Nehemiah 6:3 Commentary and Bible Study

When we read this, it sounds almost as though Nehemiah is mocking Sanballat and Tobiah, and taunting them, because he is doing the very thing they don't want done: the walls of Jerusalem are to be built up and restored, the city made defendable. The enemies roundabout don't want that, so he seems to be mocking them, calling it a great work, and of course because we are on Nehemiah’s side in this matter, we rather like the sound of it. In the KJV rendering it sounds a little rude when he says, ‘Why should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down to you?’ It is a rather condescending note that is struck there, and rather belittling, but probably none of that is actually intended. Really what Nehemiah says is quite reasonable, and in fact quite instructive to us. ‘I sent messengers unto them, saying,’ – and they were brave men, because they would probably suffer for delivering that message – ‘I am doing a great work.' The ‘great’ there indicates noble. I am doing a most important work. I am commissioned by none other than the emperor of Persia, which was the case. I am re-establishing the city for the glory of God. I have been appointed here as governor of Judah and Jerusalem for this express task. So it is a very reasonable thing to say. ‘You wish to talk!’ What do they want to talk about? Ostensibly, about peace. Of course they are not sincere. They just want to stop the building. ‘We can have peace, and then we can trade, and the tensions can go, and both communities can be enriched. The people of Jerusalem and Judah and the Samaritans roundabout. Isn't that far better than you carrying on building that wall, which is intimidating to us? So we want peace.’ But they don't, of course. ‘No, I'm doing a noble work for the greatest of clients, for God, for the emperor, for the nation, for the witness of the God of Israel, the protection of the temple. And it's got to be done quickly. The city has to be secured. We have to be safe. We are working against the clock, against the calendar, so I am afraid I can't come in those circumstances. Why should the works cease?’ That is a good question. ‘Why do you want it to cease? Tell us why you want it to cease.’ Of course they couldn’t answer that question truthfully. They wanted to be able to carry on robbing, pillaging, raiding, taunting, trying to get rid of these newcomers. Newcomers? Some of them had been there now for years. But they had reoccupied the city after the Babylonian captivity and Sanballt and Tobiah wanted them out entirely. That was the truth of it. Why should the work cease? For what reason? ‘Whilst I leave it and come down’, and ‘come down’ is language employed throughout the Bible for travelling from a capital like Jerusalem in an elevated position, out to the planes and the provinces. It is not intended to be condescending. But that was exactly what those enemies did not want to hear: that this man was committed and dedicated. Nehemiah obviously perceived what was happening and he didn't trust them. It didn't take much, really, to read their motive. People’s character does not instantly change with no warning They have been enemies all along, and now they want to become friends. They have tried all kinds of tricks and now they become friendly. So it doesn't take much for a faithful person to know that this is wrong. And anyway there is a principle here, and you see it in Nehemiah chapter 2 and verse 20 and the second half of the verse. ‘We his servants will arise and build: but ye have no portion, nor right, nor memorial, in Jerusalem.’ You have no legal right or authority over Jerusalem. I am the governor of Jerusalem, he seems to say, and besides you have no portion here. You are not among the people of God. We cannot relate to you, and negotiate with you. We have got nothing to negotiate away, nothing to talk about. You have no part of our mission and our work.