Nehemiah 4:1-23

But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. ² And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned? ³ Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall. ⁴ Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: ⁵ And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders. ⁶ So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work. ⁷ But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, ⁸ And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. ⁹ Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them. ¹⁰ And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall. ¹¹ And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease. ¹² And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you. ¹³ Therefore set I in the lower places behind the wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows. ¹⁴ And I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses. ¹⁵ And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work. ¹⁶ And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. ¹⁷ They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. ¹⁸ For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me. ¹⁹ And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. ²⁰ In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us. ²¹ So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. ²² Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. ²³ So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing.

One of the inevitable challenges we will face as we strive to be faithful in service to God is opposition. Back in Nehemiah 2, the reader is introduced to some individuals who are opposed to God, His people, and His work. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were influential individuals of the region that were upset by the progress being made in Jerusalem. Thus far, Nehemiah has received permission and materials from the king for the task (2:1-9); arrived in Jerusalem and assessed the situation (2:10-16); rallied the people to the cause (2:17-20); and counted and organized the workers for the work of rebuilding the wall (3:1-32). Here, in the fourth chapter, the wall is being built and the enemies of God’s people see the progress that is being made, so they bring attempts to discourage the work that is being done. How are God’s people supposed to respond to this opposition? Nehemiah gives us three responses to three effects of opposition in God’s work.

First, we see that we are to respond with perseverance when mocked or criticized. As the building of the wall commences, Sanballat and Tobiah mock the Jewish people and the work that they have done. Sanballat mocks the people, by calling them “feeble,” and their purpose by describing the task as an impossible one. Tobiah mocks the work itself by saying that a small fox could knock over the wall. As is so common, Nehemiah responds to the mocking and criticism with prayer. He turns the enemies over to God. What do he and the people do afterward? They press on in the work. Criticism is either legitimate and good criticism or it is illegitimate and bad. Sometimes people can criticize us because they want to help us and bring honest correction to what we are doing. Sometimes people can criticize us because they are jealous, have some other motive toward us, or they may just be plain wrong. The key to discern whether criticism is legitimate or not is to weigh criticism with the Word of God. Ultimately, our service must please God, not people. If we allow every criticism or opposition to dictate what we do, we will be backed into a corner and unable to do anything. The way to avoid that is to test what we are hearing with the only source of objective truth that we have, God’s Word. If the criticism is legitimate and we are out of line with God’s will, then we must repent. If the criticism is not scriptural, then we do as Nehemiah did, we give the critic to God and then we persevere. There is a constant internal pressure we will face to justify ourselves before people and that internal pressure comes from our pride. If we are truly working for God, we do so as “dead” people, people who have died to themselves (Galatians 2:20). Dead people no longer have rights to themselves and are not concerned with anything but God’s will. In those cases, like the one here, where criticism and mocking are unjust, we simply put our heads down and persevere. That’s exactly what Nehemiah did and, as a result, half the wall was completed in a short time because “the people had a mind to work.” They persevered when mocked.

Next, we see that we are to respond to threats and fear with prayer. Since the mocking and criticism did not work, the opposition ramps up its efforts. There are others who get involved with Sanballat and Tobiah. The “Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites” were all upset because of the success of the people in building the wall. In our churches, the devil is not concerned about people who are not doing something for God. He is not concerned about people who do things with wrong motives or who are busy building their own kingdom in the flesh. He’s concerned about those making a great impact for God’s kingdom. It is those people that he will oppose most heavily. This group doesn’t just mock and criticize, they move to open hostility. They put our rumors of going to war against Jerusalem. There is no doubt that the natural response to such threats would be fear among the people. What do we do when people adamantly oppose us or try to stand in the way of God’s work? Our natural desire is to put them in their place and to show them “what’s what.” However, that is not what we are called to do, nor is it what Nehemiah and the people do. They pray. They take their enemies to the Lord and allow God to deal with them. It is a dangerous thing to criticize and attack someone who is truly doing God’s work in a scriptural way because, to oppose such a person, is to oppose God. In Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers, when the Israelites complained against Moses, God’s chosen leader, God responds by taking personal offense to their complaints as being against Him. In Numbers 12:1-16, Miriam and Aaron try to accuse Moses on a technicality because they are jealous of the position and authority that God had given Moses. Moses doesn’t fight them. Instead, God deals with Miriam and Aaron (she’s made a leper) and Moses responds with humble intercession. That is the model. Proverbs 26:4 provides some valuable wisdom saying, “Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.” In Ephesians 6:10-13, the Apostle Paul calls us to recognize the nature of our battle and how it has to be fought, on spiritual grounds against a spiritual enemy. We are ultimately called to “stand.” How do we do this? Paul goes on to teach us that we do so by taking the whole armor of God (Ephesians 6:14-17) and we do so through prayer (Ephesians 6:18). When threatened, when fearful, and when we have a battle to fight, we must pray.

Lastly, we learn that we are called to proclaim the truth when faced with discouragement. The natural result of the mocking, criticism, and threats is that it diverted the people’s focus away from the work and the Lord and drove them to focus on the enemies and themselves. The people became discouraged and worried about how they could build when they faced such threats. Nehemiah’s plan was to give them weapons to defend themselves while they worked and to appoint shifts so that the people might be rested and ready at all times for both the building of the wall and defending themselves. In verses 19-20, Nehemiah encourages the people by reminding them of the task God had given them and that ultimately, He would fight for them and enable them to accomplish His work. He redirected their focus away from themselves and the opposition to the Lord and the work He had given to them. This is the job of a godly leader. It is not to show people how great they are, but to continually point them to how great God is and what His will is. The answer for discouragement when we lose our proper focus, is to have our focus redirected by the proclamation of the Word of God. A church without the accurate proclamation of the Word of God will have no vision and no direction from God. Proverbs 29:18 says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The “vision” here is not a “five-year plan” nor is it a prophetic dream. It is godly direction given through His Word. This is why His Word must be central and why there are so many passages in the New Testament teaching us how important it is (Ephesians 4:11-16; 2 Timothy 3:16-4:5; 1 Peter 2:2). God accomplishes everything He wishes to accomplish in His people through the preaching of His Word.

Perseverance, prayer, and preaching are essential to continuing in the work of the Lord when faced with opposition. We must have our mind fixed to endure. We must continually go before the Lord for help and strength in prayer. We must continually call to mind the truth of His Word to discern and be encouraged. This perseverance, prayer, and preaching produces “a mind to work,” a heart to press on in the work of the Lord. Have you been unjustly criticized or mocked trying to serve Christ? Persevere. Stick to it. Have you been fearful of the opposition and potential threats? Pray. Take it to the Lord. Have you been discouraged in the work? Go to His Word for truth, comfort, and strength.