Nehemiah 6 - 12/10/2017
Book of Nehemiah • Sermon • Submitted
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Conspiracy against Nehemiah
Conspiracy against Nehemiah
The Conflict of Sanballat and Tobiah rises
Verses 1-14 bring this into light and we will further dive into what all of this means.
Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.
Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.
Nehemiah
After the distraction from the main theme here of rebuilding the wall, the main narrative continues and points us forward.
The conflict that had been steadily escalating reaches its climax, when the wall was virtually complete.
We were already aware that the wall had been constructed to go all the way around its perimeter, but only at half its completed height.
Here we see the final attempt of Sanballat to stop the work, and we see that it was threefold.
a. to harm - as we see in verses 2-4
b. to frighten - verses 5-9
c. and to discredit Nehemiah - verse 10-13
Lets address these verse by verse
Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),
verse 1 alerts us to the fact that Sanballat and Tobiah knew that Nehemiah had the wall built in its full perimeter.
1. verse 1 alerts us to the fact that Sanballat and Tobiah knew that Nehemiah had the wall built in its full perimeter.
Although he had not put up the gates yet, there was no breach left in it.
Who was Sanballat again?
Sanballat is a Babylonian name meaning “Sin gives life.”
2:10 Sanballat. A Babylonian name meaning “Sin [the moon god] gives life.” Sanballat and his descendants served for more than a century as the governors of Samaria, the area north of Judah. He may have worshiped the God of Israel in some fashion (2 Kin. 17:24–41), since the names of his sons, Delaiah and Shelemiah, end with a short form of “Yahweh.” “Horonite” may indicate that he came from Beth-Horon, about ten miles (16 km) northwest of Jerusalem or, less probably, from Horonaim in Moab.
Tobiah. Probably the governor of Ammon, east of Judah, where his family remained influential for centuries. His name means “the LORD is good,” indicating that he, too, may have worshiped the God of Israel (6:17, 18; 13:4). His son Jehohanan (6:17, 18) also had a Yahwistic name and was married to the daughter of an influential Jewish leader (3:4, 30; 6:18). Their religion was probably syncretistic.
Sanballat and his descendants served for more than a century as the governors of Samaria, which was the area north of Judah.
He may have worshiped the God of Israel in some fashion.
We see this in 2 Kings chapter 17, since the names of his sons, Delaiah, and Shelemiah, end with a short form of “Yahweh.”
“Horonite” may indicate that he came from Beth-Horon, which was about 10 miles northwest of Jerusalem.
He also could have been from Horonaim which was in Moab. So, we do not know for sure.
Verse 2:
Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm.
In verse two a plan conniving to do Nehemiah harm is unfolding.
In verse two a plan conniving to do Nehemiah harm is unfolding.
Sanballat and Geshem where attempting to have a meeting with Nehemiah.
They were wanting to meet in Ono, which was in the northwester corner of Judah, as far from the safety of Jerusalem as possible without leaving the country.
The phrase “to do me harm” in itself is kind of unresolving.
It could have been referring to murder (which verse 10 does note that some wanted to kill him)
It also could be a later allegation that Nehemiah’s trip to Ono is to enlist others in a revolt against persia,
Verse 3
And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?”
Right here it is plainly obvious that the basic purpose of the plot was to halt the work on the wall.
Right here it is plainly obvious that the basic purpose of the plot was to halt the work on the wall.
He worded this response very diplomatically and indicates a determined refusal of their efforts.
3.