The Book of Nehemiah

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- Chapter 6 -

Conspiracy against Nehemiah

Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and our other enemies heard a report that we had finished rebuilding the wall, and that now there were no more gaps, although we had not yet replaced the doors in the gates.

So Sanballat and Geshem sent me a message that read, “Come and talk with us at a place in the plain of Ono north of Jerusalem.” But it was no secret that they wanted to harm me.

So I sent messengers to them, to tell them, “I am doing an important work, and I cannot go down there. This work should not be delayed just so I can go down to talk with you.

They sent me the same message four times, and each time when I replied to them I said the same thing.

Then Sanballat sent one of his servants to me, bringing a fifth message. This one was written, but it was not sealed and he held it in his hand.

This is what was written in the message: “Some people in the nearby countries have heard a report that you and the other Jews are rebuilding the wall in order to be able to start a rebellion against the king of Babylon, and that you are planning to become the king of Israel. Geshem has told us that this is the truth.

People are also saying that you have appointed some prophets to proclaim in Jerusalem that you, Nehemiah, are now the king in Judea. King Artaxerxes will certainly hear these reports, and then you will be in big trouble. So I suggest that we should meet together to talk about this matter.”

When I read that message, I sent the messenger back to Sanballat to say, “None of what you are saying is true. You have made this up in your own imagination.”

I said that because I knew that they were trying to cause us to be afraid, so that they thought, “They will become so discouraged that they will not work on the wall any more, and the work will never be finished.” So I prayed, “O God, give me courage.”

One day I went to talk with Shemaia son of Delaiah and grandson of Mehetabel. I went to talk with him in his house. He was ordered not to leave his house. He said to me, “You and I must enter the temple, and we must go to one of the rooms in the center of the temple, and lock the doors. They are going to come to kill you. They are coming tonight to kill you.”

I replied, “I am not that kind of person! I would not run and hide in the temple to save my life! No, I will not do that!”

I thought about what he had said, and I saw that God had not told Shemaiah what to say to me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

They had hired him to frighten me. They wanted me to disobey God’s commands and sin by hiding in the temple. If I did that, they would give me a bad name for what I had done, and then they would humiliate me.

So I prayed, “My God, do not forget what Tobiah and Sanballat have done. And do not forget the prophetess Noadiah and the other prophets who tried to make me be afraid.”

The wall is finished

We finished rebuilding the wall in the month of Elul, on the twenty-fifth day of the month. We did all the work in fifty-two days.

When our enemies in the nearby countries heard about that, they became very afraid and they were humiliated, because they knew it was God who helped us complete this work.

During this time, the Jewish leaders had been sending many messages to Tobiah, and Tobiah had been sending messages back to them.

Many people in Judea had sworn their allegiance to Tobiah. He was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and Tobiah’s son Jehohanan married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berekiah.

People often talked in my presence about all the good deeds that Tobiah had done, and then they would tell him everything that I said. So Tobiah sent many letters to me to try to cause me to become afraid.

Conspiracy against Nehemiah

Now when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies that I had built the wall, and that there was no breach left in it (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates),

Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come! Let’s meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to harm me.

I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work, so that I can’t come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you?”

They sent to me four times like this; and I answered them the same way.

Then Sanballat sent his servant to me the same way the fifth time with an open letter in his hand,

in which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel. Because of that, you are building the wall. You would be their king, according to these words.

You have also appointed prophets to proclaim of you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in Judah!’ Now it will be reported to the king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let’s take counsel together.”

Then I sent to him, saying, “There are no such things done as you say, but you imagine them out of your own heart.”

For they all would have made us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened from the work, that it not be done.” But now, strengthen my hands.

I went to the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah the son of Mehetabel, who was shut in at his home; and he said, “Let us meet together in God’s house, within the temple, and let’s shut the doors of the temple; for they will come to kill you. Yes, in the night they will come to kill you.”

I said, “Should a man like me flee? Who is there that, being such as I, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in.”

I discerned, and behold, God had not sent him, but he pronounced this prophecy against me. Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him.

He was hired so that I would be afraid, do so, and sin, and that they might have material for an evil report, that they might reproach me.

“Remember, my God, Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets that would have put me in fear.”

The wall is finished

So the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days.

When all our enemies heard of it, all the nations that were around us were afraid, and they lost their confidence; for they perceived that this work was done by our God.

Moreover in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came to them.

For there were many in Judah sworn to him because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah the son of Arah; and his son Jehohanan had taken the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah as wife.

Also they spoke of his good deeds before me, and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to put me in fear.