20140917 Wednesday, September 17 2014
Nehemiah 04: Bricks and Swords

by Wayne Blank
See also 1 Year Holy Bible Reading Plan

"For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded"

The LORD (Who was and is Jesus Christ - see Genesis 1: In The Beginning Was The Word and The Kingdom Of The LORD God) sent the Kingdom of Judah (the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi; see Israel In History and Prophecy: Kingdom Of Judah and No Levites In The Lost Ten Tribes?) into Babylonian exile because they had become incorrigible ("impervious to correction") liberals who refused to repent of their foolish rebellion against the LORD's Way of Truth and Life. The exile of the Kingdom of Judah was for seventy years - a prescribed time that was long enough to wipe out the corrupt generation and to create a generation that was innocent of their nation disgrace (in their case, literally dis-grace; see Why Was It Desolate For Seventy Years?).

The very same principle was used for the Exodus generation who rebelled against the LORD in the Sinai (see Exodus 13: Liberation, Not Liberal-ation); it was their children and grandchildren who entered the Promised Land forty years later (see Why A Book Of Deuteronomy In The Bible?).

When the people of the Kingdom of Judah (i.e. they were restoring their nation to Judea and Jerusalem, not themselves - they were born in Babylon and Persia after their exiled ancestors were taken there) were given to return, they faced opposition from the various people who had been either wanderers or squatters ("someone who settles on land without right or title"). Many of them were also hypocrites e.g. they opposed the rebuilding of Jerusalem, while they had done nothing but left the city in ruins for seventy years.

Opposition also came from the people who had been brought by the Assyrians to inhabit the territories to the north of Jerusalem and Judea (see the Fact Finder question below) - the former lands of the lost ten tribes (see Israel In History and Prophecy: The Lost Ten Tribes).

"4:1 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat heard that we builded the wall, he was wroth, and took great indignation, and mocked the Jews. 4:2 And he spake before his brethren and the army of Samaria, and said, What do these feeble Jews? will they fortify themselves? will they sacrifice? will they make an end in a day? will they revive the stones out of the heaps of the rubbish which are burned?

4:3 Now Tobiah the Ammonite was by him, and he said, Even that which they build, if a fox go up, he shall even break down their stone wall." (Nehemiah 4:1-3 KJV)

Nehemiah answered them with a prayer to the LORD (see also How To Pray: 12 Biblical Principles Of Personal Prayer).

"4:4 Hear, O our God; for we are despised: and turn their reproach upon their own head, and give them for a prey in the land of captivity: 4:5 And cover not their iniquity, and let not their sin be blotted out from before thee: for they have provoked thee to anger before the builders." (Nehemiah 4:4-5 KJV)

Nehemiah then began the work that he was sure to complete. It was as much a military operation as it was a construction project: "For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me."

"4:6 So built we the wall; and all the wall was joined together unto the half thereof: for the people had a mind to work.

4:7 But it came to pass, that when Sanballat, and Tobiah, and the Arabians, and the Ammonites, and the Ashdodites, heard that the walls of Jerusalem were made up, and that the breaches began to be stopped, then they were very wroth, 4:8 And conspired all of them together to come and to fight against Jerusalem, and to hinder it. 4:9 Nevertheless we made our prayer unto our God, and set a watch against them day and night, because of them.

4:10 And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.

4:11 And our adversaries said, They shall not know, neither see, till we come in the midst among them, and slay them, and cause the work to cease.

4:12 And it came to pass, that when the Jews which dwelt by them came, they said unto us ten times, From all places whence ye shall return unto us they will be upon you.

4:13 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. 4:14 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.

4:15 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, every one unto his work.

4:16 And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; and the rulers were behind all the house of Judah. 4:17 They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. 4:18 For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded. And he that sounded the trumpet was by me.

4:19 And I said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, The work is great and large, and we are separated upon the wall, one far from another. 4:20 In what place therefore ye hear the sound of the trumpet, resort ye thither unto us: our God shall fight for us.

4:21 So we laboured in the work: and half of them held the spears from the rising of the morning till the stars appeared. 4:22 Likewise at the same time said I unto the people, Let every one with his servant lodge within Jerusalem, that in the night they may be a guard to us, and labour on the day. 4:23 So neither I, nor my brethren, nor my servants, nor the men of the guard which followed me, none of us put off our clothes, saving that every one put them off for washing." (Nehemiah 4:6-23 KJV)

Fact Finder: Salvation is the LORD's gift to all people of all nations. What is the reality of those who incorrectly claim the land of Israel (which was created for the purposes of the Messiah's task for all nations) for themselves - after the LORD gave all of those other nations their own sovereign lands to inhabit until the Kingdom of God is established over all of the Earth?
See The Origin Of The Samaritans, Where Is Palestine?, Jordan's West Bank Invasion and The Boundary Law; also What Does The Bible Say About Arabs?