Nehemiah 6

Intrigues of Enemies Foiled

1-4 When Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem hear the gaps in the wall are filled (except for the gates), they send four different messages to Nehemiah, asking him to meet with him, intending to hurt him, but he tells them he is too busy with the wall.

5-9 In a fifth message from Sanballat, he threatens to tell the king that Nehemiah is setting himself up to be king, but Nehemiah writes him that all that is his own invention. It is a ruse to frighten the workers and stop the work. “But now, O God, strengthen my hands.”

10-13 Shemaiah tells Nehemiah they should go hide in the temple and lock the doors for protection, for the enemies are coming that night to kill Nehemiah, but Nehemiah knows he had been sent by Tobiah and Sanballat to cause Nehemiah to sin. Gill says part of the sin was entering a part of the temple that he, as a priest, had no right to enter, plus the fact that in doing so he would be “distrusting the power and providence of God to protect him.” Jamieson, Fausset and Brown say in doing so he would have brought “discredit on the cause of God and religion by his unworthy cowardice in leaving the temple and city unprotected.”

14 “Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God….” Nehemiah calls on God to mete out the punishment that these men deserve.

The Wall Completed

15-16 After the wall is finished in 52 days, the nations around “fall greatly in their own esteem” because it is clear that God has helped accomplish this.

17-19 Tobiah corresponds frequently with Judean nobles, who support him because of his family connections. They speak of Tobiah’s good deeds in Nehemiah’s presence. Tobiah also sends letters to Nehemiah to intimidate him. Is there any other book in which we get such insight into the author's mind? We hear his prayers; we understand Tobiah’s struggle for political power from Nehemiah’s prospective.