Nehemiah 6:1-19

Now it came to pass when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall, and that there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates;) ² That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me mischief. ³ And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you? ⁴ Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I answered them after the same manner. ⁵ Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time with an open letter in his hand; ⁶ Wherein was written, It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. ⁷ And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. ⁸ Then I sent unto him, saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart. ⁹ For they all made us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done. Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands. ¹⁰ Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up; and he said, Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come to slay thee; yea, in the night will they come to slay thee. ¹¹ And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in. ¹² And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him; but that he pronounced this prophecy against me: for Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. ¹³ Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me. ¹⁴ My God, think thou upon Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and on the prophetess Noadiah, and the rest of the prophets, that would have put me in fear. ¹⁵ So the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days. ¹⁶ And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes: for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. ¹⁷ Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them. ¹⁸ For there were many in Judah sworn unto him, because he was the son in law of Shechaniah the son of Arah; and his son Johanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. ¹⁹ Also they reported his good deeds before me, and uttered my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Opposition is an inevitable reality when serving God. The opposition that Nehemiah faced when leading God’s people to rebuild the walls of God’s city, Jerusalem, came from both external and internal sources. Externally, there were the people groups surrounding Jerusalem and leaders like Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem. Internally, there were the issues arising from the famine in the region that led to the people of Jerusalem mistreating each other. There were also unholy alliances that some of God’s people had made with the external enemies. While the church is not building a wall or a physical city today, the work of the church still faces both external and internal opposition. Those oppositions converge in three areas: doctrine, discouragement, and direction. Doctrinal problems come from wrong beliefs about Scripture. These problems press God’s people to compromise our faith. Discouragement comes from internal and external criticism. Correction comes from God’s Word and is helpful and edifying. Criticism is rooted in pride and comes from selfish motives. Directional issues are those that relate to the church’s purpose and goals. These issues come in the form of distractions and causes other than the church’s purpose. In Nehemiah 6, Nehemiah and God’s people are going to be faced with three temptations that inevitably come from internal and external opposition and we are going to learn three responses we are to have as we encounter those temptations.

First, we learn that we are to respond to temptations to compromise with discernment. The first four verses of Nehemiah 6 tell us about Sanballat and Geshem trying four times to arrange a meeting with Nehemiah in the “plain of Ono.” That area was in hostile territory in Ashdod and Samaria. It would have put Nehemiah in danger and would have pulled him away from what God had called him to do and where God had called him to be. We must beware of anything in our Christian walk that pulls us away from both what God has called us to and where God has called us to do it. Any such thing, no matter how good it may appear on the surface or what it may seem to help in our lives, is actually compromise. In Nehemiah’s circumstance, the compromise was to pull him away from God’s work and God’s people. For the Christian, this would apply to both the nature of the ministry we are involved in and the location of that ministry. God has called all believers to be involved in the process of making disciples and taking the gospel to the world. However, He has also ordained the means and place that that is carried out. It is always carried out in and through local churches. Charles Spurgeon once wisely said, “Discernment is not simply a matter of telling the difference between what is right and wrong; rather it is the difference between right and almost right.” We have already stated that one of the sources of opposition that God’s people face is the matter of direction. That is because it is so easy for people to lose the way and purpose He has for them. What made Nehemiah’s work a “great work” (v. 3)? It was that it was the work commissioned by God. There were millions of “good” works Nehemiah could have engaged in, but this was the only “great work” because it is what God called him to. Temptations to compromise come in all forms and discernment is the answer. Discernment only comes from submission to God’s Word. Proverbs 9:10 says, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Secondly, we learn that we need to respond to temptations of falsehood with directness. When the temptations to compromise and pull Nehemiah away from the work were unsuccessful, Sanballat sends a letter threatening Nehemiah and the people with false accusations. The letter accuses the people of rebelling against the king of Persia and Geshem accuses Nehemiah of hiring prophets to proclaim that Nehemiah is Judah’s new king. Of course, Nehemiah and Judah had done nothing of the sort. What does Nehemiah do? He responds to their lies with the truth. Slander and lying are always tactics of Satan for “he is a liar, and the father of it” (John 8:44). Anytime someone sets out to accomplish something through falsehood, no matter how seemingly noble the cause, they are playing for the wrong team. They are following Satan and his ways, not God. When we are attacked, the first thing we should do is assess the validity of the attack. If the attack comes from a place of biblical truthfulness, then we must consider that we are in the wrong. However, if the attack comes in the form of falsehood, then we can rest assured that it is not of God. Proverbs 26:4 and 26:5 tells us two different responses for a “fool” and his “folly.” The first verse tells us not to answer and the second tells us to answer. When do we and when do we not answer slander, attacks, and accusations made against us. First, we must consider the way in which we answer. If we have to stoop to the fool’s level then we should not engage. Second, we must consider our motive in answering. If our motive is to defend just ourselves, we should probably not respond, but if our motive is God’s glory, helping God’s people, or furthering God’s work, then we must respond. We must ultimately take all such matters to God, trusting Him to be Him, and not try to play God ourselves. Due to the harm that the accusations would bring to God’s people and God’s work, Nehemiah responded with the simple truth of the matter with directness and then he prayed to God to strengthen his hands for the work.

Lastly, we must respond to temptations from intimidation with determination. Since the temptations to compromise and slander did not work, the enemy had one final play, they threatened Nehemiah and the people. Sanballat and the others hired a prophet named Shemaiah who came with a false warning that Nehemiah’s life was in danger and that he needed to hide out in the temple. The goal was to get Nehemiah to make a panic decisions without thinking through the,. For Nehemiah to hide out in the temple while the rest of the people were exposed would have been demoralizing to the people in following him. Also, for him to go into the temple not being a priest would be to violate God’s law and would have been punishable by death (Numbers 18:7). The real test of any advice, no matter how good it may seem, is whether or not it lines up with Scripture. Isaiah 8:20 says, “To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.” Verses 17-18 reveal to us that some of the “nobles” in the community had alliances with Tobiah and that Tobiah was married into a priestly line. They would feed Tobiah information about everything that was going on in Jerusalem. Just as these alliances with outsiders undermined the work in Jerusalem, through unholy alliances outside the church we can undermine the work within the church. Nehemiah’s response to the intimidation brought on by the enemies of God’s people was determination. He prayed to God to handle the enemies and the wall was finished in just 52 days (v. 14-15).

Opposition and conflict inevitably bring temptations. We can be tempted to compromise, leaving the work of the Lord. We can be tempted by falsehood, inappropriately responding to the slander of other people. We can be tempted by intimidation, being pushed into making hasty decisions that would dishonor God. Instead, we must respond with discernment, directness, and determination. The work of God is too important to abandon for our own personal comfort. Perhaps you’ve been tempted to compromise, to set the slanderer straight on your own terms, or to make a hasty decision without considering God’s will. As believers, let’s resolve to be filled with the Holy Spirit, driven and directed by God’s Word.