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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