Samaritan Opposition
to the Building of the Walls of Jerusalem
Nehemiah 4: 1-15
Samaritan opposition to the building of the walls of Jerusalem DIG: Why do you think Sanballat was so opposed to Nehemiah’s efforts? What weapons does he use against Nehemiah and his team? How effective were their taunts in slowing down the building project? To whom does Nehemiah turn in the face of opposition (4:10)? Does he say anything that surprises you? What effect does his prayer have on his own people? What is the next threat brought against Nehemiah’s team (4:7-8)? How did the Jews meet the threat? The next threat was primarily internal, from within their own ranks – what was it? How does Nehemiah encourage his people to persist? What does he want them to remember (4:14)?
REFLECT: When have you or your place of worship ever attempted something so big it was beyond human control, but within God’s provision? Describe your big dream or vision. Which gives you more difficulty: External criticism or internal fears? Why? What is one area of your life where there seems to be “heaps of rubble?” How are you cooperating with others and trusting God to build something out of that rubble? What does it mean to resist the devil (First Peter 5:9)? How is this done, in practical terms?
445 BC During the ministry of Nehemiah (to see link click Bt – The Third Return).
Compiled by the Chronicler from the Ezra and Nehemiah Memoirs
(see Ac – Ezra-Nehemiah from a Jewish Perspective: The Nehemiah Memoirs).
Anyone who steps into the arena of leadership must be prepared to pay the price. That’s part of the leadership package. True leadership exacts a heavy toll on the whole person – and the more effective the leadership, the higher the price. The leader must face the fact that he or she will be the target of critical darts. Unpleasant as it may sound, you haven’t really led until you have become familiar with the stinging barbs of the critic. That implies one thing: good leaders must have thick skin. In the eighth example of leadership in the life of Nehemiah, wise leaders have the ability to handle criticism (see Bt – The Third Return).
Anyone who is serious about serving ADONAI as a leader in the congregations of God should make a serious study of Paul. His life offers a pattern that people in leadership should follow. Second Corinthians is a key book because he talks more about himself there than in any of his others. We should not be surprised, therefore, to read an honest admission about the toll of the ministry in Paul’s life: But we have this treasure [the gospel] in jars of clay [our frail human bodies], so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be from God and not ourselves (Second Corinthians 4:7). There is no power in a clay pot. It is fragile and plain. It often leaks. The passage of time only makes the vessel weaker. Paul was saying that the manifestation of power comes not from the pot, but what the pot contains.
Next, Paul describes the life of frail human vessels. We are hard-pressed in every way, yet not crushed; perplexed, yet not in despair; persecuted, yet not forsaken; struck down, yet not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Yeshua, so that the life of Yeshua may also be revealed in our mortal body (Second Corinthians 4:8-10). Always is the key word here. The marks of death are always evident in the lives of God’s leaders because He wants to display the life of Yeshua in the clay pot. He uses imperfect people, clay pots, to display His glory. It is also emphasized in this passage that opposition is inevitable. A godly leader always carries the telltale marks of death.233
Now when Sanballat heard that we were building the wall, he became very angry and was greatly enraged (Nehemiah 4:1a). He knew that a restored Jerusalem would lessen his influence in Judah. On the surface, he was outraged that the Jews had overridden his authority in the region by gaining the support of the king (see Bw – The Response of King Artakh’shasta). But the deeper truth was that he was an enemy of God – and therefore an enemy of God’s people. He could not stand the thought that the Jews were going to prosper and rebuild their beloved City.234
Thus, He mocked the Jews (Nehemiah 4:1b) in the presence of the Samaritan leaders. For mockery to have any effect, requires a sympathetic audience, so Sanballat attempted to draw others into his hatred of the Jews. He used rhetorical questions designed to drive home the opposition. The first one took advantage of a “truth” about which the Jews were sensitive. He asked: What are these feeble Jews doing? They knew they were not strong or numerous. Humanly speaking, the job was more than they should have undertaken. Sanballat then asked: Will they fortify themselves? He wanted to instill doubts about the wisdom of the project. They were fools, he chided, wasting effort on a hopeless project. The third rhetorical question: Will they offer sacrifices? He ridiculed their “pretend” trust in God. Did they really think that prayer and sacrifice would build that wall? How foolish! His final question: Will they finish in a day? Can they revive the stones from the heaps of rubble that are burnt (Nehemiah 4:2)? He used wrong information to discourage the builders. Most of the stones were still in good condition. They had not all disintegrated from the fire as he suggested. Psychological warfare can use truths to which people are sensitive or half-truths or falsehoods to intimidate the enemy.235
Tobiah echoed Sanballat’s first argument and then became sarcastic. Then Tobiah the Ammonite, who was beside him, said mockingly: Even if a fox climbed on what they are building, it would break down their stone wall (Nehemiah 4:3)! First of all, they weren’t building it, and second of all, it wasn’t their wall. YHVH wanted the wall built, and He happened to use Nehemiah as the construction superintendent. Let’s call it what it is: spiritual warfare.
Nehemiah’s first response to the danger and opposition was to bow down before ADONAI in prayer: Hear, our God, for we are despised. The use of we showed Nehemiah’s identification with the people; he faced the same dangers and sacrifices, and confronted the same tests of faith as everyone else. Turn their insults back on their own head! Give them up as plunder in a land of captivity. Do not cover their guilt or blot out their sin from before You, for they have provoked You to anger before the builders (Nehemiah 4:4-5). This is the fourth of twelve prayers recorded in Nehemiah (9:5ff, 1:5-11, 2:4, here, 4:9, 5:19, 6:9, 6:14, 13:14, 13:22, 13:29, 13:31).
Nehemiah’s prayer has much in common with imprecations (those that invoke judgment, calamity, or curses, upon one’s enemies or those perceived as the enemies of God) in the Psalms and in Jeremiah. He was outraged at the conduct of the critics and he said some very rash things . . . in the privacy and security of his prayer closet. Three points need to be made about this. First, Nehemiah’s request, like imprecations elsewhere, was for divine judgment against sin, a clear teaching of the Bible. This prayer for God not to cover their enemies’ guilt was not a prayer against their salvation but for divine justice. Secondly, it was a prayer for Ha’Shem to act, not for permission to take personal revenge (Romans 12:19-210). And third, it expressed zeal for God’s work and God’s honor. Nehemiah had no doubts that the building of the wall was the work of ADONAI, so opposing it was opposing God.236
So, we rebuilt the wall. The faith, unity, and energy of the small group prevailed. And the entire wall was joined together up to half its height, meaning that at this point their task was half complete, for the people had a heart to work (Nehemiah 4:6). The people had been enthusiastic and eager to participate during the early phases of the building project. All the ridicule and attacks against them had only strengthened their resolve. They had divided the work among themselves and been excited to see the progress as the wall came together. Excavations have revealed that the ancient wall must have had a height of two hundred feet. This showed that the people made remarkable progress. It is during such times in our own lives that determination becomes important in obeying and completing the Lord’s work, for distractions and discouragement will multiply as our enthusiasm dissipates.
That productivity should have discouraged the enemies of God, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, the size of the opposition grew. When Samaritans under Sanballat (in the north), the Arabians, the countrymen of Geshem, (in the south), the Ammonites, whom Tobiah belonged, (to the east), and the people of Ashdod (to the west), heard that restoration of the walls of Jerusalem was proceeding and that the breaches had begun to be closed, they became extremely angry because they realized that their ridicule had not succeeded in stopping the work on the wall (Nehemiah 4:7). Under normal circumstances they would not have cooperated, but what drew them together was a mutual hatred of ADONAI and His people.
They intensified the opposition and all conspired together to come and fight against Jerusalem. How much of this was mere talk is hard to be sure. The failure of this impressive group to strike a single blow suggests the king’s letters (see Bw – The Response of King Artakh’shasta) had them stop and think more carefully about what might happen if they actually attacked the Jews. Did they really want to end up fighting the entire Persian army? But their plotting, however half-hearted, clearly included potential raids had to be taken seriously.237
Initially, they merely pretended to care about the king’s taxes and national security. Then they acted as if the Jews couldn’t build anything that would last, but in the end, just like today, they were only angry that the Jews could defend themselves. The enemies of God didn’t care what the Jews believed. They simply wanted to stop the progress being made on rebuilding the wall. So, they stirred up trouble (Nehemiah 4:8).238
What did Nehemiah do when confronted with continued harassment? But we prayed to our God and stationed guards at the most conspicuous and vulnerable places on the wall day and night (Nehemiah 4:9). This is the fifth of twelve prayers recorded in Nehemiah (9:5ff, 1:5-11, 2:4, 4:4, here, 5:19, 6:9, 6:14, 13:14, 13:22, 13:29, 13:31). Nehemiah’s response was clear: prayer and precaution, trust and good management. He had faith in ADONAI, but he was also aware of the dangers and took the necessary precautions. They needed to defend the City while the men were occupied with the work as well as at night when a surprise attack might be made.
The enemies of YHVH then resorted to threats of murder, and the Israelites began to grow weary and discouraged. Some began to buckle under the strain. Meanwhile the people of Judah, speaking through their representatives, said: The strength of the laborers is failing. There is so much rubble that we are unable to rebuild the wall (Nehemiah 4:10). The Jew’s initial enthusiasm had worn off and fatigue was setting in. This was the critical point in Nehemiah’s administration, for the enemy’s attacks were beginning to have their desired effect of halting the work. Nehemiah needed to take steps to renew the people’s enthusiasm for the building project to be a success.
Our adversaries are also saying: They will not know or perceive anything, until we come among them and kill them, and put an end to the work (Nehemiah 4:11). Part of the strategy of the enemy coalition was to frighten and intimidate the Jews by making them think an army would surprise them with a massive force that would engulf them. God’s enemies will stop at nothing, even mass murder, in hopes of preventing the fulfillment of His plans. This is a futile hope; however, as nothing can prevent God’s plans from coming to pass. The destruction of His enemy’s plan will come on their own heads. Whoever digs a pit will fall into it, whoever rolls a stone – it will come back upon him (Proverbs 26:27).239
So, it happened that the Jews living near them came and told us ten times over, meaning repeatedly (see Genesis 31:41 for the idiom), “Wherever you turn, they will attack us” (Nehemiah 4:12). Apparently Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem were spreading rumors of attack to dishearten the people. Whether the neighboring Jews acted as unwitting carriers of propaganda or as useful informants is difficult to tell.240
Nehemiah, however, took definite action. So, in view of possible danger, I stationed people in the lower places behind the wall in the exposed places. I stationed the people by families with their swords, spears and bows, to be used according to their distance from the enemy (Nehemiah 4:13). Because they were stationed with their families, they would be more motivated to fight. Nehemiah’s leadership had robbed the conspirators of any initiative they might have had. Intimidation had failed, and surprise was now out of the question.241
This project involved a tremendous amount of organizational skill on the part of Nehemiah. Arranging the workers in groups over forty teams at various preassigned location was a task requiring military precision. It is one of the features that we admire about Nehemiah: his ability to delegate and motivate over forty groups, even after they encountered very real threats of harassment and even death. David would say: Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of ADONAI our God (Psalm 20:7). However, that did not lead Nehemiah to conclude that the Israelites could meet the enemy’s threats armed merely with a scroll of the Torah!242
Nehemiah called the people together, which had the effect of showing their strength and giving him an opportunity to encourage them by emphasizing God’s great delivering power. When I looked things over, I rose up and said to the nobles, the rulers and the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the great and awesome God, and fight on behalf of your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes” (Nehemiah 4:14). The words of Nehemiah, “Do not be afraid,” reminds us of the reassurance and victory of other leaders in the Bible (Exodus 14:13; Numbers 14:9; Deuteronomy 20:3 and 31:6; Joshua 10:25).
The temporary lull was merely a chance to continue the rebuilding. Now when our enemies heard that their plan to attack was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work (Nehemiah 4:15). This showed the results of Nehemiah’s prayer and leadership. Thanks to divine intervention, the enemy abandoned the attempt to stop the work by force. Nehemiah never lost sight of the fact that God was in control of all events. The plot was not foiled because the Jews had learned about it, nor because of their readiness to fight back, but because ADONAI prevented it.
Zerubbabel, Ezra and Nehemiah all faced determined opposition from powerful foes. They understood that life is filled with spiritual battles, for the enemy of our souls continuously strives to hinder the work of God. These men expected opposition to ADONAI’s great project of rebuilding Jerusalem, and they were not caught off guard when it came. We must not assume every hardship, opposition, or obstacle is an indication that we are acting according to YHVH’s will. God does use practical hindrances at times to force us to recognize when we are not going in the right direction.
Consider Balaam, for example, a pagan medium who practiced sorcery and other wicked acts for profit. He had been offered a great sum of money to cast a curse on the LORD’s people after their exodus from Egypt, but Ha’Shem had warned him: Do not go with them! Do not curse them, for they are blessed (Numbers 22:12)! Nevertheless, Balaam saddled his donkey and headed out – ostensibly to bless God’s people, yet in disobedience to His command. As he traveled along, the LORD sent an angel to hinder his donkey’s progress. He even caused the donkey to speak (who showed more wisdom than his foolish master) in order to warn Balaam that he was going the wrong way.
When we do ADONAI’s work, we will face spiritual opposition from the enemies of God’s people, and we must expect it. But when there’s any doubt, we shouldn’t assume that opposition is a “green light” on our actions. Rather, we must turn immediately to Ha’Shem in prayer and meditate on His Word. YHVH never commands His people to do anything contrary to the principles of Scripture, and He might be using obstacles to open our eyes to a wrong decision.243
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