The Living Bible (154 page)

Nehemiah
4

Sanballat was very angry when he learned that we were rebuilding the wall. He flew into a rage, and insulted and mocked us and laughed at us, and so did his friends and the Samaritan army officers. “What does this bunch of poor, feeble Jews think they are doing?” he scoffed. “Do they think they can build the wall in a day if they offer enough sacrifices? And look at those charred stones they are pulling out of the rubbish and using again!”

    
³
 Tobiah, who was standing beside him, remarked, “If even a fox walked along the top of their wall, it would collapse!”

    
⁴
 Then I prayed, “Hear us, O Lord God, for we are being mocked. May their scoffing fall back upon their own heads, and may they themselves become captives in a foreign land!
⁵
 Do not ignore their sin. Do not blot it out, for they have despised you in despising us who are building your wall.”

    
⁶
 At last the wall was completed to half its original height around the entire city—for the workers worked hard.

    
⁷
 But when Sanballat and Tobiah and the Arabians, Ammonites, and Ashdodites heard that the work was going right ahead and that the breaks in the wall were being repaired, they became furious.
⁸
 They plotted to lead an army against Jerusalem to bring about riots and confusion.
⁹
 But we prayed to our God and guarded the city day and night to protect ourselves.

    
¹⁰
 Then some of the leaders began complaining that the workmen were becoming tired; and there was so much rubble to be removed that we could never get it done by ourselves.
¹¹
 Meanwhile, our enemies were planning to swoop down upon us and kill us, thus ending our work.
¹²
 And whenever the workers who lived in the nearby cities went home for a visit, our enemies tried to talk them out of returning to Jerusalem.
¹³
 So I placed armed guards from each family in the cleared spaces behind the walls.

    
¹⁴
 Then as I looked over the situation, I called together the leaders and the people and said to them, “Don’t be afraid! Remember the Lord who is great and glorious; fight for your friends, your families, and your homes!”

    
¹⁵
 Our enemies learned that we knew of their plot, and that God had exposed and frustrated their plan. Now we all returned to our work on the wall;
¹⁶
 but from then on, only half worked while the other half stood guard behind them.
¹⁷
 And the masons and laborers worked with weapons within easy reach beside them
¹⁸
 or with swords belted to their sides. The trumpeter stayed with me to sound the alarm.

    
¹⁹
 “The work is so spread out,” I explained to them, “and we are separated so widely from each other, that when you hear the trumpet blow, you must rush to where I am; and God will fight for us.”

    
^20-21
 We worked early and late, from sunrise to sunset; and half the men were always on guard.
²²
 I told everyone living outside the walls to move into Jerusalem so that their servants could go on guard duty as well as work during the day.
²³
 During this period none of us—I, nor my brothers, nor the servants, nor the guards who were with me—ever took off our clothes except for washing.
*
And we carried our weapons with us at all times.

Nehemiah
5

About this time there was a great outcry of protest from parents against some of the rich Jews who were profiteering on them.
^2-4
 What was happening was that families who ran out of money for food had to sell their children or mortgage their fields, vineyards, and homes to these rich men; and some couldn’t even do that, for they already had borrowed to the limit to pay their taxes.

    
⁵
 “We are their brothers, and our children are just like theirs,” the people protested. “Yet we must sell our children into slavery to get enough money to live. We have already sold some of our daughters, and we are helpless to redeem them, for our fields, too, are mortgaged to these men.”

    
⁶
 I was very angry when I heard this;
⁷
 so after thinking about it I spoke out against these rich government officials.

    
“What is this you are doing?” I demanded. “How dare you demand a mortgage as a condition for helping another Israelite!”

    
Then I called a public trial to deal with them.

    
⁸
 At the trial I shouted at them, “The rest of us are doing all we can to
help
our Jewish brothers who have returned from exile as slaves in distant lands, but you are forcing them right back into slavery again. How often must we redeem them?”

    
And they had nothing to say in their own defense.

    
⁹
 Then I pressed further. “What you are doing is very evil,” I exclaimed. “Should you not walk in the fear of our God? Don’t we have enough enemies among the nations around us who are trying to destroy us?
¹⁰
 The rest of us are lending money and grain to our fellow Jews without any interest. I beg you, gentlemen, stop this business of usury.
¹¹
 Restore their fields, vineyards, olive yards, and homes to them this very day and drop your claims against them.”

    
¹²
 So they agreed to do it and said that they would assist their brothers without requiring them to mortgage their lands and sell them their children. Then I summoned the priests and made these men formally vow to carry out their promises.
¹³
 And I invoked the curse of God upon any of them who refused.
*

    
“May God destroy your homes and livelihood if you fail to keep this promise,” I declared.

    
And all the people shouted, “Amen,” and praised the Lord. And the rich men did as they had promised.

    
¹⁴
 I would like to mention that for the entire twelve years that I was governor of Judah—from the twentieth until the thirty-second year of the reign of King Artaxerxes—my aides and I accepted no salaries or other assistance from the people of Israel.
¹⁵
 This was quite a contrast to the former governors who had demanded food and wine and $100 a day in cash, and had put the population at the mercy of their aides who tyrannized them; but I obeyed God and did not act that way.
¹⁶
 I stayed at work on the wall and refused to speculate in land; I also required my officials to spend time on the wall.
¹⁷
 All this despite the fact that I regularly fed 150 Jewish officials at my table, besides visitors from other countries!
¹⁸
 The provisions required for each day were one ox, six fat sheep, and a large number of domestic fowls; and we needed a huge supply of all kinds of wines every ten days. Yet I refused to make a special levy against the people, for they were already having a difficult time.
¹⁹
 O my God, please keep in mind all that I’ve done for these people and bless me for it.

Nehemiah
6

When Sanballat, Tobiah, Geshem the Arab, and the rest of our enemies found out that we had almost completed the rebuilding of the wall—though we had not yet hung all the doors of the gates—
²
 they sent me a message asking me to meet them in one of the villages in the plain of Ono. But I realized they were plotting to kill me,
³
 so I replied by sending back this message to them: “I am doing a great work! Why should I stop to come and visit with you?”

    
⁴
 Four times they sent the same message, and each time I gave the same reply.
^5-6
 The fifth time, Sanballat’s servant came with an open letter in his hand, and this is what it said:

    
“Geshem tells me that everywhere he goes he hears that the Jews are planning to rebel, and that is why you are building the wall. He claims you plan to be their king—that is what is being said.
⁷
 He also reports that you have appointed prophets to campaign for you at Jerusalem by saying, ‘Look! Nehemiah is just the man we need!’

    
“You can be very sure that I am going to pass along these interesting comments to King Artaxerxes! I suggest that you come and talk it over with me—for that is the only way you can save yourself!”

    
⁸
 My reply was, “You know you are lying. There isn’t one bit of truth to the whole story.
⁹
 You’re just trying to scare us into stopping our work.” (O Lord God, please strengthen me!)

    
¹⁰
 A few days later I went to visit Shemaiah (son of Delaiah, who was the son of Mehetabel), for he said he was receiving a message from God.

    
“Let us hide in the Temple and bolt the door,” he exclaimed, “for they are coming tonight to kill you.”

    
¹¹
 But I replied, “Should I, the governor, run away from danger? And if I go into the Temple, not being a priest, I would forfeit my life. No, I won’t do it!”

    
^12-13
 Then I realized that God had not spoken to him, but Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him to scare me and make me sin by fleeing to the Temple; and then they would be able to accuse me.

    
¹⁴
 “O my God,” I prayed, “don’t forget all the evil of Tobiah, Sanballat, Noadiah the prophetess, and all the other prophets who have tried to discourage me.”

    
¹⁵
 The wall was finally finished in early September
*
—just fifty-two days after we had begun!

    
¹⁶
 When our enemies and the surrounding nations heard about it, they were frightened and humiliated, and they realized that the work had been done with the help of our God.
¹⁷
 During those fifty-two days many letters went back and forth between Tobiah and the wealthy politicians of Judah.
¹⁸
 For many in Judah had sworn allegiance to him because his father-in-law was Shecaniah (son of Arah) and because his son Jehohanan was married to the daughter of Meshullam (son of Berechiah).
¹⁹
 They all told me what a wonderful man Tobiah was, and then they told him everything I had said; and Tobiah sent many threatening letters to frighten me.