Nehemiah 7:1 Now when the wall had been built and I had set up the doors, and the gatekeepers, the singers, and the Levites had been appointed, 2 I gave my brother Hanani and Hananiah the governor of the castle charge over Jerusalem, for he was a more faithful and God-fearing man than many. 3 And I said to them, “Let not the gates of Jerusalem be opened until the sun is hot. And while they are still standing guard, let them shut and bar the doors. Appoint guards from among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, some at their guard posts and some in front of their own homes.” 4 The city was wide and large, but the people within it were few, and no houses had been rebuilt.
7 城牆修完，我安了門扇，門口的守衛、歌唱的和利未人都已派定。 2 我吩咐我的兄弟哈拿尼和城堡的官長哈拿尼雅管理耶路撒冷，因為哈拿尼雅是一個忠信的人，敬畏 神過於眾人。 3 我對他們說：「等到太陽熱的時候才可開耶路撒冷的城門；要派耶路撒冷的居民，各按班次在自己房屋的前面站崗。他們還在站崗的時候，就要關門上閂。」 4 城又寬又大，城中的百姓卻稀少，房屋也還沒有建造。
Nehemiah finished building the wall around the city in 52 days, but that was just the beginning. Inside, the city needed inhabitants, and houses needed to be built. In general, the function of a wall is to keep people who are living inside the wall safe from outside attack. We can also think of a wall as serving to protect “the people inside [by] enabling them to rebuild their spiritual lives without the degrading influence of the world around them.” (Bruce Wilkinson) COVID-19 is actually a God-given opportunity for us to introspect, to think about our spiritual lives! Beside building a wall of defense, let us also build houses within the wall – to build a stronger relationship with God and with our family members. For we are “like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5)
尼希米在52天之內完成了城牆的建造，但這僅僅是個開始。 在城牆內，城市需要居民，房屋也需要建造。 通常，城牆的功能是使居住在城牆內的人免受外界攻擊。 但我們還可以將城牆視為保護“居民，使他們能夠重建自己的屬靈生活，而又不受周圍世界損害的影響”。 （布魯斯·威爾金森（Bruce Wilkinson）COVID-19實際上是上帝賜予我們進行內省，思考我們的屬靈生活的機會！ 除了建造城牆防禦敵人外，讓我們在城牆內建造房屋-與上帝和我們的家人建立更牢固的關係。 因為我們就像“活石，要被建造成屬靈的殿，成為聖潔的祭司，藉着耶穌基督獻上蒙 神悅納的屬靈祭物。”（彼得前書 2:5 ）
