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.
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