Read the Passage: Nehemiah 6-7

Conspiracy (6:1–14)

Earlier, in Neh. 4:7–15, the enemies of God’s people—namely, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem—failed in their attempt to foil the rebuilding project by drawing Nehemiah into an armed conflict. Therefore, in Neh. 6:1–6, these men tried to thwart the building project by luring Nehemiah away from Jerusalem—presumably to his death. When Nehemiah received the invitation to a meeting, he discerned their wicked intent and replied, “I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come down” (Neh. 6:3). Nehemiah notes that he gave this same reply four times, which prompted a false, open letter from Sanballat accusing Nehemiah of a planned rebellion. Nehemiah’s response to the open letter was, “No such things as you say are being done, but you invent them in your own heart” (Neh. 6:8). In essence, Nehemiah called Sanballat’s bluff, daring him to follow up on his accusations.

The threatened conflict in Neh. 4:7–15 was a general attack against Jerusalem that failed. The attempted deception in Neh. 6:1–9 was an external personal attack against Nehemiah that failed. In Neh. 6:10–14 this led to an internal personal attack against Nehemiah that, as we will see, also failed. This incident involved a prophet named Shemaiah “who was a secret informer . . . [whom] Sanballat had hired” (Neh. 6:10, 12). In short, Shemaiah tempted Nehemiah to flee to and shut himself up in the Holy Place of the temple due to alleged assassins who were coming to kill him at night. However, such an act would have discredited Nehemiah and his leadership, for: (1) It would have displayed cowardice; and (2) it was against the Jewish ceremonial law, as Nehemiah was not a priest and, therefore, not allowed into the Holy Place. The passage also notes that a false prophetess named Noahiah, as well as other unnamed prophets, were involved in this ruse (cf. Neh. 6:14).

Completion (6:15–7:3)

It would have been understandable if the general, external, and internal attacks against Nehemiah had slowed down the rebuilding of the wall. Yet, with each planned attack, God was gracious and alerted Nehemiah to the schemes of his enemies. To elaborate, (1) at Neh. 4:12 certain unnamed Jews informed Nehemiah about the planned armed conflict; (2) at Neh. 6:2 Nehemiah discerned his enemies’ evil intent as they requested to meet; and (3) at Neh. 6:11–13 Nehemiah perceived the wickedness of Shemaiah’s plan. It seems, then, that the attacks from Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem did not slow down the construction project at all, for “the wall was finished . . . in fifty-two days” (Neh. 6:15). Ezra, the author of this book, notes that this surprising, quick completion of the wall disheartened the enemies of the Jews “for they perceived that this work was done by God” (Neh. 6:16).

In Neh. 6:17–7:3, Ezra records some historical information from this era, as he notes, “In those days the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came to them. . . . They reported his good deeds before me and reported my words to him” (Neh. 6:17, 19). In short, some of the nobles of Israel were trying to balance their political allegiance between Nehemiah and the enemies of the Jews, especially Tobiah. Indeed, the text notes that there were family ties between some of the nobles, the high priest Eliashib, Tobiah, and Sanballat (cf. Ezra 2:5; Neh. 3:4, 30; 6:18; 13:4, 28). It seems, then, that the nobles wanted to ingratiate themselves with whomever had political power, so that they would be on the “winning” side. As a side note, Neh. 7:1–3 records that once the wall was completed and the doors were hung in the gates, Nehemiah appointed his brother Hananiah to be governor of Jerusalem.

Captives (7:4–73)

Neh. 7:4–73 is a list of the Jewish exiles who returned to Jerusalem in 538 BC under the leadership of Zerubbabel, some 93 years prior to the time of Nehemiah. Indeed, the list here is a reiteration of the list given in Ezra 2:1–70. Observe that both lists specify that thirty-three family units made the trek from Persia to Israel, which comprised some 42,360 people. A difference, however, is that the figures Ezra gives yield sum total of 29,818 people, while Nehemiah’s total is 31,089 people. Furthermore, Ezra lists 494 people not cited in Nehemiah, and Nehemiah lists 1,765 people not cited by Ezra. Yet, if we add Nehemiah’s extras to Ezra’s list, we arrive at 31,583 people, and if we add Ezra’s extras to Nehemiah’s list, we get the same 31,583 people. This number, however, is still 10,777 short of the grand total of 42,360. These 10,777 people are most likely not list by name, for they were not of the tribes of Judah or Benjamin.

Application Questions:

1. Given that the wall of Jerusalem was dilapidated for so many years, how can we explain it being rebuilt in less than two months?
2. In light of their earlier failure to dissuade Nehemiah, doesn’t the attempt of Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshum to deceive Nehemiah seem foolish?
3. Has anyone ever falsely accused you, or attacked your character or reputation? If so, how did you respond?
4. If Nehemiah was the presumed governor of Jerusalem (cf. Neh. 2:6–9; 5:14), why did he appoint his brother to oversee the city?
5. Why were the Jews fastidious about maintaining genealogies? What benefit, if any, can we get from studying biblical genealogies?