The valley-gate repaired Hanun, and the inhabitants of Zanoah; they built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars, and a thousand cubits of the wall as far as the dung-gate.
Nehemiah 3 is a roll-call of the people who rebuilt Jerusalem's broken wall. Verse 13 records one team that finished a gate and then kept building for another thousand cubits. The gate's name speaks of the low place, the workers came from a town outside Jerusalem, and their wall ran far past the gate itself.
Commentators start with the names — the builder's, his town's, and the gate's.
Hanun (gracious) and the inhabitants of Zanoah (broken) repaired the valley gate. The valley pictures the low place, humility. How needed this is in service for God, for "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."
Another writer finds the same picture wherever the Bible speaks of valleys:
What do we learn by the term, valley gate? A valley in Scripture is clearly a symbol of lowliness and humility. John the Baptist, the forerunner of our Lord, lifted up his voice. He echoed the prophetic words of Isaiah, spoken over seven centuries before: "Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low… and all flesh shall see the salvation of God" (Luke 3:5-6)… Is this not a beautiful picture of the lowliness of mind that ought to mark Christians in their dealings with one another?
He then turns it on a man in the New Testament who never went through that gate:
If only Diotrephes had passed through that gate, his name would not have been handed down for all time as one who loved to be first. To secure his position he acted in the flesh, removing every rival out of his way by violence and force. Can a Christian have this spirit if he walks with his Master, who said, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11:29)? Impossible! May we know how to enter by the valley gate, and to do it often.
Zanoah was not part of Jerusalem. These workers travelled to repair a wall that did not enclose their own homes.
Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate in the south-west. Zanoah was a town of Judah, and so away from Jerusalem.
The verse lists the doors, the bolts and the bars — and then adds a long run of wall.
Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah (v. 13) repaired the valley gate south-west of the city, with the same care as the sons of Senaah. On top of this they repaired a thousand cubits of the wall, as far as the dung gate in the south-east. That is the entire portion of the wall facing south. What zeal! And it seems Hanun — if it is the same Hanun — did not limit himself to this work. Verse 30 says he repaired a second piece.
That extra wall sets them apart:
Then some stand out for the quantity of their work. Of "Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah" we read that they not only set up "the valley gate" but they also built "a thousand cubits of the wall" (13).
Their wall ended at the dung gate. One writer sees meaning in that pairing:
Then we have the Valley Gate. We may be more interested in the Gate of the Fountain, but the Valley Gate has its place. Verse 13 suggests some link between the Valley Gate and the Dung Gate. Both gates come up in what Nehemiah does in Nehemiah 2. The name probably refers to the Valley of Hinnom, the place where the bodies of criminals and the refuse were burned. So it does appear to be firmly linked with the Dung Gate.
The same writer points to two men who reached both gates:
Job would have arrived at the truth of the Dung Gate and the Valley Gate, when he said "I despise myself" (Job 42:6). Paul, too, counted as rubbish all that he had once boasted in (Phil. 3:8).
- Low. The valley gate stands for the low place — humility — and God "gives grace to the humble."
- Grace. Hanun means "gracious", Zanoah means "broken". Grace and brokenness are what rebuild the gate of the low place.
- Far. The builders came from Zanoah, a town away from Jerusalem. They repaired a wall that was not around their own homes.
- More. They did not stop at the gate with its doors, bolts and bars. A thousand cubits of wall mark them out for how much they did, and one of them shows up again later, repairing a second piece.
- Out. Their wall runs on to the dung gate, where the refuse goes out. The low place ends where Job said "I despise myself" and Paul counted his old gains as rubbish.
And the dung-gate repaired Malchijah the son of Rechab, the chief of the district of Beth-haccerem; he built it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars.
One man, one job. Malchijah rebuilds the gate Jerusalem used to carry out its rubbish, and he hangs its doors, bolts and bars. Commentators ask two things here. What does this gate picture for God's people? And why does the record keep the name of the man who repaired it?
Every other gate in the chapter is a way in. This one is different, and that difference carries the meaning.
Dung is not a pleasant subject. It is only filth and corruption, to be got rid of as soon as possible. This is the one gate, we take it, that is not about entrance into the city, as all the other gates are. Its use is to get rid of something objectionable.
One writer notes the meaning of Malchijah's home district, and reads the gate as a call to be clean.
Malchiah repaired the dung gate, and he was the ruler of Beth-haccerem (the place of the vineyard). People used this gate to carry the refuse and filth out of the city. This gate reminds us of the calls for God's people to cleanse themselves from all filth of the flesh and the spirit. "For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness" (1 Thess. 4:7).
So what would a person agree to throw out? One writer points to Paul.
The apostle Paul knew how to use that gate. He had everything that gives confidence in the flesh: birth, family, circumcision, education, religion. But he met Christ on the road to Damascus, and from then on his values completely changed. Things that were gain to him he counted as loss, because knowing Christ Jesus his Lord was worth far more. He even counted them as rubbish, so that he might gain Christ (see Phil. 3:4-9).
Another writer finds the same gate in what Job finally said about himself.
Job would have arrived at the truth of the Dung Gate and the Valley Gate when he said, "I despise myself" (Job 42:6). Paul, too, counted as rubbish all that he had boasted in before (Phil. 3:8).
Malchijah held office over a district, yet took the section of wall nobody would choose. One writer weighs that against the workers who repaired the stretch in front of their own homes.
The record says that some of the workers, including even some of the priests, repaired "against their house". That means they took the section that interested them most and suited them best. Doing that was not as praiseworthy as working on a piece of no particular interest to the worker, or even repulsive to him. Repairing the "dung gate" is one example. Verse 14 records that a ruler of part of a township took it on.
Such records point on to a weighing.
It should remind us also of what the godly woman Hannah said in her prayer in 1 Samuel 2. She said, "the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by Him actions are weighed". When our actions, as we seek to serve the Lord, are weighed, how will they appear — weighty, or of little worth?
Malchijah comes with his father's name attached. One writer treats that name as part of his fitness for the work.
Malchijah the son of Rechab (v. 14), a recognised leader, repairs the dung gate in the south-east. He is the first to build a gate by himself alone. And note his Rechabite character, which fits him for the perseverance of faith.
That family kept a fixed way of life.
Descendants of Rechab, the father of Jonadab... they abstained from wine, and they did not build houses, nor sow seed. Being nomads they did not plant vineyards, nor had any; but all their days they lived in tents.
- Out, not in. Of all the gates in the wall, this is the one whose whole use is getting rid of what is objectionable.
- Out of the city. Rebuilding it pictures God's people putting their own filth out. God has called us to holiness, not impurity.
- Out of the heart. Paul used this gate when he counted his best credentials rubbish for Christ. Job used it when he said he despised himself.
- Out of sight. A district ruler took the foulest stretch of wall. That counts for more than repairing the easy piece by your own door.
- Out of the tent. The son of Rechab came from a family that built no houses and lived in tents, and he built this gate alone.
And the fountain-gate repaired Shallun the son of Colhozeh, the chief of the district of Mizpah; he built it, and covered it, and set up its doors, its locks and its bars, and the wall of the pool of Shelah by the king's garden, and to the stairs that go down from the city of David.
One man, Shallum, takes on a long stretch of Jerusalem's ruined defences. He rebuilds the fountain gate, roofs it, and hangs its doors. Then he carries the wall on past the king's garden pool to the stairs of the city of David. Why does the record slow down over this one worker, and what do a gate, a fountain and a covering say to us?
The order of the gates is part of the lesson. One writer looks at the gate just before this one, and at what the builders' names mean.
The gate of the fountain was next to the dung gate. The fountain, always flowing, is a blessed picture of the Holy Spirit. He lives in the believer. In him He is the well of living water springing up, like a fountain, into eternal life (John 4:14). The order is suggestive. If a believer cleanses himself from what defiles, nothing hinders the Spirit of God. The Spirit fills the believer and uses him as a vessel fit for the Master's use. Shallun (recompense) the son of Colhozeh (wholly seer) the ruler of Mizpah (watchtower) repaired and built that gate. And these names fit in beautifully with the Spirit of God as the fountain of life and power.
Is honest self-judgment worth the cost? One writer answers with a picture from Israel's history.
In Numbers 21 the people of Israel had the experience of the bronze serpent. It pictures the judgment of the flesh, which opens the way for the energy of a new life. Right after it we read, "Spring up, O well!—Sing to it!" (v. 17). So may this gate not set out the happy portion of the believer, who has made way for the full enjoyment of heavenly things by honest self-judgment as set out by the dung gate, and who finds the immense spiritual gain of doing so?
Shallum's stretch of wall is long, and the whole city gained from it.
He repairs the gate of the fountain in the east on his own, and restores it to a complete state of defence. He also repairs the "wall of the pool of Shelah [Siloam]". Then he works on along "the king's garden" to the stairs that go down from the city of David. The gate gives protection, the fountain gives refreshment and healing, and the shade gives rest. All of this falls within the circle of his activity. Jerusalem owes the enjoyment of these priceless blessings to him as the result of his efforts to secure the good of his brothers!
The verse adds that he covered the gate. Why a covering? One writer answers:
The only thought I have is that the covering would preserve it from defilement.
If the fountain pictures the Spirit, the covering says something about how He must be treated.
Do we not also read, "Whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven" (Matt. 12:32)? He was to be guarded in that way. So we value how refreshing the communications of the Holy Spirit of God are. But we must also keep a right sense of their holy character.
This pool turns up elsewhere in Scripture, and its name carries meaning.
A pool on the south of Jerusalem near the west slope of the Kidron valley. The Old Testament mentions it as lying "by the king's garden" when Nehemiah was rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem (Neh. 3:15). Isaiah 8:6 uses it as a symbol, under the name Shiloah. The people refused its gently flowing waters and preferred Syria and the king of Israel. The strong waters of Assyria would sweep them away. In the New Testament the man born blind had clay put on his eyes and was sent to wash at Siloam, which means "sent." Christ is the Sent One. So this is a picture: light comes when Christ in His humiliation is known as the Sent One of God. John 9:7, 11.
Shallum's long section stands beside Meshullam, who repaired only the wall in front of his lodging. Both get the same notice.
It would seem that he had no house, only a lodging; but though the circle of his responsibility was narrow, he was found faithful. As the apostle says about stewardship, "If the readiness is there, it is acceptable according to what a person has, not according to what he does not have." This should comfort those who are tempted to long for wider spheres of service. The Lord values and commends faithfulness in the place where He has put us. So the record singles out the work of Meshullam just as much as the work of Shallun the son of Col-hozeh, the ruler of part of Mizpah.
- Cleansed — The fountain gate comes right after the dung gate. Deal with what defiles, and nothing hinders the Spirit.
- Filled — The fountain pictures living water springing up inside the believer. Self-judgment ends in gain, not loss.
- Guarded — This gate was covered. A covering keeps a thing from defilement, and our sense of the Spirit's holiness must match.
- Sent — The pool is Siloam, which means "sent." Israel refused its gentle waters. The blind man was sent there to wash, and Christ is the Sent One.
- Recorded — A long stretch and one small wall face get the same notice. The Lord values faithfulness in the place He gives us, not its size.