The Opposition Intensifies
Nehemiah 6, verse 1. Now it happened when Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no gaps remained in the wall (though at the time I had not hung the doors in the gates), Nehemiah 6, verse 2. Sanballat and Geshem sent a letter to me, saying, “Come, let us meet among the villages in the plain of Ono.” But they were plotting to do harm to me. Nehemiah 6, verse 3. So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing so great a work that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease? As soon as I finish it I will come down to you.” Nehemiah 6, verse 4. And they sent me the same message again, and I answered them in the same manner. Nehemiah 6, verse 5. Then Sanballat sent his servant to me as before, with an open letter in his hand. Nehemiah 6, verse 6. In it was written: It is reported among the nations that you and the Jews plan to rebel; therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall that you may be their king. Nehemiah 6, verse 7. And you have also appointed prophets to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, “There is a king in Judah!” Now these matters will be reported to the king. So come, therefore, and let us consult together. Nehemiah 6, verse 8. Then I sent to him, saying, “No such things as you say are being done, but in your own heart you invent them.” Nehemiah 6, verse 9. For they all were trying to make us afraid, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and the work will not be done.” Now, therefore, I have strengthened my hands. Nehemiah 6, verse 10. Afterward I came into the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, and he, being distressed, said, “Let us meet together in the house of God, within the temple, and let us close the door of the temple, for they are coming to kill you; indeed at night they are coming to kill you.” Nehemiah 6, verse 11. And I said, “Who is the man that shall enter the house in order to live?” Nehemiah 6, verse 12. Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Nehemiah 6, verse 13. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report that they might reproach me. Nehemiah 6, verse 14. My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid.
The Wall Is Completed
Nehemiah 6, verse 15. So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. Nehemiah 6, verse 16. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was done by our God. Nehemiah 6, verse 17. Also in those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. Nehemiah 6, verse 18. For many in Judah were pledged to him because he was the son-in-law of Shechaniah the son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam the son of Berechiah. Nehemiah 6, verse 19. Also they reported his good deeds before me and reported my words to him. Tobiah sent letters to frighten me.