Week 4 – Nehemiah 4:7-23

Last week we were introduced to a few dastardly characters, Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem, who were threatening the work of rebuilding Jerusalem. This week we’ll see their threats boil over into in a plan to ambush Nehemiah and the resettlers. As we read this together it’ll be easy to focus on Sanballat and co. and then harp on opponents of the church today, both real and imagined. Instead, we want to use this passage to remind ourselves that our fight is against spiritual forces rather than physical ones (Eph. 6:12), and that the most precious thing we can fight for is unity among God’s people. Along with our discussion, Vintage staff and pastors hope that our Advance Commitment Night on Tuesday will be a joyful celebration and reminder of the unity with which Jesus has blessed our church.

As mentioned last week, Sanballat and his cronies were hoping to keep Jerusalem knocked down so their power in the region could keep growing. But, as Nehemiah put it in 4:6, the people of Jerusalem “had a mind to work,” and had successfully rebuilt the wall halfway, a monumental task itself. And yet, with an unfinished wall the city was still vulnerable, and this vulnerability was increasingly public knowledge. Starting the work brought criticism on the resettlers, and with it the greedy eye of Sanballat, who began plotting to lead an attack on the Jerusalemites in the night (4:11). In turn, the resettlers were disheartened and afraid, beginning to think that the strength of God’s people was failing (4:10). In verse 12 we even see Jews who lived nearby, who had lent their relatives to work on the walls, asking their families to get out of Jerusalem before things got ugly.

From our point of view we can see the real enemy at work here. Firstly, with Ephesians 6:12 in mind, we know that spiritual powers have been at work throughout human history. The antics of Sanballat and his friends, accusing (2:19), mocking (4:3), sowing discord (4:10), and ambushing (4:11), are all old tactics straight out of Satan’s playbook. But we also know God was fully up to the challenge, able to deflect any ambush and route any enemy. Like in 2 Chronicles 20, God could’ve wiped out his people’s enemies without them lifting a finger. The real enemy here was already within the gates once those in Judah began to say, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing.” The threat came from whispers to come home, to not spend the night in the city, to abandon the work because it seemed to great and costly, to not be there to rally in support of one another if things got bad—these potential divisions were a far bigger vulnerability than a half-built wall.

Notice Nehemiah’s plan. He told the people not to fear their enemies because he knew God could smoke whenever he wanted. But he also prepared the people, and all his preparations were meant to strengthen their unity. He told them to fight for one another (4:14), he organized them to keep building and keep guard of one another (4:16), he planned to rally to one another’s aid in times of crisis (4:20), and he convinced the people to commit to the defense of the city at night rather than abandoning it in a vulnerable time (4:22).