Bible Commentaries

The Work Finished

Nehemiah 6:3).

Do we know what work is? Really very few people have an adequate conception of work. The difficulty which we feel in going through English life to-day is that certain persons are marked off as belonging to the working-classes. There Nehemiah 6:2)] saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come now, therefore, let us take counsel together" ( Nehemiah 6:6-7).

Most men would have been alarmed by this letter. There is something alarming about a letter at any time. We never know what it may contain; and if we have reason to fear any person under the sun, it is impossible for us to look at a letter in the hands of the postman without beginning to tremble, and saying mentally, "It has come at last—I thought it would."

Nehemiah took the letter without misgiving. The man who left Persia under the circumstances with which we have become familiar, to recover Zion from contempt and to rebuild Jerusalem, is not likely to be overawed by the letter of a pagan correspondent, and he sent this brave answer: "There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart." It was an answer that might have been shot from a musket. Never attempt to make graceful, apologetic, explanatory statements to your controversial and spiritual enemy. Short answers—cannon-ball replies—"It is written—it is written "—and the devil, Beelzebub, will reel under every blow. A long and elaborate argument is a long and elaborate opportunity for the devil to take advantage of. Let us give short, clear-cut, terse, concise answers, and we can find them ready for use in God's armoury: "Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand."

There are always people in the world who can explain everything, who can account for Nehemiah's industry, and trace a man's motive through all possible metaphysical labyrinths and windings. There are persons who know exactly why we attend this place and not that. There can be but one Omniscience; and in proportion as Sanballat attempts the blasphemous game of Omnisciency does he prepare himself for his last, his irrecoverable fall. If Sanballat had said that these reports were about, and he could not help hearing of them, he would have been very English in his method of escaping from an awkward position. There are friends of ours—so called by a rare and cruel stretch of courtesy, who are always in the way of hearing disagreeable things. They are nice, innocent people, but somehow they always happen to be at the corner of that particular street where gossips most do congregate; and they, with touching innocence, with pathetic self-renunciation, tell us that they could not help hearing such and such reports. They could have helped repeating them!

What did Nehemiah do? He had another turn in prayer. Good old man—brave old soldier-builder; always giving the upward look, always sending out of his heart a heavenward cry; so we hear him now, saying, "Now therefore, O God, strengthen my hands." The inward man must be renewed day by day—we must have little upon little, precept upon precept, line upon line, sermon upon sermon, prayer upon prayer; there is no one final exercise in the Christian economy; ours is an economy that rivals the Judaic ritual itself in the multiplicity of its details; in the constancy of its homage, in the fidelity and continuance of its oblations. Nehemiah did not live upon yesterday's grace: day by day he spoke his prayer, moment by moment he breathed the air of heaven. He prayed with ejaculation, that is with an out-throwing of the soul; with suddenness, as if he had surprised God by an unexpected cry. To live so is to do what the apostle enjoins us to do—pray without ceasing.

He came to the house of a certain Nehemiah 6:10).

Nehemiah will not go into the temple for an unworthy purpose. He says, "It is all temple, if I be right." "Should," said Nehemiah 6:15).

Nehemiah was but one man; he wept when he heard the tale which Hanani brought to him: he trembled when he went into the presence of King Artaxerxes and offered him the customary wine: he came out to work and he was encountered by hostility of the severest kind—and we might have said, "In the hands of this man the great wall of Jerusalem never can be rebuilt." But he kept on and on, saying, So we laboured at the work; so we toiled at the wall; and so the wall was finished. How? By magnificent leadership, by cordial union, under the greatest discouragements and notwithstanding the fiercest hostility. To every man we say: Thou hast a wall to build; a wall thrown down, the copestone thereof lost—it is the wall of thy character, the wall of thyself; and Sanballat, the enemy—call him by what name you please, for he is a perpetual foe—says thou shalt not build it with his consent. He will mock thee, taunt thee, tempt thee, curse thee; wilt thou be foiled? What is thy hope—in thine own genius—in thine own resources? Nay, say, constantly, toiling Nehemiah 2:11 and Ezra 8:32, seems to point to some customary interval, perhaps for purification after a journey.] By word and example he induced the whole population, with the single exception of the Tekoite nobles, to commence building with the utmost vigour, even the lukewarm high-priest Eliashib performing his part. In a wonderfully short time the walls seemed to emerge from the heaps of burnt rubbish, and to encircle the city as in the days of old. The gateways also were rebuilt, and ready for the doors to be hung upon them. But it soon became apparent how wisely Nehemiah had acted in hastening on the work. On his very first arrival as governor, Sanballat and Tobiah had given unequivocal proof of their mortification at his appointment; and, before the work was even commenced had scornfully asked whether he intended to rebel against the king of Persia. But when the restoration was seen to be rapidly progressing, their indignation knew no bounds. They not only poured out a torrent of abuse and contempt upon all engaged in the work, but actually made a great conspiracy to fall upon the builders with an armed force and put a stop to the undertaking. The project was defeated by the vigilance and prudence of Nehemiah , who armed all the people after their families, and showed such a strong front that their enemies dared not attack them. This armed attitude was continued from that day forward.