The Broad Wall and a Refugee Crisis 

'You inspected all the houses in Jerusalem and tore some of them down to get stones to repair the city walls.' (Isaiah 22.10 GNB)

Looking around 

In 701 BC, Assyrian troops marched against Jerusalem. King Hezekiah of Judah prepared the city for a siege by ordering the construction of a broad wall that would protect not only Jerusalemites but Jewish refugees from the north who had fled from the approaching Assyrians. 

Remnants of the wall can be still admired today. They are 65 meters long and vary between six and seven meters in width.  

Hezekiah went down in history for successfully resisting the eventual Assyrian siege. There was a significant downside though. As Isaiah points out, some people lost their houses as the king looked for building material for his wall and didn’t hesitate to pull down whatever stood in its way. 

Hezekiah was castigated for this by the prophet Isaiah. This was not unusual in Old Testament times, as God called his prophets to speak truth to power whenever that power caused harm to the powerless.  

Stepping closer 

Promising Harvard law graduate Bryan Stevenson traded the prospect of a stellar legal career for a move to Montgomery, Alabama, to start up the Equal Justice Initiative. This was a costly move. At times opposition was overwhelming, but his faith-rooted activism eventually saw many black people exonerated who had been wrongly convicted. 

Justice is a deep-rooted theme in the Bible. God is a God of justice, and he has made us his image-bearers. But biblical justice is way more than following the rulebook. It’s restorative, it’s about advocating justice, it’s about going beyond simply obeying the law.  

Jerusalem’s Broad Wall reminds us of King Hezekiah commissioning the expansion of Jerusalem to accommodate refugees; in a way, he is reflecting the heart of God. But the collateral damage caused by the building project highlights the complexity of life and the brokenness of humanity.  

We are still called to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. He sought out the marginalized and the vulnerable. In his light let us live radically selfless lives.