Nehemiah - the villains of the piece

The title refers to those three villains of the piece, the opponents and enemies of the work for God in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. In the largely positive book of Nehemiah it should come as no surprise to learn that there is a lot of opposition to the work. In turn there is much that we can learn from the behaviour and strategies employed by the enemies of this work, as their methods haven't fundamentally changed! But first let's look at the three main ringleaders first of all.

Sanballat the Horonite - Factfile:

• He was installed as the Governor of Samaria under Persian rule, Samaria being in the north of the country


• He emerges as the prominent ringleader and spokesperson of the three


• He is a Moabite (from Horonaim in the land of Moab) and this says a lot! Moab of course came from Lot's incestuous union with his oldest daughter and in the scripture speaks of the flesh. The children of Israel never fully dealt with Moab, they never fully subdued or defeated them. The same is true of the believer and the flesh, we will never be truly free of the trappings of the flesh until we get to heaven!

Geshem the Arabian - Factfile:

• Arabia was the land south of Palestine


• The Arabians were descendants of Abraham, either from the wife of his old age Keturah or more likely from Hagar, Sarah's bond servant (Ishmael was the son born of this relationship).


• God promised Hagar that from Ishmael would also come a mighty nation, innumerable as the sand.

Tobiah the Ammonite - Factfile:

• His name ironically means "the goodness of Jehovah" but names can be deceiving!


• He was an Ammonite, a descendant of Ammon who was the product of Lot's other incestuous relationship with his younger daughter. Again this is another bad sign, and would again speak to us of the flesh.


• Later on in the book it would appear that he befriended Eliashib the High Priest, so much so that he had a room prepared for him in the courts of the temple. This is a solemn reminder how easy it is to harbour a fondness and a place for the flesh in our lives.

One thing we learn is that all 3 of these men were the result of failure among those who should have known better, and those failures were to return to plague the children of Israel time and time again. Sometimes this is the case that mistakes in the past continue to plague our spiritual progress in the present and this is unfortunate. But however, we don't give up and stop fighting!

These 3 rogues employ 5 main strategies as they seek to disrupt and destroy the work:

1. Mockery (2:19 - 4:1)


2. Intimidation (4:7-8)


3. Diversion and Distraction (6:2-4)


4. Slander and Lies (6:5-9)


5. Deception (6:10-13)

We will look at these in more detail another day.

Yours in Christ,

Mark