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here because we can’t afford to pay the taxes he has imposed. Rebuilding the walls would be an impossible undertaking.”
    Nehemiah shook his head, unable to grasp what he was hearing. “So you’re telling me that the city and the temple mount are both completely vulnerable? Our enemies could come in and kill our people and destroy Jerusalem and the Almighty One’s temple all over again?”
    â€œCompletely vulnerable,” the leader confirmed. “And because of it, the number of robberies and vicious attacks has been escalating after two years of drought. Our enemies strike at night, looking for food and grain because of the famine. No one feels safe.”
    â€œA young friend of mine named Yitzhak ben Rephaiah was killed several months ago,” Hanani added, “when his home in Jerusalem was robbed. Yitzhak was about to be married and had just built a new home for his bride. The thieves killed him and emptied his storehouse. In fact, he lived very close to Ephraim and his family. It could have been him.”
    Nehemiah felt a powerful anger building inside him as the picture of the city’s helplessness grew clearer. Security was his livelihood, his passion. He was beginning to understand what their leader had meant when he’d said their people were in great trouble and disgrace. But what could he do? “I need to return to my responsibilities in the citadel. We’ll talk again,” he promised as he left them.
    The leader’s words continued to echo in Nehemiah’s mind throughout the afternoon and evening, long after he returned to his spare living quarters in the citadel for the night. “Great trouble and disgrace.” The report appalled him, not only for the sake of the people who were being robbed and killed bytheir enemies, but for the Almighty One’s sake. Nehemiah unbuckled his sword and removed his uniform. His bed had been prepared for him, but he wasn’t ready to sleep. He opened the shuttered window and looked out at the vast sprinkle of stars above the roof of the palace.
    Just as the magnificent city of Susa brought glory and honor to the Persian king, so, too, should the city and temple of the one true God bring glory and honor to Him. The lack of city walls and gates meant shame and disgrace. The heathens could easily destroy Jerusalem again as they had 140 years ago. Even worse, this vulnerability sent a message to their enemies that the Holy One was unable—or unwilling—to protect His people.
    Nehemiah closed the window and paced the floor. Then, knowing that his work would begin before dawn and that he needed to sleep, he snuffed out his lamp and sank onto his bed. Somehow, seeing Hanani again and being reminded twice today of their father’s tragic death made him feel like a child—helpless, vulnerable. He had saved himself and his brothers on that long-ago night by hiding in a hollow corner between the wall and the huge wooden chest his father had propped at an angle in the room. Nehemiah and his two brothers had often hidden in that space when playing games. And although all of Nehemiah’s instincts urged him to find a way to protect his brothers once again—to protect all of his people in Jerusalem—he had no way to do it.
    â€œOur fellow Jews who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.”
    Alone, in his room, Nehemiah didn’t try to stop his tears.

Chapter
2

    J ERUSALEM E ARLY F EBRUARY
    T oday Chana found it hard to believe the words that the Levite temple musicians were singing: “ Delight yourself in the Lord , and he will give you the desires of your heart .” That promise wasn’t always true. The desire of Chana’s heart had been to marry Yitzhak ben Rephaiah and live in the home he had built for her. But Yitzhak was dead, and God could never grant her heart’s desire. She shivered as a gust of wintry wind swept across the