Nehemiah 6 - Introduction
VI. (1-14) The enemies, whose wrath had been before much mingled with mockery, now resort to stratagem.... [ Continue Reading ]
VI. (1-14) The enemies, whose wrath had been before much mingled with mockery, now resort to stratagem.... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE REST OF OUR ENEMIES. — The Three always have the pre-eminence. THE DOORS UPON THE GATES. — _Within the gates._ This parenthesis is a note of historical accuracy, and intimates that what had been before said as to the setting up of the doors (see Nehemiah 3) was by way of anticipation.... [ Continue Reading ]
SANBALLAT AND GESHEM. — In the original of Nehemiah 6:1, Tobiah is not distinguished from Sanballat by another preposition, as Geshem is; and here he is omitted, as not to appear in the conference otherwise than as Sanballat’s secretary. IN SOME ONE OF THE VILLAGES IN THE PLAIN OF ONO. — Probably,... [ Continue Reading ]
THE FIFTH TIME WITH AN OPEN LETTER IN HIS HAND. — Four times they strive to induce Nehemiah to meet them, under various pretexts, with the intention of doing him personal harm. Each time his reply was to the effect that he was finishing his own work, not without a touch of irony. This answer has an... [ Continue Reading ]
IT IS REPORTED AMONG THE HEATHEN, AND GASHMU SAITH IT. — Nehemiah can quote the very letter, with its dialectical change of Geshem into Gashmu. Sanballat sends Tobiah in his own name, and represents Geshem as circulating a report which, reaching the distant king, would be interpreted as rebellion. I... [ Continue Reading ]
NOW THEREFORE, O GOD, STRENGTHEN MY HANDS. — The answer sent was that the thing was not true, and that the report itself did not exist. The reflection in Nehemiah’s journal was that they sought to make him afraid. Quoting this, he adds the prayer that he recorded when he wrote it. It is one of those... [ Continue Reading ]
I CAME UNTO THE HOUSE. — As a specimen of another kind of attack, through false prophets, Shemaiah’s plot is mentioned. This man — probably a priest — Nehemiah found shut up in his house; probably he sent for the governor, and represented himself as being in danger from the common enemy. He predicte... [ Continue Reading ]
SHOULD SUCH A MAN AS I FLEE? — First, the expression of personal dignity. Then of fear: “Who, being as I am” (a layman), “would go into the Temple to save his life?” Rather, _and live?_ (Numbers 18:7).... [ Continue Reading ]
AN EVIL REPORT. — Nehemiah perceived that not God, but Shemaiah himself, had uttered the prophecy “against me,” and that he was hired to bring the governor into discredit as a violator of law.... [ Continue Reading ]
THINK THOU UPON TOBIAH. — This appeal to God is to be understood as an official prophetic prayer. Nehemiah puts God’s own cause into God’s own hands. The mention of the name of Noadiah, nowhere else referred to, shows the circumstantial nature of the narrative, and is an indirect evidence of its tru... [ Continue Reading ]
IN FIFTY AND TWO DAYS. — The twenty-fifth day of Elul answers to about our September 15th; and, dating back, the wall began in the latter part of July, soon after Nehemiah’s arrival. If we bear in mind that the wall was only partially overthrown, that the materials for restoration were at hand, and... [ Continue Reading ]
The finishing of the wall is recorded in the implest manner: first, with a formal specification of the date and time; then in its effect upon the enemies, and as redounding to the glory of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
The enemies heard of it, and saw the result, and were ashamed.... [ Continue Reading ]
MANY LETTERS. — There was a large correspondence between Tobiah and the nobles of Judah.... [ Continue Reading ]
(17-19) A supplementary account is here introduced, explaining the intrigues within Jerusalem to which reference has been made.... [ Continue Reading ]
SWORN UNTO HIM. — Shechaniah was of the family of Arah, which had come over with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:5). Tobiah had married his daughter, and Tobiah’s son had married a daughter of Meshullam, one of the builders of the wall (Nehemiah 3:4; Nehemiah 3:30). This family connection led to a conspiracy by... [ Continue Reading ]
REPORTED HIS GOOD DEEDS. — Besides the correspondence thus carried on. these nobles strove to exalt the character of Tobiah to tne governor, while they made the enemy acquainted with all that went on. This intelligence enabled him to write the disquieting letters which Nehemiah says he was in the ha... [ Continue Reading ]