Elul 8 – Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there

August 31, 2025

06 – Elul, 1 Corinthians, 1 Thessalonians, Christ, Jerusalem, Judah, Judah, Matthew, Nehemiah

Hebrew

Elul 8, 5785; from sunset August 31, 2025, to sunset September 1, 2025

(The eighth 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’re going to take a step back from studying the names of the people who worked on the walls and gates and, instead, have a look at the working conditions of those people. We’ll still make a little tie-in to the Tekoites whom we studied yesterday. That’s something we can now do with our background knowledge of what their name means in Hebrew.

Sanballat, the Horonite, and Tobiah, the Ammonite, were the most vocal opponents of the work being completed to ensure the security of Jerusalem. As an Horornite, Strong’s Concordance identifies Sanballat as an inhabitant of Horonaim in Moab. Other dictionaries place his lineage with one of the Beth-Horon’s in Israel. However, because of his close association with Tobiah the Ammonite, we believe a Moabite connection makes more sense. If you remember, after Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, the daughters of Lot believed there were no men on earth for them to marry…either because they believed everyone was killed when the cities were destroyed, or because the men of those cities were obviously not interested in marrying women. So, they made their father drunk and slept with him. The older girl gave birth to Moab, the father of the Moabites; and the younger, Ben-Ammi, the father of the Ammonites. Another reason to connect Sanballat with Horonaim instead of Beth-Horon is because of a comment Nehemiah made…

“So I answered them, and said to them, “The God of heaven Himself will prosper us; therefore we His servants will arise and build, but you have no heritage or right or memorial in Jerusalem.” – Nehemiah 2:20 (NKJ)

If Sanballat was a descendant of Israel, he would indeed have had a heritage and a right in Jerusalem – which Nehemiah would not have had the authority to negate.

Sanballat and Tobiah inspired the Ashdodites to conspire with them to come against the Israelites and attack before the walls could be fully fortified. As a good leader would, Nehemiah offered up a prayer to God and then set a watch day and night on all parts of the city. He spoke to the leaders to encourage unity and reassured the people that God was on their side and they should not be afraid.

So it was, from that time on, that half of my servants worked at construction, while the other half held the spears, the shields, the bows, and wore armor; and the leaders were behind all the house of Judah. Those who built on the wall, and those who carried burdens, loaded themselves so that with one hand they worked at construction, and with the other held a weapon. Every one of the builders had his sword girded at his side as he built. And the one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.

Then I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated far from one another on the wall. Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

Did you catch the references to the Tekoites? “The one who sounded the trumpet was beside me.” Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.” We, too, are waiting to hear the sound of the trumpet. We are told that, in days to come, we will also be working in an atmosphere of danger and fear. And, when we hear the sound of the trumpet, we will rally there, and our God will fight for us!

And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. – Matthew 24:31 (NKJ)

Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed–in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. – 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 (NKJ)

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 (NKJ)

Just a reminder that it’s tradition to read Psalm 27 daily through the Feast of Tabernacles. You can find it by clicking on the link.

To read all of our posts on Nehemiah, click on the image above.