Sermon Tone Analysis
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In beginning I want to bring to memory all that we were able to see in chapter 3. We saw a very specific order of how the tasks that were part of the building of the wall were to be laid out.
Very specific men doing very specific portions of the wall.
Now in chapter 4 we get more into the nitty gritty of what was going on.
I want to divide this into the two sections that our ESV translation has this chapter divided into. 1, being the first part is dedicated to the Opposition to the Work.
In our initial overview that we went through a couple of months back we heard of a man by the name of Sanballat.
In our initial overview that we went through a couple of months back we heard of a man by the name of Sanballat.
Sanballat was the leading figure in the confrontation towards Nehemiah and the construction of the wall.
His “brothers” are his allies.
His series of questions claim that the Jews have underestimated what they can do and have started something that they will not be able to complete.
At the same time, he knows that his mockery will be reported in Jerusalem.
Nehemiah
He was nitpicking them to the point of trying to make them unsure of their feat.
He was attempting to thwart their progress and cause them to fail.
Tobiah appears to be in a subordinate role, echoing Sanballat.
Seemingly appears to be Sanballat’s right hand man.
Reinforcing the commands that were laid out by his “master” so to speak.
A fox only weighs just a few pounds, but Tobiah is clearly implying that any wall that the Jews would attempt to build would easily fall over with the mere weight of a fox on top of it.
Sidenote: right now multiple contractors and architects are constructing sections of wall in the southern Texas desert of different designs for the border wall.
These are being built as to provide the best solution for the provision of demonstrating strength and forcing law abidance.
Nehemiah’s wall was also required to demonstrate strength and this undercutting of Tobiah was a jab at the abdomen of Nehemiah’s stance.
Nehemiah
This is the first of three imprecatory prayers uttered by Nehemiah.
An Imprecatory prayer is one that calls for the enemy to experience God’s curse.
Sanballat and his followers were in reality opposing the work of God, and it is from Him that Nehemiah seeks to remedy or set right.
At the same time, neither he nor the people give up their work rebuilding the wall.
We see time and time again that God’s work in God’s timing will not be lack of God’s resources.
When God sets a task to be set in motion no matter the man, or the man’s power.
It will be accomplished.
Always.
He is sovereign and no matter how hard or big the job.
His will is going to be worked out.
Nehemiah 4:6
There is a clear and definitive point that is made here as we see the term “So we built the wall”.
This indicates a a forward motion that the work had progressed.
Also noted is the fact that wee see that they had built the wall all the way around its planned perimeter and it had been joined back together.
The people had a mind to work, this is a point that is essential to our understanding.
Both of this situation and in others in our own personal lives.
What does it mean to have “A Mind to work”?
Well for starters it is an understanding of the prospective discipline of completing a task that looms ahead of us.
It is easy for us to struggle in the area of work in our personal lives.
These people had a mind to work together, to labor together to see a common goal.
Their minds were on the same page and the project was coming to fruition.
Nehemiah 4:7
Here we are introduced to a new subject matter.
Another antagonistic group emerges.
The Ashodites.
Nehemiah is now completely encircles by the enemy.
Ashdod, a city in the Philistine plain to the west is also the name of a Persian province that was considered to be part of the Philistine territory.
In verse 9 we see a distinct point that is made.
Firstm we see the sign of prayer, which should always be our response in times of need or in times of fretting, or worrying.
But also an important fact to note is the more common sense precaution of “setting a guard”
Sidenote: while some people may find solace in the statement of “trusting God for our safety”
Often times we need to be reminded that is is wise to be prepared for situations that might arise in which we could avoid.
For example, this past thursday Nakitta had gone to the Dr and I met her there.
But on her way home, alone with the kids, she needed to stop and park for a bit to use the restroom and nurse the twins.
I exhorted her to avoid certain areas of Atlanta, the west end of Atlanta in particular as their safety was of utmost importance to me.
We need not forget that no matter how Sovereign God is, He always seeks for us to do the right thing.
Not forsaking the law of the Lord.
There is a rising sense of concern.
There is a sense of discouragement, people are getting worried that the wall was going to be a failure.
The first statement here “In Judah it was said” seems as if to reference a point of possible gossip of man made ideals that were spreading throughout the city.
It very well could be that their source of their discouragement is purely from the difficulty in building the wall and all that it entailed.
So much of our sanctification is about the struggle and about remaining steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord.
This is no exception here.
It was very hard word.
They didnt have cranes and concrete mixers and concrete pump trucks and excavators and other modern means of construction equipment.
This work was much demanding as it was daunting.
There is a impending attack that is brewing amongst the enemies.
There are plans that are attempting to thwart the Lord’s work, his progress on His project.
These plans, as we will see in verse 15 will be abandoned, but the mention of them here is pointing us to the disdain that Sanballat was brooding.
Nehemiah 4:12
In Scripture, something that we can understand is that ten is a symbolic number for completeness.
The fear of violence is growing in the minds of the people.
It seems that Jews who live near Israel and Ammon have become aware of the intention to attack Jerusalem.
However, they add to the tension in the city by repeatedly urging those at work there to abandon the capital and scatter throughout Judea.
Nehemiah 4:13
Fear is something that we all must deal with.
Fear is such an effective tool of the devil and he uses it constantly to make us untrusting in God’s providence.
Fear is not trusting God, period.
The hardest part of sanctification is learning how to truly trust God.
Trust over fear is such a major obstacle that we need to reconcile our hearts with the simple truth that Christ can and will sustain us.
It is not our fearlessness that God delights in, but rather.
Our knowing that we must fully and completely rely on His sustaining grace.
Verse 13 here is demonstrating that Nehemiah has no though of fleeing before an impending attack.
His first action is to station additional guards at the most vulnerable points of the wall.
The tension continues to rise as the people of Judah take up arms for the first time.
R.C. Sproul said the following, concerning the Incomprehensibility of God.
It is a little on the heavy side but it captures the heart of this verse:
John Calvin said that God speaks to us in a kind of lisping.
As parents engage in “baby talk” when addressing their infant children, so God, in order to communicate with us lowly mortals, must condescend to speak to us in lisps.
No human being has the ability to understand God exhaustively.
There is a built-in barrier that prohibits a total, comprehensive understanding of God.
We are finite creatures; God is an infinite being.
Therein lies our problem.
How shall the finite comprehend the infinite?
Medieval theologians had a phrase that has become a dominant axiom for all subsequent study of theology, “The finite cannot grasp (or contain) the infinite.”
Nothing is more obvious than that an infinite object cannot be squeezed into a finite space.
This axiom conveys one of the most important doctrines of orthodox Christianity.
It is the doctrine of the incomprehensibility of God.
The term can be misleading.
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