Nehemiah 6:1-14--Conspiracy Against Nehemiah

Nehemiah 6:1-14
English Standard Version

Conspiracy Against Nehemiah
6 Now when Sanballat and Tobiah and Geshem the Arab and the rest of our enemies heard that I had built the wall and that there was no breach left in it (although up to that time I had not set up the doors in the gates), 2 Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come and let us meet together at Hakkephirim in the plain of Ono.” But they intended to do me harm. 3 And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?” 4 And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same manner. 5 In the same way Sanballat for the fifth time sent his servant to me with an open letter in his hand. 6 In it was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Geshem also says it, that you and the Jews intend to rebel; that is why you are building the wall. And according to these reports you wish to become their king. 7 And you have also set up prophets to proclaim concerning you in Jerusalem, ‘There is a king in Judah.’ And now the king will hear of these reports. So now come and let us take counsel together.” 8 Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.” 9 For they all wanted to frighten us, thinking, “Their hands will drop from the work, and it will not be done.” But now, O God, strengthen my hands.

​10 Now when I went into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his home, he said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple. Let us close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. They are coming to kill you by night.” 11 But I said, “Should such a man as I run away? And what man such as I could go into the temple and live? I will not go in.” 12 And I understood and saw that God had not sent him, but he had pronounced the prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. 13 For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. 14 Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid.

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We see another change in tactics now from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem.  Now that the wall had been built all the way around the city with no holes in it, they are no longer threatening to attack with military force.  Instead, they are now pretending to invite Nehemiah to official function (since he is now governor).  He tells them that he cannot delay the work he is doing and that he will come meet with them only after the work of finishing the wall and placing the gates in the doors has been finished.  Nehemiah also suspects that they intend not only to take him away from his work but attempt to assassinate him when he leaves the safety of the city.

They then resort to old tricks where they make up lies about Nehemiah and the Jews being rebellious and intending to rebel against the king of Persia.  They threaten to send the letter to the king if Nehemiah doesn't stop his work in rebuilding the walls and gates of Jerusalem.  They lie and say that Nehemiah has made himself their king (not true--he has only called himself their governor).  Nehemiah's reply is short and sweet, "No such things as you say have been done, for you are inventing them out of your own mind.”  I love how direct Nehemiah is.  Basically, he says he doesn't have to respond to their lies.  He has faithfully served the king for years and the king would know any such report would be false on its face.  They had intended to try fear as a tactic to make them stop their work, but this did not work either.  Instead, Nehemiah prayed for the LORD to strengthen him and the people in the face of this opposition, and to give him the strength to finish the work that the LORD had called him to do.

There were not only enemies from without, but enemies from within.  Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem had some Jews who were loyal to them.  One such Jew was Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, son of Mehetabel.  He sent a message to Nehemiah asking him to meet him in the Temple and to close the doors of the sanctuary so that Nehemiah could be safe, because men were coming to kill him.  Nehemiah had no business violating the sanctuary of the LORD, even to try to preserve his own life, for he was not a Levite, so he could not enter the Holy Place.  Nehemiah is no coward and tells Shemaiah that if men are coming for him that he will face them.  He will not run and hide.  He also says that he could not possibly expect to hide in the Temple and live for the reasons that I stated before.

Nehemiah then understood that this man was not giving him a warning from the LORD, but that he was an ally of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, and that this was yet another tactic of theirs to try to delay Nehemiah's work, and in this case, they were trying to assassinate his character.  How would it look to the Jews if Nehemiah had run to the sanctuary to save himself while letting all the people that he governed die.  Nehemiah asks the LORD to repay Sanballat and Tobiah for all the evil they are doing.  Nehemiah also asks the LORD to judge all the false prophetesses and prophets who worked for Sanballat and Tobiah that took money from them to make prophecies against Nehemiah and the people to try to scare them.  Such false prophets are worthy of death under the Law, but Nehemiah entrusts their fate to the LORD.