seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Nehemiah 6:1 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—though up to that time I had not set the doors in the gates— 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages[a] on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me; 3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I am carrying on a great project and cannot go down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and go down to you?” 4 Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave them the same answer.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to me with the same message, and in his hand was an unsealed letter 6 in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem(b) says it is true—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you are about to become their king 7 and have even appointed prophets to make this proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now this report will get back to the king; so come, let us meet together.”
8 I sent him this reply: “Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.”
9 They were all trying to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will get too weak for the work, and it will not be completed.”
But I prayed, “Now strengthen my hands.”
10 One day I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home. He said, “Let us meet in the house of God, inside the temple, and let us close the temple doors, because men are coming to kill you—by night they are coming to kill you.”
11 But I said, “Should a man like me run away? Or should someone like me go into the temple to save his life? I will not go!” 12 I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had prophesied against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would commit a sin by doing this, and then they would give me a bad name to discredit me.
14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, my God, because of what they have done; remember also the prophet Noadiah and how she and the rest of the prophetshave been trying to intimidate me. 15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days.
a. Nehemiah 6:2 Or in Kephirim
b. Nehemiah 6:6 Hebrew Gashmu, a variant of Geshem
Those two, Tobiah and Sanballat are persistent.... I'll give them that! They have dogged Nehemiah's project since the beginning. I bet Nehemiah might have even wondered.... "what will tomorrow bring from those two knuckleheads?"
It amazes me... they finished that wall in 52 days.... some sections of the wall were 20' thick. That's a lot of block laying. They didn't have a Kubota to haul stuff around.... they didn't even have a cement mixer for all that mortar. This was all hand.... pully and wench.... ox and donkey work..... No wonder their arms got tired. Nehemiah said.... he prayed that their hands would be strengthened and God did it. Nehemiah also said.... if he had fallen for the bull Tobiah and Sanballat were shoving his way... it would have been a sin. God brought him there to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem and that was what he was supposed to do....not cowtow to a couple of morons with too much time on their hands.
In verse 11.... Nehemiah talks about hiding in the Temple because someone was plotting to kill him in his sleep.... remember they had to have a weapon in one hand and work on the wall with another in Chapter 5..... Nehemiah said if he went into the Temple for sanctuary.... he would have to stay there and the wall wouldn't get done. People who were accused of a crime could go to the Temple so some hothead didn't get ahead of the judge's decision. This was particularly useful in the event of an accidental death.... the family couldn't claim and eye for an eye if it was an accident.... but only the judge could straighten it out.... Sanctuary in the Temple was like house arrest.
This is from the easy English site.
One day Nehemiah went to visit Shemaiah. Shemaiah may have been a priest (Ezra 2:60; Nehemiah 10:8). We do not know why Nehemiah visited him. Perhaps Nehemiah wanted Shemaiah to pray with him. Nehemiah thought that he could trust Shemaiah.
It seems that Shemaiah was a prophet (see verses 12 and 14). Perhaps Nehemiah was hoping that Shemaiah would give him (Nehemiah) a message from God. And Shemaiah did pretend that he had a message from God. But in fact, this message really came from Nehemiah’s enemies.
Shemaiah would not go out of his house, but he offered to go to the temple with Nehemiah. Shemaiah pretended that he wanted to protect Nehemiah. Shemaiah told Nehemiah that men were coming to kill Nehemiah. But the temple was a strong building. If they closed the temple doors, Nehemiah would be safe inside.
Nehemiah realised that Shemaiah had given him bad advice. God’s law said that only priests could enter the inner temple. Nehemiah was not a priest, so he could not go there. Such an action would be a sin.
Nehemiah realised that Shemaiah had received money from Tobiah and Sanballat. They wanted Nehemiah not to obey God’s commands. Then they would be able to accuse Nehemiah. And the people would not continue to respect him.
Nehemiah refused to do what Shemaiah advised. But Shemaiah was not the only prophet who tried to frighten Nehemiah. The prophets should have supported God’s work. But instead, like Balaam (Numbers chapter 22), they accepted money to oppose God’s work.
Boy I'm glad I kept looking until I found something that was written plainly..... I thought Shemaiah told Nehemiah to hide in the Temple.... oh it was worse than that..... Shemaiah was trying to get Nehemiah to go into the Inner Temple.... I believe that's the part of the Temple where the priests wore a rope around them in case they did something wrong.... that way the others could drag the dead body out.... I don't think Shemaiah was offering to put a rope around Nehemiah's waste..... That's why Nehemiah would have said "I won't come out".
I don't know what to title this one.... the wall was complete in 52 days... considering how big that wall is... that's miraculous. Tobiah and Sanballat were spreading fake news, saying Nehemiah was plotting to overthrow the king when the walls were complete. and then there's Shemaiah... a priest who was on the dole.... a "priest" in cahoots with Tobiah and Sanballet.
I have to remember.... Tobiah and Sanballat were jealous because they couldn't get a job on the wall.... they weren't descendants of Jacob [whom God renamed Israel]... and that's why this has turned so deadly.... a labor dispute.... and now they have paid off a priest.... sounds like what might go on today!
