9Then I came to the governors of the province Beyond the River and gave them the king’s letters. Now the king had sent with me officers of the army and horsemen. 10But when Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite servant heard this, it displeased them greatly that someone had come to seek the welfare of the people of Israel.
Did Nehemiah expect or not expect what happened above? How is that relevant to our life?
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Nehemiah not only came with a full military escort, but also it is apparent from this account that he came with the full authority of the throne of Persia behind him. If you set out to change something in your life for the better, you have the full authority of the throne of God behind you; you may proceed with full confidence that the unseen, but real, power of God is backing you up!
Nehemiah met two very troublesome enemies when he got there: Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite. A Horonite was a devotee of the god Horon, a local deity of Palestine. This indicates Sanballat was a pagan. Tobiah was a citizen of Ammon, which was the country that we now call Jordan. Ammon was one of the tribes descended from Lot, the nephew of Abraham, and thus related to Israel, but still an enemy.
This situation sounds very much like normal Christianity. I have always enjoyed the definition of a Christian as one who is completely fearless, continually cheerful, and constantly in trouble! It is God’s way to let us face troublesome difficulties. But He also has unknown provisions waiting for us, as we will see in Nehemiah’s case.
I shall never forget once sitting at lunch with Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators, and hearing from his own lips the story of how the Wycliffe organization came into Mexico. This was back in the 1920s at a time when Mexico was very sensitive to anything religious. The Mexican people had just thrown off the shackles of the church, and they were very opposed to public preaching or the building up of churches. Townsend went to a tiny Indian village up in the mountains and began to work there, translating the Scriptures into their language. Although he could do no preaching, he found that he could help the people. Their economy was suffering because they had poor crops, and he taught them how to dam up a stream and divert the water to their fields. He also taught them certain industries they could establish right there in the village. Soon word of the changes there got back to Lazaro Cardenas, who had just been elected president of Mexico. One day the president drove out in his limousine to the Indian village, and, when Townsend saw the presidential limousine, he went up to it to greet the president and introduce himself. The president said, You’re the very man I came to see. He invited Townsend to come to the capital, and they became close friends. He opened a wide door to the entire work of Wycliffe Translators, and later presidents continued that support.
In many wonderful ways God demonstrates that He can work in our lives! This is what Nehemiah relied upon. If you are struggling with some habit, some attitude of mind or heart that has possessed you, limited you, and made you difficult to live with, and you want to be free from it, you can expect God to help, often in ways that you cannot anticipate.
Do we believe that God works in our lives? Do we rely on His power and provision given to us through Jesus to help us in every situation?
Nehemiah is a planner and a prayer warrior, so he did expect it. Sanballat and Tobiah, just like many people today, were not happy to hear that the people of Israel were getting help. But as we know, as long as we have God on our side, we will never lose or be forsaken.
I am sure with Nehemiah’s detailed planning and constant prayer that he did expect that the governors could be greatly displeased. Many times in life we may think we are helping but we may actually be hurting because we fail to see the clear needs of those around us or our motive behind our actions may be selfish. Although Nehemiah is doing a good thing, this is a reminder that we should constantly pray and plan to make sure that we meet the needs of others rather than burden them.
From brother Don’s (again :-)):
Nehemiah’s encroachment upon the provincial control of “the governors in the region beyond the River” would have posed a tremendous threat to these officials. If handled improperly, disregard for the other officials would have put Nehemiah’s life and the lives of those in Jerusalem in jeopardy. Hence, it seems as though God had moved the Persian king to dispatch royal army captains and horsemen to accompany Nehemiah and to guard against attacks. This would indicate the importance of meticulous planning and attention to detail alongside trust in God’s sovereign provision and protection as a formula for success. It would seem to me that although Nehemiah may not have expected the specific details of what happened, he most certainly would have had to expect some difficulty and opposition.
It is likewise quite reasonable to expect opposition in our lives as followers of Christ. Jesus Himself tells us, “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you,” (John 15:18-19). We live in a dark, fallen world, where sin abounds. We are called to shine God’s light in this dark world, and “everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed,” (John 3:20). Therefore, we should expect opposition, plan accordingly, and trust in God’s sovereign goodness.
Father, thank You for bringing us into Your glorious light! Grant us strength to persevere and wisdom to plan according to Your perfect will. We know that we will certainly face opposition, and perhaps even persecution. Help us to remain steadfast and vigilant, “counting everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Throughout the year that Kathy and I were completing all of the home studies and classes to become certified as a foster family, we encountered resistance from my non-Christian family members and even from some at RP.
Our Heavenly Father adopted us into His family through Christ..Jesus himself was adopted by Joseph..adoption is the highest gift of the Gospel, so Kathy and I were undeterred. We prayed for those very same people and once they met Baby Jesus, their hearts were won over.
Expect resistance (from within and outside of the church) when you follow Jesus..pray for those very same people and let the Holy Spirit change their hearts
Nehemiah probably expected those obstacles along the way. God doesn’t deliver us from the situations or circumstances we find ourselves in, but He does walk with us through them and uplifts us when we think there is no way out of it. personally, whenever i find myself in situations that involve pain (close to all), i am reminded that prioritizing God over pain will allow for God to build perseverance and character in us, which lasts. if we rely on our own strength and take the shortcut, we don’t give God the opportunity to mold us into a usable form. there is purpose to our pain.
As Nehemiah expected the opposition when arriving to Judah, I expected fully the opposition or hostility I would run into when I decided to become baptized. But like many of our peers have mentioned in the comments above, God will work by your side, and we have to have faith in him at all times.
Based on the text I cant tell whether or not Nehemiah knew that they would be displeased, but I can assume so based on the times (and it says so I guess. v.10). Based on what was said in the sermon, and during the time of war, it would make sense that these people viewed the Israelites as inferior. At least Nehemiah had some protection in case something went wrong.
I think what Im getting from this is that you always have too be prepared.I can see some comparisons between us and Nehemiah. When he gave the letter (equivalent to us sharing the gospel) the other men rejected him (other men = modern day people).
I find it amazing how confident Nehemiah was. Even though he did not know that he will encounter two troublesome enemies, Nehemiah trusted God and used the tools that were given to him to go out and do it without any hesitation. God allowed for the king to accept Nehemiah to partake in rebuilding the walls and will allow for Nehemiah to continue on with his mission, just as long as Nehemiah had faith and trust in God to help him through it. I can definitely identify myself with Nehemiah in certain moments, especially when they talk about how even though I go through a temporary hiccup, I still have that lingering faith knowing that God is sovereign and that His plan is good. I hope that as I continue to grow I will be more confident in my troublesome difficulties. That I am able to be cheerful and embrace my hardships. Today’s devotion reminded me that as a Christian there will always be trouble but God will always be there to help me.
In this passage, Nehemiah prays intensely to God for change in his community and it seems like things are working and then he hits a roadblock. This happens so many times in my life where I pray for something and I hit a roadblock and I believe it is God stopping me from doing something. I think in instances like these, it is even more necessary to pray more intentionally and discern the will of God here. Lord I pray that even in the midst of conflict may your plan reign.
I found a very interesting implication about different ministry philosophies among leaders from Nehemiah 2:9 from https://www.theologyofwork.org/old-testament/ezra-nehemiah-esther. But first, it would be helpful to know that Ezra and Nehemiah is one book in the Hebrew Bible although by multiple authors.
When it comes to the idea of trusting in God, Ezra’s confidence in God’s help was tested when it came time for his entourage to journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. “I was ashamed,” Ezra explained, “to ask the king for a band of soldiers and cavalry to protect us against the enemy on our way; since we had told the king, ‘The hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his power and his wrath are against all who forsake him’” (Ezra 8:22). For Ezra, to depend on a royal escort implied a failure to trust in God’s protection. So he and his retinue fasted and prayed rather than seek practical assistance from the king (Ezra 8:23). Note: Ezra was not following any particular Old Testament law in choosing not to receive royal protection. Rather, this decision reflected his personal convictions about what it meant to trust God in the real challenges of leadership. One might say that Ezra was an “idealistic believer” in this situation, because he was willing to stake his life on the idea of God’s protection, rather than to ensure protection with human help. As we’ll see later, Ezra’s position was not the only one deemed reasonable by godly leaders in Ezra and Nehemiah.
But 13 years later, when the king granted Nehemiah permission to oversee the rebuilding project, Nehemiah asked for letters to the governors through whose territory he would pass on his trip to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:7). In Nehemiah’s view, the king granted this request “for the gracious hand of my God was upon me” (Neh. 2:8). Apparently, Nehemiah did not believe that trusting God meant he should not seek the king’s protection for his journey. Moreover, he was pleased to have “officers of the army and cavalry” escort him safely to Jerusalem (Neh. 2:9).
The text of Nehemiah does not suggest there was anything wrong with Nehemiah’s decision to seek and accept the king’s protection. In fact, it claims that God’s blessing accounted for this bit of royal assistance. It is striking to note how different Nehemiah’s approach to this issue was from Ezra’s. Whereas Ezra believed that trusting God meant he should not ask for royal protection, Nehemiah saw the offer of such protection as evidence of God’s gracious hand of blessing. This disagreement demonstrates how easy it is for godly people to come to different conclusions about what it means to trust God in their work. Perhaps each was simply doing what he was most familiar with. Ezra was a priest, familiar with the habitation of the Lord’s presence. Nehemiah was a cupbearer to the king, familiar with the exercise of royal power. Both Ezra and Nehemiah were seeking to be faithful in their labors. Both were godly, prayerful leaders. But they understood trusting God for protection differently. For Ezra, it meant journeying without the king’s guard. For Nehemiah, it meant accepting the offer of royal help as evidence of God’s own blessing.
We find signs in several places that Nehemiah was what we could call a “pragmatic believer.” In Nehemiah 2, for example, Nehemiah secretly surveyed the rubble of the former wall before even announcing his plans to the residents of Jerusalem (Neh. 2:11-17). Apparently, he wanted to know the size and scope of the work he was taking on before he publicly committed to doing it. Yet, after explaining the purpose of his coming to Jerusalem and pointing to God’s gracious hand upon him, when some local officials mocked and accused him, Nehemiah answered, “The God of heaven is the one who will give us success” (Neh. 2:20). God would give this success, in part, through Nehemiah’s clever and well-informed leadership.
In the end, both are Godly leaders were effective in what God is calling them to do, although with different philosophy of ministry and convictions.