Nehemiah 4

OUTLINE:
I. \\#Neh 1:1-7:13\\ Restoring the Wall
    A. \\#Neh 1:1-2:20\\ Catching A Burden
        1. \\#Neh 1:1-4\\ Hearing the News
        2. \\#Neh 1:5-11\\ Nehemiah’s Prayer
        3. \\#Neh 2:1-8\\ Nehemiah’s Opportunity
        4. \\#Neh 2:9-20\\ Nehemiah’s Mission Begun
    B. \\#Neh 3:1-7:7\\ Building the Wall
        1. \\#Neh 3:1-32\\ Record of the Builders
        2. \\#Neh 4:1-6:14\\ Opposition to the Reconstruction
        3. \\#Neh 6:15-19\\ Completion of the Reconstruction
        4. \\#Neh 7:1-4\\ Organization of Jerusalem
        5. \\#Neh 7:5-73\\ Registration of Jerusalem
II. \\#Neh 8:1-13:31\\ Restoring the People
     A. \\#Neh 8:1-10:39\\ The Renewal of the Covenant
         1. \\#Neh 8:1-18\\ Interpretation of the Law
         2. \\#Neh 9:1-10:39\\ Reaffirmation of the Covenant
     B. \\#Neh 11:1-13:31\\ The Obedience to the Covenant
         1. \\#Neh 11:1-36\\ Resettlement of the People
         2. \\#Neh 12:1-26\\ Register of the Priests and the Levites
         3. \\#Neh 12:27-47\\ Dedication of the Jerusalem Wall
         4. \\#Neh 13:1-31\\ Restoration of the People
           

\\#4:1-6:14\\ Opposition to the Construction
I. \\#4:1-6\\ First Attempt - Mockery
    A.\\#1\\ Mockery is an effective tool for inflicting pain and
        discouragement.
    B. \\#2\\ Sanballat mocked…
        1. The Jews’ strength - "these feeble Jews."
        2. The Jews’ effort - "will they fortify themselves.
        3. The Jews’ worship - "will they sacrifice."
        4. The Jews’ speed and dedication - "will they make an end in
            a day."
        5. The Jews’ work - "will they revive the stones."
    C. \\#3\\ Tobiah mocked the quality of the workmanship.
    D. \\#4-6\\ Nehemiah prayed that God would hold their enemies
        accountable for their sins, giving them no mercy.

II. \\#7-16\\ Second Attempt - Warfare
    A. \\#7\\ "the breaches began to be stopped" - But their mockery
        did not work.  The work continued and was showing good
        progress.
    B. \\#8\\ "to fight against Jerusalem"
        1. So the nations decided to attack the city.
        2. The Bible does not tell us why the king’s army did not aid
            the Jews in fulfilling his command.
    C. \\#9\\ "we made prayer unto our God" - Perhaps the Jews did
        not seek help from the earthly king but from the King of
        kings only.
    D. \\#10\\ The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed"
        1. The huge stones was more than the Jews could move.
        2. I suppose that meant more men would be needed and the Jews
            would be more spread out.
    E. \\#11-12\\ This combined with the expectation of ambush made
        the work more difficult.  The surrounding nations did not
        call the Jews out to the battlefield, perhaps in part because
        they were cowards and perhaps in part because if such a thing
        were done, surely the king would deal with them.
    F. \\#13-15\\ Nehemiah heard of their plans and set men to fight
        against their enemies in key places \\#13\\.  This caused the
        enemies to give up their idea for a short time \\#15\\.
    G. \\#16-23\\  Permanent Safeguards
        1. \\#16\\ From that time forward, 1/2 of the men did the
            work 1/2 of the men stood on guard.  All of this must
            have slowed the work down even more.
        2. \\#17-18\\ Every man kept their swords at hand.
        3. \\#19-20\\ They set up an alert system.
        4. \\#21\\ They increased their work day.
        5. \\#22\\ They gathered all of the outlying Jews.
        6. \\#23\\ They slept with their clothes on.

<Close Window>