Nehemiah 3 Commentary: Every Heart Needs a Wall

Subscribe to BBC on Apple, Spotify , or Amazon

Nehemiah 3: The Call to Rebuild

At the start of Nehemiah, he was so consumed with distress about the wall that all he could do was weep and pray. But as we dove into our commentary on Nehemiah 2, he was already taking action on his calling.

What Did God Call Nehemiah to Do?

God called Nehemiah to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem that will protect His people and provide them with a future. Nehemiah began by:

1. Asking the king for resources.
2. Traveling to Jerusalem.
3. Examining the wall himself for three days.
4. Recruiting the people to help.

As we begin our Nehemiah 3 commentary, he’s about to tackle this project of a lifetime by strategically rebuilding the wall in sections corresponding to each of the city’s gates. The people will show a rare but inspirational act of solidarity as they pitch in to help.

Do you find yourself wondering why God would place an entire book in the Bible about a wall? Is there more to this wall than meets the eye? 

Why did Nehemiah build the wall?

Nehemiah built the wall because he was concerned for both his people’s safety and the disgrace they faced because of the crumbled wall. 

• Safety is a significant concern. In ancient times, cities built walls to protect inhabitants from the lawlessness of the land. A city without walls was seen as a sign God had abandoned His people. A lack of divine favor from whatever god you claimed at the time was an invitation to attack. So, with the wall and gates destroyed, the returned exiles were in danger and vulnerable to enemy attack.
• It’s disgraceful for Jerusalem to be without a wall. Because of their vulnerability, the Israelites would have been treated as inferior and looked down upon. In our last chapter, Nehemiah actually uses the word disgrace and tells them if they rebuild the wall they will no longer be in disgrace.

Years before Nehemiah, King Solomon began building the Temple as the dwelling place for God. In 1 Kings 6. At that time, the Lord promised the Israelites if they followed His decrees He would live among them in the Temple. When the Temple was completed in 1 Kings 8, the Cloud of the Lord’s Glory descended and God’s presence filled the Temple.

This promise meant the Israelites would have communion with God. However, they struggled with obedience. The consequences are clear in 2 Kings 25 when the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar invades Israel, destroys the Temple, and carries many of the Israelites out of the Promised Land and into captivity.

During Nehemiah’s life, the Israelites are in recovery mode. They’re desperately trying to reclaim the promises of land, communion with God, and a future king who will save them.

What is the significance of Nehemiah rebuilding the wall?

Rebuilding the wall not only protects the Israelites’ earthly lives but also their eternal lives, because it guards the Temple, God’s dwelling place, which is at the heart of their relationship with God.

• Zerubbabel returned and rebuilt the Temple.
• Ezra returned and spiritually rebuilt the people.
• Without the wall, 
  • The Temple Zerubbabel rebuilt is at risk.
  • The people’s relationship with God that Ezra worked so hard to rebuild is at risk.
  • Their eternal salvation is at risk.

Their hope, eternal future, and the heart of who they are is wrapped up in their ability to commune with God in the Temple. Therefore the protection of that Temple as a place of worship and relationship with God is paramount.

Today, God no longer dwells in the Temple of the Israelites. In 1 Corinthians 3:16 Paul tells us God dwells in the hearts of His people. Therefore, every person is a potential dwelling place for God: you, your spouse, your children, your extended family, and your neighbor.

If God lives in your heart, there is communion with God. If there is communion, there is hope for an eternal future.

Protecting God’s Dwelling Place

The temples that need to be protected today are the hearts around you, especially those you have the most influence over…your family. The foundation for all those temples is being laid in the home. Your home. For the foundation of those you love to grow strong, they must be protected from attack. There must be walls and gates to keep them safe.

Reflection Point

It’s good to concern ourselves with the earthly health and safety of those we love, but we also must be deeply passionate about their eternal life. Every heart needs protection, because the enemy wants to break down our walls and destroy the Temple that lives within us.

How can you be a strong wall and a wise gatekeeper?

• Perhaps God is calling you to be Nehemiah for someone at risk from the world.
• Or maybe God is revealing to you that you need to guard your own heart.

How Many Gates Are in the Book of Nehemiah?

There are ten gates in the book of Nehemiah, and there is a lot more to these gates than you might think.

1. Sheep Gate
2. Fish Gate
3. Jeshanah Gate
4. Valley Gate
5. Dung Gate
6. Fountain Gate
7. Water Gate
8. Horse Gate
9. East Gate
10. Inspection Gate

What Is the Meaning of the Sheep Gate in the Bible?

It is called the Sheep Gate because all the lambs for sacrifice are brought through this gate to the Temple courts, and these sacrifices are central to the atonement of sin necessary for the Israelite’s relationship with God. Therefore, starting the wall rebuild with the Sheep Gate holds deep spiritual meaning.

Some of the first builders in Nehemiah 3:1-2 are those who should be most concerned about the future of the people…the priests. Their spiritual relationship with God is even more important than their physical safety. 

The High Priest Eliashib leads the way. Eliashib means “God restores” and part of God’s restoration of the people involves protecting them physically and spiritually. The High Priest must set the tone by personally taking part in the physical labor of the wall. His presence is a message to the people that the priests endorse this project and that they believe God is behind it.

The sheep gate is located on the northeast side of the city, near the Temple. It’s the only gate in the wall they consecrate to God, likely with oil or blood. After the sheep gate, Nehemiah describes the repair and rebuilding as moving counterclockwise around the city.

What Does the Fish Gate Represent?

The Fish Gate is so named because merchants bring fish from Tyre or the Sea of Galilee through it to the Fish Market. The gate may also be referred to as the Ephraim Gate, and it is located in the northwest corner of the city. Apparently in Nehemiah 3:3-5 this group of builders has some dissenters from the men of Tekoa. They are nobles who refuse to work hard or at all. There’s always a few.

What is the Jeshanah Gate in the Bible?

The Jeshanah gate and this section of the wall highlight the effort of people from all walks of life. Ordinary men from Gibeon and Mizpah come to help in Nehemiah 3:6-12. Business owners invest including perfumers, goldsmiths, and merchants. Families work on the walls and gates, fathers, sons, and daughters are mentioned. Even leaders become builders including politicians and rulers.

What Is the Meaning of the Valley Gate in Nehemiah?

The Valley Gate is the gate where Nehemiah began his exploration and inspection in the last chapter. It’s on the west side of the city in Nehemiah 3:13-14.

What is a Dung Gate?

The Dung Gate, appropriately named, is the opening to the city dump. It is located at the southern tip of the city. After the Dung Gate, Nehemiah’s repair efforts move to the east side of the city.

What is the Fountain Gate in the Bible?

The Fountain Gate connects to the Gihon Spring indirectly through Hezekiah’s Tunnel. This tunnel channels water from the spring in the Kidron Valley underground to the Pool of Siloam inside the city walls. The Fountain Gate is located on the southeastern section of the wall near the Pool of Siloam.

What is the Water Gate in the Bible?

Unlike the Fountain Gate, the Water Gate’s connection to the Gihon pool is at a surface level where people can walk down to collect water. The Water Gate in Nehemiah 3:15-27 is on the eastern wall directly above the Gihon Spring near the ridge south of the Temple Mount.

The Worst Damage

The Fountain and Water Gates are extremely important because both support the Gihon spring’s role as Jerusalem’s primary natural water source. This area suffered the most damage for good reason.

• Erosion. Both gates are associated with water, and therefore erosion is high.
• Enemy Targets. Enemies desiring to cut off the water supply to the city targeted these gates. 

The Importance of Water

Water is necessary for both the lives in the community and for rituals. In 1 Kings 7 Solomon supersized the Bronze Basin used in the Tabernacle into the Bronze Sea for the Temple. It is an enormous, elevated water basin, 15 feet in diameter and 7.5 feet high holding 11,000 to 17,000 gallons of water. There are also 10 smaller water basins for washing.

So a lot of water needs to be hauled to the Temple for rituals, and it makes sense the priests and Levites are the builders who take responsibility for repairing this vital section of the wall. It’s essential for their service in the Temple because:

• Without water there would be no ritual purification.
• No ritual purification means no atonement for sin.
• Without atonement for sin, there can be no relationship with God.

At this point, we have circled around from the Sheep Gate on the northeast side of the city, down the west side, around the southern point, up the east side, and we are approaching the northeast corner of the wall and the Horse Gate.

What was the Horse Gate in the Bible?

The Horse Gate leads to an area of homes located just below the Temple Mount. In Nehemiah 3:28-30 those who live nearby, both priests and other people, repair this area.

What is the significance of the Eastern Gate of Jerusalem?

The gate is buried underground and can’t be excavated, because Muslim authorities have curtailed archaeological work at the Temple Mount.

What is the inspection gate?

The final gate in the wall to be repaired is the Inspection Gate, bringing the repair efforts full circle around the city of Jerusalem. The Israelites started with the Sheep Gate, and they end with the Sheep Gate in Nehemiah 3:31-32.

Lessons from Nehemiah 3

What does east symbolize in the Bible?

In the Bible, moving east means moving away from God, and therefore east represents exile and separation from God. The further east man goes, the greater their separation from God.

This symbolism began in Genesis 3:23-24 when God drove Adam and Eve out of of the Garden of Eden because of their sin. He placed a cherubim and flaming sword flashing back and forth on the east side of the Garden to guard the way to the tree of life. This implies the garden’s entrance/exit is on the eastern side of the Garden of Eden. So the couple was sent eastward, away from Eden.

Later,  in Genesis 4:16, Cain was exiled even further east to the land of Nod. In Genesis 11 the people moved further east and their sin grew so much they built the Tower of Babel.

What does west represent in the Bible?

Moving west implies restoration, moving toward God, and future hope. The Tabernacle and Temple are oriented with entrances facing east so worshipers enter from the east and progress westward toward the Holy of Holies. This means approaching God involves a westward journey symbolically reversing the exile from the Garden of Eden.

Ezekiel’s Prophecy

In Ezra, we discussed Ezekiel’s prophecy that the Cloud of the Lord’s Glory would depart from the Temple. In Ezekiel 10 verse 4, verses 18-19 and Ezekiel 11:22-23, during his visions of judgment on Jerusalem for idolatry, Ezekiel saw the glory of God progressively depart from the Temple to the east.

1. First, it lifts from the cherubim in the inner sanctuary.
2. Then it moves to the Temple threshold.
3. Next it moves to the east gate of the Temple courtyard.
4. It hovers over the East Gate in the wall.
5. Then it exits the city toward the Mount of Olives (east of Jerusalem).

This signifies God’s withdrawal of His protective presence, leading to the city’s destruction and the Babylonian exile. God’s glory leaving eastward signals abandonment.

In Ezekiel 43:1-5, he has another vision describing the Glory of the Lord returning through the East Gate moving west toward a restored Temple. The glory returns from the east, through the east-facing gate, and fills the Temple.

Immediately after, in Ezekiel 44, the gate is sealed shut because “the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered by it” symbolizing a permanent, secure divine indwelling and no further departure. This reversal offers hope amid exile, pointing to ultimate renewal.

Jesus and the East Gate

All four gospels record Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday prior to the crucifixion. Mark 11:1-11 describes how, as they approach Jerusalem and come to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sends two of His disciples to get a colt.

When they bring the colt to Jesus and throw their cloaks over it, He sits on it. Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they cut in the fields. Those who go ahead and those who follow shout,

• “Hosanna!”
• “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!”
• “Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David!”
• “Hosanna in the highest heaven!”

Jesus enters Jerusalem and goes into the Temple courts. The Mount of Olives is located directly east of the East Gate and leads directly to the Temple court, which means Jesus is traveling west toward the Temple.

What does the East Gate represent in the Bible?

When Jesus, “the Glory of the Lord,” enters through the East Gate, it represents the return of divine glory that Ezekiel prophesied. But Jesus doesn’t return as a Cloud. He embodies God’s presence as our Messiah and enters in the form of a man.

Jesus is the return of God’s presence to the sacred Temple on behalf of humanity. He takes His place as God dwelling in the Temple, a space that hasn’t been inhabited by the Cloud of the Glory of the Lord since it was rebuilt.

Jesus as God’s Dwelling Place

The apostle John describes Jesus in John 1:14. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The word “dwelling” in Greek literally means He sets up a tabernacle among us. The Tabernacle is Moses’ precursor to the Temple. In other words, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s tabernacling presence.

In Ezekiel’s vision, the east gate is then sealed symbolizing a permanent secure relationship. No need to constantly sacrifice. Atonement is complete in Jesus’ sacrifice.

Jesus Reverses the Eastern Theme

Jesus entered through the East Gate and moved west toward God fulfilling Ezekiel’s prophecy and reversing the eastward trend of man moving away from God. He broke the cycle of exile, offering a path back to a Garden of Eden-like relationship with God.

Jesus is the way back to God from wherever sin leads us. John 14:6 tells us Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

The East Gate is sealed in Ezekiel’s vision because Jesus is the only Gate we need. John 10:9 says, “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”

The Eastern Gate in Modern Times

Is the East Gate in Jerusalem open?

The East Gate is not open today, but it does have a long history of being physically sealed and opened several times throughout history. 

• • 810 closed by Muslim rulers
  • 1102 opened by the Crusaders
  • 1187 sealed by Saladin, another Muslim military leader who, in a later crusade, battles with Richard, the Lionheart
  • 1541 sealed by Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent and is still sealed today

What is the Gate of Mercy in the Bible?

The Gate of Mercy is another name for the East Gate which can be seen on the eastern wall of the Temple Mount. Other names for the East Gate include: Golden Gate, Gate of Mercy, and Shushan Gate. 

Why is the Golden Gate in Jerusalem closed?

According to tradition, Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent sealed the gate to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecy in Ezekiel 43 that the divine glory, the Messiah, would enter from the east. A Muslim cemetery is in front of the gate, potentially to ritually defile the area and deter a priestly Messiah.

However, the irony is that the current sealed Golden Gate was most likely built in 520 AD and is not the original Nehemiah-Ezekiel era East Gate. The true East Gate is possibly buried 1,000 feet south of the current gate. So Suleiman didn’t defile the real East Gate.

The Battle to Come

In our Nehemiah 3 commentary we get a picture of God’s protective plan for His people. The wall will safeguard not just their physical lives but their relationship with Him.

Today God dwells in the hearts of believers making each of us a temple needing protection. Just as Nehemiah rebuilt walls around God’s dwelling place, we’re called to be strong walls and wise gatekeepers for those we love. And Jesus is the Gate through which we can always find our way back to God.

🎧 Ready to dive deeper? Listen to episodes of the Bible Book Club Podcast here.