Elul 7 – The Tekoites Repaired Another Section

August 30, 2025

06 – Elul, Nehemiah

Hebrew

Elul 7, 5785; from sunset August 30, 2025, to sunset August 31, 2025

(The seventh day of the sixth month)

This is an image of a portion of the wall rebuilt by Nehemiah and company.

Today in the Bible, we meet up with the Tekoites once again. We’ve met them before as they repaired another section of the wall. We also discovered that the captain of the guard for the month of Elul was from the city of Tekoa.

After them the Tekoites repaired another section, next to the great projecting tower, and as far as the wall of Ophel. – Nehemiah 3:27 (NKJ)

הַתְּקוֹעִים

Hateko’im = The Tekoites

The Tekoites were the people from the village of Tekoa. This village is mentioned several times in the Bible; its most famous resident was the prophet, Amos. The word Tekoa means “trumpet” and comes from the verb “taka” (תקע) which means “to blow, clap, strike, or make a sound.”

Verb Root	Transliteration	Meaning
תקע	taka	to blow, clap, strike, or make a sound

When we first met the Tekoites, we learned that the root of the word Tekoa may be familiar to you if you’ve ever observed the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah). We studied the different types of trumpet blasts: the tekiah, the shevarim, and the teruah; and a fourth type, the tekiah gedolah, which is just a longer version of the regular tekiah blast. Of course, blowing the trumpet is an integral part of the Feast of Trumpets. In fact, it’s tradition to blow the trumpet daily throughout the month of Elul…which leads up to the first day of the month of Tishrei…which is the day of the Feast of Trumpets. The daily trumpet blast is meant to be a reminder to repent, for the days of awe are approaching – a time of judgment.

It’s been our tradition to remember the captain of the military that King David assigned to guard the kingdom. Each month rotated in and out a commander and 24,000 men. On the first day of this month, we discovered that Ira the Tekoite took charge for the month of Elul. How fitting that a man from a town named after a trumpet would be in charge during the month when the trumpet was blown on a daily basis, preparing the people for the coming days of judgment.

And now, we find the Tekoites pulling double-duty and working on two sections of the wall. This seems to indicate that King David’s system of protecting the kingdom may have been reinstated. Perhaps the men from Tekoa were in Jerusalem for military duty and were able to work on additional sections of the wall.