February 20, 2003

Nehemiah 6

Sanballat and his brethren, hearing the wall was finished, sent to Nehemiah, to have a meeting with him at a place named, which he refused, #Ne 6:1,2, then they sent him a terrifying letter, suggesting that he, and the Jews with him, would be treated as rebels, since their intention, as reported, was to make him king, which letter he regarded not, #Ne 6:3-9, then they employed some that pretended to be prophets to advise him to flee to the temple for safety, which he rejected, #Ne 6:10-14 and so the work went on and was finished, though there was a secret correspondence carried on between their enemies and some false brethren among themselves, #Ne 6:15-19. (Gill)

Vv. 1-4

V. 1, types of the world, flesh and the devil.

V. 2, Snaballat wanted Nehemiah to leave the work and come meet with him.

What made Sanballat think Nehemiah would want to meet with him? Sanballat knew that Nehemiah knew that he was an enemy, and that he would try to talk Nehemiah out of continuing on with the work. There is no rime nor reason as to why the world does as it does when it comes to hindering the Lord's work. The world offers all kind of things to get us to stop our work for the Lord.

V. 3, of course, Nehemiah refuses to meet. Why would he want to meet, for he knew all he would get was ridicule and mockery trying to persuade him to stop the work.

First, the enemy offers many good reasons to slow us down or even get us to stop the Lord's work we are doing.

V. 4, the offer to meet was made four times, and each offer was rejected.

Second, the enemy is very persistent. Too bad that Christians cannot be as persistent for the cause of Christ. If we were, we would have more success than does the devil's crowd, for the have God on our side.

Vv. 5-10

V. 6, the meeting did not work, so now the enemy tries slander, lies, which is a common tactic of those who dislike the truth.

I have found the pre-mil crowd depends more on slander and lies about the post-mil crowd than they do on Scripture. In fact, it was the slander that kept me from looking into any system other than pre-mil for many years.

V. 7, Sanballat spread lies about Nehemiah, and then wanted to talk about the lies.

V. 8, Nehemiah's only answer was that the lies were not true, and that Sanballat only made them up out of his own heart.

Third, our enemies will lie about us to hinder our testimony and our work for God.

V. 9, the lies caused fear among the workers, which was the enemy's goal. He wanted to stir up a spirit of fear, which he knew would hinder the work.

Forth, fear is one of the most effective weapons the enemy has to get us to do what he wants us to do, and to hinder our following the word and will of God:

God hath not given us a spirit of fear; but of power, and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Tim. 1:7.)

The fear that prevents us from doing what God says is right is not from God.

Fifth, Nehemiah's answer to the fear, prayer to the Lord for strength. Because of the enemy's attacks, we need God's strength and victory. NOTE that it is the attacks of the enemy that bring us to our knees in prayer.

Vv. 10-14

Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah, etc.—This man was the son of a priest, who was an intimate and confidential friend of Nehemiah. The young man claimed to be endowed with the gift of prophecy. Having been secretly bribed by Sanballat, he, in his pretended capacity of prophet, told Nehemiah that his enemies were that night to make an attempt upon his life. He advised him, at the same time, to consult his safety by concealing himself in the sanctuary, a crypt which, from its sanctity, was strong and secure. But the noble-minded governor determined at all hazards to remain at his post, and not bring discredit on the cause of God and religion by his unworthy cowardice in leaving the temple and city unprotected. This plot, together with a secret collusion between the enemy and the nobles of Judah who were favorably disposed towards the bad Samaritan in consequence of his Jewish connections (#Ne 6:18), the undaunted courage and vigilance of Nehemiah were enabled, with the blessing of God, to defeat, and the erection of the walls thus built in troublous times (#Da 9:25) was happily completed (#Ne 6:15) in the brief space of fifty-two days. So rapid execution, even supposing some parts of the old wall standing, cannot be sufficiently accounted for, except by the consideration that the builders labored with the ardor of religious zeal, as men employed in the work of God. (JFB)

Sixth, another very effective weapon of the enemy is money, v. 10. Lies and fear have not worked, so now money enters into the picture. Here we have a prophet for profit. He had been paid by the enemy to hinder the work.

We cannot count today the number of false prophets who have denied the validity of God's word for all matters of faith and practice. That denial and compromise has made them a good income. From what I know of "big churches", more likely than not they have gained their numbers by offering many false doctrines that the people want to hear.

We need to keep in mind that the enemy of God is not above paying people to do whatever is necessary to hinder God's work.

I am reminded of C.I. Scofield, and the Jewish money that financed his destructive work on God's word. Moreover, the pre-mill message draws in vast sums of money. That profitable message has kept the church's mind off of building the kingdom of God on earth, i.e., Christianizing the world. The enemy pays false prophets very well.

Nehemiah rejected the offer of safety, and found out that the man had been paid by Tobiah and Sanballat to get him away from the work.

Note the false concern expressed for Nehemiah's safety, vv. 10, 11. The false prophet had no concern for safety; his concern was for the money, v. 12.

V. 12, Nehemiah did not find out the truth until after he refused the offer. I wonder if he would have discovered the truth if he has fallen for the offer?

The enemy will make the worse of lies sound like the truth if he thinks he can get our eyes off the goal God has established for us.

We must be very careful about doing anything, no matter how good it looks, before we pray about it. Only the Lord knows what evils lie in the hearts of men.

V. 13, their goal was to get Nehemiah to sin—that is, to fear—so they would have basis for an evil report.

Was the sin identified as Nehemiah entering into something without prayer? We have plenty of reason to fear without prayer.

Christians are falling all around us today because of the fear placed in them by the enemy.

V. 14, there were several false prophets involved in the lies, including one woman.

Vv. 15, 16

Seventh, rejecting every effort by the enemy, they completed the building in record time, v. 15. They pressed ahead with the Lord' work despite the many efforts of the enemy. The work progressed, and was completed in a very short time.

V. 16, though the enemies were very much disappointed that the work completed, even they had to admit that the Lord is the one who enabled them to complete it in such a short time of only 52 days.

Can others tell by looking that our work is of God?

Vv. 17-18

The leaders of Judah were in league with the enemy. They gave only good reports about the enemies to Nehemiah, and kept the enemy informed of Nehemiah's activities.

Eighth, the worse and most devastating enemy was within, the nobles of Judah, v. 17.

We are our worse enemy in our obedience to God's requirements. The next worse enemy can be our family or other Christians. A great amount of the devil's effectiveness would be destroyed if he lost his help from within, either in the family or in the church.

V. 19, Tobiah did not give up. He continued to send letters to Nehemiah to put him in fear.

Note the chief tactic of the enemy was fear. About everything he did was to cause fear in the people and fear in Nehemiah.

There is a proper fear—that is, the fear of God that causes us to depart from evil and follow the word of God. But the fear that the enemy tries to stir up in us is the fear of man that causes us to forsake the law of the Lord.

May God see fit to deliver us from ungodly fear.

Implied in chapter 5 is that debt bondage to the leaders was another tactic of the enemy to hinder God's work, but we only dealt with chapter 6.
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First, the enemy offers many good reasons to slow us down or even get us to stop the Lord's work we are doing.

Third, our enemies will lie about us to hinder our testimony and our work for God.

Forth, fear is one of the most effective weapons the enemy has to get us to do what he wants us to do, and to hinder our following the word and will of God:

Fifth, Nehemiah's answer to the fear, prayer to the Lord for strength.

Sixth, another very effective weapon of the enemy is money, v. 10.

Seventh, rejecting every effort by the enemy, they completed the building in record time, v. 15.

Eighth, the worse and most devastating enemy was within, the nobles of Judah, v. 17.