[Sidenote: Neh. 12: 31, 32, 37-40] Then I had the rulers of Judah take their position upon the wall, and I appointed two great companies that gave thanks, and the first went to the right hand upon the wall toward the Dung Gate. And behind them went Hoshaiah and half of the nobles of Judah. And by the Fountain Gate, they went straight up the stairs of the city of David, at the ascent of the wall, above the house of David, even to the Water Gate on the east. And the other company of those who gave thanks went to the left, and I after them, with the half of the nobles of the people, upon the wall, above the Tower of the Furnaces, even to the broad wall, and above the Gate of Ephraim and by the Old Gate and by the Fish Gate and the Tower of Hananel and the Tower of the Hundred, even to the Sheep Gate; and they stood in the Gate of the Guard. So the two companies of those who gave thanks in the house of God took their position, and I, and the half of the rulers with me. I. Nehemiah's Memoirs. Fortunately the author of the books of Ezra and Nehemiah has quoted at length in the opening chapters of Nehemiah from the personal memoirs of the noble patriot through whose activity the walls of Jerusalem were restored. They are the best historical records in the Old Testament and they shed clear, contemporary light upon this most important period in the evolution of Judaism. The narrative is straightforward and vivid. It lights up the otherwise dark period that precedes Nehemiah and enables the historian to bridge with assurance the century that intervened before the apocryphal book of I Maccabees throws its light upon the course of Israel's troubled history. The detailed description of the rebuilding of the walls in Nehemiah 3 is probably from the Chronicler, but it reveals an intimate acquaintance with the topography and the later history of Judah's capital. II. Nehemiah's Response to the Call to Service. The presence of a deputation from Jerusalem (including Nehemiah's kinsman Hanani) in the distant Persian capital of Susa was not a mere accident. Nehemah's response to their appeal and the epoch-making movement which he inaugurated reveal the presence of an impelling force. Probably back of all this movement was the work of the great prophet who speaks in Isaiah 40-66. In all that Nehemiah did that influence may be seen. In the fervent and patriotic prayer that he uttered on learning of conditions in Jerusalem he used the term servant or servants of Jehovah eight times in six short verses. It also echoes the phraseology and thought of the II Isaiah.