21 matching verse commentaries
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
INTRODUCTION TO Nehemiah 6 Sanballat and his brethren, hearing the wall was finished, sent to Nehemiah, to have a meeting with him at a place named, which he refused, Ne 6:1, then they sent him a terrifying letter, suggesting that he, and the Jews with him, would be treated as rebels, since their intention, as reported, was to make him king, which...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Now it came to pass, when Sanballat and Tobiah, and Geshem the Arabian, and the rest of our enemies, heard that I had builded the wall,.... Quite finished it: and that there was no breach left therein; but all was made up firm and strong: though at that time I had not set up the doors upon the gates; not upon all of them, though some might by the...
Matthew Henry - Complete Commentary - Matthew Henry
The cries of oppressed poverty being stilled, we are now to enquire how the building of the wall goes forward, and in this chapter we find it carried on with vigour and finished with joy, notwithstanding the restless attempts of the gates of hell to hinder it. How the Jews' enemies were baffled in their design to put a stop to it by force we read...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then Sanballat and Geshem sent unto me,.... Messengers: saying, come, let us meet together in some one of the villages; in Cephirim, which Jarchi takes to be the name of a place, perhaps the same with Cephirah, a city in the tribe of Benjamin, Joshua 18:26 in the plain of Ono; which was in the same tribe, see 1 Chronicles 8:12, they might pretend...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I sent messengers unto them,.... He did not show any open contempt of them, nor did he even return answer by the messenger that came from them, but sent some of his own people to them: saying, I am doing a great work; was about an affair of great importance, very busy, and not at leisure to give them a meeting: so that I cannot come down;...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Yet they sent unto me four times after this sort,.... Being very desirous of getting him into their hands, and therefore were very pressing and importunate: and I answered them after the same manner; every time as before, he being as much bent on finishing the work as they were to divert him from it.
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then sent Sanballat his servant unto me in like manner the fifth time,.... In his own name, neither Tobiah nor Geshem joining with him, he being more solicitous and anxious to get him into his hands than any of them; and it may be, as some think, pretending more friendship for him than the rest, and therefore writes alone, as if they knew nothing...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Wherein was written, it is reported among, the Heathen,.... Among the several neighbouring nations; it was an affair that was not whispered about among a few only; it was common talk, it was in every body's mouth in divers nations: and Gashmu saith it; the same with Geshem the Arabian; he affirms it, and will abide by his assertion, and engages to...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And thou hast also appointed prophets to preach of thee at Jerusalem,.... This he said to cover what he and Tobiah had been doing, tampering with, corrupting, and hiring the prophets to discourage him, and put him upon methods, whereby the work would cease: saying, there is a king in Judah; besides Artaxerxes, whose yoke they were casting off,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Then I sent unto him,.... Whether a letter, or a messenger, is not said: saying there are no such things done as thou sayest; that there was any scheme formed to rebel, and make him king, or that prophets were appointed to declare him such: but thou feignest them out of thine own heart; in short, that they were no other than lies of his own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For they all made us afraid,.... Or you all, as Aben Ezra interprets it; or all the Heathen nations, as Jarchi; this was the design of all those scandalous reports, to intimidate them, and with this they pleased themselves, as follows: their hands shall be weakened from the work, that it be not done; this they hoped would be the effect of those...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Afterward I came unto the house of Shemaiah the son of Delaiah, the son of Mehetabeel, who was shut up,.... Either in his own house, or in a chamber in the temple, as if he had given himself up to meditation, fasting, and prayer; or, as he might suggest to Nehemiah, for his safety, and so designed it as an example to him; this man might be a...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And I said, should such a man as I flee?.... The king's commissioner, who had the conducting and management of the whole affair of building the wall of Jerusalem, on whom it wholly depended; for, should he absent himself, the people would depart and leave their work, and the city and wall be left defenceless, which was what was hoped for from this...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And, lo, I perceived that God had not sent him,.... Because he advised to that which was against the cause of God and true religion: but that he pronounced the prophecy against me; for by fleeing, as he advised, it would seem that he was guilty of the crimes of rebellion and treason he was charged with; and leaving the people, as they would in...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Therefore was he hired, that I should be afraid, and do so, and sin,.... By distrusting the power and providence of God to protect him, and by going into such a part of the temple, which he, being no priest, had no right to go into: and that they might have matter for an evil report, that they might reproach me; as a rebel and traitor against the...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
My God, think thou on Tobiah and Sanballat according to these their works,.... Their wicked counsels and schemes, and not only confound and disappoint them, but reward them as they deserve: and on the prophetess Noadiah: whom Aben Ezra takes to be the same with Shemaiah, because he said, נועד, "let us meet", c. Ne 6:10, but no doubt it is the name...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
So the wall was finished in the twenty fifth day of the month Elul,.... The sixth month, answering to part of August and part of September: in fifty and two days; which Aben Ezra reckons from the time that Sanballat sent his letter to Nehemiah, when no more were wanting than to set the doors upon the gates, Ne 6:1, but rather these, with Jarchi,...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
And it came to pass, that when all our enemies heard thereof,.... That the wall was finished: and all the Heathen that were about us saw these things; the neighbouring nations, who not only heard with their ears, but saw with their eyes what was done: they were much cast down in their own eyes; through shame and confusion, because of their own...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
Moreover, in those days,.... While the wall was building: the nobles of Judah sent many letters to Tobiah, and the letters of Tobiah came unto them; letters passed between them frequently, they informing him how things went on at Jerusalem, and he advising them to what was detrimental to the true interest of their nation; such false friends had...
John Gill - Exposition - John Gill
For there were many in Judah sworn unto him,.... To Tobiah, who not only in a private manner corresponded with him by letters, but bound themselves by an oath to him to be true to his interest, and do as he should advise them: because he was the son in law of Shechaniah, the son of Arah; of a family that came up with Zerubbabel from the captivity,...