Nehemiah 3:16 –
Next to him was Nehemiah son of Azbuk, the leader of half the district of Beth-zur. He rebuilt the wall from a place across from the tombs of David’s family as far as the water reservoir and the House of the Warriors.
Before I get started on this “thread” I want to be clear, this Nehemiah is actually another person with the same name. Go back to 1:1 and you will see our writer is the son of Hacaliah. Either way this Nehemiah still held a high position. As you read this chapter it’s very dry describing everyone’s role in rebuilding the wall. Focus on the roles people take in the project.
There are two interesting concepts to notice, the first being how a project of this magnitude was “sectioned” out. Nehemiah had his hands full making sure that people were not repeating each other’s work. How many times have you been working on a project only to find you are repeating something that had already been done? Without someone managing the project this is easy. We learn from this chapter the importance of someone knowing the whole picture.
The other thing that really got me interested in this verse was Nehemiah was in the trenches with his workers. Even though this is not the same Nehemiah, notice he is a leader of half the district. Here a leader is leading by example. One event that made an impression on me was the Fall Festival at Shadowbrook. Pastor Bobby was the cook for this large event. It wasn’t that they could not find a cook; his purpose was to lead by serving.
What other “leader” did this? Jesus more than once served others as an example to humble yourself. He did this right to the end washing their feet before the last supper. I mean think about it, He was God in the “flesh” not just a king, but the King, and he washed his disciple’s feet. Interestingly, if you noticed in verse 5 it talked about the “leaders” of Tekoa refusing to work with the construction supervisors. I find it interesting that these were the only leaders who refused to help. In reading this one thing to remember, you are never too high and mighty to not clean the toilets from time to time. Humble leaders need to be strong also, or they will have an “audience” watching them work.