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Union With the World Hinders God’s Cause
This chapter is based on Nehemiah 6.
With increasing hatred, Sanballat and his allies continued their
secret efforts to discourage and injure the Jews. When the wall
around Jerusalem would be finished and its gates set up, these ene-
mies could not force an entrance into the city. So they were eager to
stop the work. Finally they devised a plan to draw Nehemiah from
his post of duty and kill or imprison him.
Pretending to desire a compromise, they invited him to meet
them in a village on the plain of Ono. But enlightened by the Holy
Spirit about their real intentions, he refused. “I sent messengers to
them,” he wrote, “saying, ‘I am doing a great work, so that I cannot
come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and go
down to you?’” Four times the tempters sent similar messages, and
each time they received the same answer.
Finding this unsuccessful, they resorted to a more daring ploy.
Sanballat sent an open letter that said: “It is reported among the
nations, and Geshem says, that you and the Jews plan to rebel;
therefore, according to these rumors, you are rebuilding the wall,
that you may be their king. And you have also appointed prophets
to proclaim concerning you at Jerusalem, saying, ‘There is a king in
Judah!’ Now these matters shall be reported to the king. So come,
therefore, and let us consult together.”
Nehemiah was convinced that the reports the letter mentioned
were completely false. Strengthening this conclusion was the fact
that the letter was sent open, evidently so that the people might read
the contents and become alarmed and intimidated. He promptly
returned the answer: “No such things as you say are being done, but
you invent them in your own heart.” Nehemiah knew that these were
attempts to discourage the builders and stop their efforts.
Now Satan set a trap that was still more subtle and dangerous for
the servant of God. Sanballat hired men who claimed to be friends
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