It was like the adopt-a-highway program, where some group signs up to take care of the next mile of the road: various families took on the task of repairing sections of the gates and the walls of Jerusalem. “The sons of Hassenaah rebuilt the Fish Gate; they laid its beams and set up its doors, its bolts, and its bars” (Nehemiah 3:3). “Joiada son of Paseah and Meshullam son of Besodeiah repaired the Old Gate” (3:6).

Hardly any of the names are familiar to us – people like Uzziel the goldsmith and Hananiah the perfumer (3:8), Shallum and his children (3:12), Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah (3:13) – yet we can imagine that they felt proud of their work, and pleased to be remembered on Nehemiah’s list of workers.

At the same time, there were opponents who mocked them. Sanballat ridiculed their efforts (4:1), and Tobiah offered the sneering remark, “That stone wall they are building – any fox going up on it would break it down!” (4:3). This bothered Nehemiah severely, to the extent that he prayed that God would hold his enemies’ sin against them: “Do not cover their guilt, and do not let their sin be blotted out from your sight, for they have hurled insults in the face of the builders” (4:5).

I get that. It’s easy to hate those who hate us, and want them to suffer the way they deserve. I’ve done my share of plotting revenge and cherishing anger toward those whose attitude has hurt me. But we are all sinners, needing the grace of God. And, indeed, in back of his prayer we can see Nehemiah’s theology of God’s overflowing grace: Nehemiah knew that in the ordinary course of events, God would go ahead and pardon people like Sanballat and Tobiah. Nehemiah specifically prayed for God not to blot out their sin, because he was afraid that otherwise the God of grace would of course forgive them.

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You are slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, O Lord, and you have shown us your mercy again and again, so far beyond what we could ever imagine. Teach us to live in thanksgiving: grateful that your grace is big enough for all the sinners: for us and for our enemies, too.