Reflections on Nehemiah 6

Nehemiah 06 (Contemporary English Version)

1. Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies learned that I had completely rebuilt the wall. All I lacked was hanging the doors in the gates.
   
2. Then Sanballat and Geshem sent a message, asking me to meet with them in one of the villages in Ono Valley. I knew they were planning to harm me in some way.
   
3. So I sent messengers to tell them, "My work is too important to stop now and go there. I can't afford to slow down the work just to visit with you."
   
4. They invited me four times, but each time I refused to go.
   
5. Finally, Sanballat sent an official to me with an unsealed letter,
   
6. which said: A rumor is going around among the nations that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall and planning to rebel, because you want to be their king. And Geshem says it's true!
   
7. You even have prophets in Jerusalem, claiming you are now the king of Judah. You know the Persian king will hear about this, so let's get together and talk it over.
   
8. I sent a message back to Sanballat, saying, "None of this is true! You are making it all up."
   
9. Our enemies were trying to frighten us and to keep us from our work. But I asked God to give me strength.
   
10. One day I went to visit Shemaiah. He was looking very worried, and he said, "Let's hurry to the holy place of the temple and hide there. We will lock the temple doors, because your enemies are planning to kill you tonight."
    
11. I answered, "Why should someone like me have to run and hide in the temple to save my life? I won't go!"
    
12. Suddenly I realized that God had not given Shemaiah this message. But Tobiah and Sanballat had paid him to trick me
    
13. and to frighten me into doing something wrong, because they wanted to ruin my good name.
    
14. Then I asked God to punish Tobiah and Sanballat for what they had done. I prayed that God would punish the prophet Noadiah and the other prophets who, together with her, had tried to frighten me.
    
15. On the twenty-fifth day of the month Elul, the wall was completely rebuilt. It had taken fifty-two days.
    
16. When our enemies in the surrounding nations learned that the work was finished, they felt helpless, because they knew that our God had helped us rebuild the wall.
    
17. All this time the Jewish leaders and Tobiah had been writing letters back and forth.
    
18. Many people in Judah were loyal to Tobiah for two reasons: Shecaniah son of Arah was his father-in-law, and Tobiah's son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
    
19. The people would always tell me about the good things Tobiah had done, and then they would tell Tobiah everything I had said. So Tobiah kept sending letters, trying to frighten me.
    

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    As the wall project neared completion, Nehemiah's archenemy, Sanballat, stepped up efforts to stop it. Though the project was all but completed, lacking only that the doors be set in the gates, Sanballat evidently thought there was a psychological advantage to be gained by stopping it even though it lacked very little to be completed. And he was right to think this for as soon as it was completely finished and word of its completion was heard by enemies of the Jews, "all the surrounding nations were intimidated and lost their confidence, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God." (6:16) It no doubt had an equal positive effect on the Jews.
    
    In an effort to stop the project before final completion, Sanballat attempted to assassinate Nehemiah. This he did by sending a messenger to Nehemiah requesting a meeting in the villages of the Ono Valley, a day's journey from Jerusalem. Nehemiah suspected an attempt to drawn him away and kill him, so he refused saying, "I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go down to you?" (6:3)  This exchange was repeated three more times and Nehemiah refused each time with the same reply. In a fifth attempt to drawn Nehemiah away, Sanballat stepped up the effort with intimidation. He told Nehemiah of supposed rumors stating that he was leading a rebellion against the king with the intention of becoming king of Judah. Furthermore, Sanballat posed as Nehemiah's friend, again requesting a meeting to "confer together." Nehemiah again refused a meeting telling Sanballat there was nothing to the rumors. He then told his fellow Jews that it was all an effort to intimidate them.
    
    Finally, Sanballat used someone on the inside, living in Jerusalem, who he had hired. This man, Shemaiah, pretended to be a prophet and had Nehemiah come to his house, telling him of a supposed plot to kill him that very night. To avoid the plot he suggest Nehemiah flee with him to the temple. But there was a problem with this plan that Nehemiah saw through immediately. No one was allowed in the temple except the priests. Luring Nehemiah into it would cause him to "sin, and get a bad reputation, in order that they could discredit" him. (6:13) Again, Nehemiah refused to be tricked.
    
    Despite these distractions, the wall was completed in 52 days.  Although Judah's enemies were "intimidated and lost their confidence" by this feat, Sanballat wasn't through in his efforts to defeat the Jews. He had relatives living in Judah and continued to work through them to gain a foothold. We will hear again from this man later in Nehemiah.
    
    Being "in the center of God's will," as some like to refer to doing what God leads us to do, is not all smooth sailing. When we mistakenly think that it will be, we are at risk of being defeated by our main archenemy, Satan, and whoever he uses for his purposes. Remaining faithful throughout requires continual prayer to discern God's guidance and receive His wisdom. Otherwise we can easily be enticed into traps that will derail us in our efforts to do what God gives us to do.