Sanballat’s Conspiracy
When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left—though to that time I had not yet installed the doors in the gates— Neh 2:10Neh 2:19Neh 4:1Neh 3:1Neh 3:3Neh 4:6-7Dan 9:25Neh 3:6 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message: “Come, let us meet together in one of the villages 1on the plain 2of Ono.” 1Ch 8:12Psa 37:12Neh 11:352Sa 20:92Sa 3:27Ecc 4:4Ezk 33:31Jer 41:2
But they were planning to harm me.
So I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a great work and cannot come down. Why should the work stop while I leave it to go down to you?” Jhn 9:4Mat 10:161Ti 4:15-16Luk 14:30Pro 14:15Ecc 9:10
Four times they sent me the same message, and each time I gave the same reply. Luk 18:51Co 15:58Gal 2:5Jdg 16:10Jdg 16:15-20Jdg 16:6Pro 14:15Pro 7:21
The fifth time, Sanballat sent me this same message by his young servant, who had in his hand an unsealed letter 2Co 11:13-152Th 2:102Co 2:112Ki 18:26-28Eph 6:11 that read: Neh 2:191Pe 3:16Ezr 4:12Rom 3:81Pe 2:12-132Co 6:8Ezr 4:15Jer 20:10
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem 3agrees—that you and the Jews are plotting to revolt, and this is why you are building the wall. According to these reports, you are to become their king, and you have even appointed prophets in Jerusalem to proclaim on your behalf: ‘There is a king in Judah.’ Soon these rumors will reach the ears of the king. So come, let us confer together.” Pro 26:24-261Ki 1:181Ki 1:251Ki 1:341Ki 1:72Sa 15:10-12Act 23:15Neh 6:12-13
Then I sent him this reply: “There is nothing to these rumors you are spreading; you are inventing them in your own mind.” Psa 52:2Job 13:4Act 24:12-13Act 25:10Act 25:7Dan 11:27Isa 59:4Jhn 8:44
For they were all trying to frighten us, saying, “Their hands will be weakened in the work, and it will never be finished.” Psa 138:31Pe 5:101Sa 30:62Co 12:9Eph 3:16Eph 6:10Heb 12:12Isa 41:10
But now, my God, 4 strengthen my hands.
Later, I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel, who was confined to his house. He said: Jer 36:5Mat 7:15Psa 37:121Ki 6:52Ch 28:242Ch 29:32Ch 29:72Ki 11:3
“Let us meet at the house of God
inside the temple.
Let us shut the temple doors
because they are coming to kill you—
by night they are coming to kill you!”
But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Should one like me go into the temple to save his own life? I will not go!” Act 21:13Pro 28:1Psa 11:1-2Act 20:24Luk 13:31-33Php 2:17Psa 112:6Psa 112:8
I realized that God had not sent him, but that he had uttered this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. Ezk 13:221Co 12:101Co 2:151Pe 5:21Ti 3:32Pe 2:3Act 20:33Ezk 13:19 He had been hired to intimidate me so that I would sin by doing as he suggested, so they could give me a bad name in order to discredit me. Jer 20:102Co 11:122Ti 1:7Jas 4:17Neh 6:6Pro 29:51Ti 5:14Act 6:13
O my God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat for what they have done, and also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who tried to intimidate me. Neh 13:292Ti 4:14-151Jn 5:161Ki 22:22-242Ti 3:8Ezk 13:16-17Isa 9:14-15Jer 11:20-23
Completion of the Wall
So the wall was completed in fifty-two days, on the twenty-fifth of Elul. 5 Neh 4:1-2Psa 1:3Dan 9:25Ezr 6:15 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and disheartened, for they realized that this task had been accomplished by our God. Jos 5:1Psa 126:2Neh 4:7Neh 2:10Neh 4:1Act 5:38Num 23:23Exo 14:25
Also in those days, the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and Tobiah’s letters came back to them. Mat 24:10-12Mic 7:1-6Neh 13:28Neh 3:5Neh 5:7 For many in Judah were bound by oath to him, since he was a son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah, and his son Jehohanan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah. Ezr 2:5Neh 7:10Neh 3:30Neh 3:4
Moreover, these nobles kept reporting to me Tobiah’s good deeds, and they relayed my words to him. And Tobiah sent letters to intimidate me. 1Jn 4:5Act 4:18-21Isa 37:10-14Jhn 15:19Jhn 7:7Neh 6:13Neh 6:9Pro 28:4