Nehemiah 6:11

_AND I SAID, SHOULD SUCH A MAN AS I FLEE? AND WHO IS THERE, THAT, BEING AS I AM, WOULD GO INTO THE TEMPLE TO SAVE HIS LIFE? I WILL NOT GO IN._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

10-14 The greatest mischief our enemies can do us, is, to frighten us from our duty, and to lead us to do what is sinful. Let us never decline a good work, never do a bad one. We ought to try all advice, and to reject what is contrary to the word of God. Every man should study to be consistent. Should I, a professed Christian, called to be a saint, a child of God, a member of Christ, a temple of the Holy Ghost, should I be covetous, sensual, proud, or envious? Should I yield to impatience, discontent, or anger? Should I be slothful, unbelieving, or unmerciful? What effects will such conduct have upon others? All that God has done for us, or by us, or given to us, should lead us to watchfulness, self-denial, and diligence. Next to the sinfulness of sin, we should dread the scandal....

Verse Nehemiah 6:11. _SHOULD SUCH A MAN AS I FLEE?_] Shall _I_, who am governor of the people, appointed both by God and the king, shall I betray my trust, and leave the flock without a shepherd? Shall I be a traitor, and abandon the office to which I am appointed? - No! Who, in my situation, with such responsibility, and such prospects, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not: I will stand at my post, and be ready to receive my enemies whensoever they come; so let Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem look to themselves....

WOULD GO INTO THE TEMPLE TO SAVE HIS LIFE - Rather “could go into the temple and live.” For a layman to enter the sanctuary was a capital offence (see Numbers 18:7)....

EXPOSITION SECRET PROCEEDINGS OF SANBALLAT AND HIS FRIENDS TO HINDER THE BUILDING OF THE WALL, AND THEIR FAILURE. THE WALL COMPLETED (Nehemiah 6:1.). When the open opposition failed, when it was found that Nehemiah's arrangements for guarding the wall (Nehemiah 4:13) were such that success was not likely to attend the employment of force by the confederates, with such resources as they had at their disposal, and the idea of an assault was therefore give

CHAPTER 6 _ 1. The attempt to entice Nehemiah (Nehemiah 6:1)_ 2. The attempt to intimidate him (Nehemiah 6:5) 3. The attempt through a false prophet (Nehemiah 6:10) 4. The wall finished (Nehemiah 6:15) 5. The conspiracy between Jewish nobles and Tobiah (Nehemiah 6:17) Nehemiah 6:1. Defeated in all previous efforts to hinder the work and to do harm to the builders of the wall, the enemies made new attempts to make

A FURTHER ATTEMPT TO ENTRAP NEHEMIAH. This section is very compressed; important links in the narrative are wanting, so that it is impossible to grasp the details of what happened. The general sense, however, is that Sanballat induced one Shemaiah to try and convince Nehemiah that his life was in danger owing to a plan to kill him at night, for which reason Shemaiah was to urge Nehemiah to seek asylum in the inner sanctuary. But no layman (let alone a man who was ceremonially unclean like Shemaiah) was permitted by the Law to enter here; only priests might do so. If, therefore, Nehemiah could be induced to enter with Shemaiah he would be guilty of a grave breach of the Law and thereby become discredited in the eyes of the people. But Nehemiah sees through the plan and avoids the danger. Nehemiah 6:10. was shut up: _i.e._ he was ceremonially unclean (_cf._...

SHOULD. Figure of speech _Erotesis._ App-6. Hebrew. _sagar._ Compare Nehemiah 13:19....

DISCOURSE: 443 CHRISTIAN FIRMNESS Nehemiah 6:11. _And I said, Should such a man as I flee? and who is there, that, being as I am, would go into the temple to save his life? I will not go in_. WHOEVER examines the character of the primitive saints, will see, without fail, how religion dignifies and ennobles the mind of man. It gives to its possessor a superiority above all the common interests of time and sense, and enables him, under the most trying circumstances, to act as in the immediate presence of his God. His efforts to honour God will necessarily involve him in difficulties: but these difficulties will only elicit his true character, and display the efficacy of the grace he has received. Nehemiah had engaged in the arduous work of rebuilding Jerusalem. In this he was opposed by the enemies of the Jews, who sought, by every artifice, to weaken his hands, and div

SHOULD SUCH A MAN AS I FLEE? &C.— There is something very significant, as well as magnanimous, in these words of Nehemiah. _Should such a man as I flee?_ I, the chief governor; upon whose presence, counsel, and conduct, the very life and being of the whole city and nation, in a great measure, depend: I, who have professed such resolution, courage, and constancy in God: I, who have had such evident experience of God's gracious and powerful assistance; of his calling me to this employment, and carrying me through it, when the danger was greater than now; shall I dishonour God and religion, and betray the people and city of God by my pusillanimity? God forbid!...