Nehemiah 6:1-19

Now it came to pass, when Sanballat.

The witness to the truth

I. His trial, from the stratagems of enemies. The circumstances of his trial were peculiar. Faith and prayer and pains had now achieved great things in Jerusalem. For many days the patriots had persevered, with unremitting toil, to rebuild the wall. And now their enterprise was ready to be crowned with triumphant success. This, to them, was a time of joyous anticipation, mingled, no doubt, with solicitude, lest their work should be marred on the very eve of completion. But to the enemies of Zion it was a moment of vexation and dismay. “They heard,” says Nehemiah, “that I had builded the wail, and that there was no breach left therein.” In spite of their vaunting words and feeble arms the good work had advanced, and, unless they could instantly crush it, they plainly saw that all would be lost. Yet what shall they do to arrest the sacred enterprise? They have tried mockery already, but have found, to their chagrin, that these men of Judah will not be driven by ridicule from what, to them, is a work of conscience and religion. They have, moreover, attempted force; but they have learned, to their dismay, that the Israelites are ready to resist unto blood the invasion of their liberty to serve God in the city called by His name. Foiled, therefore, in these modes of attack, they are compelled to resort to stratagem in order, if possible, to gain their wicked purpose. This desperation of the enemies of Judah is just a picture of the rage of the great adversary at the progress of the Church and the growing sanctification of each believer in Christ. More than once in the history of the Church’s advance has the devil come down in “great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time.” But trials in the religious life often prove the occasion of higher manifestations of mercy than could have been experienced without them. Trial, therefore, here comes to Nehemiah; and what is the form in which it assails him?

1. He is first tried by the wiles of enemies to draw him from his work and involve him in danger. As if for the purpose of consultation, they sent unto him, saying, “Come, let us meet together in some one of the villages in the plain of One.” The object of these crafty foes was to get possession of the person of Nehemiah; and in all probability to take away his life. But the noble Israelite answered after this manner, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” Who can but admire the wisdom and fortitude of the servant of God in this hour of trial? Is not this a grand example to imitate in Christ’s service and our own salvation? Our life on earth is so transient, and our work for eternity so arduous, that we have no time to waste. “This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.”

2. Further, Nehemiah is tried by the false accusations of enemies, designed to undermine his character. “Sanballat sent his servant the fifth time with an open letter in his hand.” And why was the letter sent “open”? It was no doubt intended to give all the people opportunity to know its contents, that their jealousy might be aroused at the alleged ambitious aims of their leader, or their fears be excited of incurring the wrath of the king by continuing their work; but it was meant, moreover, thus to offer an insult to Nehemiah. It might have been thought that a life singularly blameless and disinterested as his would have been exempt from reproach. But who may expect to be free from the assaults of malice and envy, since the Son of God, the holy, harmless, undefiled One, did not escape the shafts of calumny? And so here, one of the lowliest and most upright of good men is falsely accused of ambition and rebellion. How striking an instance is this of misrepresentation and craft in the enemies of truth to thwart a servant of God in a Divine work. It often happens, as here, that the sacred form of friendship is assumed to seduce the children of faith into a betrayal of their trust; and they who would draw them aside from duty pretend a regard to their welfare. Yet under the guise of affection there lurks a deadly hostility that seeks only their hurt and the ruin of their good name.

II. His testimony to the truth. Men in high place are little to be envied. They are often exposed to special dangers, both in principle and person. He bears testimony to the truth by fidelity to his trust in midst of imminent danger. He was fortified by a good conscience, while beset with wiles and accusations; and he possessed his soul in patience through the hour of trial. He looks on the field of danger with the eye of an eagle, and walks over it with the heart of a lion. He combines a clear perception of the plots of the enemy with a heroic courage to confront all their power. How quickly the adversary shifts his method of assault! and the good soldier must alter his manner of repulse in order to overcome. The enemies of Nehemiah here follow the same crafty course. They found they could not draw him into the country for counsel, and now they seek to drive him into the temple for safety. This was a mean as well as a wicked device of the heathen; but it is melancholy to reflect that men were found in Judah base enough to abet their machinations. It was not among the common people that the treacherous spirit appeared, but among the professed prophets and messengers of God. Noble things are always most vile when they become corrupt; and in this case these so-called ambassadors of heaven debase their high vocation by lending all its influence to the work of the enemies of religion. But these arts, employed to intimidate and seduce Nehemiah, were all in vain. He bore testimony to the truth by steadfast adherence to duty, even in face of threatened death. Much as he may value life, and wish to preserve it till the work is done which is so dear to his heart, yet he loves God and a good conscience far more. This is a noble example for our imitation. What faithful care does this man of God exercise to prove all things, and to hold fast that which is good!

III. His triumph over all opposition. It is instructive to remark the means by which Nehemiah achieved this victory. He was first of all careful to ascertain facts, and to detect the plots of enemies through all the mazes of their falsehood. For this purpose he gave his mind to weigh evidence, to examine character, to balance circumstances, that he might arrive at the truth. But we note, as his chief means of success, effectual fervent prayer to God. His labours were now crowned with triumphant success. “So,” he writes, “the wall was finished in the twenty and fifth day of the month Elul, in fifty and two days.” This was the hour of Israel’s triumph, and of their enemies’ humiliation. “And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof, and all the heathen that were about us saw these things, they were much cast down in their own eyes.” They were much cast down, as persons who have staked their full strength and reputation on a bad end, and yet have utterly failed in its attainment. They suffered the humiliation of those who boast of their power, put it forth to the utmost, and, after all, feel themselves completely defeated by the people whose might they had despised. It is not given to all witnesses for God to bear testimony for Him amid great works and conflicts like these; but He appoints each of us our duty here to stand by His truth, and to contend earnestly for the faith against all assaults on it. The dominant forms of opposition to Bible truth in these days are unbelief, or error in creed, and worldliness, or error in conduct; and in face of both God calls us to be witnesses for His cause. Whenever you profess your faith in the Bible, the whole Bible, as the Word of God, your creed is pronounced antiquated, and regarded with wonder or an ill-dissembled sneer. Yet all is surrendered if the integrity, the infallibility, the inspiration of the whole Bible is given up. (W. Ritchie.)

Nehemiah’s heroism

Well, to come to the history, when Nehemiah was coming to an end, and thought he had got through all his difficulties, Sanballat and the others came wheedling and coaxing, and they said, “Come, Nehemiah, let us meet together in one of the villages in the plain of One.” And they sent messengers four times to try, if they could, to prevent the thorough fulfilment and accomplishing of God’s work and Nehemiah’s design. Anything they would do, the enemies of Nehemiah, as our enemies also would do, to diminish our zeal for God and truth and righteousness. Thus we might paraphrase the arguments used, “Now, Nehemiah, you really are a most excellent man, and, though we say it ourselves, we too are excellent men; and if we can only just meet together in a quiet little spot, we shall soon settle everything. You see, Nehemiah, we have misunderstood one another--a very common thing among good people. You thought we were against you, but there never was a greater mistake. We were misrepresented. Come now, and let us shake hands; and when we have looked into each other’s faces, we shall discover amidst apparent diversity of purpose that our hearts, our aims, were really one, that we are seeking the same object.” After such fashion, we can imagine they thought to draw Nehemiah from his purpose. “But they thought to do me mischief,” says Nehemiah. Nehemiah says, “Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?” And you will find the more you buckle to God’s work--that is to say, to strive to be first of all a sterling, righteous man in lip and life, in thought, in word, and deed--and the more you try to recover the blight and disaster in London or round about you, the more you will find opposition of different kinds, and perhaps to-day the secret, sly, and cunning opposition which is to be dreaded far more than the open, the overt. I wonder how many invitations you will get to parties this week? because I want you to work for God in this coming ten days’ mission. Very likely never so many as this week. “We have a nice little party this week. Come down; don’t be righteous overmuch. Don’t spoil yourself, and take all the pleasure out of life.” Let us make up our mind and heart to work, work, work. “Why should I let the work cease, and come down to you?” Let them answer that. Why should God’s work cease while I leave it, and come down to you; so as to weaken my interest in God’s work, and hinder my pace in the actual doing of God’s work? Here is the test and touchstone. How do these things tell upon the work? Do they lower my temperature, and take away my energies from God’s work? Then they are of the devil; and to see that is to be kept right. From Nehemiah’s answer (verse 3) we see the great blessing of having pure motives and clean hands. Oh, for this whole-heartedness in the cause of God! Nehemiah said, “I will not cease doing the work, for I am sure it is not for my own personal ends, it is not for my own aggrandisement, my own vainglory. There are no such things as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart.” They shot sore at poor Nehemiah, when they said, “Nehemiah, it is your own glory that leads you on in this work, not zeal for God.” And don’t think Nehemiah did not feel this; that message came with a thump to him. And what preserved him? His integrity and innocence. He could lift up his voice, and say, “It is a lie; it is not true. Do as you like! Say what you like! I know whom I am serving. You may try all manner of means, but you will never shake me from this, that God has sent me here, given me this work to do; and in His name I give myself to it, with singleness of heart and effort.” If God promote you, and make you prominent in His work, remember it is He who does it; and you must stay at your post, do your day’s work and leave your reputation in the hands of the Lord. Then comes another temptation (verse 10). I think this man, this Shemaiah, was a man who had a particular reputation for wisdom and prudence. “Oh, Nehemiah!” he would say, “now you are wrong. You will allow me to speak plainly with you. No one rejoiced more than I did when you came from Persia, and I rejoice to see what is going on at Jerusalem. But the position is far different from what you think. And I have been here longer than you; and I know the currents of thought and feeling, which you don’t know anything about. And, believe me, that sometimes the roundabout road is the nearest; and sometimes to go straight tramping on, you know, is the way never to reach what you want. You are carrying things, they think, with too high a hand. But if you would take time, stop and let things blow over a little, you will get R done far more easily. Believe me, Nehemiah, I know the temper of this people” (and here he spoke truly), “and I tell you they are against you, and are going to seek your life. Now let us meet together in the temple, and let us shut the doors of the temple: for they will come and slay thee.” And Nehemiah said to him, “Should such a man as I flee?” He virtually stood up and said, “What, Nehemiah fleeing after all he has gone through I Get thee behind me, Satan! Thou savourest not of the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” The same temptation came to the greater than Nehemiah, to the greatest Worker that ever God sent to work and to “pray for the peace of Jerusalem,” even the Lord Jesus Christ. And as with the Master, so with the servant. The servant will be tempted and seduced in every way, that the work may cease, that the temperature, the heat of our zeal may go down, and the worse may appear the better reason, and carry us away from our post. Some men go to the temple, but to them it is simply a coward’s castle. This is about all that God gets from some of us. We go sneaking into our churches on the Sunday, but not to do God’s work. God pity you! You never stand up for Him out there on London wall. Exactly! Well, this invitation from Shemaiah to go into the temple was not good enough for Nehemiah--and he was about as devout a man as most of us. He was a man who feared God with all his heart, didn’t he? But they were going to make the temple a coward’s castle. Listen l I will bring it nearer to us. There is some young fellow here hard beset with his surroundings. You are set there on that commercial bit of the wall, to be true, to be honest, to unfurl the flag there, and to work with and for God there. And the battle is thickening, and coming to you in your business; the devil as an angel of light is trying to get you to leave your work and go and study for the ministry! Go into the temple to save your life. It was that kind of thing that was happening to the early Church. Men and women were going to leave the conflict and struggle, to run away into cloisters and convents, with their “dim, religious light.” And so you would go and shut yourself up, and give yourself up to a life of contemplation, you say. It is a delusion; it won’t do. Let us see how Nehemiah acted when asked to go into the temple. He would have been spoiled if he had yielded to that temptation. He no doubt loved the house of God, the worship of God as we do. We love all its regular services. How sweet it is to us to meet together, to hold communion, to join in our solemn feasts and hymns of love and praise! But that is on Sabbath days. And the end for which we meet is to strengthen us for the work of testifying for God and Christ. What is that? I think I see Nehemiah with his note-book in his hand after the work was all finished, and he is turning over and going through in his mind all that he had done and suffered. And he is thinking over it all, and wondering what made all the opposition to the building of these walls. “I never could rightly understand,” he would say, “why that was such a tough job, and why there were continually things coming against my legs to trip me up from unexpected quarters. I felt some one was not fighting fair, that the enemy had got into our own camp and was fighting against me unfairly.” And it was the mother-in-law that was the whole secret. They--families of God’s people and their enemies--were married and intermarried with each other; and so they had their grappling-irons on the Israelitish vessel. And they pulled the vessel close by this intermarriage relationship, and they got on board, and could not be kept off. By this marriage relationship Tobiah had got in with the very chief of them, and so struck hard and constantly at Nehemiah. And it was through this marriage relationship they tried to get at Nehemiah and pull him down, and thus cause God’s work to cease. Says Christ, “I am not come to send peace, but a sword; to set the father against the son, and the daughter against the mother, and the mother-in-law against the daughter-in-law: and a man’s foes shall be those of his own household.” Indeed, you will ofttimes be fairly perplexed. You say, “I feel the devil at my elbow, and he is whispering in my ear with my own flesh and blood, and would overcome me unless I set watch with vigilance.” This same thing is working to-day. Now, for example, I know a young fellow, he started with great vigour in the cause of God, he started with great vigour to build the wall, especially to build the total abstinence wall. But by and by he married a daughter of a wine merchant, and that brought the building to a stop. Yes. He says now he thinks there are a great many excellent people among the brewers. Was not that the kind of thing they said to Nehemiah? “Moreover, they reported Tobiah’s good deeds,” and they said this and that about him. Very innocent-looking things may seduce you and take the backbone out of you. Once upon a time your friends called you old-fashioned and Puritanical, But lately you got married, and that has brought you into close contact with a class of people with whom you had little or no dealings before. You had nothing in common. And to make a long story short you were at the theatre the other evening--with your mother-in-law. She has soon called you in off the wall! Everything is altered now. And instead of your going over to carry war into the enemy’s camp, they have come unto you, and have overcome you; and you have purred like a pussy-cat where before you were bold and outspoken: and the reason is the marriage, the mother-in-law; and the marrow of principle is being thereby sucked out of some of you. You need to be spoken to, and I would that my words were like fire, and would burn. Oh I that some of you would come back to your earlier faith, enthusiasm in God’s work, and the blood-heat of your early zeal. For now you are as namby-pamby as the devil could wish. “I used to think,” says another, “very harshly of those who didn’t hold my views. But now I have learnt to be charitable. I have discovered that many things which I thought were essential are only accidental.” Softly, my friend: ‘twas the mother-in-law made the discovery. You have gone off on that charitable dodge. Ah, God’s Word has an eye in every direction. “Also they reported his good deeds before me,” and as good as said, “We know Tobiah; and, Nehemiah, you are wrong about him altogether. He is an excellent man, and he gave five shillings to this, he gave ten shillings to that; and he is a wonderful fellow altogether. He is wonderfully like yourself?’ Really it is such a pity that two such good men should not meet together and shake hands. But they never could, and Nehemiah kept his hands behind his back and said, “I choose my own company. I know the hands of these fellows too well.” (John McNeill.)

Persistency

We have here persistency of opposition, persistency of endeavour.

I. This principle of persistency is illustrated in all the circle of nature and life.

1. Everywhere there is exhibition of hostile force. All natural forces, all life, all energy creep to their goal as the wave creeps to the shore after many a rebuff, and after many a spurning.

2. It is so with man in all social life.

3. The Bible represents all moral victory as against deep and persistent hostility.

II. This principle of persistency is illustrated in the general history of the kingdom of God.

III. The same principle is illustrated in individual salvation and work. (Homiletic Commentary.)

Hinderers

How strange it is that no good work can be attempted without exciting opposition, and the better the work the more intense its hindrances! No beneficent measure has ever been propounded without obstacles being put in its way, oftentimes by the very people it is intended to benefit. The promulgation of Christianity is a notable example. Some of the means of hindrance are--

I. The restless activity of evil. Sin is essentially aggressive. It cannot let well alone.

II. The jealousy of the unrighteous. They cannot bear to see anything prosper in which they are not the leaders. They will never attempt any good work, but when they see it in progress they would hinder and destroy.

III. The vindictive spirit of Satan. (Homilist.)