Nehemiah 6:1-4

TEXT AND VERSE-BY-VERSE COMMENT

F. The enemies resort to tactics of diversion, but the wall is completed.
1. Sanballat and Geshem plot treachery through invitation to a conference.

TEXT, Nehemiah 6:1-4

1

Now it came about when it was reported to Sanballat, Tobiah, to Geshem the Arab, and to the rest of our enemies that I had rebuilt the wall, and that no breach remained in it although at that time I had not set up the doors in the gates,

2

that Sanballat and Geshem sent a message to me, saying, Come, let us meet together at Chephirim in the plain of Ono. But they were planning to harm me.

3

So I sent messengers to them, saying, I am doing a great work and I cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it and come down to you?

4

And they sent messages to me four times in this manner, and I answered them in the same way.

COMMENT

In Nehemiah 6:1 the full threesome from Nehemiah 2:19 are present once more, plus other enemies. Geshem, ruler over Arabia though not necessarily an Arabian, may have been the most powerful figure of them all, as his territory was larger than the others. The statement that the doors had not been hung in the gates is another indication that chapter 3 had carried the story clear through, and Chapter s 4-6 go back and fill in the details.

In Nehemiah 6:2 the name of Tobiah is missing, which has provoked speculation that he refused to be implicated in a plot which involved him in violence against a Jewish ruler. Or it may be that he was just waiting his turn with his own scheme. The plot apparently was to single Nehemiah out from his defenders, entice him away from the city to a secluded spot, and assassinate him, or at least give him a sound beating.

Nehemiah 6:3 gives Nehemiah's reply: he would not be diverted from his work. It was not an out-and-out refusal, but at least he would not consider it until his present work was done; one must not lose sight of his priorities.

Nehemiah 6:4 indicates that a similar ploy was used, with similar results, three more times.

WORD STUDIES

REMEMBER (Nehemiah 6:14: Zakar): from the idea of pricking or piercing comes the idea of penetrating or infixing; thus remembering, recalling, considering.

GESHEM (Nehemiah 6:1): violent storm, severe shower.

STRENGTHEN (Nehemiah 6:9: Chazaq): the primary idea is to bind fast, to gird tight; then to cleave, or adhere firmly.

Things are strengthened by being bound together; a spear may be made stronger by winding it round with a cord. One's strength seems greater when he has fastened a girdle about his loins.
A very free translation might be, Give my hands stick-to-it-iveness! Or, Link our hands together (with others, or Yours)! Or, Hitch up my belt! Or just Give me strength.