Mission: Jerusalem

It's been a while since I last looked at that most mysterious of the agents of the Highest, that man Nehemiah, chief of the Great King's secret service. A lot of people don't think of him that way, and perhaps that's because his station in life is so remote to us. But he, as he never tires of reminding us, was cupbearer to the king; he was the man who was trusted with figuring out the intrigues of the court, the gossip of the day, and the toxicity of the king's food.

His tale is full of intrigue and daring. Based on intelligence gleaned from exile sources, he petitions the king for resources and so founds the ancient equivalent of the modern CIA. Given resources, a mandate and a commando squad, this is an account of his first reconnaissance into occupied territory:

And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire.

Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

And the rulers knew not whither I went, or what I did; neither had I as yet told it to the Jews, nor to the priests, nor to the nobles, nor to the rulers, nor to the rest that did the work.

See? This is a gripping first-hand account of his traversal of a ruined city by night, and the admission that it was undertaken as a covert mission. The intrigue multiplies; before long, he is dealing with the ruthless villains Sanballat the Horonite, Tobiah the Ammonite, and Geshem the Arabian. What names those are to conjure with!

Nehemiah is a brave and brilliant man. The only deficiency he has is the fear that God will forget all about him and what he has done in the secret service. This is the one problem with such a role: you are more unknown than the unknown soldier — there will be people actively seeking to keep you unknown.

Thanks to the written record of this book, however, we can still remember this original spymaster and double agent. He got his request and his work was not forgotten.