A Great Work Completed

With the wall nearly complete, the opposition shifted from open threats to subtle schemes. Sanballat and Geshem invited Nehemiah to a meeting in the plain of Ono, intending to do him mischief. His answer showed clear priorities: I am doing a great work, so that I can't come down. Why should the work cease while I leave it and come down to you? Four times they asked; four times he refused.

Next came slander. An open letter accused the Jews of planning rebellion and Nehemiah of appointing prophets to proclaim him king. Nehemiah calmly denied it, saying they were inventing it out of their own heart. Seeing the aim was to weaken the people's hands, he prayed: But now, strengthen my hands. Then Shemaiah, hired by Tobiah and Sanballat, urged him to shut himself in the temple. Nehemiah perceived that God had not sent him. A layman entering the temple to save himself would have been sin.

The result is told simply: the wall was finished in the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in fifty-two days. The surrounding nations were afraid and lost their confidence, for they perceived that this work was done by our God. In the New Testament, Paul urges believers to be steadfast, always abounding in the Lord's work, knowing their labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).