A Man of Perseverance

With the work of rebuilding and restoring Jerusalem’s wall underway, the following three chapters deal with problems encountered as the work continued. Chapter 4 addresses external challenges. The united effort to build the wall angered the enemies of God’s people, for it threatened their way of life. ‘When Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation’, v. 1.

The gospel changes the lives of individuals, even having an effect on society at large - something that is unwelcome to those content with the status quo.¹ Following the dramatic events in Philippi, the grievance of unbelievers in Thessalonica was that ‘these that have turned the world upside down are come hither also’, Acts 17. 6. Since God’s people today also face varying sorts of opposition, the perseverance of Nehemiah, and the people encouraged by him are an example to us.

Early opposition took the form of verbal assault - mockery, vv. 1-6. This was followed by the threat of physical assault - military force, vv. 7-23. In both cases, the response of God’s people was prayerful and practical.

Verbal attack - mockery, intended to dishearten the workers, vv. 1-6

Sanballat used five rhetorical questions to pour scorn on their meagre strength, security, sacrifice, steadfastness, and the stones that were buried in the rubble.² Tobiah joined in, suggesting that even a fox could break down ‘their stone wall’, vv. 2, 3. But it was symbolic of God’s testimony, and He had not yet entered their thinking.³ However, these opponents were soon forced to recognize that ‘God had brought their counsel to nought’, v. 15. Verse 5 indicates that Sanballat’s questions were uttered before the Jews, ‘they have provoked thee to anger before the builders’. This verbal assault had the double purpose of demeaning the work and the workers in the eyes of the enemy and disheartening the Jews in the hope that they would abandon the task.

Nehemiah and the people responded by offering up their prayer to God. They called on Him to ‘hear’, v. 4, and cause their reproach to return upon them, knowing that He did not regard such contempt as insignificant, ‘they have provoked thee to anger’, v. 5. Strengthened in mind before the Lord, they also responded practically, persevering in the work, ‘so built we the wall’. They were encouraged to see the wall surrounding the perimeter of Jerusalem raised to half its height, ‘for the people had a mind to work’, v. 6.

The policy of Sanballat is reminiscent of that of Rabshakeh, who came from King Sennacherib to lay siege to Jerusalem in the days of King Hezekiah. Employing comparable rhetoric, his five carefully worded questions were calculated to dishearten the people of Judah, 2 Kgs. 18. 19-25. He even suggested that the Lord had sent him to destroy the land. Hezekiah’s messengers tried to preserve the people from his words, asking Rabshakeh to speak in the Syrian language and not in Hebrew, but their request was refused, v. 26. Nevertheless, the ranks of Judah were unbroken. In a resolute display of obedience to Hezekiah’s command and faith in God, ‘the people held their peace, and answered him not a word’, v. 36. Rabshakeh reckoned the Lord to be no greater than the false gods the Assyrians had previously defeated. But his, and Sennacherib’s blasphemy had been noted, and when Hezekiah brought the matter before the Lord, deliverance was assured.

As the gospel sounded out from Jerusalem to all Judea, in Samaria and to the uttermost part of the earth, those who stood for the Lord’s testimony also faced derision, ‘others mocking said, These men are full of new wine’, ‘when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked’, Acts 2. 13; 17. 32. The Apostle Peter also warned that ‘there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts’, 2 Pet. 3. 3, so we can expect similar opposition.

The people of Nehemiah’s day ‘had a mind to work’, and a right mindset is important for spiritual perseverance today. It is helpful to bear in mind the expectation the Lord Himself gave His followers, ‘if they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you’, John 15. 20. We also have His example - when verbally abused, He did not respond in kind, but ‘when he was reviled, reviled not again’, but responded prayerfully, committing His cause to God, 1 Pet. 2. 23. Peter says ‘that ye should follow his steps’, v. 21. The writer to the Hebrews encouraged us also to have the end in view, as an athlete having the eye on the finishing line, ‘Let us run with patience [perseverance] the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus’ considering Him ‘that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds’, Heb. 12. 1-3.

Prayerfully strengthened in the inner man, let us also be encouraged in the Lord’s work practically. Paul wanted believers to ‘stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; and in nothing terrified by your adversaries’, Phil. 1. 27, 28. To see Jerusalem encircled was a blow for their opponents. Similarly, the united testimony of God’s people is a sign to the enemies of their destruction, and the saints’ preservation by God.

Physical attack - military force, designed to disrupt the work, vv. 7-23

United, God’s people had made undeniable progress. This drew the attention and indignation of a wider group including the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites who ‘conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem and to hinder it’, v. 8. Mockery had failed to halt the wall’s progress, so they turned to military methods.

Again, the response of God’s people was prayerful, ‘we made our prayer unto our God’, and practical, ‘and set a watch against them day and night, because of them’, v. 9. Even so, discouragement set in. Key to the building and restoration work was a steady supply of materials, but it was reported that those responsible were exhausted because of the volume of debris. When later strengthened in mind, ‘they that bare burdens’, v. 17, were able to work single-handed, with a weapon held in the other. However, at this point, it seems the threat of an impending attack had caused them to succumb to fear, allowing the mocking echo to ring again in their ears, ‘will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish?’ v. 2. It left the people of Judah declaring, ‘we are not able’ to build, v. 10. This is the language of fear, not faith.⁴

Furthermore, those who lived nearest to the enemy dreaded the military threats, ‘They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease’, v. 11. The Jews’ constant anxiety was shared time and again (ten times, v. 12!) contributing to the work halting, see verse 15. Practically, it was true - it may not have been in the power of the Jews to know or see the enemy until it was too late. They had lost spiritual perspective, allowing threats around them to cause them to lose sight of God, who knows and sees all things.⁵ If only they had David’s assurance that ‘the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them’, Ps. 34. 7.⁶

Nehemiah took decisive action, providing them with a range of weapons to aid them practically. Swords, spears, and bows were suitable for close, medium, and long-range defence. However, these alone were insufficient, a truth earlier recognized by David, ‘the Lord saveth not with sword and spear’, 1 Sam. 17. 47. Next, beginning with the nobles and rulers, Nehemiah addressed their fear. ‘Remember the Lord [adonay]’, emphasizing His sovereignty. ‘Great and terrible’, describing His power, inspiring awe in His own people, but terror in the minds of His enemies. Perhaps the Jews’ minds returned to the Lord’s deliverance of Amalek into the hand of Joshua, and Gideon’s victory over the Midianites.⁷ Nehemiah then encouraged each to fight for the Lord’s heritage - their own families and houses, alongside whom he set them. Discouragement was overcome, and they ‘returned all of us to the wall, every one unto his work’, v. 15.

The work was more difficult thereafter, since ‘every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon’, but Nehemiah engaged his own servants in the work and to form a line of defence behind those who had feared the enemy, vv. 16, 17. Conscious that the workers were distributed over a large area, he used a trumpet call to rally God’s people together to garner support from their fellows. But Nehemiah reminded them that the battle was not theirs, but the Lord’s, ‘our God shall fight for us’, v. 20. As a good pattern of leadership, Nehemiah was found amongst those who worked in the daytime and kept watch at night. In the Lord’s strength, they persevered and the work advanced.

The apostles had not been preaching long before ‘the priests, and the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees’ joined together, using force against them. ‘They laid hands on them, and put them in hold’, Acts 4. 1, 3. This was followed up with further threats, v. 21. But the apostles remembered that the Lord Jesus had also been withstood by the combined forces of Herod, Pontius Pilate, the Gentiles and the people of Israel, vv. 26, 27. Their response was prayerful and practical, ‘they … prayed … they spake the word of God with boldness’, v. 31. As the gospel spread, God’s servants endured still greater suffering.⁸

Despite the prospect of verbal and physical opposition to the Lord’s work, may we be stirred up by the words of the Apostle Paul to Timothy. ‘God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind’ unashamed of the Lord’s testimony. ‘Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus … endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ’, ‘watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry’, 2 Tim. 1. 7, 8; 2. 1, 3; 4. 5.

As Nehemiah equipped the Jews with a range of weaponry, but called on them to trust in God, we do well to remember that in the field of spiritual conflict, ‘the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God’, 2 Cor. 10. 4. Nehemiah also called on them to defend themselves, and to come to one another’s aid, and we are to ‘put on the whole armour of God’ and be found ‘praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints’, Eph. 6. 11, 18 - prepared ourselves, and supportive of others.