Nehemiah: Building Walls And Facing Opposition

Today's message at church examined the opposition that Nehemiah faced when building Jerusalem's walls. Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the Ammonite were the main characters leading this opposition but even Geshem the Arab was in on it.

The first we hear from them is in Chapter 2 vs 10, which states that "they were very much disturbed that someone had come to promote the welfare of the Israelites." This was not in their interests; indeed it was a threat to their domination in the region. In later chapters we read that they mocked and ridiculed the Jews, and even implied that rebuilding the walls was rebellion against the king. When that didn't work, they tried anger - they became " greatly incensed." Again they mocked the people as "feeble" and laughed at the material they intended to use, and ridiculed their ability to build - "even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones." All intended to destroy their morale and determination to achieve their goals. The people continued to build, and the threats mounted, this time to the level of taking lives. Sanballat and Tobiah tried distracting Nehemiah, inviting him to meetings, possibly to "make peace" or to "reach compromise" but primarily to get him away from the building site. He didn't bite. They tried infiltration to the extent of getting a prophet to advise Nehemiah to protect himself from death threats by locking himself in the Temple, a ruse Nehemiah realised would lead to sin (only priests were allowed into the Temple itself) and an excuse to discredit him. They spread rumours widely that Nehemiah and the Jews were planning insurrection.

Nehemiah's response to all this can be read quite clearly. Some he ignored, some he simply stated was false and continued his project, some attempts at gile he saw throuh, in most cases he prayed, but at the appropriate time he also instituted a system of watches and armed guards to protect the builders. There are many lessons that we can learn from both the kinds of attacks the enemy uses on us individually and collectively even today, and the responses of Nehemiah. The speaker this morning described some of them. I won't repeat them here.

However, there were some things that he did not mention and which sprung to mind. One is the place of the book of Nehemiah (and Ezra) within the Bible. It is possible to view the Bible as an ongoing tale of two cities - Babylon and Jerusalem. The clearest description of the nature of Babylon (the city in which death and its operative principles rule) is in Revelation; Jerusalem is also there, but the books of Nehemiah and Ezra are very pertinent to the story and character of Jerusalem (the city of God, of peace, of life, of light). In the new heaven and earth, the magnificent holy City of Jerusalem will come down to earth, and God's people will inhabit it. But this spiritual city is already in the process of being formed, in and through us - it is the focus, in one sense of the kingdom of God.

But the second thing is an irony, a dichotomy one faces when reading the book of Nehemiah. Today cities are not built with walls. But in those days, city walls were critical for defence, for security, for a sense of assurance at the psychological level if nothing else, that there is strength and firmness for the society. When you look at the nature of the attacks made on Nehemiah, the wall was totally useless in countering them. And when one considers why the city was abandoned by God years earlier, it was not because its physical defences were weak; it was because the righteousness God expected to be practiced in his kingdom was not being practiced. The prophets were clear in their announcement that it was God working through Nebuchadnezzar who was punishing Israel for not pursuing God's own pattern for a good society (as described through the law). Physical walls are not a defence against any attacks in the spiritual warfare that is going on.

Nor were they a defence against the specific attacks of Sanballat and Tobiah. So why the walls? And when looking at the spiritual application of the story, what do the walls represent? What is our role in building them?

A third thought sprung to mind this morning: Nehemiah's ability to discern the intents and see through the devious machinations of Sanballat and Tobiah cannot have come suddenly upon him. Throughout the book, and references to him elsewhere, he is shown as a man of deep faith and high moral character. What was his secret and where did it come from? When I look around today, within my circle of Christian friends, I ask myself, as I ask you the reader ... how is this character to be built within our congregations? Or are we being shaped subconsciously by the values of Babylon? Are our young people being adequately "equipped" for this spiritual battle, and how would that process look?

Comments are welcome.

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