Nehemiah 06.01-19 l OVERCOMING THE ENEMY

Today’s reading: Nehemiah 04.01-06.19

Nehemiah 06.01-02 “1 Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab & to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, & that no breach remained in it, although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates, 2 then Sanballat & Geshem sent a message to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they were planning to harm me.”

In today’s reading, Nehemiah records the enemies ridicule the work, which caused the people to be discouraged (Nehemiah 04.01-23), Nehemiah’s handling of internal problems (Nehemiah 05.01-19), and the enemy attacks (Nehemiah 06.01-19).

Here we see the four ways that the enemy attacked Nehemiah.

01. Compromise (Nehemiah 06.01-04)

So the enemies hear that the wall is rebuilt and that there were no holes in the wall.

The plain of Ono was named after the town of Ono. (1Chronicles 8:12; Ezra 02.33; Nehemiah 07.37; Nehemiah 11.35).

It was near Lod, about twenty-five miles northwest of Jerusalem and about six miles southeast of Joppa. It was near the border of Samaria, which is where Sanballat is from.

So it’s about a one-day’s journey from Jerusalem.

These enemies were opposing the work from the beginning (Nehemiah 02.10; Nehemiah 02.19; Nehemiah 04.01; Nehemiah 04.07)

Nehemiah knew that they were lying & weren’t about peace (Nehemiah 06.02).

                                                                                 

Nehemiah knew that he was doing a great work (Nehemiah 06.03).

Nehemiah knew that they had nothing in common, so why meet with them? (Nehemiah 02.20)

As followers of God we have nothing in common with those who are not following Him (2Corinthians 06.14-07.01).

Nehemiah didn’t even let their repeated efforts get to him (Nehemiah 06.04).

Nehemiah would not go down just like Jesus would not go down.

The crowd mocked Jesus while He hung on the cross…

Matthew 27.39-40 “39 And those passing by were hurling abuse at Him, wagging their heads 40 & saying, “You who are going to destroy the temple & rebuild it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.””

The crowd mocked Him some more…

Matthew 27.42 “42 “He saved others; He cannot save Himself. He is the King of Israel; let Him now come down from the cross, & we will believe in Him.”

If He had come down, there would not have been salvation for one single person, and the whole world would have been going to hell.

Basically Jesus said, “I cannot go down, for then no one will be saved!”

James 04.04 “4 You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.”

02. Slander (Nehemiah 06.05-09)

If the enemy cannot persuade God’s people to compromise, he will begin to spread rumors about him and misrepresent his motives.

They write an open letter saying that they were concerned about Nehemiah and wanted to make sure that the rumor they heard was true.

Nehemiah basically told them that they were lying. This was a bold response but it shows us that his ultimate trust is in the LORD.

Now this could’ve been a huge thing because at that time, the kings of Persia tolerated no resistance. So if this got back to King Artaxerxes, this could carry some serious consequences for Nehemiah.

Again we see that Nehemiah was a man of great prayer.

Warren Wiersbe Be Determined p76

If we take care of our character, we can trust God to take care of our reputation.

03. Threats (Nehemiah 06.10-14)

Shemaiah pretended to be in trouble as well so he shut himself up in his house. When Nehemiah came to visit him, he tried to act like his life was in danger also, and he suggested that they both go hide in the Temple.

Nehemiah knew what the Law said about anyone but the priest coming in to the Temple (Numbers 03.10; Numbers 18.07).

Remember when King Uzziah tried to go into the Temple, God struck him with leprosy, from which he died in isolation (2Chronicles 26.16-21; see UZZIAH’S UNDOING post).

Nehemiah knew that Shemaiah was a false prophet because the message that Shemaiah delivered was contradictory to the Word of God (Deuteronomy 13.01-05).

The Bible is to be our method of testing what people say. This is how we can know if people are speaking truly from the LORD or not. What does the Bible say?

Again we see that Nehemiah was a man of great prayer.

These guys were false prophets.

Just because someone says that they are a CHRISTian, etc, doesn’t mean that they really are (Matthew 07.15).

04. Fear (Nehemiah 06.15-19)

The twenty-fifth day of Elul is usually in September.

The enemy is always looking for the next opportunity to attack God’s people.

So we see that many in Judah had aligned themselves with Tobiah because he had married into their tribe!

Tobiah tried to cause Nehemiah to be afraid.

Fear destroys faith & paralyzes life.

Adolf Hitler wrote…

Mental confusion, contradiction of feeling, indecisiveness, panic: these are our weapons.

Alan Redpath Victorious Christian Service p130

No man can lead a work of God if he allows himself to be governed by what other people think.