6:1 When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates), 6:2 Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm.
Satan attempted another tactic to stop the building of this wall. He tried compromise. “When you cannot defeat the enemy, then join them.” This satanic strategy is called the ecumenical movement today. Modern churches who join the ecumenical movement are compromising with the enemy.
Nehemiah refused to compromise. There are many liberals in the church today who desire to compromise with the conservatives. When the conservatives refuse to compromise on such issues as the deity of Christ, the virgin birth, the resurrection, the inerrancy of Scriptures, and the miracles of the Bible, then the liberals call them bigoted and dogmatic. There is no need to meet with men who deny these cardinal doctrinal truths. These doctrines are non-negotiable. Men who deny these fundamental doctrines are enemies of Christ. They act very piously, but they wish to do harm to the body of Christ.
6:3 So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”
Nehemiah was doing the Lord’s work. He had no time to meet with the enemy. Nehemiah would not compromise with the truth.
6:4 They contacted me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time.
The enemy is always persistent in his attacks against those who honor and apply the Word of God.
6:5 The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand.
The enemy sent a very polite letter to Nehemiah. Satan is very polite and very religious when he is setting up a trap.
6:6 Written in it were the following words: “Among the nations it is rumored (and Geshem has substantiated this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors you are going to become their king.
Geshem was an inside gossip and traitor to Jerusalem. This letter accused Nehemiah of wanting to rebel against the Persian king, so that Nehemiah could become the King of Israel. This letter was an attempt to cause internal strife inside of the Jewish assembly who supported Nehemiah.
6:7 You have also established prophets to announce in Jerusalem on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on! Let’s talk about this.”
The enemies of God accused Nehemiah of hiring prophets to proclaim himself as king. It was very possible that Malachi was prophesying to Jerusalem at this time. The false prophet may have twisted Malachi’s prophecies about the Messiah and applied them to Nehemiah.
6:8 I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. All of this is a figment of your imagination.”
Nehemiah called them a bunch of liars. He was not a seeker-friendly pastor. He was not politically correct. He simply told the truth plainly so that all would know. He did not mind offending the enemies of Christ.
6:9 All of them were wanting to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.” So now, strengthen my hands!
Nehemiah asked God to strengthen his hands so that he could complete the task.
6:10 Then I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. He said, “Let’s set up a time to meet in the house of God, within the temple. Let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. It will surely be at night that they will come to kill you.”
Shemaiah was a false prophet who was attempting to assassinate Nehemiah. There are many false prophets in the modern church who wish to assassinate godly men. Many carnal Christians flock to charismatic churches to hear the deceit of these false prophets. Carnal Christians do not have enough bible doctrine to discern the deceptions of the charismatic church.
6:11 But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? I will not go!”
Nehemiah possessed very strong bible doctrine, so he saw right through this deception. The enemy will deceive any Christian who possesses fragmented bible doctrine. If a believer has not studied the entire counsel of the Word of God, then he makes himself ineffective in his ministry. He will either be apathetic or absentee, or he will be deceived and serving in the wrong church and ministry. Many churches are serving Satan, but the immature members of these churches do not have enough bible doctrine to understand their predicament.
6:12 I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat.
This prophet was a prophet for hire. Nehemiah knew this prophet was false, because the prophet invited him into the temple. Only priests could enter the temple, so this false prophet was exposed. Nehemiah had enough bible doctrine to recognize this inconsistency with the Word of God.
Many charismatic pastors are prophets for hire. They fake prophecies in their churches in order to draw their pastor salaries. Sometimes, demons give them supernatural information. Demons are invisible, so they observe everything. They are very good at speculating the future. For example, they may hear the words of an assassin. They know the person, place, and date of the murder. They will share this information with a medium to make it seem as though the medium possesses the gift of prophecy.
6:13 He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I would be discredited.
The devil is very deceptive. He still places false prophets in the church. Charismatics need to leave their churches and attend a church which teaches only the written Word of God at the deepest level.
6:14 Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs—also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who were trying to scare me!
Nehemiah was in the middle of a spiritual warfare. False prophets were acting as part of the assembly, attempting to deceive him. Nehemiah asked God for spiritual discernment.
6:15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in just fifty-two days.
Despite all of the satanic attacks, Nehemiah completed the wall in less than two months. It takes a man with strong bible doctrine to be able to trust the Lord to utilize him in this way.
6:16 When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw this, they were greatly disheartened. They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God.
The enemies knew that only God could have accomplished this task so quickly.
6:17 In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them.
The wealthy Jews were in league with Tobiah. They sent him continuous letters, updating him on all current intelligence. Nehemiah had to face opposition outside and within his own ranks. The healthy church experiences these same kinds of challenges today. Satan will challenge and attempt to bring down a healthy church. If he cannot bring it down from the inside, then he will attempt to bring down the church externally by persecution.
6:18 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah. His son Jonathan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.
Tobiah had married one of the daughters of the nobles. Therefore, he had a large allegiance inside of the Jerusalem walls. Strong churches also possess a large satanic following inside of their very walls. There are many in the church who have intermarried with the enemy. They are children of the devil, but they disguise themselves as Christians in order to muddy the waters.
6:19 They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare me
The Jewish nobility was telling Nehemiah not to be too hard on Tobiah. He was really a good guy. He had done many good works for Jerusalem. He was an outstanding citizen. There just needs to be some compromise between these two leaders. Nehemiah possessed way too much bible doctrine to fall for this ploy.