In our study of Nehemiah chapter four, we look at the opposition that they faced as the people rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. We will see that Nehemiah was a man of prayer and action which is a wonderful pattern for us to follow.
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But when Sanvalat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he was furious. Greatly enraged, he ridiculed the Judeans;
When their enemies heard that they were rebuilding the walls, they became angry and wanted to stop them. The first method they used was to try to discourage the people by making fun of them.
before his kinsmen and the army of Shomron he said, “What are these pathetic Judeans doing? Are they going to rebuild anything they want? Are they going to sacrifice? Are they going to finish today? Are they going to recover useful stones from the piles of rubble, burned rubble at that?”
Sanballat was mocking the people and trying to make them think that the job was too big and they were not qualified. He is trying to get them to question God's will for them and His Word. Sanballat was being used by the devil and the same tactic was used to get Eve to question God's words in the garden (see Genesis 3).
Toviyah the ‘Amoni was with him, and he said, “Whatever they’re building, why, if even a fox went up it, he’d knock their stone wall down!”
Now, Tobiah gets involved and tries to get the people to feel like they are not up to the task. A fox is one of the most light footed of animals and weighs very little. He says that even if this small, careful animal crawled up on the wall it would fall down so there is no chance of it keeping out their enemies.
Our God, listen! We are being treated with contempt. Turn back their jeers on their own heads; give them over to be plundered in a land of exile. Don’t cover their guilt, don’t let their sin be wiped out from before you; because they have insulted the builders to their face.
In the face of this opposition, Nehemiah turns to the Lord in prayer. He prayed for justice under the law as he brought the charges to God and asked for a remedy.
So we kept building the wall, which was soon joined together and completed to half its height all the way around; because the people worked with a will.
We see here that, after prayer, Nehemiah did not just sit around waiting for a miracle. God could have miraculously taken care of the situation but instead he had given the people work to do. This verse can serve to remind us that we are to be people of prayer but we are also to do what God has told us (God had already told them to rebuild the wall).
But when Sanvalat, Toviyah, the Arabs, the ‘Amonim and the Ashdodim heard that the repairs on the walls of Yerushalayim were going forward, and the breaks were being filled in, they became very angry.
The opposition grows as more people oppose the work of God. The same is true today as the more work that you are doing for the kingdom of God the more you will be attacked and opposed for it. This opposition will get more and more angry as they find that their battle is with God and not us and they have no chance of winning that battle.
All of them together plotted to come and fight against Yerushalayim and thus throw us into confusion. However, we prayed to our God and, because of them, organized a watch against them day and night.
So the enemies joined together to plan a joint attack. Nehemiah and the people prayed to God but also took action. There are those that use prayer as an excuse for doing nothing but, as we see here, God wants us to be men and women of action as well as prayer.
Y’hudah was saying, “The strength of the people who carry loads away is starting to fail, and there is so much rubble that we can’t build the wall.”
The mocking and threats affected the people and they became discouraged. They began to believe what the enemies were saying about them instead of what God says about them. When we get discouraged, we need to stop and remember that we are a part of God's royal family and it doesn't matter what our enemies say.
Our enemies were saying, “They won’t know or see anything, until we have already infiltrated them and begun killing them and stopping the work.”
The enemy was planning a surprise attack to kill the builders and stop God's work. As we see here, the main goal was for them to stop the work. That is why we must expect to be attacked more when we are actively working for the Lord. The purpose of the opposition is to get us to stop the building of the Kingdom of God.
And even the Judeans living near them came and must have said to us ten times, “From every place you must come back to us.”
The Jews that lived near the enemies listened to their words and began to doubt God. They went to the rest of the people to warn them but ended up spreading doubt. That is the same type of thing that Satan tries today as he will try to hurt Christians and ministries by using those that are closest to bring doubt and disobedience.
So in the lower parts of the space behind the wall, I stationed men according to their families, with their swords, spears and bows. After inspecting them, I stood up and addressed the nobles, leaders and the rest of the people: “Don’t be afraid of them! Remember Adonai, who is great and fearful; and fight for your brothers, sons, daughters, wives and homes.”
Nehemiah stations guards to protect the city but he does so by family. He then encouraged them by telling them to remember that the Lord was on their side. By stationing them by family, they were willing to fight harder to protect their own.
When our enemies heard that the plot was known to us, and God had foiled their plans, we all returned to the wall, everyone to his work.
There was a threat, Nehemiah and the people prayed and took action and God delivered them. Imagine what the enemies were thinking when they found out that God had taken care of them. God takes care of His own; He did in this time and He does so today!
From then on, half of my men would do the work; and half of them held the spears, shields, bows and armor; while the leaders stood guard behind the entire house of Y’hudah, as they continued building the wall. Those who carried loads held their loads with one hand and carried a weapon in the other. As for the construction-workers, each one had his sword sheathed at his side; that is how they built.
The people continued to rebuild as they defended themselves. Those who were doing the actual construction did so with their weapons ready. This is a picture of how we are to be today as Christians. We are to work but also to be prepared to share the good news of Jesus Christ as we do so.
The man to sound the alarm on the shofar stayed with me. I said to the nobles, the leaders and the rest of the people, “This is a great work, and it is spread out; we are separated on the wall, one far from another. But wherever you are, when you hear the sound of the shofar, come to that place, to us. Our God will fight for us!”
Nehemiah followed the biblical pattern of the trumpet. In Numbers chapter ten, God told Moses to build silver trumpets to communicate with His people. One of the functions of the trumpets was that, in time of war, an alarm was to be blown and God's people would be remembered and saved from their enemies. The pattern will continue as John told us in Revelation 8 where God calls His people to Him and then the trumpets bring judgments on those that remain.
So we kept doing the work. Half of them held spears from daybreak until the stars appeared.
We see from this verse that the people worked as long as there was light each day. They felt the urgency to do the work that was set before them by God. As Christians, we need to have that same type of urgency as we are living in the last days.
Also at that time I told the people, “Let everyone with a servant stay the night within Yerushalayim, so that at night they can be a guard for us, even as they work during the day.”
The people were called to serve both day and night as they were to be guards at night and to repair the wall during the day. This is a good example for us today as we see that our service to God is a constant thing because we love Jesus. There are many who want Jesus when it is convenient but then want to do their own thing at other times. When we come to Christ, it is a 24/7 every day thing and He may have us working day and night to build the kingdom. It is what the apostle Paul did in Thessalonica as we see in 1 Thessalonians 2:9.
I, my kinsmen, my servants and my bodyguards never took off our clothes, and everyone who went to get water took his weapon.
Not only Nehemiah served day and night but all of the people did. They were constantly prepared for battle. It is easy for us today to say that the pastor, reverend, or whatever you want to call them should serve 24/7 because it's their job. The simple fact is that it is the responsibility of all Christians to answer the call whenever it comes.
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