Nehemiah 6
OUTLINE:
I. \\#1:1-7:13\\ Restoring the Wall
A. \\#1:1-2:20\\ Catching A Burden
1. \\#1:1-4\\ Hearing the News
2. \\#1:5-11\\ Nehemiah’s Prayer
3. \\#2:1-8\\ Nehemiah’s Opportunity
4. \\#2:9-20\\ Nehemiah’s Mission Begun
B. \\#3:1-7:7\\ Building the Wall
1. \\#3:1-32\\ Record of the Builders
2. \\#4:1-6:14\\ Opposition to the Construction
a. \\#4:1-6\\ The First Attempt - Mockery
b. \\#4:7-23\\ The Second Attempt - War
c. \\#5:1-19\\ The Third Attempt - From within
d. \\#6:1-9\\ The Fourth Attempt - Ambush
e. \\#6:10-14\\ The Fifth Attempt - Fear
3. \\#6:15-19\\ Completion of the Construction
4. \\#7:1-4\\ Organization of Jerusalem
5. \\#7:5-73\\ Registration of Jerusalem
I. \\#4:1-6:14\\ Opposition to the Construction
A. \\#6:1-9\\ The Fourth Attempt - Ambush
1. \\#1\\ "there was no breach… had not set up the doors"
The work continued on and was nearly complete.
2. \\#2-4\\ The enemies sent word to meet with Nehemiah, but
they wanted to kill Nehemiah \\#2\\. They attempted this
four times \\#4\\. Nehemiah responded that he was too
busy to meet with them.
3. \\#5-9\\ The Sanballat upped the ante by stating he had
heard that the Jews were building the wall to rebel
against the king \\#5-7\\. Nehemiah called him a liar
\\#8-9\\.
B. \\#6:10-14\\ The Fifth Attempt - Fear
1. \\#10\\ Then one of the Jews attempted to get Nehemiah to
hid in the temple for fear of his life.
2. \\#11\\ Nehemiah refused, recognizing that he was the
leader and could not be seen cowering.
3. \\#12-14\\ Nehemiah came to realize that Shemaiah was not
a servant of God but instead worked for Tobiah and
Sanballat.
a. The fact that Shemaiah offered to let Nehemiah hid in
the temple and that Nehemiah eventually recognized
the man was not sent from God, implies that Shemaiah
was either a priest or a prophet.
b. \\#13\\ "Therefore was he hired" - That a servant of
God would take money to hinder God’s work is a great
sin indeed!
II. \\#6:15-19\\ Completion of the Construction
A. \\#15\\ "So the wall was finished… in fifty two days"
1. Some believe that the count was 52 days from \\#6:1\\,
when the breaches were filled but the gates needed to be
set.
2. Others believe the wall was completed from start to
finish in 52 days.
a. They argue that it is possible considering the number
of people that worked and the fact that the king
supplied the materials \\#Neh 2:8\\.
b. Perhaps the people could have also gathered all of the
materials before the work began as well.
3. Regardless, the wall was complete.
B. \\#16\\ This made the enemies of Israel very unhappy.
C. \\#17-19\\ The Sin of Marrying the Heathen Was Back
1. This was the sin that Ezra dealt with in Ezra 9-10.
2. \\#18\\ Tobiah had married into the family of Arah who
came back with Ezra \\#Ezra 2:5\\.
3. This was either a union which had not been disannulled in
the days of Ezra or had occurred after it.
4. \\#17\\ During these days, this union caused many to be
loyal to Tobiah, giving him details of what was going on
inside of Jerusalem and attempting to make him acceptable
to Nehemiah \\#19\\.
5. Apparently, these treacherous Jews, some of whom were
nobles among the people \\#17\\ also delivered letters
to Nehemiah attempting to frighten him.
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