Nehemiah 6

CHAPTER 6THEME: Wall finished in spite of crafty oppositionWe have seen that Nehemiah encountered just about every form of opposition imaginable in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Satan has thrown in his pathway many things from his bag of tricks to cause him to stumble and fall and fail in his endeavor. Satan does the same thing to us today, only many times in our experience he succeeds and we fail. God does not want us to fail. In fact, He has made every arrangement so that we do not need to failyet we do. But Nehemiah did not fail. In this chapter we find that the wall is about finished.

Nehemiah 6:1

Notice the honesty of this man. He adds, “Though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates.” Nehemiah is like Nathanael because there is no guile in him whatsoeverhe is not being subtle or clever. Unfortunately, there are many people in their church work who don’t tell you everything they should tell you about certain matters. Many times their reports are not full and complete. They are slanted. They are built up and filled in, and the entire truth is not told. I have always appreciated honesty in my doctor. The first thing he told me when he suspected that I had cancer was, “Dr. McGee, I am going to tell you the truth because, if I don’t, you won’t have confidence in me.” From that day to this, he has laid it on the line. When there didn’t seem to be any hope for me, he told me the plain facts. He did not attempt to paint a rosy picture. He did not attempt to cover up.

He told it like it was. I have always appreciated it. Honesty is something that is badly needed in business, in social gatherings, and in the church. Of course we should not be blunt or crude. If you are introduced to a lady, you don’t have to tell her that she is beautiful if she is not. You can’t kid her anywayI think she knows.

We simply need to be more honest in our dealings with one another. Now when the enemy, Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and others hear that the wall is completed, Nehemiah honestly admits the report is a bit exaggerated. The gates are not set up. The honesty of Nehemiah is a tremendous thing. He tells it like it is.

Nehemiah 6:2

The enemies now reverse their tactics. Since they could not stop the work, they now propose to get together with Nehemiah and work out a compromise. Their intention is not to promote the welfare of Nehemiah. This is the old satanic method of “When you can’t fight them, join them.” Today it is called the Ecumenical Movement. The place they were going to meet was on the plain of Ono. Nehemiah properly turned down their invitation. He said, “Oh, no,” to Ono because “they thought to do me mischief.” They were plotting against him, probably planning to slay him. There was no use going into great detail with the enemy; he simply sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down.” The enemy wanted to compromise, but Nehemiah said, “No!” There are those in the church today who want to compromise. They feel that you are bigoted and dogmatic if you don’t meet with them and try to work out a compromise. I quit meeting with folk like that a long time ago. Today I meet only with those who want to meet around the person of Christ. You would be amazed at some of the churches in which I have held meetings. Although I am in total disagreement with the organizations and some of their doctrines, I will meet with anybody around the person of Christ, but I am not prepared to meet with the enemy at all. Looking back a few years, I believe William Jennings Bryan made a big mistake in meeting Clarence Darrow in Cleveland, Tennessee, to debate the subject of evolution. I think Bryan walked all over Darrow. Any unbiased person who reads the debate will have to come to the conclusion that Bryan was on the winning side, but I believe that the very fact that he met with Darrow was wrong. It was really a losing battle, and it has certainly been demonstrated since then that it was. You cannot win over an enemy by meeting with him like that. That is my conviction. Although I am an ordained minister, I don’t belong to any denomination or organization. As a result, I can meet with any person or group who believes the Word of God, believes in the deity of Christ, and believes that He died for our sinsregardless of the label they use. It makes no difference to me. But I do not meet with the enemy. Nehemiah was doing a good work, and he did not have time to come down and waste his time with the enemy. God’s people do not need to compromise. Nehemiah had an uncompromising attitude, and I admire him for it.

Nehemiah 6:4

The enemy was persistent. He always is. Did they really want to be friendly and compromise with Nehemiah? The fact of the matter is that Nehemiah’s presence was desperately needed in Jerusalem in order to complete the building of the wall. The letter from the enemy was couched in polite language, but it was a hook with bait on it. Notice that it contained a threat.

Nehemiah 6:6

Old Gashmu is ever with us. He is the fellow who is the worst gossip of all. I have discovered that sometimes the worst gossip is a man and not a woman. This letteraccusing Nehemiah of attempting to rebel against Persia and set up a separate statewas made public, either by being posted or by being read aloud. It was designed to discourage those who were working on the wall. It accused Nehemiah of wanting to become king.

Nehemiah 6:7

Not only did they accuse him of claiming kingship. They also accused him of hiring prophets to support what he said! These were awful things to circulate about Nehemiah. The letter indicated that they wanted to find out if these things were really true because they were going to report it to the king. They are exerting pressure on Nehemiah to meet with them.

Nehemiah 6:8

Nehemiah’s reaction to the enemy was, “You actually did not hear the things you are accusing me of; you made them up yourself.” This was a nice way of calling them liars.

Nehemiah 6:9

In facing this problem, Nehemiah went to the Lord. He said, “The enemy is doing this to weaken me and to hinder your work. Strengthen my hands.”

Nehemiah 6:10

Shemaiah, a false prophet, pretends to have a great interest in Nehemiah’s safety. He says he wants to reveal a plot against the governor’s life. The temple was the only place where Nehemiah would be safe. He is asking him to do a cowardly thing. What he did not reckon on was Nehemiah’s spiritual insight.

Nehemiah 6:12

Nehemiah is in the thick of plots and schemes to destroy him. Well, he dealt with this crowd that pretended to be his friends, but he is still in a difficult spot. He is caught between a rock and a hard place. He turns around and finds himself in the middle of another plot, but he turns to God. The land was once again cursed with false prophets. It seems that they were the most determined enemies of God’s servants.

Nehemiah 6:15

Without fanfare of trumpets, great ceremony, or ribbon cutting, the wall is finished.

Nehemiah 6:16

The work was finished in fifty-two days. Only God could have done this through them. But even though the wall is now completed, there is still danger.

Nehemiah 6:17

The enemy still persists in his opposition by circulating letters to the nobles of Judah. Tobiah had evidently married a daughter of one of the nobles! All of this time there was this playing “footsie” with the enemies of God. Tobiah had a “telephone” right into the walls of Jerusalem so that everything Nehemiah did or said was reported to Tobiah. Also, “they reported his good deeds before me.” That is, these kinfolk by marriage would come to Nehemiah and say, “Nehemiah, you are too hard on Tobiah! He is really a lovely gentleman.” Then they would begin to tell of his good works. “And uttered my words to him"they were acting as liaison officers, which means they were a bunch of tattletales.

Everything Nehemiah would say, and all that went on in Jerusalem, was reported to Tobiah. And “Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.” Tobiah would respond with threatening letters.