Nehemiah 2:9-15

Nehemiah 2:9–15 KJV (WS)

9 Then I came to the governors beyond the river, and gave them the king's letters. Now the king had sent captains of the army and horsemen with me. 10 When Sanballat the Horonite, and Tobiah the servant, the Ammonite, heard of it, it grieved them exceedingly that there was come a man to seek the welfare of the children of Israel. 11 So I came to Jerusalem, and was there three days. 12 And I arose in the night, I and some few men with me; neither told I any man what my God had put in my heart to do at Jerusalem: neither was there any beast with me, save the beast that I rode upon. 13 And I went out by night by the gate of the valley, even before the dragon well, and to the dung port, and viewed the walls of Jerusalem, which were broken down, and the gates thereof were consumed with fire. 14 Then I went on to the gate of the fountain, and to the king's pool: but there was no place for the beast that was under me to pass. 15 Then went I up in the night by the brook, and viewed the wall, and turned back, and entered by the gate of the valley, and so returned.

Introduction

Well, there really isn’t much more to say about Nehemiah after last week.

He was affected by the plight of others, he prayed about it, and then he got permission and provision from the king.

He lived happily ever after, right?

No, that was all just the beginning stages.

This morning we are going to enter a new phase of Nehemiah’s work.

Nehemiah has experienced incredible support up to this point.

What will happen when Nehemiah faces opposition to his plan?

We will find out this morning.

Nehemiah enters the region. vss 9-10

It would have taken at least 2 months to make the journey from Shushan to Judah.

But after two months of travelling, Nehemiah crosses the Euphrates and begins to make the introductions to the governors of the region.

He has a couple of things going for him when it comes to the legitimacy of his mission.

He has the letters written for him by Artaxerxes.

These letters give credence to his purposes.

He is also accompanied by a small military force.

The king sent an armed guard with Nehemiah because of his status as cupbearer and governor of Judah.

These captains and horsemen would give Nehemiah the security he needed to safely accomplish his work.

Nehemiah accepted the military escort while Ezra declined it.

Ezra 8:22 “22 For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.”

Most believe that Nehemiah really didn’t have a choice in the matter because of his role.

Not everyone was welcoming to Nehemiah, though.

We are introduced to two characters that will be a thorn in Nehemiah’s side throughout the rest of the book.

Sanballat the Horonite and Tobiah the Ammonite.

Let’s look at a few things about Sanballat first.

Some have said the Horonite was a type of Moabite.

More likely, Horonite refers to Beth-horon.

A recovered papyrus confirms the historicity Sanballat and lists his sons as governors of Samaria.

This lead most to believe that Sanballat was the governor of Samaria at this time.

Tobiah is also a powerful individual.

Tobiah is called the servant because he is most likely a servant of the king.

Thee name Tobiah means God is good.

He may have been a junior colleague of Sanballat.

He was well connected to Jerusalem society.

He was related by marriage to some of Nehemiah’s co-laborers.

He was near of kin to Eliashib the priest.

But he was also an Ammonite.

Ammon was the son of Lot with his daughter.

His people hated their cousins the Jews.

Sanballat and Tobiah are exceedingly grieved by the news of Nehemiah’s coming

There are many different expressions of grieved.

Multiple authors noted that this form of Hebrew for Grieved = annoyed.

They were bothered that someone would show any inclination in helping the Jews.

It’s possible that they may have been more threatened by Nehemiah than by a resurgent Jerusalem.

If they had known exactly what he was really up to, they would have immediately tried to stop him.

Nehemiah was dissuaded by the fact that there was opposition to his mission.

Nehemiah enters the city.

6 months after he first heard of the destruction, he finally saw it for himself.

He has to be chomping at the bit to get to work.

I remember the day we unloaded our trailer when we moved here to Collinsville.

My office stuff were in the nose of the trailer.

As soon as we got to it I wheeled the boxes into my office.

I was so excited to get started.

I wish someone would have shown me what Nehemiah did.

Nehemiah rested for three days after his trip to Jerusalem.

He took time to rest.

Good leaders don’t rush their work.

Part of not rushing, was taking the time to get the lay of the land

Nehemiah wouldn’t do anything until he had surveyed the damage for himself.

The enemy had relatives in the city.

He was worried about the city’s susceptibility to outside threats.

However, Nehemiah’s biggest problem would come from within.

Nehemiah shows wisdom in keeping his plan secret while enemies were on every hand.

You could say that Nehemiah maintained a strategic silence.

Only a few men could be trusted to maintain secrecy.

It’s kind of sad that nehemiah is in Jerusalem to help them and yet he has to be secretive because of the enemies that were present.

I don’t know how much you care about this, but Nehemiah works his way clockwise around the city.

The Gate of the Valley may have been the Valley of Hinnom towards the southeast.

Dung port was the gate where the city’s rubbish was cast out.

When it says he turned back, it doesn’t meant that he turned around but that he turned to go farther in a westerly direction.

Nehemiah was able to get a realistic picture of the work that would be required.

It was bad, but Nehemiah was not dissuaded.

It didn’t matter that the situation was dire and there was opposition to his objectives, Nehemiah was not intimidated away from his mission.

Application

We have seen the need for allowing the needs of others to affect us.

We have seen the importance of praying for God to intervene.

We saw last week the importance of putting our faith in action.

This week we see the reality of what we can expect if we try to engage the problems around us.

There will be people who oppose us.

There is no sugar coating the problems that we see.

If we are going to make a difference in the world around us we need to expect and be prepared for the obstacles that will come.

Part of overcoming these obstacles is seen in this passage.

Secure a military escort if at all possible.

Remember that people who oppose you in your mission would probably have opposed anyone that tried to do what you’re doing.

Surround yourself with people you can trust, even if it’s just a few.

There are some things that you should hold close to the vest, especially in the beginning.

Others may not be ready to receive what you have to say.

You may not be ready to communicate what you have to say.

Take time in getting your feet under you.

Research to get a better picture of what you’re facing.

See for yourself what you are up against.

Conclusion

If we are really going to do something about the issues around us, we can expect to face obstacles.

There are some steps we can take to overcome these obstacles.

Ultimately we have to keep our mission in focus.

When obstacles arise, there is strength in reminding ourselves why we started down this path to begin with.