Giving Thanks At The Dung Gate: or Praising When Things Stink


I have a pretty weak stomach. It doesn't take too much of a foul aroma to throw me. When I was a kid my Mom would drive miles out of the way to avoid a chemical plant because the odor would find me heaving in the back seat of the car. I'm glad I wasn't in Nehemiah's "Right Choir."

Check this out.

"When the priests and Levites had purified themselves ceremonially, they purified the people, the gates and the wall. I had the leaders of Judah go up on top of the wall. I also assigned two large choirs to give thanks. One was to proceed on top of the wall to the right, toward the Dung Gate.”
Nehemiah 12:30-31

Hello?! Toward the Dung Gate? I realize the choir was there to give thanks, but my response would have probably been, "No thanks." It stinks at the Dung Gate because there's...well...ummm...dung. Jerusalem had ten gates and each was more than an entrance and exit. They all had a purpose. Refuse was removed from the walled city through the Dung Gate and taken down to a valley to be burned. 

When Nehemiah returned to the city to rebuild the walls this included repairing the gates. Once completed it was time to celebrate. That's where we find the occasion above. It was time to sing. I'm not sure why Nehemiah put one of the choirs toward the Dung Gate, but there's a truth in there that can't be missed. God deserves to be praised and thanked even when things stink. 

I'm not sure what your favorite scent is, but I suppose mine would probably be a toss up between coffee and a warm peach blueberry pie. I would ask Nehemiah to put my choir next to the Coffee Gate, or the Warm Peach Blueberry Pie Gate. Maybe even the Vanilla Scented Candle Gate. It's easy to sing songs of praise when everything is pleasant. 

Let's be sure though to sing praise in every season, and to give thanks at every gate. Even the ones that stink. I suppose if Nehemiah had really put me in "Right Choir," I would have complied. You would have found me in the tenor section with a clothespin on my nose. After all, even when things stink God is still worthy of praise.

Following the Son,

James A. Williams

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