the greatness and Kedushas Ha’aretz: when it comes to Kedusha there is always a counterforce. What happened in Nechemiah’s day was no different than what occurs now.

Back to the chapter.

The people in Judah grew weary from the taunting of their neighbors, understanding that their deaths could be imminent. They discovered that their enemies were conspiring to kill them while they were building the walls.

Nechemiah took action. He set up armed guards on the top of a mountain as lookouts to see any enemies approaching and provided armed guards for the residents’ families. Nechemiah spoke chizuk and words of encouragement: “Do not fear! Hashem is with you!”

Nechemiah was successful in thwarting the attacks. God had saved them, and once his enemies learned that the Jews were prepared against them, they became frustrated and backed down.

From that day on, Nechemiah armed the construction workers with weapons and shields as they were building. Each worker had a sword for self-protection. He also stationed a trumpeter with instructions to sound the trumpet if they were being attacked.

Whenever they would hear the trumpet they would fight back and attack their enemies. Nechemiah was very clear, reiterating, “God will protect us!”

Nechemiah had all the Jews sleep in Yerushalayim where they would be safer.

The perek ends by saying that the workers wore the same clothing day and night and just drank water. As they were in constant fear of a surprise attack, they didn’t waste any time, but worked while being on guard.

Stay tuned to the next episode of NachDaily. Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.