Hanun and the inhabitants of Zanoah repaired the valley gate; they built it and set up its doors, its lacks and its bars, and a thousand cubits on the wall as far as the dung gate. (Neh. 3:13)
You probably didn’t know that there was an Energizer Keep Going ® Hall Of Fame.3 Well, if anyone deserves to be in it besides that famous bunny, it’s probably Hanun and his friends from Zanoah. The village of Zanoah was about 10 miles away and so, for starters, these men had to either camp out at Jerusalem for this two month project (two months of camping – fun!) or else hike back and forth to the city from Zanoah, easily six or seven hours of walking a day.
Not only that, in just 52 days the men of Zanoah built up or repaired a thousand cubits of the wall. In our terms this is 1500 feet – over a quarter of a mile. Let’s break this down a little further: this was like repairing or building a wall from home plate to first base every three days – a wall which in some spots was 25 feet high and 25 feet thick!4 (Lunch breaks must have been brief!)
By the way, did you catch the reference to dung gate in there? That means exactly what you think it means. And because the dung gate was at the narrowest part of the city wall structure, people had to pass by these men constantly with garbage and waste of every kind. In fact, a huge percentage of Jerusalem’s garbage was probably carted past the men of Zanoah on a daily basis.
No matter how unpleasant, they kept going… and going…
Lord, give us the strength of commitment that the men of Zanoah had – unfazed by obstacles or conditions because we have the goal in sight!
3 See: http://www.energizerkeepgoinghalloffame.com/home.aspx, accessed August 28, 2008.
4 See: http://www.biblewalks.com/Sites/BroadWall.html, accessed August 28, 2008.
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