Nehemiah 6:10

Dangers from within: False Prophets (Nehemiah 6:10-14)

10. Afterward I came R.V. And I went. There is no note of time expressed.

Shemaiah the son of Delaiah Not otherwise known; apparently a priest and a prophet. The name Delaiah occurs in 1 Chronicles 24:18 as that of the three-and-twentieth priestly house.

Mehetabeel R.V. Mehetabel.

who was shut up Concerning the meaning of this obscure phrase there is much variety of opinion. (LXX. καὶ αὐτὸς συνεχόμενος. Vulg. secreto.)

(a) According to one view, he was -shut up" in the sense that he was prevented by ceremonial pollution from mixing in the society of his countrymen or from approaching the Temple. Cf. Jeremiah 33:1; Jeremiah 36:5. Accepting this interpretation, we see in his proposal to Nehemiah the extremity of his alarms real or feigned.

(b) According to another view, the expression is metaphorical, and denotes that he was a -prisoner," in the sense of being -possessed by" the prophetic spirit.

(c) According to a third view, he had shut himself up in his house in order to show by a symbolical action that Nehemiah was prophetically warned to take refuge in some hiding-place. Cf. 1 Kings 22:11; Jeremiah 28:10; Acts 21:11.

within the temple … doors of the temple Shemaiah's proposal is that Nehemiah should hide himself in sacred precincts, where only priests could go. He implies that this advice which he gives as a prophet is sufficient sanction to absolve the act of profanation. The safety of the governor, he seems to say, is of more importance than a detail of ceremonial.

yea, in the night, &c. The repetition of the clauses has all the ring of poetic parallelism.

-They will come." The indefiniteness of the oracular utterance does not state who the assassins are.

11 And I said Nehemiah refuses to listen to Shemaiah. (1) He has his duty and position as governor to remember; it is not for him to show the white feather. (2) The proposal to take refuge in the Temple is monstrous; it was forbidden by the Law, which he served, and to trespass upon the domain of the priests was impious in the extreme. (Cf. 2 Chronicles 26:16-20.)

Should such a man as I The governor and the leader of the national movement.

being as Iam] R.V. being such as I, i.e. not a Priest, cf. Nehemiah 1:1; Nehemiah 2:3, but the Governor responsible for the protection of his countrymen.

would go into the temple to save his life R.V. marg. -Or, could go into the temple and live". According to the A.V. and R.V. text the words -and live" are made to depend upon the verb -go," and denote the purpose of the action -to save his life." According to the rendering of the R.V. marg., which is more probable, the words -and live" (cf. Deuteronomy 5:24) are coordinate with -go," and represent the main thought of astonished enquiry. The Law declared that the stranger, i.e. -the layman that cometh nigh shall be put to death," Numbers 18:7. Nehemiah's words point to this prohibition, binding against the governor as much as against the poorest of the Israelites. He does not quote a written statute, but appeals to what was generally known and recognised as law.