# Nehemiah 06 📖: The Wall Is Completed [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-Nehemiah Overview]] | [[Nehemiah 05]] | [[Nehemiah 07]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ## Opposition to the Rebuilding Efforts Continues [[#Verse 01.]] When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies heard that I had rebuilt the wall and no breach remained in it (even though up to that time I had not positioned doors in the gates), [[#Verse 02.]] Sanballat and Geshem sent word to me saying, “Come on! Let’s set up a time to meet together at Kephirim in the plain of Ono.” Now they intended to do me harm. [[#Verse 03.]] So I sent messengers to them saying, “I am engaged in an important work, and I am unable to come down. Why should the work come to a halt when I leave it to come down to you?”  [[#Verse 04.]] They contacted me four times in this way, and I responded the same way each time. [[#Verse 05.]] The fifth time that Sanballat sent his assistant to me in this way, he had an open letter in his hand.  [[#Verse 06.]] Written in it were the following words: “Among the nations it is rumored (and Geshem has substantiated this) that you and the Jews have intentions of revolting, and for this reason you are building the wall. Furthermore, according to these rumors you are going to become their king.  [[#Verse 07.]] You have also established prophets to announce in Jerusalem on your behalf, ‘We have a king in Judah!’ Now the king is going to hear about these rumors. So come on, let’s talk about this.” [[#Verse 08.]] I sent word back to him, “We are not engaged in these activities you are describing. All of this is a figment of your imagination.” [[#Verse 09.]] All of them were wanting to scare us, supposing, “Their hands will grow slack from the work, and it won’t get done.” So now, strengthen my hands! [[#Verse 10.]] Then I went to the house of Shemaiah son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabel. He was confined to his home. He said, “Let’s set up a time to meet in the house of God, within the temple. Let’s close the doors of the temple, for they are coming to kill you. It will surely be at night that they will come to kill you.” [[#Verse 11.]] But I replied, “Should a man like me run away? Would someone like me flee to the temple in order to save his life? I will not go!”  [[#Verse 12.]] I recognized the fact that God had not sent him, for he had spoken the prophecy against me as a hired agent of Tobiah and Sanballat. [[#Verse 13.]] He had been hired to scare me so that I would do this and thereby sin. They would thus bring reproach on me and I would be discredited. [[#Verse 14.]] Remember, O my God, Tobiah and Sanballat in light of these actions of theirs—also Noadiah the prophetess and the other prophets who have been trying to scare me! ## The Rebuilding of the Wall Is Finally Completed [[#Verse 15.]] So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in just fifty-two days.  [[#Verse 16.]] When all our enemies heard and all the nations who were around us saw this, they were greatly disheartened. They knew that this work had been accomplished with the help of our God. [[#Verse 17.]] In those days the aristocrats of Judah repeatedly sent letters to Tobiah, and responses from Tobiah were repeatedly coming to them.  [[#Verse 18.]] For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him, because he was the son-in-law of Shecaniah son of Arah. His son Jonathan had married the daughter of Meshullam son of Berechiah.  [[#Verse 19.]] They were telling me about his good deeds and then taking back to him the things I said. Tobiah, on the other hand, sent letters in order to scare me. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. The plain of Ono (6:2) lay roughly 25 miles northwest of Jerusalem, far from the safety of the city. 2. Sanballat's fifth message was sent as an open letter (6:5), so anyone could read the rumors it contained. 3. The letter claimed Nehemiah planned to rebel and make himself king (6:6-7), a charge that could alarm the Persian king. 4. Shemaiah urged Nehemiah to hide inside the temple (6:10). As a layman, Nehemiah entering the holy place would have broken God's law (Numbers 18:7). 5. Noadiah the prophetess and other prophets also tried to frighten Nehemiah (6:14). 6. Nehemiah refused to flee, asking whether a man in his position should run away or hide in the temple to save his life (6:11). 7. The wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul (6:15), the sixth month, in late summer or early fall. 8. The wall was completed in only fifty-two days (6:15). 9. The Jewish historian Josephus later wrote that the work took two years and four months, but the biblical record gives fifty-two days. 10. Tobiah had family ties to Jewish leaders through marriage, and many nobles of Judah were bound by oath to him (6:17-18). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the faithful servant who finished the work the Father gave Him. Nehemiah refused to come down from his great work (6:3), and Jesus refused every distraction until He had completed the work the Father gave Him to do (John 17:4; 19:30). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Nehemiah's enemies tried four times to pull him away with the same message (6:2-4). What distractions try to pull you away from what God has called you to do? 2. Nehemiah answered false accusations by telling the truth and praying for strength (6:8-9). How can we respond to slander in a godly way? 3. When the wall was finished, the surrounding nations realized the work had been done with the help of God (6:16). How can your work point others to God? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 3: Nehemiah says he is doing a great work and cannot come down. - 📖 verse 9: Nehemiah prays for God to strengthen his hands. - 📖 verses 15-16: The wall is finished in fifty-two days, and the enemies realize God has done this. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[John 17#Verse 04.|John 17:4]] - Jesus completed the work the Father gave Him. - 🔗 [[Psalm 56#Verse 03.|Psalm 56:3-4]] - When I am afraid, I will trust in God. - 🔗 [[Matthew 05#Verse 11.|Matthew 5:11-12]] - Blessed are you when people falsely accuse you. - 🔗 [[1 Corinthians 15#Verse 58.|1 Corinthians 15:58]] - Be steadfast, always excelling in the Lord's work. - 🔗 [[Isaiah 41#Verse 10.|Isaiah 41:10]] - Do not fear, for I am with you. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[Nehemiah 06 - SOAP|Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing]] ## 📂 Internal Notes