Dealing with Opponents (Nehemiah 4)

It was inevitable that those who resisted the recovery of the city of Jerusalem would reveal their opposition to Nehemiah and his helpers. This chapter describes some of their attempts and how Nehemiah resisted them. If the enemy was going to resist, so was Nehemiah. From one point of view, this chapter is about resistance and who would resist the longest. Nehemiah did resist longer than his opponents, but what was it that made him such a resister? Hopefully we will identify an answer to that question.  

The account of the process involves three stages, so we can consider what happened in each before pointing out a couple of lessons.

Stage one (vv. 1-6)

The first attempt to stop Nehemiah was led by two prominent individuals – Sanballat and Tobiah the Ammonite. Those men were rulers of two neighbouring provinces. Sanballat was the governor of Samaria and Tobiah was the governor of Ammon. They were mentioned earlier in the book as being very annoyed because someone had come to Jerusalem to seek its good. Tobiah was a Jewish name, so it looks as if he was a Jew who had risen in the service of the Persian empire. In some ways, it seems that he had the same career moves as Nehemiah, but unlike Nehemiah he had no interest in the progress of the city of God.

Of course, we know that there is a sense in which opposition is a good sign because it indicates that the enemy is trying to stop signs of success. Previously, with regard to those enemies, they had seen no evidence from previous years that the Jews had any plan for restoring the city, but now they had seen such a determination in Nehemiah. From this new perspective, they realised that the sooner that this work was stopped the better. But the sign also applies to us. If we do not encounter opposition to the gospel it must mean that we are not promoting it.

The opponents had to be careful in their attempts at opposition because Nehemiah had received the permission of the Persian emperor to rebuild the wall. Both Sanballat and Tobiah had been appointed by the emperor to their prominent positions, and he would punish them if they refused to recognise his plans. Therefore their attempt to hinder the work had to be more subtle. That reality has its similarities today when there may be legal protection for the spread of God’s kingdom that opponents have to bear in mind.

So what was the initial strategy of Sanballat and Tobiah? Their chosen method was derision of the efforts of Nehemiah. In verses 1-3, we are told that they derided the Jews for a range of limitations – their physical weakness, their smallness in number, the poor state of the building material that they possessed, and the flimsiness of what remained of the wall. Again there is something striking and encouraging in this description because it is a reminder of a pronounced biblical reality that the people that God uses are not usually the mighty, the gifted and the influential. Usually, he uses nobodies who are prepared to serve him.

Nehemiah and his people wisely responded to the attack by praying to God. Their petitions were honest about themselves and hopeful that God would act, and those two features usually go together. Their honest realism is seen in their admission that they were despised. What was said about them by the opponents was true. They were weak, few in number, and only had rubble to work with. From a human point of view, their intentions to build the wall seemed pointless and futile. And they admitted to God that such was their case. But they also recognised that their God could do great things. They did not judge the future by the mess of the present but by the abilities of their great God.

We might think initially that their petitions were unloving because they prayed to God that the opponents would be taken into captivity and punished for their sins. Yet such an estimation is only a surface one. What they were saying in their prayer was that vengeance belongs to God to enact and not to them. They also mentioned the reason why God should punish the opponents – they were attempting to hinder the work of his kingdom. The fact is, with regard to every opponent of his kingdom, God must either punish them or bless them. We could say that their prayer acknowledged the consistency of God. After all, he had punished Israel when they attempted to hinder his work. Their request was for a display of divine judgement in which God would vindicate his name.

Having prayed, they resumed working on the wall and managed to reach half its required height (or perhaps half its length). Prayer is a sure way of obtaining divine strength to keep going in the Lord’s work. It is those who wait upon the Lord who find that to be the case. Nehemiah had waited before the Lord and saw how quickly the Lord can answer. Strength of commitment came from above. Through prayer, the people had a mind to work. Having been united in prayer, they remained united in activity.

Stage 2 (vv. 7-14)

What would we expect the opponents to do next? Will they give up their attempts to hinder the progress of rebuilding? No, the fact that God answers prayer by giving strength to his people does not mean that the opponents will run away immediately. In fact, often the opposite occurs. The strength of the opponents can seem to increase, as it did for Nehemiah and the Jews. Instead of only Sanballat and Tobiah, there were also the Arabs, the Ammonites and the Ashdodites.

Those names indicate that the city of Jerusalem now saw opponents coming from all directions. Sanballat came from the north, Tobiah and the Ammonites from the east, the Arabs from the south, and the Ashdodites from the west. From a human point of view, it looked as if things had become much worse. What was the point of being given power by God if the enemy also increased in power? No doubt, one reason was that they had to learn that the number of opponents does not really matter because all of them together are nothing in comparison to God.

Nehemiah was informed of the intent of this united group of opponents to attack them stealthily (v. 8). His response was again to pray and to set guards in case the enemy attacked suddenly. This response reminds us that we have to be constantly on guard against our opponents, who are not only flesh and blood. We are engaged in conflict with the powers of darkness. After all, we are reminded by Paul, after he has described the spiritual armour that believers should wear, that they should ‘keep alert with all perseverance’ (Eph. 6:18). It is not really perseverance unless it is day and night.

Yet, another danger appeared, one that was very sad in its origins, because it did not come from Sanballat and his friends, those who were enemies of God’s people. Rather it came from the residents of Judah who absorbed the opinions of Sanballat about the pathetic state of affairs in the city. They recognised the weakness, but they engaged in a ministry of discouragement. The discouragement was increased by the ongoing threats of the opponents who stated again their strategy of surprise attack. It is strange and sad when discouragement comes from those who should know better. What is the reason for their dreadful response? They speak the truth without bringing God into the situation.

The discouragement was increased by those Jews who suggested that Nehemiah should give up his plans because of potential danger (v. 12). These Jews may have been afraid that Sanballat and his allies would attack them because they lived near them. They were prepared to inform Nehemiah of what his enemies were doing, but their preference was for peace with the opponents instead of risking their wrath by continuing to work on the wall. It would be safer for everyone if those helping Nehemiah were to give up. This suggestion was repeatedly made. While it had been derision that Nehemiah had faced to begin with during stage one, now in stage two he also faced increased opponents, discouragement from other Jews and exhortations to compromise.

What did Nehemiah do? He strengthened the defences and gathered the people and made a speech. In his speech (v. 14), he exhorted them not to be afraid because they had a great God and could have a great future. The way to resist opposition is to remind ourselves about who God is and to remind ourselves of what the next generation may experience of his power. While it can help to look back, we are to be forward-looking regarding the growth of God’s kingdom.

Stage 3 (vv. 15-23)

The curious thing about stage 3 is the silence of the enemies. While in the previous two stages, they had responded with angry words and intentions, now they did not say anything to Nehemiah. Perhaps they realised that their threats were not achieving anything. Even if that was the case, we need to ask why they did so. Surely, the answer is that God answered the previous prayers of Nehemiah and his men. In his providence, he silenced them, and they now could not say or do anything against God’s work.

Their silence did not mean that Nehemiah became careless. Instead, he made further adjustments so that the process of building the wall would be quicker and safer. He realised that the opponents could still attack them. The account closes by telling readers that the people had learned the dual importance of work and warfare in the kingdom of God, of the necessity of engaging in them simultaneously ,and they kept at it until the work was completed.

Lessons

It is obvious from the account that in order to make progress God’s people need to have a big picture of the God they serve. We can reflect on Nehemiah’s exhortation to the people, ‘Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome’ (Neh. 4:14).

What do we remember about him? We can see from Nehemiah’s statement that we remember that he is the sovereign God of Israel, the One who revealed himself to them at the Exodus, the God of power who keeps his promises, who listens to and answers prayer, who has described himself in his Word through his many attributes. He is also unchangeable, the One who is always the same, the One who is the same. This means that we should recognise that Nehemiah’s God is our God. He is the great God, the One who should be worshipped because he alone is awesome and does wonderful things.

Thinking of God expands our knowledge. How do we remember him? We can remember him through contemplation, comparison and consecration. Contemplation takes time, of course. It is another word for meditation. We can see from the Psalms that their authors often took time to think of God. While they listed his attributes and actions, they also contrasted other gods with him. We must do the same regarding our contemporary idols which often can distract us from thinking about the Lord. In addition to considering and contrasting, we must also consecrate ourselves to serve him. We can join the authors of Psalm 48 in affirming that this God is our God forever and ever.

The chapter tells us that not only should we speak about God, but we should also speak to God about what is happening. Nehemiah was quick to speak to the Lord as we can see from his responses in the various stages described in the story. He prayed to God when the enemies ridiculed them, and he prayed to God when the enemies grew in number and encircled the territory that belonged to Jerusalem. It is obvious from this book that Nehemiah was a man of prayer. The opening chapter records his prayer when he was informed about the state of things in Jerusalem, and the following chapter mentions his arrow prayer as he was to answer the question posed to him by the emperor. Of course, with regard to Nehemiah, prayer was not an alternative to work. Prayer preceded their work and prayer accompanied their work, but prayer cannot be a replacement for serving the Lord. Those that know their God, said Daniel, will do exploits.