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Prophets and Kings
But Nehemiah continued to look to God for guidance and support,
and “the people had a mind to work.” The enterprise went forward
until the gaps were filled and the entire wall built up to half its intended
height.
As the enemies of Israel saw how unavailing were their efforts,
they were filled with rage. Hitherto they had not dared employ violent
measures, for they knew that Nehemiah and his companions were
acting under the king’s commission, and they feared that active oppo-
sition against him might bring upon them the monarch’s displeasure.
But now in their anger they themselves became guilty of the crime
of which they had accused Nehemiah. Assembling for counsel, they
“conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem.”
At the same time that the Samaritans were plotting against Ne-
hemiah and his work, some of the leading men among the Jews, be-
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coming disaffected, sought to discourage him by exaggerating the
difficulties attending the enterprise. “The strength of the bearers of
burdens is decayed,” they said, “and there is much rubbish; so that we
are not able to build the wall.”
Discouragement came from still another source. “The Jews which
dwelt by,” those who were taking no part in the work, gathered up
the statements and reports of their enemies and used these to weaken
courage and create disaffection.
But taunts and ridicule, opposition and threats, seemed only to
inspire Nehemiah with firmer determination and to arouse him to
greater watchfulness. He recognized the dangers that must be met in
this warfare with their enemies, but his courage was undaunted. “We
made our prayer unto our God,” he declares, “and set a watch against
them day and night.” “Therefore set I in the lower places behind the
wall, and on the higher places, I even set the people after their families
with their swords, their spears, and their bows. And I looked, and rose
up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the
people, Be not ye afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great
and terrible, and fight for your brethren, your sons, and your daughters,
your wives, and your houses.
“And it came to pass, when our enemies heard that it was known
unto us, and God had brought their counsel to nought, that we returned
all of us to the wall, everyone unto his work. And it came to pass from
that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and