Devising Strategies - Nehemiah 4:1 to 7:73

Any time a person, whether he is president, governor, legislator, or a superintendent, principal, teacher, or pastor, deacon, teacher or just a lay person in the church…any time any of these come up with a new idea to get something good done for the good of society—there will be opposition. Some one will either think that it is the wrong thing to do, or if it is right, he will say that there is a better way to get it done. Very few ever offer a better solution, but they have no trouble condemning the one that has been offered. This is especially true in government and church.

Therefore, if you are ever in the position of leadership that requires your recommendations as a point of beginning, you should be prepared for opposition. If you think your cause is right and believe that it is worth fighting for, then the first thing you must do is DEVISE SOME STRATEGIES that you will use to overcome your opposition. There are two overall strategies…one is positive and one is negative—and to our sorrow most political politicians are far too negative in their campaigns. They would much rather tell us about their opponent’s weaknesses than try to explain their own strengths. Their strategy is so devastating that by the time Election Day approaches, it is sometimes doubtful that either man is worthy of election. Sometimes it is so bad that a better choice than election would be to put them in prison.

When Babylon captured the southern kingdom they took the wealthy, skilled and intelligent as captives with them back to Babylon. They left the unskilled, weak and poor people in Judah. The Egyptians from the south and the Samaritans and Amorites from the north and west moved in and became wealthy and prosperous as they inherited the spoils from the exile. These three nations especially, did not want to see the Jewish nation regain a place of power and strength in that part of the world. They opposed the first two groups that returned to Jerusalem…they tried in many ways to prevent Ezra from rebuilding the temple, and now they are the opposition against Nehemiah and his plans to rebuild the wall of protections around the city.

It appears that Nehemiah tried to keep his journey home and his intentions a secret as long as he could to prevent his opposition from getting an early start in their plans against him. The best evidence that this is true is that after he arrived in Jerusalem he waited until it was dark at night to do the survey of the wall. This required three or four nights because as he surveyed, he was keeping record of the materials that would be needed and estimating the number of workers he would need in each area of the reconstruction. He had this all completed and recorded before he called the people together and apprised them of his plans.

As the rebuilding of the Jerusalem wall began, Sanballat [san BAL uht], the governor of Samaria, ridiculed the Jews’ efforts. Tobiah [toh BIGH uh], the governor of Ammon, joined Sanballat in discouraging the rebuilding. Oh, how I wish I could encourage the readers of these lessons to pray more as their very first strategy against any problem that enters your life. That is what Nehemiah did! He saw their objections and obstructive moves as a work against God and he prayed to God and asks him to judge them for their sins. So, in the planning of any strategy, the first step must be taken on your knees—in prayer.

The second step in Nehemiah’s strategy was to let all workers bring weapons to work. One half would stand guard while the other half worked, and then they would switch…which proved to work well allowing rest one half of the time. Even though this strategy worked well to protect the workers, it still caused the work on the wall to slow, and delayed the completion. He developed a warning system that would warn everyone around the city wall if there was an attack in one place—then everyone could rush to the threatened area and protect the building project.

There was one more problem that arose that is so obvious that it could be overlooked. The people that were working full time on this wall were not rich people, they had just made the long trip home which was costly, and their families had to be cared for while there was no income to pay for their needs. Workers that had to borrow money for their families to live had to pay interest. Nehemiah influenced the bankers to lend their money without interest, so the workers could continue their work on the wall. It becomes very obvious that Nehemiah was very clever and successful in his DEVISING OF STRATEGIES.

This last problem came to light just as the wall was being completed and was much more severe than Nehemiah had deemed it to be. The workers reported that they were in deep poverty and some even reported that they had been forced to sell their children into bondage in order to get the money to pay the king’s tribute. Nehemiah not only was distraught, but he became very angry with the way things wee going. Many of the farmers reported that their lenders had fore-closed on their fields and vineyards and those being robbed no longer had a way to make their living.

You should be aware that this temple and the new wall were completely destroyed by the Roman Government in about AD 70. This is the same city and temple that was present in the days of Christ. It is now impossible to trace the exact parameters of the city, however archaeologist have found some of the remaining ruins—quiet enough to prove that it did exist as stated here in Nehemiah.

The sad and horrible conditions of the builders are recorded in the 5th chapter of our study. Some may wonder who was included in this project that was now suffering from the pressures of the surrounding kings. The majority of these people fit into two categories. One, some were wealthy Jews that had gained their wealth while they were in exile and brought it with them back to Jerusalem. A second group was the decedents of the Jews that had returned in the first two waves of returning exiles about 100 years before under the leadership of Zerubbabel and a little later under Ezra. Many of the poor of this day are suffering at the hands of their own countrymen who had become rich. Times haven’t changed much, has it?

This is just one more case where the Jews have rebelled against God. God’s concern for the poor is revealed in about every [maybe every] book in the bible. In Exodus 22:25 Jews were warned not to charge excessive usury [interest]. The books of Moses clearly spelled out the responsibility of the Israelites to take care of the poor. This should stand as a warning to those today that take advantage of the poor—charge high rates—and fore-close on those who can’t pay. The bible is clear. We should treat the poor and needy in a way that it would mirror the love and concern that Jesus has for people.

When his three worst outside enemies, Sanballat, Tobiah and Geshem the Arab learned that the wall was a success they decided to get rid of Nehemiah. He had the city protected and they could not get in so they sent him word to come to one of their cities in Ono so they could talk to him…they wanted to negotiate…and even more likely wanted to kill him. He did not fall for their invitation. They sent him this same message four times…and when he did not go…the fifth time Sanballat sent his aid with the same message. In this message they accused him of establishing himself as the new king of Judah. Remember that this is the same accusation made against Jesus in order to get King Herod to order him to be killed.
Ono was about twenty miles from Jerusalem. And if they could get him to come down to their meeting…they would have ambushed him on the way…he would have never lived to get to Ono.

This all took place during the time when prophets like Malachi were declaring that the Messiah was coming soon [Malachi 3: 1-3]. His aim was to cause all of the kings of the surrounding area to turn on Nehemiah. Verse 8 says, “I sent him this reply: Nothing like what you are saying is happening; you are just making it up out of your head.” Verse 9 says: “But I prayed now strengthen my hands.” Most of us would have been ready to give up, but not Nehemiah. He simply prayed that God would strengthen his hands to do the work.

Even the old gal, Delilah, got involved in this matter. One day Nehemiah went to see Delilah's son, Shemaiah, who was in his own home. Shemaiah told Nehemiah that they should go hide in the temple while they talked because he was probably followed and was not safe in his home. Nehemiah somehow knew that this was a trick to get him in the temple…a forbidden place for him, so they could charge him and discredit his loyalty to God.

The completion of the wall was nothing less than another miracle of God. It was completed in fifty-two days—that is less than two months. I am not sure of the exact dimensions of this wall, but one source thinks that it might have taken a modern day contractor at least two years to build it.

The remainder of chapter seven is a genealogy of all that were involved with this work. It is very similar to the one found in Ezra. We should not despair or lose faith because of very minor differences. No two people would make a genealogy of anyone that would be exactly alike, and too, there was nearly 100 years that elapsed between the writing of these two genealogies.

GIVE GOD ALL THE PRAISE AND HAVE A

HAPPY NEW YEAR

DEVISING GOOD STRATEGIES

PS: I am looking forward to August, 2007.