done, and his name stands fast in God's honour list, and will stand
there while the world shall last.

We have come now to the Fish Gate, on the north side of the city. Close
by us is the fish-market, for through that gate comes all the fish sold
in Jerusalem. Men of Tyre are there with baskets of fish from the
Mediterranean, and Galilean fishermen with fish from the great inland
sea, on which in later times the apostles toiled for their daily bread.

Three men, who were probably well-known citizens, are repairing the
three next pieces of the wall, their names are Meremoth, Meshullam, and
Zadok. We will notice one of these three men, Meshullam, for we shall
hear more of him presently. If Meshullam's name is honourably mentioned
here as one of the builders of Jerusalem, we shall find it very
differently mentioned as we go on with Nehemiah's story.

Passing these three men, we come to a part of the wall which is being
built by the inhabitants of Tekoa, a small village not far from
Jerusalem, whence came the wise woman whom Joab sent to King David. What
is the matter at this part of the wall? The work does not get on as it
should. They seem to have no leaders, these people of Tekoa, and to have
a long stretch of wall, and but few hands to build it. We ask how this
is, and we find that some in Tekoa have shirked the work (ver. 5):

'Their nobles put not their necks to the work of their Lord.'

They have been like oxen, too idle to draw the plough, which have pulled
their necks from under the yoke, and have stubbornly refused to go
forward. So have these nobles of Tekoa stood aloof, too proud to work
side by side with the common people of the village, or too idle to join