Day 128: Nehemiah 4-6

Opposition, Perseverance, and the Integrity of Leadership

Nehemiah 4

1 But when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he was angry, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews.

2 He spoke before his brothers and the army of Samaria, and said, “What are these feeble Jews doing? 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 rubbish, since they are burned?”

3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, “Even that which they are building, if a fox climbed up it, he would break down their stone wall.”

4 “Hear, our God; for we are despised. Turn back their reproach on their own head, and give them up for a plunder in a land of captivity.

5 Don’t cover their iniquity, and don’t let their sin be blotted out from before you; for they have insulted the builders.”

6 So we built the wall; and all the wall was joined together to half its height: for the people had a mind to work.

7 But when Sanballat, Tobiah, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites heard that the repairing of the walls of Jerusalem went forward, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very angry;

8 and they all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem, and to cause confusion there.

9 But we made our prayer to our God, and set a watch against them day and night because of them.

10 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 Our adversaries said, “They will not know or see, until we come into the middle of them, and kill them, and cause the work to cease.”

12 When the Jews who lived by them came, they said to us ten times from all places, “You must return to us.”

13 Therefore I set in the lowest parts of the space behind the wall, in the open places, I set the people by their families with their swords, their spears, and their bows.

14 I looked, and rose up, and said to the nobles, to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, and your daughters, your wives, and your houses.”

15 When our enemies heard that it was known to us, and God had brought their counsel to nothing, we returned all of us to the wall, everyone to his work.

16 From that time forth, half of my servants worked in the work, and half of them held the spears, the shields, the bows, and the armor; and the captains were behind all the house of Judah.

17 Those who built the wall and those who carried burdens loaded themselves, everyone with one of his hands worked in the work, and with the other held his weapon;

18 and the builders, everyone wore his sword at his side, and so built. He who sounded the trumpet was by me.

19 I said to the nobles, the rulers, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and large, and we are separated on the wall, one far from another.

20 Wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there. Our God will fight for us.”

21 So we worked in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning until the stars appeared.

22 Likewise at the same time I said to the people, “Let everyone with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and may labor in the day.”

23 So neither I, nor my brothers, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard who followed me, none of us took off our clothes. Everyone took his weapon to the water.

Nehemiah 5

1 Then there arose a great cry of the people and of their wives against their brothers the Jews.

2 For there were some who said, “We, our sons and our daughters, are many. Let us get grain, that we may eat and live.”

3 Some also there were who said, “We are mortgaging our fields, and our vineyards, and our houses. Let us get grain, because of the famine.”

4 There were also some who said, “We have borrowed money for the king’s tribute using our fields and our vineyards as collateral.

5 Yet now our flesh is as the flesh of our brothers, our children as their children. Behold, we bring into bondage our sons and our daughters to be servants, and some of our daughters have been brought into bondage already. It is not in our power to help it; for other men have our fields and our vineyards.”

6 I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words.

7 Then I consulted with myself, and contended with the nobles and the rulers, and said to them, “You exact usury, everyone of his brother.” I held a great assembly against them.

8 I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews who were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your brothers, and should they be sold to us?” Then they held their peace, and found never a word.

9 Also I said, “The thing that you do is not good. Shouldn’t you walk in the fear of our God, because of the reproach of the nations our enemies?

10 I likewise, my brothers and my servants, lend them money and grain. Please let us stop this usury.

11 Please restore to them, even today, their fields, their vineyards, their olive groves, and their houses, also the hundredth part of the money, and of the grain, the new wine, and the oil, that you exact from them.”

12 Then they said, “We will restore them, and will require nothing of them; so will we do, even as you say.” Then I called the priests, and took an oath of them, that they would do according to this promise.

13 Also I shook out my lap, and said, “So God shake out every man from his house, and from his labor, who doesn’t perform this promise. Even thus be he shaken out, and emptied.” All the assembly said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh. The people did according to this promise.

14 Moreover from the time that I was appointed to be their governor in the land of Judah, from the twentieth year even to the thirty-second year of Artaxerxes the king, twelve years, I and my brothers have not eaten the bread of the governor.

15 But the former governors who were before me were supported by the people, and took bread and wine from them, besides forty shekels of silver; yes, even their servants ruled over the people: but I didn’t do so, because of the fear of God.

16 Yes, also I continued in the work of this wall, neither bought we any land: and all my servants were gathered there to the work.

17 Moreover there were at my table, of the Jews and the rulers, one hundred fifty men, besides those who came to us from among the nations that were around us.

18 Now that which was prepared for one day was one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of wine: yet for all this I didn’t demand the bread of the governor, because the bondage was heavy on this people.

19 Remember to me, my God, for good, all that I have done for this people.

Nehemiah 6

1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.

3 I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you?”

4 They sent to me four times in this way; and I answered them the same way.

5 Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

6 in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; for which cause you are building the wall; and you would be their king, according to these words.

7 You have also appointed prophets to preach of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together.”

8 Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”

9 For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.

10 I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut up; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”

11 I said, “Should such a man as I flee? Who is there, that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

12 I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him; but he pronounced this prophecy against me: and Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

13 He was hired for this cause, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

14 Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also 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-fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty-two days.

16 When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

17 Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them.

18 For there were many in Judah sworn to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife.

19 Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.

Scripture: World English Bible (WEB), public domain.