Readings:
Nehemiah 4-7

Sanballat and the other opponents of the Jews begin to mock them as they build the wall, but when that didn’t deter them they change tactics and the builders fear an attack is imminent so Nehemiah orders them to remain on guard at all times. Some of the workers are set to guard duty and all are armed so not to be caught by surprise, because as long as the walls remained broken down they were vulnerable.

Nehemiah finds out in the midst of rebuilding the walls that some of the more wealthy citizens are preying upon their own people. They’re giving what we’d call today a predatory loan to the retuning exiles. So Nehemiah has to deal with both external and internal problems. The food allowance he’s talking about is most like a privilege granted to the governor to exact a tithe from the people of their food for his personal consumption. He refuses to take from people in such dire straights and never exercises that privilege.

Sanballat and the gang try to draw Nehemiah out to ambush him but he refuses to fall into their trap, so they hire someone to suggest he hide inside the temple but he refuses. This may be because he doesn’t want to look afraid, but there’s also the theory that he was a court eunuch in Persia and so entering the temple would’ve been forbidden to him. Either way he stands his ground, refuses to be intimidated and completes the walls in less than two months.

Tomorrow’s Readings:
Nehemiah 8-10