EXPOSITION
SECRET PROCEEDINGS OF SANBALLAT AND HIS FRIENDS TO HINDER THE BUILDING OF THE WALL, AND THEIR FAILURE. THE WALL COMPLETED (Nehemiah 6:1-19.). When the open opposition failed, when it was found that Nehemiah's arrangements for guarding the wall (Nehemiah 4:13-23) were such that success was not likely to attend the employment of force by the confederates, with such resources as they had at their disposal, and the idea of an assault was therefore given up, recourse was had to artifice and intrigue. First of all, Sanballat sent to propose a meeting between himself, Geshem, and Nehemiah in the open country about Ono, twenty-five or thirty miles from Jerusalem, hoping thus to draw him to a distance from his supporters, and intending to "do him a mischief" (verse 2). Nehemiah, who perceived the snare, declined; but Sanballat persisted, and made four other proposals for conferences, probably varying the place, but all without avail. On the fifth and last occasion the letter sent to Nehemiah was an open one, and taxed him with an intention to rebel and make himself king, an intention which was sure to come to the cars of Artaxerxes, and would bring the Jews into trouble. An open letter on a delicate subject is in the East an insult, and this step of Sanballat's could only have been taken in order to excite the mind of Nehemiah's subjects, and to bring pressure to bear on him from them. Nehemiah, however, was not to be intimidated, or diverted from his purpose. He protested that the charge made against him was a pure calumny, invented by Sanballat himself, and still declined a conference (verse 8). Hereupon intrigues began between Sanballat and Tobiah, on the one hand, and some of Nehemiah's subjects, on the other. Tobiah was connected by marriage with Jews of high position in Jerusalem (verse 18), and had thus an excuse for holding frequent correspondence with them (verse 17). His letters seem to have been allowed free admission into the Jewish capital, and he was thus enabled to cause serious trouble. At one time he addressed Nehemiah himself, and tried to intimidate him (verse 19). At another he worked upon certain members of the prophetical order, and by bribes or promises induced them to become his aiders and abettors. A certain Shemaiah, who appears to have been at once a prophet (verse 12) and a priest (verse 11), allowed himself to be "hired" by Tobiah and Sanballat, and laid a plot to bring Nehemiah into discredit. He sought an interview with the governor, and told him that his life was in danger—he knew by his prophetic gift that on the very next night an attempt would be made by some one, and Nehemiah would be murdered—that is to say, unless he took precautions. And he had a plan to propose. As a priest, he had free access to the temple building; he would take Nehemiah with him, at some risk to himself, for a bodily impurity made it illegal for him to enter the holy place, and they would pass the night together in the sanctuary. So Nehemiah's life would be preserved (verse 10). The object was to induce Nehemiah, though a layman, to enter the sanctuary, and so break the law (verse 13). But the simple manliness and straightforward piety of the governor frustrated this plot also. "Should a man in my position run away from danger and hide?" he said. "And if so, should a layman enter the temple? I will not enter" (verse 11). It was not till afterwards that he found out that the prophecy was a fiction, and the prophet a bribed liar (verse 12). Other similar attempts seem also to have been made, about the same time, by other members of the prophetical order, among whom one only is particularised—the prophetess Noadiah (verse 14). Nehemiah, however, stood firm as a rock throughout; and he is able to boast that "in fifty and two days, on the 25th of Elul, THE WALL WAS FINISHED" (verse 15). It was a proud moment for the indefatigable and stout-hearted governor, Who saw his dearest wish accomplished, and must have known that the accomplishment was mainly due to his own untiring efforts. But he does not claim the gloW for himself. "When the enemies (i.e. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem) heard of it," he says, "and the heathen round about us saw it, they were much cast down." And why? "They perceived that this work was wrought of our God."