seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Nehemiah 6:16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.
17 Also, in those days the nobles of Judah were sending many letters to Tobiah, and replies from Tobiah kept coming to them. 18 For many in Judah were under oath to him, since he was son-in-law to Shekaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah. 19 Moreover, they kept reporting to me his good deeds and then telling him what I said. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me.
Nehemiah 7:1 After the wall had been rebuilt and I had set the doors in place, the gatekeepers, the musicians and the Levites were appointed. 2 I put in charge of Jerusalem my brother Hanani, along with Hananiah the commander of the citadel,because he was a man of integrity and feared God more than most people do. 3 I said to them, “The gates of Jerusalem are not to be opened until the sun is hot. While the gatekeepers are still on duty, have them shut the doors and bar them. Also appoint residents of Jerusalem as guards, some at their posts and some near their own houses.”
So now the wall around Jerusalem is complete.... and the doors are on the gates. Meanwhile.... Tobiah is still campaigning against Nehemiah and the wall.... to top it off.... those nobles who didn't want to help rebuild the wall.... kept writing letters against the construction project. They weren't stopped when their "stop work order" request was denied back in chapter 3. Twitter would have been fired up if this had happened today.The commentary this morning is from bible=studys.org.
When the project was completed, God was glorified, the people were unified, Nehemiah was justified (“the wall was finished”), and Israel’s enemies were terrified at the prospect of a restored Jerusalem. Rather than bragging about his human achievement, that the work took only “fifty and two days” to compete, Nehemiah trumpeted “for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God”. Disheartened enemies are a sign that God has been at work.
The wall was approximately 4 miles in length. There were many groups who worked on the wall, so it would not have been impossible for it to have been finished in 52 days. Elul, on their calendar, is approximately the same as September on our calendar.
The more trouble that came caused them to work harder, not slow down. These very same enemies who had done everything in their power to stop Nehemiah and the work on the wall, now realize that this was the work of God. They would have to have been totally unaware of reality, if they had not credited the supernatural hand of God in this.
Verses 17-19: “the nobles of Judah sent many letters unto Tobiah”: Nehemiah added a footnote that in the days of building the wall, the nobles of Judah who refused to work (3:5), were in alliance and correspondence with Tobiah because, although his ancestors were Ammonites (2:19), he had married into a respectable Jewish family. Shemaiah was from the family of Arah (Ezra 2:5), his son, Jehohanan was the son-in-law of Meshullam who shared in the work of building (3:4, 30). According to 13:4, the High-Priest Eliashib, was related to Tobiah (which is a Jewish name). The meddling of these nobles, by trying to play both sides through reports to Tobiah and to Nehemiah (verse 19), only widened the breach as Tobiah escalated efforts to frighten the governor.
Nehemiah offers additional insight about the forces that had opposed the reconstruction: both family ties and political alliances had motivated the “nobles” in Jerusalem and “Tobiah”.
There are a number of reasons why the Levites would keep the gates of the city. One of the reasons was because Jerusalem was the city of God. It was the holy city. Another very good reason was because after the Babylonian captivity, about half of those who returned to Jerusalem were Levites. We must remember again, that not all Levites were priests, but they were all in the service of the LORD in some capacity or other. Now we see why Nehemiah stayed longer than the time it took to build the wall. He was governor, and he was taking care of the city until it got started again. The people needed a strong leader. The porters and the singers served in the temple, and they were Levites as well.
When he commanded that “the gates” of Jerusalem be shut each day “until the sun be hot”, Nehemiah initiated both a military strategy that would help to protect the city from its enemies and a spiritual strategy that would be applied (in 13:15-22), to preserve the observation of the Sabbath.
In the ancient Near East, it was customary to open the city gates at sunrise and close them at sunset. Nehemiah recommended that this not be done, because of the hostility of the enemies. Rather the gates were to be kept shut until well into the heat of the morning when everyone was up and active. When the gates were shut, they were to be guarded by sentinels at watch stations and in front of their own vulnerable homes.
The gates were to be closed and barred at night. They were opened in the middle of the day, but even then, there would be guards closely watching everyone who entered and left the city. Nehemiah knew of the hatred Sanballat, and others like him, had for Jerusalem. Nehemiah was taking no chances.
So.... those nobles who wanted nothing to do with the project.... spent 52 days trying to legally stop the rebuilding of the wall. Tobiah and Sanballat kept verbally attacking the workers.... at first they laughed at the project.... then they plotted to kill the men working on the wall.... but all that failed and in 52 days [that's less than two months even if no one worked on the Sabbath] the walls were completed and the gates could open, close, and lock..... and everyone around is reported to have given all the credit to God. Even their enemies had to tip their hats to God..... it was a great job completed under irritating, and at time dire, circumstances.Today it would be no big feat to rebuild four miles of border wall. There are bobcats and backhoes.... there are cement trucks and pre-pours.... there are prefabs and steel walls hauled in on flatbed trucks. The nobles [like our partisan governments]might have done a good job of slowing down the work.... and the treat of violence against the workers might bring out the news crews.....but a four mile section of wall these days would take longer to procure than to set in place.
And then.... when the wall was finished.... they controlled the gates.... the wall was protection but IMHO knowing who was in Jerusalem was a greater protection by far.
