Surveying the Damage: Investigating the condition

We spent the first day sleeping and eating. It is so nice to be in Jerusalem again. After the first night of good sleep, one of us kept watch wondering what Nee would do next. Nee’s armed escort had left to return to Babylon. It was easier to hang around Nee without the soldiers guarding him. Nee was now including us in his life. He knew us. We were, after all, the guys that took Nee the update on the state of Jerusalem.

After three days of hanging around we are antsy and bored. It’s the middle of the night, but we hear some rustling within the house. Nee peeks out, sees us, and asks us to get a donkey for him. We are trying to find one, but we don’t understand why. He didn’t tell us his plans for this donkey.

Returning to the house where Nee is staying, we see him waiting for us. It’s the middle of the night. What’s Nee up to? Nee gets on the donkey and signals us to follow him as quietly as we can. Nee is heading toward the Valley Gate, one of several gates leading in and out of Jerusalem. Once outside the walls of the city, we follow the wall around to the Dragon’s Fountain, then move on to the Dung Gate. Nee is upset. It appears to us that he is about to cry.

We watch Nee and notice he is looking at the crumbling walls and the ruined gates. We see what he’s looking at. Stones, big and small, scattered where the wall should be and thick beams for the gates in ashes. We continued around Jerusalem’s boundaries, where walls used to stand. There is too much rubble blocking our path. The rubble makes it impossible for the donkey to navigate. Nee gets off the donkey and we continue on foot. We are getting closer to the King’s Pool. One of the gates should be here, but there are only stones, rocks, and charred wood.

Still dark out, we walk a little further around the wall following the brook that flows here. Nee stops from time to time, and he is doing it again. On his knees, face to the ground, we think he is praying. We know what God did before as the result of Nee’s praying, so we are anticipating something good to happen. Nee tells us it is time to return to his dwelling before the light comes. We follow him back through the Valley Gate and to his room. He isn’t saying anything. He doesn’t tell us what this nighttime walk is about. He prays again, we think. We fell asleep without knowing . . .