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In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates—Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophets have been trying to intimidate me. So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
Nehemiah 6:1-16
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
He reveals the deep things of darkness and brings utter darkness into the light. Job 12:22
He reveals deep and hidden things; He knows what lies in darkness, and light dwells with Him. Daniel 2:22
He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. 1 Corinthians 4:5
People can be downright evil sometimes and not always in an obvious fashion. No, some of the most wicked things that are carried out are carefully schemed and executed. But no matter the level of meticulousness applied to planning malicious deeds, nothing is hidden from the eyes of God, the One who exposes darkness because He is the Light of the world.
We see this truth played out in Nehemiah, Chapter 6, as Nehemiah’s adversaries persist in trying to undermine his efforts to rebuild the walls and gates of Jerusalem. We read in our passage where word had traveled to “Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of (Israel’s) enemies” that Jerusalem’s wall had been rebuilt with “not a gap…left in it.”
Having seen their previous attempts to thwart the Israelite effort, Sanballat and Geshem schemed to harm Nehemiah, sending a request that they all “meet together in one of the villages on the plain of Ono.” But Nehemiah was onto them. God was not going to allow dark deceit to triumph over any of His plans to rebuild and protect His holy city and His people abiding within.
And so, Nehemiah sent a message to his enemies saying, “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” His opponents refused to give up, sending the same message four more times. In each instance, Nehemiah “gave them the same answer.” Sanballat sent his aide for a fifth time “with the same message” but this time there was an additional “unsealed letter” delivered which said the following:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
Have you seen this happen to you in the past? Someone chooses to oppose you and will go to no end to slander you, even if it means they need to craft a lie and spread it around. In the case of Sanballat and Nehemiah’s enemies, they chose to suggest Nehemiah was only rebuilding the walls and gates for his own political gain. After Jerusalem was again secured, then Nehemiah would declare himself king of Judah and revolt against King Artaxerxes, the very king who allowed him to go to Jerusalem in the first place. Sanballat hoped that threatening to propagate the lie to Babylon would frighten Nehemiah and the Israelites to stop their work toward rebuilding Jerusalem.
His hopes were dashed when Nehemiah responded to the letter by saying, “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” Then Nehemiah turned to God and prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
As we face opposition in our lives, especially those who would scheme against us, we should follow Nehemiah’s example and pray for strength…strength to persevere and endure…strength to remain faithful in God’s ability to frustrate the efforts of those coming against us. God will deliver all the strength we need to make it through our circumstances. We need only turn to Him in trust.
Yes, Nehemiah needed God’s strength because his enemies were not done yet. For as we continue our study of Chapter 6, we see where they even try to get to Nehemiah from inside his ranks.
For we read where Nehemiah visited the “house of Shemaiah…who was shut in at his home.” Shemaiah, thought to be a priest, made a proposition to Nehemiah suggesting that the two of them “meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and…close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.” This request was insidious on a couple of levels.
First, Shemaiah was suggesting that Nehemiah should hide from his predicted attackers in the temple…the “house of God”. This would have been viewed as cowardly at best but it wouldn’t have been the worse result. For Nehemiah was just a layman and thus not permitted by God’s lay to enter the house of God. Operating in the dark, Shemaiah was trying to lure Nehemiah out of the light of God and into sinful action by using the threat of attack. But God and Nehemiah would have none of it.
Back to the scriptures where Nehemiah replies to Shemaiah saying, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!”
Nehemiah had “realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.” Shemaiah had been “hired to intimidate” Nehemiah so that he would “commit a sin” and become discredited. If God had sent Shemaiah, then the proposition would have not suggested sinful actions. Nehemiah recognized this and saw Shemaiah for what he was…a false prophet.
And so the plot was again hindered and the work continued, reaching completion “on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.” The news of this achievement unsettled the enemies of Israel who “realized that (the) work had been done with the help of…God”…the God who had taken all of their dark schemes and brought them into the light. This realization left the enemies afraid and void of self-confidence for they in no way could ever find victory over any people who had God with them.
Friends, our enemies will end up the same as the enemies of Israel eventually…frustrated by how their dark deeds fail to find success when brought against someone with God on their side. For God will always expose anything done in the dark, casting His glorious light upon anything evil. He did in the days of Nehemiah…and He is still doing so today.
The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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