I’d say sometimes building walls is good. The Bible is a book of wisdom,
and wisdom is situational. “There is a season for everything,” the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “a time to build and a time to tear down.”
and wisdom is situational. “There is a season for everything,” the writer of Ecclesiastes says, “a time to build and a time to tear down.”
Just because it was wise for Nehemiah to construct a wall in Jerusalem doesn’t mean it’s wise for Trump to construct a wall at the border. Just because something happens in the Bible doesn’t make it universally moral or wise...
Joshua invaded the territory of neighboring tribes & killed the men, women, & children living there. Does that mean invading a country and committing genocide is forever justified? No.
Context matters. Wisdom matters. The genre of a given biblical text matters. What matters about Nehemiah isn’t that he built a wall but *why* he built it & *how* he built it. It’s a story about faithfulness, obedience, & leadership not the universal merits of wall-building.
(P.S. I realize what actually happened in the conquests of Canaan is a matter of debate and from a historical perspective was not likely a genocide. I write a lot more about that in “Inspired.”)
