Completion of the Walls
Chapter 6 records the completion of the repairs to the walls. It also
records the continued efforts on the part of his enemies, Sanballat the
Samaritan and Geshem the Arabian, to get rid of him.
- The first attempt was to entice him to leave the city. They asked
him to go outside for a consultation. This failed because Nehemiah
knew that they just wanted to get him outside where they could kill
him so he responded that he was doing a good work and could not stop
to talk to them. Four times they attempted to get him to leave the
city.
- The fifth attempt was to condemn him of being improperly motivated
in the repairing of the walls. This they declared in an open letter
to him. They accused the Jews of planning to rebel against Persia
and they accused Nehemiah of setting himself as their king. They
threatened to pass this information along to the King of Persia if
he did not come out to talk to them. But Nehemiah knew he was doing
God's will so he didn't fall for the snare.
- The sixth attempt was to discredit him. They sent false prophets
who claimed to have been spoken to by the Lord, but Nehemiah
realized that they were not from God. They had been sent to try to
make him sin by running away and hiding in the Temple. They to
failed in this attempt.
Despite all this and other false accusations by treacherous Jews, the work
on the walls was finally completed just 52 days after they were started. When
the enemies of Judah heard that the walls were complete they were humiliated
and frightened. They realized that the work had been done by the help and
grace of God. During the 52 days, many letters had been sent to discredit
Nehemiah and his efforts to rebuild Jerusalem.
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