1. Nehemiah's enemies - Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem, and others - heard that the wall of Jerusalem had been rebuilt with no gaps left, though doors in the gates had not yet been installed. 2. Sanballat and Geshem invited Nehemiah to meet with them in the village of Ono, but Nehemiah suspected they intended to harm him. 3. When they repeatedly pressed Nehemiah to come down from Jerusalem, he refused, stating he was too busy with the important work of rebuilding the wall.

1. EHEMIAH 6 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
Further Opposition to the Rebuilding
1 When word came to Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem
the Arab and the rest of our enemies that I had
rebuilt the wall and not a gap was left in it—
though up to that time I had not set the doors in
the gates—
BAR ES, "Upon the gates - Rather, “in the gates.” This work would naturally be
delayed until the last phase.
GILL, "Now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and Geshem the
Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall,....
Quite finished it:
and that there was no breach left therein; but all was made up firm and strong:
though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates; not upon all of
them, though some might by the particular builders of them; and they all of them might
be ready made, though not as yet put upon the hinges.
HE RY 1-4, "Two plots upon Nehemiah we have here an account of, how cunningly
they were laid by his enemies and how happily frustrated by God's good providence and
his prudence.
I. A plot to trepan him into a snare. The enemies had an account of the good
forwardness the work was in, that all the breaches of the wall were made up, so that they
considered it as good as done, though at that time the doors of the gates were off the
hinges (Neh_6:1); they must therefore now or never, by one bold stroke, take off
Nehemiah. They heard how well guarded he was, so that there was no attacking him
upon the spot; they will therefore try by all the arts of wheedling to get him among them.
Observe, 1. With what hellish subtlety they courted him to meet them, not in any city,
lest that should excite a suspicion that they intended to secure him, but in a village in the

2. lot of Benjamin: “Come, let us meet together to consult about the common interests of
our provinces.” Or they would have him think that they coveted his friendship, and
would be glad to be better acquainted with him, in order to a good understanding
between them and the settling of a good correspondence. But they thought to do him a
mischief. It is probable that he had some secret intelligence given him that they designed
to imprison or murder him; or he knew them so well that, without breach of charity, he
concluded they aimed at his life, and therefore, when they spoke fair, he believed them
not. 2. See with what heavenly wisdom he declined the motion. His God did instruct him
to give them that prudent answer by messengers of his own: “I am doing a great work,
am very busy, and am loth to let the work stand still while I leave it to come down to
you,” Neh_6:3. His care was that the work might not cease; he knew it would if he left it
ever so little; and why should it cease while I come down to you? He says nothing of his
jealousies, nor reproaches them for their treacherous design, but gives them a good
reason and one of the true reasons why he would not come. Compliment must always
give way to business. Let those that are tempted to idle merry meetings by their vain
companions thus answer the temptation, “We have work to do, and must not neglect it.”
Four times they attacked him with the same solicitation, and he as often returned the
same answer, which, we may suppose, was very vexatious to them; for really it was the
ceasing of the work that they aimed at, and it would make them despair of breaking the
undertaking to see the undertaker so intent upon it. I answered them (says he) after the
same manner, Neh_6:4. Note, We must never suffer ourselves to be overcome by the
greatest importunity to do any thing sinful or imprudent; but, when we are attacked with
the same temptation, must still resist it with the same reason and resolution.
JAMISO , "Neh_6:1-19. Sanballat practices against Nehemiah by insidious
attempts.
K&D, "When Sanballat and the enemies associated with him were unable to obstruct
the building of the wall of Jerusalem by Open violence (Neh 4), they endeavoured to ruin
Nehemiah by secret snares. They invited him to meet them in the plain of Ono (Neh_6:1,
Neh_6:2); but Nehemiah, perceiving that they intended mischief, replied to them by
messengers, that he could not come to them on account of the building. After receiving
for the fourth time this refusal, Sanballat sent his servant to Nehemiah with an open
letter, in which he accused him of rebellion against the king of Persia. Nehemiah,
however, repelled this accusation as the invention of Sanballat (Neh_6:3-9). Tobiah and
Sanballat, moreover, hired a false prophet to make Nehemiah flee into the temple from
fear of the snares prepared for him, that they might then be able to calumniate him
(Neh_6:10-14). The building of the wall was completed in fifty-two days, and the
enemies were disheartened (Neh_6:15-17), although at that time many nobles of Judah
had entered into epistolary correspondence with Tobiah, to obstruct the proceedings of
Nehemiah (Neh_6:18, Neh_6:19).
Neh_6:1-2
The attempts of Sanballat and his associates to ruin Nehemiah. - Neh_6:1, Neh_6:2.
When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of the enemies, heard that
the wall was built, and that no breaches were left therein, though the doors were then
not yet set up in the gates, he sent, etc. ‫ּו‬‫ל‬ ‫ע‬ ַ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫,נ‬ it was heard by him, in the indefinite
sense of: it came to his ears. The use of the passive is more frequent in later Hebrew;
comp. Neh_6:6, Neh_6:7, Neh_13:27; Est_1:20, and elsewhere. On Sanballat and his

3. allies, see remarks on Neh_2:19. The “rest of our enemies” were, according to Neh_4:1
(Neh_4:7, A.V.), Ashdodites, and also other hostile individuals. ‫וגו‬ ‫ת‬ ֵ‫ע‬ ָ‫ה‬ ‫ד‬ ַ‫ע‬ ‫ם‬ַ introduces a
parenthetical sentence limiting the statement already made: Nevertheless, down to that
time I had not set up the doors in the gates. The wall-building was quite finished, but
doors to the gates were as yet wanting to the complete fortification of the city. The
enemies sent to him, saying, Come, let us meet together (for a discussion) in the villages
in the valley of Ono. - In Neh_6:7, ‫ה‬ ָ‫ר‬ ֲ‫ֽע‬ָ‫וּ‬ִ‫נ‬ of the present verse. The form ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ִ‫פ‬ ְⅴ, elsewhere
only ‫ר‬ ָ‫פ‬ ָⅴ, 1Ch_27:25, or ‫ר‬ ֶ‫ּפ‬ⅴ, village, 1Sa_6:18, occurs only here. ‫ה‬ ָ‫יר‬ ִ‫פ‬ ְⅴ, however, being
found Ezr_2:25 and elsewhere as a proper name, the form ‫יר‬ ִ‫פ‬ ְⅴ seems to have been in
use as well as ‫ר‬ ָ‫פ‬ ָⅴ. There is no valid ground for regarding ‫ים‬ ִ‫ר‬ ִ‫פ‬ ְⅴ as the proper name of a
special locality. To make their proposal appear impartial, they leave the appointment of
the place in the valley of Ono to Nehemiah. Ono seems, according to 1Ch_8:12, to have
been situate in the neighbourhood of Lod (Lydda), and is therefore identified by Van de
Velde (Mem. p. 337) and Bertheau with Kefr Ana (Arab. kfr ‛ânâ) or Kefr Anna, one and
three-quarter leagues north of Ludd. But no certain information concerning the position
of the place can be obtained from 1Ch_8:12; and Roediger (in the Hallische Lit. Zeitung,
1842, No. 71, p. 665) is more correct, in accordance both with the orthography and the
sense, in comparing it with Beit Unia (Arab. byt ûniya), north-west of Jerusalem, not far
from Beitin (Bethel); comp. Rob. Pal. ii. p. 351. The circumstance that the plain of Ono
was, according to the present verse, somewhere between Jerusalem and Samaria, which
suits Beit Unia, but not Kefr Ana (comp. Arnold in Herzog's Realenc. xii. p. 759), is also
in favour of the latter view. “But they thought to do me harm.” Probably they wanted to
make him a prisoner, perhaps even to assassinate him.
COFFMA , "O E FI AL EFFORT MADE BY EHEMIAH'S E EMIES;
FIVE SUCCESSIVE ATTEMPTS TO GET EHEMIAH I THEIR POWER
" ow it came to pass when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem
the Arabian, and unto the rest of our enemies, that I had builded the wall, and that
there was no breach left therein (Though even unto that time I had not set up the
doors in the gates), that Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let us
meet together in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought to do me
mischief. And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that
I cannot come down: why should the work cease whilst I leave it, and come down to
you? And they sent unto me four times after this sort, and; I answered them after
the same manner. Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth
time with an open letter in his hand, wherein was written, It is reported among the
nations, and Gashmu saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel; for which cause
thou art building the wall: and thou wouldest be their king according to these
words. And thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying,
there is a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported unto the king according to
these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel together. Then I sent unto
him saying, There are no such things done as thou sayest, but thou feignest them out
of thine own heart. For they all would make us afraid, saying, Their hands shall be

4. weakened from the work, that it be not done. But thou, O God, strengthen thou my
hands."
"The narrative which was broken by the parenthetical ehemiah 5 is here taken up
again."[1] "The enemies of Judah had found ridicule ( ehemiah 4:1-6) ineffective,
and their threatened military attack had not taken place ( ehemiah 4:7-23); and
their plan here was to kill ehemiah, or at least kidnap him."[2] The spiritual
significance of Sanballat's proposal is that Satan is always attempting to induce
God's servants to come down unto the plains of Ono, and to take counsel with evil
men. Satan's purposes are never otherwise than totally evil. "The plain of Ono was
near Lydda, twelve miles north of Jerusalem."[3] Cundall located it 19 miles north
of Jerusalem.[4]
"With an open letter in his hand" ( ehemiah 6:5). This open letter was not sealed,
in order that the escort who carried it might read it and scatter the evil report as
widely as possible. The very fact of sending such an open letter to the head of a
government was an insult.
"Gashmu" ( ehemiah 6:6). This is the name as it appears in the Masoretic text; but
it is believed to be the same as Geshem, as the word is translated in the RSV. He was
an important official whose word might carry weight in Persia; and there was also
the element of plausibility that such a report might carry with it in Persia."[5] The
whole report, however, was totally false.
"Thou hast appointed prophets to preach of thee" ( ehemiah 6:7). Sanballat here
exhibits some knowledge of Hebrew history in which prophets did play a large part
in the anointing of Israel's kings, as in the cases of Saul and David. This supports an
earlier comment that Sanballat might have been an Ephraimite. However,
Sanballat's omission of any reference to ehemiah as being a descendant of the
royal family of David, supports Williamson's argument that, " ehemiah was not of
Davidic descent."[6]
"Thou feignest them out of thine own heart" ( ehemiah 6:8). ehemiah's response
to this well-planned scheme to allure him into a meeting with Sanballat was merely
to send him word that all of his charges were merely a pack of lies which he himself
had invented.
"But now, O God, strengthen thou my hands" ( ehemiah 6:9). Here is another of
ehemiah's impromptu prayers, indicating his complete reliance upon the blessing
of God in order to accomplish his objectives.
Sanballat and Tobiah had corrupted a priest named Shemaiah, who attempted to
get ehemiah killed, having been hired by Tobiah. That is our next episode.
BE SO , " ehemiah 6:1-2. I had not set up the doors — ot all of them. Come, let
us meet together — To consult about the common service of our master the king of
Persia, or to make a friendly accommodation. In one of the villages in the plain of

5. Ono — A city in the tribe of Benjamin, of which see ehemiah 11:35; 1 Chronicles
8:12. But they thought to do me mischief — It is likely they intended to kill him, of
which, perhaps, he had received some private intelligence.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:1 ow it came to pass, when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and
Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall,
and [that] there was no breach left therein; (though at that time I had not set up the
doors upon the gates;)
Ver. 1. ow it came to pass] Lo, here another let to the good work in hand. That in
the fourth chapter was external only; that in the fifth internal only; this here is
mixed, that is, partly cast in by the enemies without (those cruel crafties), and partly
helped on by the perfidious prophets and ignobles within, conspiring with the
enemy against the good of their own country. Thus fluctus fluctum trudit. Disorder
creates disorder.
And the rest of our enemies] The Church’s enemies are not a few, 1 Corinthians
16:9. She is like unto a silly poor maid, saith Luther, sitting in a wood or wilderness,
compassed about with hungry wolves, lions, boars, bears, assaulting her every
moment and minute. The ground of all is that old enmity, Genesis 3:15.
That I had builded the wall] This wall made ehemiah, as Winchester tower at
Windsor made William Wickham, that is, raised and renowned him; and in a like
sense as God is said to have made Moses and Aaron, 1 Samuel 12:6, that is, to have
advanced them in the hearts of his people.
And that there was no breach left therein] It had been but half-built, ehemiah 4:6,
and the breaches but began to be stopped, ehemiah 6:6; ehemiah 6:15, yet now
all is finished, amidst much opposition; so shall the work of grace be in our hearts.
But whilst here a Christian hath his Ulterius More, still (which was Charles V’s
motto), his Superius, Greatest, as the guest in the Gospel that was bid to sit higher,
&c., something is yet wanting to his full and final salvation, which he is still to work
out, Philippians 2:12, like as here, the doors were not yet upon their hinges.
CO STABLE, "The plot to distract ehemiah 6:1-4
The plain of Ono, to which ehemiah"s adversaries invited him for a meeting (
ehemiah 6:2), lay about25 miles west and a little north of Jerusalem near Ashdod
and Judah"s border with Samaria. Israel"s present international airport at Lod,
just east of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast, is very close to this site. It was in a
kind of no-man"s land between Judah and Samaria. If ehemiah had accepted this
invitation he would have been many miles from Jerusalem for at least two days.
This would have given the people of the land opportunity to attack the Jewish
workmen.

6. "Chephirim" ( ehemiah 6:2) may be the proper name of a town. However since it
is the plural of the Hebrew word for village it may be a general reference to the
towns on the Ono plain. Another possibility is that this Hebrew word should be
translated "with the lions" and that this is a figurative reference to the princes of
the surrounding provinces. [ ote: Richard Schiemann, "Covenanting with the
Princes: eh. VI:2 ," Vetus Testamentum17 (July1967):367-69.] ehemiah turned
down four invitations to this meeting ( ehemiah 6:4).
PETT, " ehemiah 6:1
‘ ow it came about, when it was reported to Sanballat and Tobiah, and to Geshem
the Arabian, and to the rest of our enemies, that I had built the wall, and that there
was no breach left in it, (though even to that time I had not set up the doors in the
gates),’
The news reaches all the adversaries spoken of in ehemiah 4:7 that the walls had
been completed apart from the gateways, where the doors had not yet been
completed and hung. It would cause them no little dismay. It indicated that
Jerusalem was once again about to become a power in the land, and that it was now
secure. It could no longer be subjected to intimidation. o longer could unidentified
armed raiding bands enter it at will. ow it would require investment of a fortified
walled city. And that was something that no official in the Persian empire would
dare unless they could prove treason. This resulted in a change of tactics on their
part. It was no longer a question of discouraging the builders. They recognised that
it was now time to dispose of or discredit ehemiah once and for all before it was
finally too late. .
PULPIT, "SECRET PROCEEDI GS OF SA BALLAT A D HIS FRIE DS TO
HI DER THE BUILDI G OF THE WALL, A D THEIR FAILURE. THE WALL
COMPLETED ( ehemiah 6:1-19.). When the open opposition failed, when it was
found that ehemiah's arrangements for guarding the wall ( ehemiah 4:13-23)
were such that success was not likely to attend the employment of force by the
confederates, with such resources as they had at their disposal, and the idea of an
assault was therefore given up, recourse was had to artifice and intrigue. First of all,
Sanballat sent to propose a meeting between himself, Geshem, and ehemiah in the
open country about Ono, twenty-five or thirty miles from Jerusalem, hoping thus to
draw him to a distance from his supporters, and intending to "do him a mischief"
(verse 2). ehemiah, who perceived the snare, declined; but Sanballat persisted, and
made four other proposals for conferences, probably varying the place, but all
without avail. On the fifth and last occasion the letter sent to ehemiah was an open
one, and taxed him with an intention to rebel and make himself king, an intention
which was sure to come to the cars of Artaxerxes, and would bring the Jews into
trouble. An open letter on a delicate subject is in the East an insult, and this step of
Sanballat's could only have been taken in order to excite the mind of ehemiah's
subjects, and to bring pressure to bear on him from them. ehemiah, however, was
not to be intimidated, or diverted from his purpose. He protested that the charge
made against him was a pure calumny, invented by Sanballat himself, and still

7. declined a conference (verse 8). Hereupon intrigues began between Sanballat and
Tobiah, on the one hand, and some of ehemiah's subjects, on the other. Tobiah
was connected by marriage with Jews of high position in Jerusalem (verse 18), and
had thus an excuse for holding frequent correspondence with them (verse 17). His
letters seem to have been allowed free admission into the Jewish capital, and he was
thus enabled to cause serious trouble. At one time he addressed ehemiah himself,
and tried to intimidate him (verse 19). At another he worked upon certain members
of the prophetical order, and by bribes or promises induced them to become his
aiders and abettors. A certain Shemaiah, who appears to have been at once a
prophet (verse 12) and a priest (verse 11), allowed himself to be "hired" by Tobiah
and Sanballat, and laid a plot to bring ehemiah into discredit. He sought an
interview with the governor, and told him that his life was in danger—he knew by
his prophetic gift that on the very next night an attempt would be made by some
one, and ehemiah would be murdered—that is to say, unless he took precautions.
And he had a plan to propose. As a priest, he had free access to the temple building;
he would take ehemiah with him, at some risk to himself, for a bodily impurity
made it illegal for him to enter the holy place, and they would pass the night
together in the sanctuary. So ehemiah's life would be preserved (verse 10). The
object was to induce ehemiah, though a layman, to enter the sanctuary, and so
break the law (verse 13). But the simple manliness and straightforward piety of the
governor frustrated this plot also. "Should a man in my position run away from
danger and hide?" he said. "And if so, should a layman enter the temple? I will not
enter" (verse 11). It was not till afterwards that he found out that the prophecy was
a fiction, and the prophet a bribed liar (verse 12). Other similar attempts seem also
to have been made, about the same time, by other members of the prophetical order,
among whom one only is particularised—the prophetess oadiah (verse 14).
ehemiah, however, stood firm as a rock throughout; and he is able to boast that
"in fifty and two days, on the 25th of Elul, THE WALL WAS FI ISHED" (verse
15). It was a proud moment for the indefatigable and stout-hearted governor, Who
saw his dearest wish accomplished, and must have known that the accomplishment
was mainly due to his own untiring efforts. But he does not claim the gloW for
himself. "When the enemies (i.e. Sanballat, Tobiah, and Geshem) heard of it," he
says, "and the heathen round about us saw it, they were much cast down." And
why? "They perceived that this work was wrought of our God."
ehemiah 6:1
When Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian heard. Literally, "When it
was heard by Sanballat and Tobiah, and by Geshem the Arabian." The preposition
‫ל‬ is repeated with Geshem, but not with Tobiah, probably because Tobiah was
Sanballat's subordinate, but Geshem an independent chief. Hence, too, it was not
proposed that Tobiah should be at the conference. At that time I had not set up the
doors. This may appear to contradict ehemiah 3:1, ehemiah 3:3, ehemiah 3:6,
ehemiah 3:13, etc. But the account of the building in ehemiah 3:1-32. is carried
on to the completion of the whole work, the object there being to state by whom the
different parts were done, and not at what time. Chronologically, ehemiah 4:1-23;
ehemiah 5:1-19; and 6. are parallel to ehemiah 3:1-32, relating events that

8. happened while the wall was being built. The hanging of the doors in the gateways
was, naturally, the last thing done. Upon the gates. Rather, "in the gateways."
EXPOSITOR'S BIBLE COMME TARY, "WISE AS SERPE TS
ehemiah 6:1-19
OPE opposition had totally failed. The watchful garrison had not once permitted a
surprise. In spite of the persistent malignity of his enemies, ehemiah had raised the
walls all round the city till not a breach remained anywhere. The doors had yet to be
hung at the great gateways, but the fortification of Jerusalem had proceeded so far
that it was hopeless for the enemy to attempt any longer to hinder it by violence.
Accordingly the leading antagonists changed their tactics. They turned from force to
fraud - a method of strategy which was a confession of weakness. The antagonism to
the Jews was now in a very different position from that which it had attained before
ehemiah had appeared on the scene, and when all Syria was moved and
Artaxerxes himself won over to the Samaritan view. It had no support from the
Satrap. It was directly against the policy sanctioned by the king. In its impotence it
was driven to adopt humilitating devices of cunning and deceit, and even these
expedients proved to be ineffectual. It has been well remarked that the rustic
tricksters from Samaria were no match for a trained courtier. ehemiah easily
detected the clumsy snares that were set to entrap him. Thus he illustrates that
wisdom of the serpent which our Lord commends to His disciples as a useful
weapon for meeting the temptations and dangers they must be prepared to
encounter. The serpent, repulsive and noxious, the common symbol of sin, to some
the very incarnation of the devil, was credited with a quality worthy of imitation by
One who could see the "soul of goodness in things evil." The subtlety of the keen-
eyed, sinuous beast appeared to Him in the light of a real excellence, which should
be rescued from its degradation in the crawling reptile and set to a worthy use. He
rejoiced in the revelation made to babes, but it would be an insult to the children
whom He set before us as the typical members of the kingdom of heaven to mistake
this for a benediction of stupidity. The fact is, dulness is often nothing but the result
of indolence, it comes from negligence in the cultivation of faculties God has given to
men more generously than they will acknowledge. Surely, true religion, since it
consists in a Divine life, must bring vitality to the whole man, and thus quicken the
intellect as well as the heart. St. James refers to the highest wisdom as a gift which
God bestows liberally and without upbraiding on those who ask for it. [James 1:5]
Our plain duty, therefore, is not to permit ourselves to be befooled to our ruin.
But when we compare the wisdom of ehemiah with the cunning of his enemies we
notice a broad distinction between the two qualities. Sanballat and his fellow-
conspirator, the Arab Geshem, condescend to the meanness of deceit; they try to
allure their victim into their power; they invite him to trust himself to their
hospitality while intending to reward his confidence with treachery; they concoct
false reports to blacken the reputation of the man whom they dare not openly attack
with diabolical craft one of their agents endeavours to tempt ehemiah to an act of

9. cowardice that would involve apparently a culpable breach of religious propriety, in
order that his influence may be undermined by the destruction of his reputation.
From beginning to end this is all a policy of lies. On the other hand, there is not a
shadow of insincerity in ehemiah’s method of frustrating it. He uses his keen
intelligence in discovering the plots of his foes; he never degrades it by weaving
counterplots. In the game of diplomacy he outwits his opponents at every stage. If he
would lend himself to their mendacious methods, he might turn them round his
finger. But he will do nothing of the kind. One after another he breaks up the petty
schemes of the dishonest men who continue to worry him with their devices, and
quietly hands them back the fragments, to their bitter chagrin. His replies are
perfectly frank; his policy is clear as the day. Wise as the serpent, he is harmless as
the dove. A man of astounding discernment, he is nevertheless "an Israelite indeed,
in whom there is no guile."
The first proposal had danger written on the face of it, and the persistence with
which so lame a device was repeated does not do much credit to the ingenuity of the
conspirators. Their very malignity seems to have blinded them to the fact that they
were not deceiving ehemiah. Perhaps they thought that he would yield to sheer
importunity. Their suggestion was that he should come out of Jerusalem and confer
with Sanballat and his friends some miles away in the plain of Sharon. The Jews
were known to be hard-pressed, weary, and famine-stricken, and any overtures that
promised an amicable settlement, or even a temporary truce, might be viewed
acceptably by the anxious governor on whose sole care the social troubles of the
citizens as well as the military protection of the city depended. Very likely
information gleaned from spies within Jerusalem guided the conspirators in
choosing the opportunities for their successive overtures. These would seem most
timely when the social troubles of the Jews were most serious. In another way the
invitation to a parley might be thought attractive to ehemiah. It would appeal to
his nobler feelings. A generous man is unwilling to suspect the dishonesty of his
neighbours.
But ehemiah was not caught by the "confidence trick." He knew the conspirators
intended to do him mischief. Yet as this intention was not actually proved against
them, he put no accusation into his reply. The inference from it was clear enough.
But the message itself could not be construed into any indication of discourtesy.
ehemiah was doing a great work. Therefore he could not come down. This was a
perfectly genuine answer. For the governor to have left Jerusalem at the present
crisis would have been disastrous to the city. The conspirators then tried another
plan for getting ehemiah to meet them outside Jerusalem. They pretended that it
was reported that his work of fortifying the city was carried on with the object of
rebelling against the Persian government, and that this report had gone so far as to
convey the impression that he had induced prophets to preach his kingship. Some
such suspicion had been hinted at before, at the time of ehemiah’s coming up to
Jerusalem, [ ehemiah 2:19] but then its own absurdity had prevented it from
taking root. ow the actual appearance of the walls round the once ruinous city,
and the rising reputation of ehemiah as a man of resource and energy, might give
some colour to the calumny. The point of the conspirators’ device, however, is not to

10. be found in the actual spreading of the dangerous turnout, but in the alarm to be
suggested to ehemiah by the thought that it was being spread. ehemiah would
know very well how much mischief is wrought by idle and quite groundless talk.
The libel may be totally false, and yet it may be impossible for its victim to follow it
up and clear his character in every nook and cranny to which it penetrates. A lie,
like a weed, if it is not nipped in the bud, sheds seeds which every wind of gossip,
will spread far and wide, so that it soon becomes impossible to stamp it out.
In their effort to frighten ehemiah the conspirators suggested that the rumour
would reach the king. They as much as hinted that they would undertake the
business of reporting it themselves if he would not come to terms with them. This
was an attempt at extracting blackmail. Having failed in their appeal to his generous
instincts, the conspirators tried to work on his fears. For any one of less heroic mind
than ehemiah their diabolical threat would have been overwhelmingly powerful.
Even he could not but feel the force of it. It calls to mind the last word of the Jews
that determined Pilate to surrender Jesus to the death he knew was not merited. "If
thou let this Man go, thou art not Caesar’s friend." The suspicion that always
haunts the mind of an autocratic sovereign gives undue weight to any charges of
treason. Artaxerxes was not a Tiberius. But the good-natured monarch was liable to
persuasion. ehemiah must have had occasion to witness many instances of the fatal
consequences of royal displeasure. Could he rely on the continuance of his master’s
favour now he was far from the court, while lying tongues were trying to poison the
ears of the king? Before first speaking of his project for helping his people, he had
trembled at the risk he was about to incur; how then could he now learn with
equanimity that a cruelly mendacious representation of it was being made to
Artaxerxes? His sense of the gravity of the situation is seen in the way in which he
met it. ehemiah indignantly repudiated the charge. He boldly asserted that it had
been invented by the conspirators. To them he showed an unwavering front. But we
are able to look behind the scenes. It is one advantage of this autobiographical
sketch of ehemiah’s that in it the writer repeatedly lifts the veil and reveals to us
the secret of his thoughts. Heroic in the world before men, he still knew his real
human weakness. But he knew too that his strength was in God. Such heroism as his
is not like the stolidity of the lifeless rock. It resembles the strength of the living oak
which grows more massive just in proportion as it is supplied with fresh sap.
According to his custom in every critical moment of his life, ehemiah resorted to
prayer, and thus again we come upon one of those brief ejaculations uttered in the
midst of the stress and strain of a busy life that light up the pages of his narrative
from time to time. The point of his prayer is simple and definite. It is just that his
hands may be strengthened. This would have a twofold bearing. In the first place, it
would certainly seek a revival of inward energy. ehemiah waits on the Lord that
He may renew his strength. He knows that God helps him through his own exercise
of energy, so that if he is to be protected he must be made strong. But the prayer
means more than this. For the hands to be strengthened is for their work to prosper.
ehemiah craves the aid of God that all may go right in spite of the terrible danger
from lying calumnies with which he is confronted, and his prayer is answered. The
second device was frustrated.

11. The third was managed very differently. This time ehemiah was attacked within
the city, for it was now apparent that no attempts to lure him outside the walls could
succeed. A curious characteristic of the new incident is that ehemiah himself paid
a visit to the man who was the treacherous instrument of his enemies’ devices. He
went in person to the house of Shemaiah the prophet-a most mysterious proceeding.
We have no explanation of his reason for going. Had the prophet sent for
ehemiah? or is it possible that in the dread perplexity of the crisis, amid the snares
that surrounded him, oppressed with the loneliness of his position of supreme
responsibility, ehemiah hungered for a Divine message from an inspired oracle? It
is plain from this chapter that the common, everyday prophets-so much below the
great messengers of Jehovah whose writings represent Hebrew prophecy to us
today-had survived the captivity, and were still practising divination much after the
manner of heathen soothsayers, as their fathers had done before them from the time
when a young farmer’s son was sent to Samuel to learn the whereabouts of a lost
team of asses. If ehemiah had resorted to the prophet of his own accord, his
danger was indeed serious. In this case it would be the more to his credit that he did
not permit himself to be duped.
Another feature of the strange incident is not very clear to us. ehemiah tells us that
the prophet was "shut up." [ ehemiah 6:10] What does this mean? Was the man
ceremonially unclean? or ill? or in custody under some accusation? one of these
three explanations can be accepted, because Shemaiah proposed to proceed at once
to the temple with ehemiah, and thus confessed his seclusion to be voluntary. Can
we give a metaphorical interpretation to the expression, and understand the prophet
to be representing himself as under a Divine compulsion, the thought of which may
give the more urgency to the advice he tenders to ehemiah? In this case we should
look for a more explicit statement, for the whole force of his message would depend
upon the authority thus attributed to it. A simpler interpretation, to which the
language of Shemaiah points, and one in accordance with all the wretched,
scheming policy of the enemies of ehemiah, is that the prophet pretended that he
was himself in personal danger as a friend and supporter of the governor, and that
therefore he found it necessary to keep himself in seclusion. Thus by his own
attitude he would try to work on the fears of ehemiah.
The proposal that the prophet should accompany ehemiah to the shelter of the
temple, even into the "Holy Place," was temptingly plausible. The heathen regarded
the shrines of their gods as sanctuaries, and similar notions seem to have attached
themselves to the Jewish altar. Moreover, the massive structure of the temple was
itself a defence-the temple of Herod was the last fortress to be taken in the great
final siege. In the temple, too, ehemiah might hope to be safe from the surprise of a
street emeute among the disaffected sections of the population. Above all, the
presence and counsel of a prophet would seem to sanction and authorise the course
indicated. Yet it was all a cruel snare. This time the purpose was to discredit
ehemiah in the eyes of the Jews, inasmuch as his influence depended largely on his
reputation. But again ehemiah could see through the tricks of his enemies. He was
neither blinded by self-interest nor overawed by prophetic authority. The use of that
authority was the last arrow in the quiver of his foes. They would attack him

12. through his religious faith. Their mistake was that they took too low a view of that
faith. This is the common mistake of the irreligious in their treatment of truly
devout men. ehemiah knew that a prophet could err. Had there not been lying
prophets in the days of Jeremiah? It is a proof of his true spiritual insight that he
could discern one in his pretended protector. The test is clear to a man with so true
a conscience as we see in ehemiah. If the prophet says what we know to be morally
wrong, he cannot be speaking from God. It is not the teaching of the Bible-not the
teaching of the Old Testament any more than that of the ew-that revelation
supersedes conscience, that we are ever to take on authority what our moral nature
abhors. The humility that would lay conscience under the heel of authority is false
and degrading, and it is utterly contrary to the whole tenor of Scripture. One great
sign of the worth of a prophecy is its character. Thus the devout man is to try the
spirits, whether they be of God. [1 John 4:1] ehemiah has the clear, serene
conscience that detects sin when it appears in the guise of sanctity. He sees at a
glance that it would be wrong for him to follow Shemaiah’s advice. It would involve
a cowardly desertion of his post. It would also involve a desecration of the sacred
temple enclosure. How could he, being such as he was-i.e., a layman-go into the
temple, even to save his life. [ ehemiah 6:11] But did not our Lord excuse David for
an analogous action in eating the shewbread? True. But ehemiah did not enjoy the
primitive freedom of David, nor the later enlightened liberty of Christ. In his
intermediate position, in his age of nascent ceremonialism, it was impossible for him
to see that simple human necessities could ever override the claims of ritual. His
duty was shaped to him by his beliefs. So is it with every man. To him that
esteemeth anything sin it is sin. [Romans 14:14]
ehemiah’s answer to the proposal of the wily prophet is very blunt-"I will not go
in." Bluntness is the best reply to sophistry. The whole scheme was open to
ehemiah. He perceived that God had not sent the prophet, that this man was but a
tool in the hands of the Samaritan conspirators. In solemnly committing the leaders
of the vile conspiracy to the judgment of Heaven, ehemiah includes a prophetess,
oadiah-degenerate successor of the patriotic Deborah!-and the whole gang of
corrupt, traitorous prophets. Thus the wrongness of Shemaiah’s proposal not only
discredited his mission, it also revealed the secret of his whole undertaking and that
of his unworthy coadjutors. While ehemiah detected the character of the false
prophecy by means of his clear perceptions of right and wrong, those perceptions
helped him to discover the hidden hand of his foe. He was not to be sheltered in the
temple, as Shemaiah suggested, but he was saved through the keenness of his own
conscience. In this case the wisdom of the serpent in him was the direct outcome of
his high moral nature and the care with which he kept "conscience as the noontide
clear."
ehemiah adds two items by way of postscripts to his account of the building of the
walls.
The first is the completion of the work, with its effect on the jealous enemies of the
Jews. It was finished in fifty-two days-an almost incredibly short time, especially
when the hindrances of internal troubles and external attacks are taken into

13. account. The building must have been hasty and rough. Still it was sufficient for its
purpose. The moral effect of it was the chief result gained. The sense of
discouragement now passed over to the enemy. It was the natural reaction from the
mockery with which they had assailed the commencement of the work, that at the
sight of the completion of it they should be "much cast down." [ ehemiah 6:16] We
can imagine the grim satisfaction with which ehemiah would write these words.
But they tell of more than the humiliation of insulting and deceitful enemies; they
complete an act in a great drama of Providence, in which the courage that stands to
duty in face of all danger and the faith that looks to God in prayer are vindicated.
The second postscript describes yet another source of danger to ehemiah-one
possibly remaining after the walls were up. Tobiah, "the servant," had not been
included in the previous conspiracies But he was playing a little game of his own.
The intermarriage of leading Jewish families with foreigners was bearing dangerous
fruit in his case. Tobiah had married a Jewess, and his son had followed his
example. In each case the alliance had brought him into connection with a well-
known family in Jerusalem. These two families pleaded his merits with ehemiah,
and at the same time acted as spies and reported the words of the governor to
Tobiah. The consequence was the receipt of alarmist letters from this man by
ehemiah. The worst danger might thus be found among the disaffected citizens
within the walls who were irritated at the rigorously exclusive policy of Ezra, which
ehemiah had not discouraged, although he had not yet had occasion to push it
further. The stoutest walls will not protect from treason within the ramparts. So
after all the labour of completing the fortifications ehemiah’s trust must still be in
God alone.
2 Sanballat and Geshem sent me this message:
“Come, let us meet together in one of the villages
[a] on the plain of Ono.”
But they were scheming to harm me;
BAR ES, "The choice made of Ono, on the skirts of Benjamin, 25 or 30 miles from
Jerusalem, as the meeting-place, was, no doubt, in order to draw Nehemiah to a distance
from his supporters, that so an attack might be made on him with a better chance of
success.

14. CLARKE, "Come, let us meet together in - the plain of Ono - They wished to
get him out of Jerusalem from among his friends, that they might either carry him off, or
murder him. Ono is supposed to have been in the tribe of Benjamin, near Jordan.
GILL, "Then Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me,.... Messengers:
saying, come, let us meet together in some one of the villages; in Cephirim,
which Jarchi takes to be the name of a place, perhaps the same with Cephirah, a city in
the tribe of Benjamin, Jos_18:26
in the plain of Ono; which was in the same tribe, see 1Ch_8:12, they might pretend a
friendly meeting, to accommodate differences between them, or to converse together
about the general interest of the king of Persia in those parts:
but they thought to do me mischief; to kill him, or at least to confine him; this he
either conjectured from their general character and behaviour, or he had intelligence of
their design.
JAMISO , "Then Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me — The Samaritan
leaders, convinced that they could not overcome Nehemiah by open arms, resolved to
gain advantage over him by deceit and stratagem. With this in view, under pretext of
terminating their differences in an amicable manner, they invited him to a conference.
The place of rendezvous was fixed “in some one of the villages in the plain of Ono.” “In
the villages” is, Hebrew, “in Cephirim,” or “Chephirah,” the name of a town in the
territory of Benjamin (Jos_9:17; Jos_18:26). Nehemiah, however, apprehensive of some
intended mischief, prudently declined the invitation. Though it was repeated four times,
[Nehemiah’s] uniform answer was that his presence could not be dispensed with from
the important work in which he was engaged. This was one, though not the only, reason.
The principal ground of his refusal was that his seizure or death at their hands would
certainly put a stop to the further progress of the fortifications.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:2 That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me, saying, Come, let
us meet together in [some one of] the villages in the plain of Ono. But they thought
to do me mischief.
Ver. 2. That Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me] As if solicitous of my safety, and
careful of the common good. He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layeth up
deceit within him. When he speaketh fair believe him not; for there are seven
abominations in his heart, Proverbs 26:24-25. ehemiah well knew that all this
pretended courtesy was but dross upon dirt, ehemiah 6:13, a fair glove drawn
upon a foul hand, a cunning collusion to undo him. He therefore keeps aloof: quia
me vestigia terrent, &c.
Come, let us meet together] Thus they called him to conference and consultation

15. whiles the doors were not yet upon the gates; purposely to take him off the work; as
the fox diverts the huntsman from following the hare; and as our deceitful hearts do
too often draw us away from the prosecution of good purposes, by casting many
other odd impertinent matters an our way.
In the plain of Ono] Which was in the tribe of Benjamin, ehemiah 11:30-31, near
to Jerusalem; that he might the sooner come, and be the more secure; so the Papists
appointed Trent for their conventicle, as near to the Reformed Churches; inviting
their divines thereunto sub fide publica; under public trust, but that council was
carried by the pope and his complices, with such infinite guile and craft, without
any sincerity, upright dealing, and truth, as that the Protestants, Calvin, Buret, &c.,
kept off; as seeing that it was to no purpose to come among them.
But they thought to do me mischief] To kill me, or, at least, to captivate me.
ELLICOTT, "(2) Sanballat and Geshem.—In the original of ehemiah 6:1, Tobiah
is not distinguished from Sanballat by another preposition, as Geshem is; and here
he is omitted, as not to appear in the conference otherwise than as Sanballat’s
secretary.
In some one of the villages in the plain of Ono.—Probably, in Hahkiphirem, the
name of a village in the plain of Ono, which was on the borders of Philistia, more
than twenty miles from Jerusalem.
LA GE, " ehemiah 6:2. The omission of Tobiah’s name is an indication that he
was merely an attaché of Sanballat. otice also (in the Heb.) that the prep. is not
repeated before Tobiah, as it is before Geshem.—Villages.—Some take this as a
proper name, Chephirim.—Ono, with Lod and Hadid, is mentioned in ehemiah
7:37 between Jericho and Senaah, as if it might be in the Jordan depression; but the
name of Lod is generally identified with Ludd or Lydda in the Sharon plain, twenty-
five miles north-west of Jerusalem. If Song of Solomon, the ordinary siting of Ono in
that plain is doubtless correct. Eusebius places it at three miles from Lydda.
Why Sanballat should select so distant a spot is puzzling, unless he happened to be
stationed there himself at the time. Otherwise he would know that the invitation
would arouse ehemiah’s suspicions. There may be another Ono near Chephirah,
which is ten miles north-west of Jerusalem, and Chephirim (villages) may stand for
Chephirah.
PETT, " ehemiah 6:2
‘That Sanballat and Geshem sent to me, saying, “Come, let us meet together in (one
of) the villages (or ‘in Hakkephirim’) in the plain of Ono.” But they thought to do
me mischief.’
For this purpose Sanballat, governor of Samaria, and Geshem, king of Kedar and

16. paramount chief of the Arab tribes, came together to plot against him. They called
on ehemiah to meet them at Hakkephirim (or ‘the villages’) in the plain of Ono so
as to discuss matters. This was on the north west border of Judah and equi-distant
from the cities of Jerusalem and Samaria. But it was also remote enough for things
that happened there to be covered up. ‘Sons of Ono’ had been among the first
returnees from Babylon (2:33). ehemiah sensed a trap and determined not to go
(‘they sought to do me mischief’). Why else meet in such a remote part of Judah
where he would be vulnerable? Furthermore were he to take his armed escort with
him it would leave Jerusalem partially defenceless.
PULPIT, "In some one of the villages. The Hebrew has "in the villages," which
seems too vague. Bertheau therefore suggests, "in Hakkiphirim," taking the word as
the name of a particular village, which is probably right. Ono was near Lydda, in
the plain country bordering on Philistia. They thought to do me mischief. A
euphemism for "they thought to murder me."
3 so I sent messengers to them with this reply: “I
am carrying on a great project and cannot go
down. Why should the work stop while I leave it
and go down to you?”
CLARKE, "I am doing a great work - Though he knew their design, he does not
think it prudent to mention it. Had he done so, they would probably have gone to
extremities, finding that they were discovered; and perhaps in a formidable body
attacked Jerusalem, when ill provided to sustain such a shock. They wished to effect
their purpose rather by treachery than by open violence. I know not any language which
a man who is employed on important labors can use more suitably, as an answer to the
thousand invitations and provocations he may have to remit his work, enter into useless
or trivial conferences, or notice weak, wicked, and malicious attacks on his work and his
motives: “I am doing a great work, so I cannot stoop to your nonsense, or notice your
malevolence. Why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to such as
you?”

17. GILL, "And I sent messengers unto them,.... He did not show any open contempt
of them, nor did he even return answer by the messenger that came from them, but sent
some of his own people to them:
saying, I am doing a great work; was about an affair of great importance, very busy,
and not at leisure to give them a meeting:
so that I cannot come down; Jerusalem being built on an eminence, and the place
proposed to meet at in a plain, going thither is expressed by coming down:
why should the work cease, while I leave it, and come down to you? signifying
that it would cease if he left it; and it being of greater consequence than anything they
could have to converse about, he argues it would be wrong to relinquish it on such an
account; this was the reason he thought fit to give, but was not the only, nor the
principal reason, which is suggested in the preceding verse.
HE RY, "Neh_6:3
Nehemiah sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot
come down thither. Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?”
That is, he let them know that he could not undertake the journey, because his presence
in Jerusalem was necessary for the uninterrupted prosecution of the work of building.
K&D, "Neh_6:3
Nehemiah sent messengers to them, saying: “I am doing a great work, and I cannot
come down thither. Why should the work cease whilst I leave it and come down to you?”
That is, he let them know that he could not undertake the journey, because his presence
in Jerusalem was necessary for the uninterrupted prosecution of the work of building.
BE SO , " ehemiah 6:3. I am doing a great work — He acquainted them that he
thought the business which they might have with him could not be of such
importance as that which he had in hand; and therefore he would not put a stop to
it to come and confer with them. Thus he tells them one, but not the only, nor the
principal reason of his refusal; for he properly judged that it would answer no good
end to intimate to them his suspicions of their design to compass his death.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:3 And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I [am] doing a
great work, so that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave
it, and come down to you?
Ver. 3. And I sent messengers unto them] He went not, but sent. This was to be wise
as a serpent, Matthew 10:16. God calleth us not to a weak simplicity, but alloweth us
as much of the serpent as of the dove, and telleth us that a serpent’s eye in a dove’s
head is a singular accomplishment. Beware of men, ehemiah 6:18, brutish persons,
skilful to destroy, Ezekiel 21:31. Bless yourselves from Machiavellians (those
matchless villanies), and pray, with David, to be delivered from lying lips and from
a deceitful tongue, Psalms 120:2. The Cardinal of Lorraine (the chief engineer of the
French Massacre) sent to Christopher, Duke of Wirtsberg, a prudent and a valiant

18. prince, that he and his brethren, the Guises, would embrace the Protestant religion,
and desired to be enrolled in the number of the Protestant princes; but they knew
him too well to trust him.
I am doiny a great work, so that I cannot come down] I cannot intend it, as having
my hands more full of employment than that I can give heed to your compliments.
There is a curse to him that doth the work of the Lord negligently or deceitfully.
And lata negligentia dolus est, saith the Civilian, Remissness is a kind of
perfidiousness.
Why should the work cease?] As it would, or at least go but slowly on, in his
absence; he was εργοδιωκτης, the driver on of tbe business; as was likewise Boaz,
who, therefore, followed it so closely himself, Ruth 2:4; his eyes were upon the
servants, reapers, gleaners; he lodged in the midst of his husbandry. Let the tempter
ever find us busy, and he will depart discouraged, as Cupid is said to do from the
muses, whom he could never take idle. Standing water soon stinks, empty stomachs
draw the humour that is next it; so doth the idle heart evil motions. An industrious
ehemiah is not at leisure to parley with Sanballat; lest if he let any water go beside
the mill, he should be a great loser by it. His employment is as a guard or good
angel, to keep him both right and safe.
EXPOSITOR'S DICTIO ARY, "A Great Work
ehemiah 6:3
There are three thoughts in these words: a work—greatness—and elevation. They
are exactly the three thoughts which every earnest man has about religion. They are
exactly the three things which a man needs. An object—a feeling that his object is
worthy—and a sense of height, which lifts him up, and does him good. "I am doing
a great work, so that I cannot come down."
It is so essential that you should feel the greatness and the dignity of the "work" to
which you are called that I wish to place the matter before you a little more in detail.
I. Faith a Great Work.—I hold it to be a very "great" and a very high "work" to
believe. Else, why do so few, so very few, really believe? That inner life of faith, and
the cultivation of it, is a thing, I believe, higher than an archangel"s work. o
archangel is called to believe. Very remote is it from the processes of our common
world. Yet if you will be always coming down to the things of sense and sight—if
you will measure the invisible by what you find around—if you will reduce faith to a
sort of materialism—if you will mix it up with the material, and qualify it by the
ordinary principles of human reasoning—you cannot believe! Faith will not grow
down there. The only hope for it is to keep up in that region, which is the region of
ideas and affections—that upper region, where only such things live.

19. II. Sanctification a Great Work.—It is "a great work" which a man is pursuing,
when he is engaged in his own sanctification. Depend upon it, it is no light matter to
send upwards what have such an almost irresistible tendency to be always going
downwards. It is no trifle to take the iron out of a man"s heart, and to get it into
such a soft, melted state, that it may be moulded into a perfectly different shape
from what it is—to take the image of God. Depend upon it, it is no light thing to root
out that deep selfishness, and that miserable pride, and that clogging temper, which
have so mingled themselves with you, that they have become your own moral being,
and to show nothing in their place but daily proofs of a gentle, forgiving mind, a
tenderness and self-forgetfulness.
III. Usefulness to Others a Great Work.—There is another "work" in which every
Christian is occupied—high, and blessed, and holy—the "work" of being useful to
others, and extending the kingdom of God. I very much suspect the Christianity of
that man who has not some distinct engagement, in which he Isaiah , every day,
endeavouring to do something to serve God. We are so constituted that we must
"work". It was the sentence on the whole family of man—"labour". The Gospel has
turned it into blessing; but still the sentence is upon every living man—"labour".
And no mind can be healthy, no man"s soul will go on well, which cannot say,
concerning some undertaking—"I am doing a great work, so that I cannot come
down".
PARKER, "The Work Finished
ehemiah 6
WE read that Sanballat and Tobiah, and the rest of the enemies of the Jews, invited
ehemiah to a conference in one of the villages in the plain of Ono.
"And I [ ehemiah] sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so
that I cannot come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come
down to you?" ( ehemiah 6:3).
Do we know what work is? Really very few people have an adequate conception of
work. The difficulty which we feel in going through English life to-day is that
certain persons are marked off as belonging to the working-classes. There Isaiah , in
a certain well-understood sense, no higher aristocracy in any land than the
aristocracy of labour; but we must come to something like a sensible and correct
definition of work. We have known the secretary of a great religious institution to be
at his desk, busy with the papers of the society, at eleven o"clock at night, and back
again at his desk, busy with the same papers, at five o"clock in the morning, and
this, with very rare intermissions, for weeks and months together. How should we
define a man like that? He wears a black coat, he is generally very nice in his
personal appearance, and on his hand there is no deeper stain than an occasional
drop of ink. We may surely call him a working man. If we can only come to correct
definitions of labour, there will be a unanimous sentiment that the working classes
are the best classes of all. ehemiah had a grand conception of work, and that

20. conception was an answer to temptation—was a shield in the day of assault—was a
pavilion in the time of peril.
Most people are idle, and when they are idle, what do they do? They look round for
an opportunity of amusing themselves, frivolously engaging their attention, and
elaborately doing nothing, and getting tired by the fruitless exercise. Do not ask the
preacher to give you mere doctrine as an answer to temptation and to the lures of
the enemy. Have work to do worthy of your powers. Give yourselves to it night and
day: say you are engaged, occupied, forsworn, and have no time to attend to the
invitations which may be addressed to you to leave the heights and go down into the
valleys.
There are some people who cannot say "no" to an invitation. The fact that they have
received an invitation seems to imply that they must accept it. Their reasoning is a
very simple process—it would stand roughly thus: "I have been asked to go out—I
have been invited to attend—I have received a courteous and most respectful
message requesting me to be there, and therefore I must go." Probably in most cases
the reasoning is tolerably correct, because the people have nothing else to do. They
are on the outlook for such opportunities—they are listening at the gate for the
messenger—they say, "Why doth he delay?" The idle man is always exposed to
temptation.
Work is an answer to temptation, work is companionship, work is rest. Let us have
occupation, some labour to do: it is a delight to the mind to be conquering some new
province of thought, to be preparing oneself for tomorrow"s greater fight. We know
of no gate so easily opened—nay, verily, that needs no opening at all, for it stands
open constantly, and on its bars there are large, loud welcomes—as idleness.
ehemiah had a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, and his whole soul
was devoted to the building of a wall—and to be asked to go down to chatter with
Sanballat in the villages was an insult to his earnestness. It fell like a drop of cold
water on the burning fire of his patriotic enthusiasm.
It was a stinging answer to Sanballat. ehemiah magnified his work; he said it was
a great work. Let a man get a poor conception of his work, and you may trifle with
him, you may get at him through the medium of his vanity; you may say,
"Occupation of this kind is unworthy of a man of your genius: why should a man of
such herculean power as you possess devote himself to this frivolous engagement? A
man like you should be occupied with some far higher concerns; leave this with the
contempt it deserves, and seek a nobler sphere worthy of your blazing genius." But
let a man feel that his work is the work, the right work, the supreme work, the God-
given work, and he wears mail from the crown of his head to the sole of his foot,
which spear and dart and sword cannot penetrate. What is your work? Is it
something to which you have to stoop very, very far? Say not so: if it be honest,
honourable, there is no stooping about it: it will do to begin with. The kingdom of
heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, and if that great kingdom can so contract
itself as to take upon its glory a symbol so humble, surely there is nothing so very
lowering in your honest occupation that you need fancy it lies infinite abysses below

21. the capacity and the splendour of your unrivalled powers? He that is faithful in little
will be faithful in much. Be right in the village, and thou shalt see the provincial
city: be right in the provincial city, thou shalt see Rome also. The key of every
metropolis is on the Master"s girdle.
The answer which ehemiah made to Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the
Arabian, is the answer which Christianity makes to all controversy. Some men
would like to see Christianity going up and down the world with a small weapon
ready to assail everybody that had an evil word to say against it. Christianity does
nothing of the kind; Christianity is a gospel, not an argument; Christianity is a
Revelation , not a contention only; Christianity is a redemption, a baptism of blood,
not an unholy fray, a chatter with evil speakers, a war of words with souls that
mistake their own ignorance for the philosophy of the universe. The preacher
should meddle but little with merely controversial topics. We would have him true
to his gospel; we would have him take up the silver trumpet and blow it sweetly,
loudly, resonantly, that every soul might hear that the Son of man is come to seek
and to save that which is lost; and we would have that word "lost" so rung out of
the trumpet that on farthest shore and in densest forest the prodigal might hear it
and accept it as a welcome to his Father"s house. Are you somewhere down in the
plain, pining over Christianity, and saying that you have doubts and difficulties in
your mind regarding the philosophy of redemption, and you want some man to
come and join you at your dinner in order to talk it out? The answer of the earnest
man will be, "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down." You must go up
in your thinking, in your inquiries; you must lift up the whole level and scale of your
nature, start your investigation from a higher point, if ever you are to get at the
truth as it is in Christ Jesus. If you have felt the bitterness of sin, you have so far
become prepared to taste the sweetness of grace; if you have known guilt as a
burden, then you have so far prepared yourself to hear of this gospel—"Come unto
me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you—rest." But if your
guilt has not yet become a burden, if it is some cloud lying off on the far horizon at
which you can take a furtive glance now and then and keep at a distance from you,
then there is nothing in all the great swelling, bursting heart of Christ to touch such
as you. When that cloud comes round, thickens, rolls out, shapes itself as if coming
in your direction—comes nearer, touches you, crushes you—then you will be in the
right mood of mind and heart to hear the gospel that Jesus Christ came into the
world for the express purpose of lifting off such burdens as these, and you will be
filled with great joy, as were those who listened to the annunciation song of the
angels when they said that a Prince and a Saviour was born in the city of David.
We would have the Christian preacher keep to his doctrine, to his positive text, to
his distinct and affirmative gospel, and we would have all men know that it is folly
to forsake a positive advantage for an uncertain good. Let us leave it to fabled dogs
to snatch the shadow in the stream. There are some three or four things about Jesus
Christ that we do know—concerning which there can be no controversy; with all the
tendrils of your love, with all the energies of your mind, get hold of these, and say to
carping Pharisee and to mocking pagan, "One thing I know, whereas I was blind,
now I see." You know that Jesus Christ lived, and never lived for himself, and never

22. shrank from labour—never spake a belittling word, never took a narrow view,
never sent a soul empty away, never spoke harshly to contrite hearts and to weeping
eyes—said to a poor sister, "Go, and sin no more." The Man that did these things
must be saved from the blasphemy of tormentors, and must be saved from the
vexation of merely technical controversy.
Sanballat, and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, were not easily put off. either are
our enemies. They sent four times to ehemiah , and four times ehemiah answered
them after the same manner. Then they made a fifth attempt—this time with an
open letter in the hand of a servant. The fact that a letter was open had great
signification to a Jew, for the Jew, having written a letter and closed it, wrote upon
the outside, in Hebrew, curses, anathemas, maledictions upon the man that should
trifle with the seal. In this case they did not use the seal—they sent a servant with an
open letter, intimating to ehemiah that they did not care who knew the contents,
because, as a matter of fact, the purposes of ehemiah were very well understood to
be purposes of high treason: that ehemiah was making a throne for himself,
preparing to ascend that throne as the king of the Jews, and making all
arrangements consistent with the theory of his procuratorship. ehemiah took the
letter and read:
ISBET, "HARMFUL MEDDLERS A D HOW TO TREAT THEM
‘And I sent messengers unto them, saying, I am doing a great work, so that I cannot
come down: why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and come down to you?’
ehemiah 6:3
ehemiah’s work was not the building of the altar, not the completing of the
Temple; his work was the building up of the walls of Jerusalem, building up the
wall round about and setting up the gates again.
I. otice the solitude of ehemiah.—It was in the absence of sympathy that he was
first stirred. He had the burden of solitude, not only when he was away in Shushan,
but also when he came to Jerusalem. If you would take part in the reformation, the
rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem, bring it home to yourselves—this solitude of
ehemiah.
II. The sadness of ehemiah shows that he had the true fire within him of the love of
the Church of God. It was enough to take from him all the pleasure of the music and
the court; it was nothing to him that he was cup-bearer in the royal presence, that
he was highly spoken of. All this was nothing to him, because the walls of Jerusalem,
the city of his God, were fallen down.
III. When he did set about the work of God, he made known what was in his heart
to others.—He worked with others. Though he bore the burden of solitude, he did
not carry out his work in any selfish spirit, but he worked with others.
IV. It is mentioned especially of one man that he repaired over against his own
house.—Just where a man saw the wall wanted repairing nearest to him, there he
set to work to build. And so by faithful perseverance the wall was built. And when it

23. was finished the heathen and those that had opposed the building were very
downcast in their souls, for they perceived that the wall was wrought of God. They
saw that their opposition had been baffled, and that the work was done for the glory
of God.
—Bishop Edward King.
Illustration
‘We cannot but admire the wisdom, and resolution, and singleness of aim of the
Jewish patriot in penetrating the designs of his enemies, and in refusing to be drawn
away from the great work he had in hand on any pretext whatever. He had such a
profound and overwhelming sense of the grandeur and sacredness of the enterprise,
that no consideration whatever could induce him to abandon it, or to expose it to the
risk of betrayal by unworthy compromise. What a noble example to the patriot
statesmen in every age when plied by the wiles of worldly antagonists to abandon or
betray a righteous cause—when an attempt is made to draw them into the plain of
Ono, from the mountain of high principle into the low flat of expediency, from the
city of God’s truth and cause into one of the meaner villages of worldly compromise
and conformity!’
PETT, " ehemiah 6:3
‘And I sent messengers to them, saying, “I am doing a huge (a hugely important)
work, so that I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it, and
come down to you?”
So he sent messengers pointing out that he was very busy with finalising the
defences of Jerusalem and therefore could not come down. What he was doing was
hugely important. Why should he stop the work in order to come down to them? If
they wanted to speak to him, why could they not come to Jerusalem?
4 Four times they sent me the same message, and
each time I gave them the same answer.
GILL, "Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort,.... Being very desirous of
getting him into their hands, and therefore were very pressing and importunate:
and I answered them after the same manner; every time as before, he being as

24. much bent on finishing the work as they were to divert him from it.
K&D, "Neh_6:4
They sent to him four times in the same manner (‫ה‬ֶ ַ‫ה‬ ‫ר‬ ָ‫ב‬ ָ ַⅴ, comp. 2Sa_15:6), and
Nehemiah gave them the same answer.
BE SO , " ehemiah 6:4. Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort — We
must never be overcome by the greatest importunity to do any thing ill or
imprudent: but when we are attacked with the same temptation, still resist it with
the same reason and resolution.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:4 Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort; and I
answered them after the same manner.
Ver. 4. Yet they sent unto me four times] As thinking to prevail by their
importunity. This wicked men have learned from their master Beelzebub, the lord
of flies, as the name ( αποµυιος) signifieth, or master fly, that will not off the bait till
beaten, and hardly then. Sin hath painted an impudency in some men’s faces; and it
appears they are past all grace, because shameless, Et pudet non esse impudentes, it
is not shameful to be impudent. saith Austin.
And I answered them after the same manner] ehemiah stood immoveable as a
rock; he was homo quadratus, man, four-square, not to be altered, but firm to his
principles, resolute in his holy purposes. We may style him (as Theodoret doth
Athanasius) the bulwark of truth ( προβολον της αληθειας), the Church’s champion.
ec tremere, nec timide, may seem to have been his motto, neither temerarious nor
timorous.
PETT, " ehemiah 6:4
‘And they sent to me four times in this way, and I answered them in the same way.’
But his opponents were very determined and sent the same message four times.
Each time, however, ehemiah made the same reply. This response to the summons
clearly indicates that ehemiah was not subordinate to Sanballat, whatever may
have been the case with past governors. And their very persistence indicates that
there was evil work afoot, otherwise they could have suggested a change in venue.
5 Then, the fifth time, Sanballat sent his aide to
me with the same message, and in his hand was an

25. unsealed letter
BAR ES, "The letter was “open,” in order that the contents might be generally
known, and that the Jews, alarmed at the threats contained in it, might refuse to
continue the work.
CLARKE, "With an open letter in his hand - This was an insult to a person of
Nehemiah’s quality: as letters sent to chiefs and governors in the East are always
carefully folded up, and put in costly silken bags, and these carefully sealed. The
circumstance is thus marked to show the contempt he (Sanballat) had for him.
GILL, "Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth
time,.... In his own name, neither Tobiah nor Geshem joining with him, he being more
solicitous and anxious to get him into his hands than any of them; and it may be, as
some think, pretending more friendship for him than the rest, and therefore writes
alone, as if they knew nothing of his writing:
with an open letter in his hand: which having in it an intimation of Nehemiah being
guilty of treason, anyone that would might read it, and so spread the defamation.
HE RY 5-9, "A plot to terrify him from his work. Could they but drive him off, the
work would cease of course. This therefore Sanballat attempts, but in vain. 1. he
endeavours to possess Nehemiah with an apprehension that his undertaking to build the
walls of Jerusalem was generally represented as factious and seditious, and would be
resented accordingly at court, Neh_6:5-7. The best men, even in their most innocent and
excellent performances, have lain under this imputation. This is written to him in an
open letter, as a thing generally known and talked of, that it was reported among the
nations, and Gashmu will aver it for truth, that Nehemiah was aiming to make himself
king and to shake off the Persian yoke. Note, It is common for that which is the sense
only of the malicious to be falsely represented by them as the sense of the many. Now
Sanballat pretends to inform Nehemiah of this as a friend, that he might hasten to court
to clear himself, or stay his proceedings, for fear they should be thus misconstrued; at
least, upon this surmise, he urges him to give him the meeting - “Let us take counsel
together how to quell the report,” hoping by this means either to take him off, or at least
to take him off from his business. Thus were his words softer than oil, and yet war was
in his heart, and he hoped, like Judas, to kiss and kill. But surely in vain is the net spread
in the sight of any bird. Nehemiah was soon aware what they aimed at, to weaken their
hands from the work (Neh_6:9), and therefore not only denied that such things were
true, but that they were reported; he was better known than to be thus suspected. 2.
Thus he escaped the snare and kept his ground, nor would he be frightened by winds
and clouds from sowing and reaping. Suppose it was thus reported, we must never omit
known duty merely for fear it should be misconstrued; but, while we keep a good

26. conscience, let us trust God with our good name. But indeed it was not thus reported.
God's people, though sufficiently loaded with reproach, yet are not really so low in
reputation as some would have them thought to be.
In the midst of his complaint of their malice, in endeavouring to frighten him, and so
weaken his hands, he lifts up his heart to Heaven in this short prayer: Now therefore, O
God! strengthen my hands. It is the great support and relief of good people that in all
their straits and difficulties they have a good God to go to, from whom, by faith and
prayer, they may fetch in grace to silence their fears and strengthen their hands when
their enemies are endeavouring to fill them with fears and weaken their hands. When, in
our Christian work and warfare, we are entering upon any particular services or
conflicts, this is a good prayer for us to put up: “I have such a duty to do, such a
temptation to grapple with; now therefore, O God! strengthen my hands.” Some read it,
not as a prayer, but as a holy resolution (for O God is supplied in our translation): Now
therefore I will strengthen my hands. Note, Christian fortitude will be sharpened by
opposition. Every temptation to draw us from duty should quicken us so much the more
to duty.
JAMISO 5-9, "Then sent Sanballat his servant ... the fifth time with an
open letter in his hand — In Western Asia, letters, after being rolled up like a map,
are flattened to the breadth of an inch; and instead of being sealed, they are pasted at the
ends. In Eastern Asia, the Persians make up their letters in the form of a roll about six
inches long, and a bit of paper is fastened round it with gum, and sealed with an
impression of ink, which resembles our printers’ ink, but it is not so thick. Letters were,
and are still, sent to persons of distinction in a bag or purse, and even to equals they are
enclosed - the tie being made with a colored ribbon. But to inferiors, or persons who are
to be treated contemptuously, the letters were sent open - that is, not enclosed in a bag.
Nehemiah, accustomed to the punctilious ceremonial of the Persian court, would at once
notice the want of the usual formality and know that it was from designed disrespect.
The strain of the letter was equally insolent. It was to this effect: The fortifications with
which he was so busy were intended to strengthen his position in the view of a meditated
revolt: he had engaged prophets to incite the people to enter into his design and support
his claim to be their native king; and, to stop the circulation of such reports, which
would soon reach the court, he was earnestly besought to come to the wished-for
conference. Nehemiah, strong in the consciousness of his own integrity, and penetrating
the purpose of this shallow artifice, replied that there were no rumors of the kind
described, that the idea of a revolt and the stimulating addresses of hired demagogues
were stories of the writer’s own invention, and that he declined now, as formerly, to
leave his work.
K&D, "Neh_6:5-6
Then Sanballat sent his servant in this manner, the fifth time, with an open letter, in
which was written: “It is reported (‫ע‬ ָ‫מ‬ ְ‫שׁ‬ִ‫,נ‬ it is heard) among the nations, and Gashmu
saith, (that) thou and the Jews intend to rebel; for which cause thou buildest the wall,
and thou wilt be their king, according to these words.” “The nations” are naturally the
nations dwelling in the land, in the neighbourhood of the Jewish community. On the
form Gashmu, comp. rem. on Neh_2:19. ‫ה‬ֶ‫ּו‬‫ה‬, the particip., is used of that which any one
intends or prepares to do: thou art intending to become their king. ‫ן‬ ֵⅴ‫ל־‬ ַ‫,ע‬ therefore, for

27. no other reason than to rebel, dost thou build the wall.
BE SO , " ehemiah 6:5-6. With an open letter in his hand — Before, the message
was delivered by word of mouth, but now by letter; yet open, as speaking of a thing
commonly known, or in order that every one might see of what he was accused. It is
reported among the heathen — The neighbouring people, whom you proudly and
disdainfully call heathen. And Gashmu saith it — Probably the same as Geshem,
mentioned ehemiah 6:1. That thou and the Jews think to rebel — Thus he
endeavours to possess ehemiah with an apprehension that his undertaking to build
the walls of Jerusalem was generally considered as a factious and seditious
proceeding, and would be resented accordingly at court. Some of the best men, even
in their most innocent and excellent performances, have lain under a similar
imputation. That thou mayest be king, according to these words — That is,
according to these reports; or, according to these things, namely, when these things,
which thou art now doing, shall be finished.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:5 Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the
fifth time with an open letter in his hand;
Ver. 5. Then sent Sanballat … the fifth time] So restless are wicked persons; their
souls are violently tossed about, as in a sling, 1 Samuel 25:29, Etsi non aliqua
docuissent, &c. although they would not be taught by anything, Satan, their
taskmaster, urgeth them; and when thou seest them most importunate and
outrageous, Scito quia ab accensore suo daemone perurgentur, saith Bernard, know
thou that the devil pricks them, and kicks them on to it.
With an open letter in his hand] ot sealed, as the manner is, for secrecy’ sake. The
Jews use to write upon the back of their letters un, Cheth, Shin; that is, iddui,
Cherem, and Shammatha, all sorts of excommunication to him that shall open them.
But this letter was purposely sent open, that whoso would might read it ere it came
to ehemiah’s hand, and be warned of having a hand in the pretended treason.
COKE, " ehemiah 6:5. With an open letter in his hand— orden tells us, that
when he and his company were at Essuaen, an express arrived there, dispatched by
an Arab prince, who brought a letter directed to the reys, or master of their bark,
enjoining him not to set out with his bark, or carry them any further; adding, that
in a day's time he should be at Essuaen, and would there give his orders respecting
them. "The letter, however, according to the usage of the Turks," says this author,
"was open; and, as the reys was not on board, the pilot carried it to one of our
fathers to read it." Sanballat's sending his servant, therefore, with an open letter, as
here specified, did not appear an odd thing, it should seem: but, if it was according
to their usages, why is this circumstance complained of, as it visibly is? Why, indeed,
is it mentioned at all?—Because, however the sending of letters open to common
people may be customary in these countries, it is not according to their usages to
send them so to people of distinction. So Bishop Pococke, in his account of that very
country where orden was when this letter was brought, gives us, among other

28. things, in the 57th plate, the figure of a Turkish letter put into a sattin bag, to be
sent to a great man, with a paper tied to it, directed and sealed, and an ivory button
tied on the wax. Indeed, according to D'Arvieux, the great emir of the Arabs was not
wont to inclose his letters in these bags, any more than to have them adorned with
flourishes; but then this is supposed to have been owing to the unpoliteness of the
Arabs: and he tells us, that when he acted as secretary to the emir, he supplied these
defects, and that his doing so was highly acceptable to the emir. Had this open letter
then come from Geshem, who was an Arab, ( ehemiah 6:1.) it might have passed
unnoticed; but as it was from Sanballat, the inclosing it in a handsome bag was a
ceremony that ehemiah had reason to expect from him, since he was a person of
distinction in the Persian court, and at that time governor of Judea: and the not
doing it was a great insult; insinuating, that though ehemiah was, according to
him, preparing to assume the royal dignity, he should be so far from acknowledging
him in that character, that he would not even pay him the compliment due to every
person of distinction. See the Observations, p. 295.
CO STABLE, "Verses 5-9
The plot to discredit ehemiah 6:5-9
Sanballat sent his "open letter" ( ehemiah 6:6) to all the Jews, not just to
ehemiah. Its purpose was doubtless to create division among the Jews who might
begin to wonder if their leader"s motive really was as Sanballat suggested.
"Another proof of Sanballat"s dishonest intentions is that he sent an open letter, i.e,
not sealed, as was the custom in those days. With the open letter, which could be
read by anyone on the way, he was responsible for the further spreading of the
rumor." [ ote: Fensham, p202.]
"Gashmu" ( ehemiah 6:6) is a variant spelling of Geshem ( ehemiah 6:1).
ehemiah did not let this threat intimidate him and flatly denied the charge (
ehemiah 6:8). Since ehemiah had a reputation as a man of integrity among the
Jews, this seed of doubt did not take root in their minds.
ELLICOTT, "(5) The fifth time with an open letter in his hand.—Four times they
strive to induce ehemiah to meet them, under various pretexts, with the intention
of doing him personal harm. Each time his reply was to the effect that he was
finishing his own work, not without a touch of irony. This answer has an universal
application, which preachers have known how to use. In the fifth letter the tactics
are changed: the silken bag containing the missive was not sealed, and it was hoped
that ehemiah would be alarmed by the thought that its contents had been read by
the people.
PETT, " ehemiah 6:5
Then Sanballat sent his official to me in the same way the fifth time with an open
letter in his hand,’
When their attempt failed Sanballat then tried to increase the pressure. He sent his

29. fifth message as an open letter, unsealed. This would mean that anyone could read
it, which in view of its contents indicates that Sanballat wanted what was in it to
become widely known. He was seeking to build up suspicion against ehemiah.
6 in which was written:
“It is reported among the nations—and Geshem
[b] says it is true—that you and the Jews are
plotting to revolt, and therefore you are building
the wall. Moreover, according to these reports you
are about to become their king
CLARKE, "And Gashmu saith it - You are accused of crimes against the state, and
Geshem, the Arabian, is your accuser.
GILL, "Wherein was written, it is reported among, the Heathen,.... Among the
several neighbouring nations; it was an affair that was not whispered about among a few
only; it was common talk, it was in every body's mouth in divers nations:
and Gashmu saith it; the same with Geshem the Arabian; he affirms it, and will abide
by his assertion, and engages to make good what he says; he mentions him by name,
who he knew would not be offended with him for making use of it, and who doubtless
agreed that he should; that Nehemiah might not think this was the talk of some of the
lower rank of the people, but even was averred by no less than the king's governor in
Arabia:
that thou and the Jews think to rebel; that they had formed a scheme, and were
taking measures to raise a rebellion against the king of Persia, and revolt from him:
for which cause thou buildest the wall; the wall of Jerusalem, for their security
against any force that might be sent to quell them:

30. that thou mayest be their king, according to these words; written in this epistle,
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:6 Wherein [was] written, It is reported among the heathen,
and Gashmu saith [it, that] thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou
buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words.
Ver. 6. It is reported among the heathen] And must, therefore, needs be true, like as
the common sort of Turks think that whatsoever is written in their tongue must of
necessity be believed for truth. But who knows not that rumour is a loud liar; and
that every public person needeth carry a spare handkerchief to wipe off dirt cast
upon him by disaffected persons, that seek to soil their reputation, and to deprave
their best actions.
And Gashmu saith so] Geshmu, alias Geshem, the Arabian, ehemiah 6:1-2, a
worthy wight, a credible witness. ehemiah might well have replied, as Seneca did
in like case, Male de me loquuntur, sed mali. Gashmu’s tongue was no slander; for
he was known to be mendaeiorum artifex, one that had taught his tongue the art of
lying, Jeremiah 9:3; Jeremiah 9:5, and had taken fast hold of deceit, Jeremiah 8:5.
Such of late time were those loud and lewd liars, Genebrard, Scioppus, Baldwin,
and Bolsecus, who, being requested by the Popish side to write the lives of Calvin
and Beza, is in all their writings alleged as canonical, though they know him to be
(according to the old proverb) a friar, a liar.
That thou and the Jews think to rebel] A likely matter; but that matters not. Any
author serves Sanballat’s turn, who for a need could have sucked such an
accusation as this out of his own fingers. See Ezra 4:13.
For which cause thou buildest the wall] This was calumniari audacter, slander
boldly, to as Machiavel taught, aliquid saltem adhaerebit. But if dirt will stick to a
mud wall, yet to marble it will not. ehemiah hath the Euge good of a clear
conscience, and no wise man will believe this black-mouthed Blabberer. . D.,
author of the three conversions, hath made Sir John Oldcastle, the martyr, a
ruffian, a robber, and a rebel. His authority is taken from the stage-players, of like
conscience for lies, as all men know.
That thou mayest be their king] King of the Jews, as they called our Saviour, John
19:12. And as some think the ground of this report, if any there were, concerning
ehemiah’s practising to be king, were the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah
concerning the near approach of Christ’s kingdom.
ihil est, quin male narrando possit depravarier (Terent.).

31. According to these words] According to this report, or somewhat to the same sense.
ELLICOTT, "(6) It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu saith it.—
ehemiah can quote the very letter, with its dialectical change of Geshem into
Gashmu. Sanballat sends Tobiah in his own name, and represents Geshem as
circulating a report which, reaching the distant king, would be interpreted as
rebellion. It is hinted that the heathen, or the nations, would take the part of the
king. And the words of the prophets concerning the future King are referred to as
likely to be attributed to ehemiah’s ambition. Finally, the letter suggests the
desirableness of friendly counsel to avert the danger.
PARKER, ""It is reported among the heathen, and Gashmu [or Geshem (
ehemiah 6:2)] saith it, that thou and the Jews think to rebel: for which cause thou
buildest the wall, that thou mayest be their king, according to these words. And thou
hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem, saying, There is a king
in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the king according to these words. Come
now, therefore, let us take counsel together" ( ehemiah 6:6-7).
Most men would have been alarmed by this letter. There is something alarming
about a letter at any time. We never know what it may contain; and if we have
reason to fear any person under the sun, it is impossible for us to look at a letter in
the hands of the postman without beginning to tremble, and saying mentally, "It has
come at last—I thought it would."
ehemiah took the letter without misgiving. The man who left Persia under the
circumstances with which we have become familiar, to recover Zion from contempt
and to rebuild Jerusalem, is not likely to be overawed by the letter of a pagan
correspondent, and he sent this brave answer: "There are no such things done as
thou sayest, but thou feignest them out of thine own heart." It was an answer that
might have been shot from a musket. ever attempt to make graceful, apologetic,
explanatory statements to your controversial and spiritual enemy. Short answers—
cannon-ball replies—"It is written—it is written "—and the devil, Beelzebub, will
reel under every blow. A long and elaborate argument is a long and elaborate
opportunity for the devil to take advantage of. Let us give short, clear-cut, terse,
concise answers, and we can find them ready for use in God"s armoury:
"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand."
There are always people in the world who can explain everything, who can account
for ehemiah"s industry, and trace a man"s motive through all possible
metaphysical labyrinths and windings. There are persons who know exactly why we
attend this place and not that. There can be but one Omniscience; and in proportion
as Sanballat attempts the blasphemous game of Omnisciency does he prepare
himself for his last, his irrecoverable fall. If Sanballat had said that these reports
were about, and he could not help hearing of them, he would have been very English
in his method of escaping from an awkward position. There are friends of ours—so

32. called by a rare and cruel stretch of courtesy, who are always in the way of hearing
disagreeable things. They are nice, innocent people, but somehow they always
happen to be at the corner of that particular street where gossips most do
congregate; and they, with touching innocence, with pathetic self-renunciation, tell
us that they could not help hearing such and such reports. They could have helped
repeating them!
What did ehemiah do? He had another turn in prayer. Good old man—brave old
soldier-builder; always giving the upward look, always sending out of his heart a
heavenward cry; so we hear him now, saying, " ow therefore, O God, strengthen
my hands." The inward man must be renewed day by day—we must have little
upon little, precept upon precept, line upon line, sermon upon sermon, prayer upon
prayer; there is no one final exercise in the Christian economy; ours is an economy
that rivals the Judaic ritual itself in the multiplicity of its details; in the constancy of
its homage, in the fidelity and continuance of its oblations. ehemiah did not live
upon yesterday"s grace: day by day he spoke his prayer, moment by moment he
breathed the air of heaven. He prayed with ejaculation, that is with an out-throwing
of the soul; with suddenness, as if he had surprised God by an unexpected cry. To
live so is to do what the apostle enjoins us to do—pray without ceasing.
LA GE, " ehemiah 6:6. Gashmu,i.e. Geshem.—According to these words.—
Sanballat throughout makes no accusation, but refers to rumor. ehemiah’s answer
is ( ehemiah 6:8): There is not according to these words which thou sayest, i.e.
there is no such rumor.
Strengthen my hands.—This interjected prayer must be taken from ehemiah’s
journal at the time. When he writes the narrative, he quotes his ejaculation, as
showing where his dependence was at that trying time.
PETT, " ehemiah 6:6
‘In which was written, “It is reported among the nations, and Gashmu says it, that
you and the Jews think to rebel, for which reason you are building the wall, and you
would be their king, according to these words.”
In this letter Sanballat indicated that rumours were rife among the nations that
suggested that ehemiah and the Jews were about to rebel against the Persian
empire, and that that was also the opinion of Geshem (Gashmu is simply an
alternative name for Geshem). Indeed, they saw that as the reason why they were
building the walls of Jerusalem. It appeared to them that ehemiah wanted to set
himself up as king. After all that was precisely what the satrap Megabyzus had tried
to do four years earlier. The idea was to frighten ehemiah into responding to their
invitation. They reasoned that he would want to refute the rumours personally.
What they failed to consider was that for him to respond to such a letter would itself
appear suspicious. It would suggest that there were some grounds for the rumours.
They were not, of course, party to the information that we have, that Artaxerxes had
given specific permission for this so as to honour ehemiah’s ancestors ( ehemiah

33. 2:5-6). Otherwise it might indeed have looked suspicious. or probably did they
realise that ehemiah was such a favourite of the king.
With the letter being sent as an open letter they were, of course, guaranteeing that
even if such suspicions had not yet arisen, they very soon would. Men would nod
wisely as they considered the refortification of Jerusalem. Thus they would be able
to vindicate their words.
It has been questioned as to whether Sanballat would use a term like ‘nations’
(goyim), which had strong Jewish connections, but term is also found in the Mari
dialect of Akkadian (goyum/gawum), whilst in the Scriptures it has a wider
significance than that of just ‘Gentiles’. There are therefore no solid grounds on
which to reject its use by Sanballat.
7 and have even appointed prophets to make this
proclamation about you in Jerusalem: ‘There is a
king in Judah!’ ow this report will get back to
the king; so come, let us meet together.”
CLARKE, "Thou hast also appointed prophets - Persons who pretend to be
commissioned to preach to the people, and say, Nehemiah reigneth!
Come now therefore, and let us take counsel - Come and justify yourself before
me. This was a trick to get Nehemiah into his power.
GILL, "And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at
Jerusalem,.... This he said to cover what he and Tobiah had been doing, tampering
with, corrupting, and hiring the prophets to discourage him, and put him upon methods,
whereby the work would cease:
saying, there is a king in Judah; besides Artaxerxes, whose yoke they were casting
off, having got a king of their own, and among them:
and now shall it be reported to the king, according to these words; such a
report as this, and in those very words, will soon reach the ears of the king of Persia:

34. come now, therefore, and let us take counsel together; contrive the best method
to put a stop to this report, if a false one, and to wipe off the reproach that is upon thee,
and may affect us; and thus partly terrifying him, and partly pretending friendship to
him, hoped to get him into his hands.
K&D, "Neh_6:7-8
It was further said in the letter: “Thou hast also appointed prophets to proclaim
concerning thee in Jerusalem, saying, King of Judah; and now it will be reported to the
king according to these words (or things). Come, therefore, and let us take counsel
together,” sc. to refute these things as groundless rumours. By such accusations in an
open letter, which might be read by any one, Sanballat thought to oblige Nehemiah to
come and clear himself from suspicion by an interview.
BE SO , " ehemiah 6:7. Saying, There is a king in Judah — We have now a king
of our own nation, and are free from the bondage of a foreign yoke. Come now,
therefore, and let us take counsel together — That we may impartially examine the
matter, that thy innocence may be cleared.
TRAPP, " ehemiah 6:7 And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at
Jerusalem, saying, [There is] a king in Judah: and now shall it be reported to the
king according to these words. Come now therefore, and let us take counsel
together.
Ver. 7. And thou hast also appointed prophets, &c.] That the thing might seem to be
of God; as the beast hath his false prophet, that wrought miracles before him,
Revelation 19:20; as Mahomet had his prophets; and John of Leyden had his, to cry
him up king of Munster, the ew Jerusalem, as they called it, yea, of all nations, to
rule them with a rod of iron.
And now shall it be reported to the king] Who must needs be highly displeased, and
wilt as little endure it as the heaven two suns. Sol quasi solus; sic monarcha.
Marriage and monarchy will not do away with co-rivals. Romanos geminos unum
non caperet Regnum, quos unum uteri ceperat hospitium (Cyprian).
Come now, therefore, and let us take counsel] In commune consulere, lest we all
suffer for your fault. But neither was good ehemiah in any fault; neither was their
drift any other but this, to draw him out of the city, that they might mischieve him;
like as Dr Bristow advises his Catholics to get the Protestants out of their stronghold
of the Scriptures into the open field of fathers and councils; and then they might do
what they would with us.
PETT, " ehemiah 6:7
“And you have also appointed prophets to preach concerning you at Jerusalem,